Early the next morning, a raven came through my window, just moments after I had opened the shop for the day. The scroll attached to its leg was sealed with a lion emblem, and I knew who it was from instantly. Why in the fucking world would Cersei send for me like this? She's snaked her way into my shop for years, why be so formal now? Dumb woman. Anyways, curiosity did get the best of me rather quickly…. And that damn raven would caw and peck at me constantly until I opened it. I broke that damn lion emblem open, and read the scroll.
"Dear Asher,
Would you please clean yourself up, and come to the red keep? I would like to discuss with you a few things to mend around the castle that the blacksmith within king's landing has mangled and failed disgustingly at.
The Queen, Cersei Baratheon"
Hmm, well if it's something related to the state of my castle then I suppose I should go. I closed my shop and went to take a bath. One good thing about being a blacksmith, the water for my bath can be heated up rather nicely and are quite relaxing. After properly scrubbing myself clean, cutting my hair and shaving my beard, I put on my cleanest clothes. There was no way I was going home looking like a slob. It felt very weird to walk into king's landing, like a snake sleuthing back into its nest without a kill to have another snake gloat its kill proudly. Stags and lions staged through the city like their shit didn't stink. I walked through this city, where no dragons are anymore, where the weak and pathetic are begging in the streets, where the rich stayed locked in their keeps scared of the weak that are scared of the rich. This city had now so much divide. There was no humanity left. My father may have gone mad in his head, but his ancestors and Rhaegar kept this city together. There was still a divide, of course, there always will be, but not to this point where if the weak rebel and charge, they could overtake the rich and powerful. There was respect. When I was prince, I never felt scared of walking outside. Of course, with Lyanna or Rhaegar with me, I never did feel scared. But the poor loved him, when we would go out and he would sing, the poor wouldn't care who we were, we were just two brothers, spending the day how we pleased. In a city of stones and walls and towers, it never felt as cold as it did now. I never felt so… enraged. Yes, enraged, not sad or upset or lonely, enraged. Because not only did the boar take my home, he took away the joy and hope of everyone living in this city. He took away their love for themselves and the hierarchy, the cunt boy king now took away every desperate invisible thread of hope and respect and decency. They had nothing. How many people risked their lives for me to have a fighting chance? I got that fighting chance, but at the expense of so many lives and a city's hopes and dreams. The streets may be full of lions and stags, but I will show them that there's a reason a dragon has 3 heads. One for the powerful to attack, one to watch its back, and the last to shout and rally the weak to believe. Once more, this city will proudly display MY dragons. The people will no longer despise the king, no longer will they wait and wish for death, for the afterlife must be so much more peaceful than living here, trading a fresh rat to eat for stale bread. These people will be set free, through fire and blood I swear they will. Through my fire and blood, this city shall have life and hope again. Through my fire, this city shall remove the imposters and try to have peace once more.
Enough rambling, I approached the steps to the red keep. Cersei was standing, waiting patiently for me. "Ah, Asher, not exactly on time, but, I suppose you showed up, and cleaned yourself so I should be impressed. Come, I'll show you what I want to be fixed" she turned and started walking, and like the blacksmith dumb oaf I am, I followed without hesitation. My god, how this place had deteriorated so quickly. No doubt it was because of the rough, hasty, unprofessional destruction of all the dragon representation. I was so busy looking at the mangled eroding despair of my home, that I wasn't paying attention to where I was going and ran into someone, knocking them over and toppling over them.
"Watch where you're going" the muffled voice squeaked under me. I jumped up, and offered out my hand
"I'm sorry, I was looking at the decay of the walls" I finally looked and realized who I had toppled over. Sansa Stark was on the ground, staring her light blue daggers of eyes through the back of my skull.
"WHAT are you doing HERE, ROSBY blacksmith?!" pronouncing each word as though hoping every single one would pierce me with an actual dagger and cause me to keel over in agony.
"I invited him here, little dove. So try to be more careful when speaking to MY guests" Cersei was hiding an amused smile. Sansa blushed a shade of deep red and swatted my hand away, rising on her own. She dusted off her pale blue dress, shot me a dagger like glare once more, and continued on her way. Cersei also continued on her way, and once more I followed like a trained mutt. We reached the courtyard, and my heart plummeted to my feet. The state of the courtyard was disastrous. Where I would pick flowers now was barren except for weeds and thorns. The pond was dried and the lovely sound of running water was not to be heard. There was a couple of slews and some petals around benches here and there, but without my brothers' love and attention this place had gone to shit. "Do you think you can fix it Asher? It used to be ever so lovely."
"I can fix it, but you're going to have to tell me what you want it to look like" I nodded humbly. Fuck you bitch, used to be lovely, it was a paradise, or as close to one as I could have ever imagined. What the hell did you and your boar do to my home?! The walls are decaying, the gardens have grown barren, the courtyards look like a breeding ground for the plague, what the actual fuck did you two do to my home?!
She smiled and turned around "Follow me, I've prepared a room for you to work in." 'play nice Daemon, play nice' screamed through my head. 'Remember, you are Asher Waters, a blacksmith. This is your first time in the red keep, you've just seen the courtyard for the first time, this was never your home, so CALM THE FUCK DOWN AND PLAY ALONG' my feet knew how to play along better than my heart, and followed Cersei like a servant. I was lead to a room with a view of the courtyard and a stack of paper and a giant drawing table, tons of ink and things to draw with, varying in thicknesses and weight. A bed off to the side, on a makeshift perch, but nothing worth people's time to set up properly. "Asher, this is where you can sleep and draw while you are repairing the keep. Now, for the courtyard, I want it to look like…." she rambled on for hours. I scribbled some notes about what she was picturing.
"Ok, I think I have enough information, let me sketch a few things out and I'll show you in a couple days." I set my scrawled information down and sat down at the drawing desk. Sure, ill toss her ideas into consideration, but really, it's going to look like it used to.
And so I was a stranger, guest in my own home.
