Thank you to all you wonderful readers and reviewers! Lately, all the reviews come from Guests so I can not reply to you as I wish that I could do, but thank you guys so much! I hope that you keep enjoying the story until the end! (Which is not coming anytime soon!)

Arya awoke when the light of dawn came through the small window and hit her full in the face. She wrinkled her nose, not liking that sudden luminosity that had disturbed her sleep. She had been having the most beautiful dream, and she did not want to be disturbed from her sleep.

She had dreamt that she hadn't gone to Braavos. Instead, Gendry had found her, and he had brought Nymeria with him. He had confessed his feelings for her, and she had confessed her own, an they had kissed!

With her eyes still closed, she smiled. She felt movement, even though she was still, so she figured that it must be the ship's movement because of the waves of the Narrow Sea. Her smile dissapeared then.

I wanted that dream to be real..., she thought with great pity and dissapointment.

But suddenly she realized something. She had thought that she had been resting her head on a pillow, and that the movement that she felt was that of the ship. But what she rested her head on was too hard to be a pillow, didn't feel like one, and it was the only thing that was moving around her. That wasn't the movement of a ship.

She heard the sound of deep breathing, and she opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was a hand resting on her shoulder, and her body resting besides a larger, masculine one; their legs were tangled with each other's, and they were fully clothed. Arya saw then that she was resting her head on a man's chest, and the movement was his breathing. She moved her head to look at the man's face, and found Gendry deeply asleep.

It had been real. Gendry, his confession, their kiss... Everything had been real!

Arya smiled, feeling overwhelmed by joy. She didn't say a word, she just rested her head on Gendry's shoulder this time, and entertained herself by watching him sleep. She hadn't seen such a relaxed face on anyone before. Gendry looked peaceful and happy, even in his sleep. The way in which the corner of his mouth curved up in a faint smile told Arya that he was having pleasant dreams as well.

Is he dreaming about yesterday as well?, she wondered.

She felt like hours passed, and she also felt like she would never get tired of watching Gendry sleep. She put her hand over his chest, feeling the beating of his heart underneath his clothes and skin. Arya had realized that she loved feeling or hearing his heart beating. When they had fallen asleep last night after a very long day, she had laid down next to Gendry and she had put her head over his chest while he surrounded her with his arms, and Arya was dozed off while listening to his heart beating. She found it to be the most calming thing in the world.

After a long staring at him, and when the light in the room was stronger and illuminated everything, Arya decided to wake Gendry up. In other circumstances, she would wake people up by shaking them and yelling at them to make them rise up up the bed. This time, however, she wanted to do it gently. She raised her hand and started tickling him in the tip of his nose with her finger. After a few seconds, Gendry stirred from his sleep, wrinkling his nose as Arya had done before, and looked around confused, blinking his eyes multiple times. Then he saw Arya, and though at first there was a shocked look in his face (he probably had thought too that everything had been just a dream) he smiled happily at her.

"Good morning," Arya whispered, putting her hand on his chest again.

"Good morning." He lowered his head and placed a kiss on her hair. Then he rubbed her shoulder with his hand with te tenderness. "Have you slept well?"

"Better than ever," she smiled. She moved to be able to reach him better, and kissed him full in the mouth. Gendry gladly accepted the kiss and smiled against her mouth. It was a chaste kiss, but it was the best morning that Arya had ever had. When they pulled away from each other, Gendry caressed her cheek with his rough smith hands, that to her seemed to soft. She liked his hands.

Then all of a sudden, her stomach twisted and growled, and both she and Gendry laughed.

"We better get you something to eat, m'lady!" Gendry laughed, amused. Arya hit him in the chest with her fist.

"Do not call me m'lady! I'm not a lady!" she protested, more out of custom than because she really wanted to protest. Gendry knew that.

"I disagree, m'lady."

They stood up from the bed and put their boots on, and they placed their old clothes inside a sack that they had been given before leaving the room. The went down the stairs of the inn to get some food, and they sat in one of the tables available. Because the innkeeper knew that she was lady Stark thanks to her direwolf Nymeria, he paid special attention to them immediatly.

"M'lady. Ser," he doubted at the moment of addressing Gendry, not sure of the young man's status.

"My lord," Arya corrected him. Both Gendry and the innkeeper looked at her with surprise. Gendey didn't say anything, but the innkeeper bowed his head to him.

"Yes, of course. Forgive me, m'lord. What can I bring for you?"

Arya ordered some breakfast; they had enough coin for it, and she was starving. She supossed that Gendry was starving too. When the innkeeper left, Gendry looked at her with raised eyebrows.

"My lord?", he asked, not sure where that had come from. Arya shrugged.

"You are going to be that soon enough. People should start getting used to it," she explained with a mischievous smile on her face. After a few seconds, Gendry smiled too.

"I very much doubt that I'll become a lord. I'm a bastard, they won't allow me."

Arya did not want to worry about those things at that moment, they would just ruin her good mood.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it," she said, holding Gendry's hand. "But we can be sure of one thing, and it is that I'm going to marry you."

"That's all I need," Gendry said, trully happy.

Arya would have kissed him then and there, if it hadn't been for the innkeeper bringing their food and drink at that precise moment. They ate all that they could, filling their bellies for the log journey home. It would take them a month to reach Winterfell without exhausting themselves or killing their horses, and they would have to eat less to save coin for the entire journey. If they wasted it all quickly, they would have trouble and they would starve and freeze sleeping in the cold.

Maybe we will be treated as special guests? Arya hoped. Since the war had ended, life had become much easier for highborns again. Maybe she wouldn't suffer as much travelling North as she had when she was younger. Besides, she wasn't hiding from anyone now.

When they finished their food they stood up from the table and paid the innkeeper. The man thanked them for staying there, wished them good luck, and told his son to fetch their horse and Nymeria from the stables. As soon as she saw Arya, Nymeria ran to lick her face, scaring the innkeeper's son.

"Everyone's staring," Gendry told Arya. It was true, all the people in the street where staring at her and her giant direwolf. Some looked with fear, others with curiosity, others with realization, knowig who she was. Arya shrugged.

"Let them stare. What harm can they do?"

She wished she hadn't said those words.

Five goldcloaks appeared in the street and approached them when they saw Nymeria.

At first Arya thought that they were only going to ask what was a direwolf doing there in King's Landing, or tell her to be careful with the beast. Instead, they walked up to where Fendry and Arya were standing with Nymeria, and looked at the young girl.

"Are you lady Arya Stark?" one of the goldcloaks asked.

She didn't know how to react at first. Why were they looking for her? Years ago, she would have denied her identity, but at that moment it wad of no use. Nymeria was proof enough that she was indeed a Stark, and the people inside the inn knew it too. Slowly and hesitating, she nodded her head.

"Yes, I am," she said, wanting to know why they were asking for her. "Why?"

"The Queen has commanded us to escort you to her," the same goldcloaks that ha spoken before explained.

Arya frowned. The Quen had sent the goldcloaks to fetch her? Why?! How did Daenerys Stormborn even know that she was there? Why did she want to see her? Arya wasn't worried, the Queen was a friend of the Stark family. She didn't forget that Jon, Sansa and Arya had helped her to ride her draginsbinto battle when she took back the Seven Kingdoms.

At that moment, another one of the guards noticed Gendry. He seemed to be studying his face, as if trying to figure out something.

"Are you Gendry Waters?," the goldcloak asked.

Gendrydid look alarmed. He had ne'er met the Queen, and he had had bad past experiences with the goldcloaks. He took a step back, and Arya variously put herself in front of him, with Nymeria in front of her snarling at the guards, showing off her fangs.

"What do you want with him?," Arya asked.

"The Queen has ordered that he be aken to her immediatly as well," the goldcloaks answered to her. "She told us that you might be found together."

"He has done nothing, I am the one that ran away!" she exclaimed, worrying that the Queen might think that Gendry had kidnapped her. Maybe news of her dissapearance from Winterfell ha reached her already, and that had been the most obvious conclusion for her. "Don't do anything to him!"

The guards got closer to them.

"Don't hurt him!"

"Don't worry, my lady. We won't hurt any if you; those are not or orders."

"Then what does the Queen want?!"

"She just asked to see you. Both of you."

Arya and Gendry looked at each other, not sure what to do. Arya could order Nymeria to attack the guards and run away from there, but that wouldn't help them; in the end they would not be able to outrun all the goldcloaks in King's Landing. Besides, that wasn't the reign of King Joffrey, they really didn't have to fear nothing from the Dragon Queen... Did they?

But why does she want Gendry?, Arya wondered.

She supposed they would have to find out. She gave a reassuring nod to Gendry, indicating him that everything would be alright. He sighed, trusting her, and she extended her arm to offer him her hand as comfort. Gendry looked hesitantly at her hand and then at the guards, who were a bit stunned by that gesture of a highborns lady towards a lowborn bastard, but then he smiled a bit and took her hand.

Arya looked at the guards again with defiant eyes.

"Alright then. Take us to the Queen."

The goldcloaks escorted both of them and Nymeria to the Red Keep. Arya heard people whispering and murmuring behind their backs as they passed through the stinky streets of King's Landing. She couldn't stop wondering why Daenerys Targaryen had sent the goldcloaks after them and Gendry, but she hoped that it wasn't because of anything bad. She was more nervous for Gendry than for her, and she looked at him consantly through the corner of her eyes as she walked.

I won't let them do anything to him, she promised herself. I'll kill anyone who tries to harm him, just as I know now that he would do it for me.

She hadn't been at the Red Keep since the day if the reconquest of the Dragon Queen of King's Landing. She could never forget the feeling that it was, riding on the green dragon Rhaegal and seeing the enemies burn below them. It had been incredible, and so liberating... The Starks and Targaryens had won the war that night.

Gendry had never been inside the Red Keep, and he looked around with a bit of interest even though his insides were twisting with nerves and he had already seen enough castles in his life: Dragonstone, Harrenhal, Winterfell...

But this was his father's home, Arya realized then, understanding Gendry's interest and remembering the truth that he had revealed to her in Winterfell. His father was King Robert.

Hiw different things would have been if Jiffrey had been the bastard (which indeed he was) and Gendey the heir to the throne! Her father would have never questioned his claim on the throne and he would not have been executed. The war would not have happened, nor the Red Wedding, or a lot of other things...

We can't change the past, Arya reminded herself then. Everything would have been different if things had been like that. Sansa would have been betrothed to Gendry. She would not be with Sandor and I would not be with the stupid bull.

Perhaps all the bad things that had happened in the past had a good purpose, after all.

They arrived at the Throne Room. Gendry opened his eyes wide when he saw it; it was really impressive, with the huge columns and the Iron Throne made of the swords of Aegon's enemies. Daenerys Targaryen was sitting on the throne. She was wearing her silver hair loose, and her purple eyes were piercing. She didn't speak a word when she saw them approaching her escorted by the goldcloaks, she just looked to one side.

Arya followed her gaze and was deeply surpised by what she found there.

"Arya!"

Sansa, Jon and Sandor were there, next to the Iron Throne. It looked like Sansa had been pacing from one side of the other to the room, making the men nervous with all that movement, but she ran to hug her sister ad soon as she saw her. Arya couldn't stop herself and ran to hug her as well.

"There you are, you idiot!" Sansa exclaimed. She rarely cursed or insulted anyone, except when she was desperate. Her sister's absence had really upset her. "I thought I would never see you again! Hiw dare you run away from Winterfell like that, you could have been killed! Somethig terrible could have happened to you!"

"Don't worry, Sansa, I'm fine!" Arya reassured her. She knew that her older sister could be a little paranoid after all the things that had happened to her. "Really, Sansa. Nothing has happened to me."

"You were such a fool, leaving like that!" Sansa kept scolding her.

"I must agree with your sister here; you were a bloody fool!" Sandor barked, pointig at her with a menacing finger, like an older brother angry at a younger sister. That was what te man and Arya had become lately; brothers. And Sandor had been just as worried sick as the rest of her family looking for her all over Westeros.

"Oh, shut up!" she protested, sticking his to gue out to him in the most unladylike way possible. Then she hugged Jon with all her strength. "Jon!"

"Arya, don't ever do this to us again," her cousin told her while he hugged her back with brotherly love and full of relief that she was fine and unharmed.

"I won't."

"Promise me. Please."

"I promise," she said, and she meant it. Then she let go of him, and Jon chuckled amused once he took a better look at her.

"Arya, what are you wearing?"

Her cheeks reddened furiously. Before she could yell anything rude to her cousin, her older sister, the real lady of the family, intervened.

"Jon, she's wearing a dress! Don't discourage her!" she scolded him.

"Right, sorry."

"I'm only wearing this because I don't have anything else to wear, my clothes were all dirty and broken," she defended herself. Then she realized that she had not properly addressed the Queen yet. She might not feel or act like a lady, but she held a great amount of respect for the Dragon Queen. She never courtsied, but she did bow her head to the Queen in the most repectful way. "Your Grace."

Daenerys smiled. She looked so beautiful and full of life when she did that. She was a great woman, and a great Queen.

"It's good to see you again, lady Arya. You have kept your family very worried. They were most distressed when they came to me for help."

"I'm sorry, your Grace," Arya apologized, feeling real bad for having made her family suffer and leave the North to look for her so far away from home.

"I hope the guards did not scare you?" Daenerys asked, referring to the goldcloaks.

Arya shook her head. She turned her head to look at Gendry then, and everyone seemed to notice him for the first time. He looked at all of them a bit insecure, with a mixture of shame and shyness in his eyes. Arya recognize it as submission.

He's surrounded by highborns everywhere now, in the Red Keep, in front of the Queen. Well, of course he must have been feelig insecure! He ha been taught his entire life to bow his head to highborns, and he was now in front of the Queen of Westeros!

Arya saw that Sansa looked at Gendry with a sisterly smile in her face, while the expression on Sandor's and Jon's faces were more... severe. The Queen only looked at him with curiosity, and his face turned a deep shade of red. No one spoke a word until Sandor broke the silence.

"I thought I had told you to stay in Winterfell," he rasped, sounding deadly.

Gendry gulped, but then he raised his head, sanding with a bit more dignity and pride. He must have realized that if he wanted to have courage for what was coming with him and Arya, he should start now.

"Aye, you did," he nodded. "But disobeying you proved to be a thousand times wiser. I found her just in time."

"You little shit! It was your fault that Arya ran away in the first place!" Sandor barked. Sansa walked up to him and cupped his face with her hands.

"My love, I know you want to defend my sister as if she was your own blood, but do not torment the poor Gendry," she begged him, and then she smiled in that way that Sandor could never resist. He always did whatever Sansa asked him when she smiled in that way, so he stopped talking harshly to the young man. He did not, however, stop glaring at him an shooting daggers through his eyes. Sansa smiled at the young smith again. "Thank you so much for finding my sister. How can we repay you?"

Gendry quickly shook his head, acting modest as always. It exhasperated Arya. "No, my lady, you don't need to give me anything..." he quickly said, almost alarmed that a highborn was offering something to him, though he wa used to it from the Starks.

Arya intervened. She was not about to let Gendry waste the perfect oportunity to get what they both wanted. She raised her head in an authoritarian way and crossed her arms over her chest while a smile spread across her face.

"Actually, there is something that you can repay him with," she said, contradicting Gendry's words. They all looked at her, and she was about to explain when Sandor interrupted her- as always. She could have smacked him in the face at that moment if it weren't because she knew that her sister would stop her.

"Where in Seven Hells is Jaqen H'ghar?" he asked, looking around as if he expected the Faceless Man to be hiding inthe shadows, but there wasn't anybody there.

"He's gone," Arya said. The man was far away into the Narrow Sea by then, and she doubted that she would ever see him again.

"Left you, did he?" Sandor asked, jumping into conclusions. "Damn him, first he kidnaps you and then he runs off!"

"No, he didn't leave me, I did," Arya corrected him. "And he didn't kidnap me! I left!"

"Why did you do that?" Jon asked. He looked hurt, and Arya felt guilty when she saw that expression in his face. She knew what he was going to tell her, and she felt bad all of a sudden. "Gendry told us what happened, but... Arya, you left us. You turned your back on us. Your family..."

"I know," she said, lowering her gaze and feeling ashamed. "I should not have done that."

Gendry took a step forward to stand by her side, hoping to comfort her like that. He did not want Arya's family scolding her for something that he had caused.

"It was my fault," he said, standing bravely in front of the Starks and Targaryens. It was curious, the way in which he changed in a few seconds. He looked a thousand times braver when he had to speak up for Arya that when he had to speak up for himself. "I should have done things differently, I should have... approached the matter in a more delicate way," he said, rememberig how furious he was and how cloudy his mind was and how fueled his emotions were the night when he and Arya had that fight.

"And I should have been less hot-headed," Arya quickly added, wanting to take some of the responsability off Gendry's back. But apparently, he wasn't going to allow that.

"I should have been less stupid," he finished. Sandor snorted.

"Aye, you were bloody stupid indeed," he rasped. He looked down to his wife when he noticed the harsh look that she was giving him. "What?!"

"Sandor, remember that everybody acts stupid from time to time!" she told him. He responded to her by rolling his eyes. "And don't you dare deny that."

Jon was the first one that noticed that a big quarrel was going to start there if he didn't do something to stop it then and there. Sandor and Sansa often argued over petty things such as that, and it could get... loud. Arya thanked Jon mentally for reacting quickly, and looked at him when he faced the Queen.

"Aunt Daenerys, I understand that it was you who summoned Gendry here?"

Daenerys nodded, still sitting proudly on the Iron Throne. Arya looked at her wondering what were the reasons why the Dragon Queen had ordered the goldcloaks to look for Gendry. He was no one of importance! And most importantly, he hadn't done anything wrong, so he couldn't be there to be punished for any crimes…

"I did," the Queen answered to her nephew's question. Then she looked straight into Gendry's eyes. Arya expected Gendry to bow his head to the Queen again, behaving in that submissive way in which lowborns and he always did… but he didn't. He kept standing proudly at her side, with his head held high and staring straight into the Queen's violet eyes. It made Arya feel proud, somehow, and she smiled. "Gendry, I've been told that you are a smith?"

"Aye, your Grace."

"And that you are a very good friend of lady Arya?"

"Aye, your Grace," he nodded, not sure where that conversation was going.

"How did you become friend?"

"When we were on the run from King's Landing… Escaping the goldcloaks and the Lannisters," he answered, remembering how they had met when they marched from the city with Yoren and Hot Pie and Lommy, starting their journey to the Wall to join the night's Watch.

"You were escaping as well?" Daenerys kept questioning, and Gendry nodded once again. Everybody else in the room was confused, not sure why Daenerys was asking those questions.

I hope she doesn't think that he was on the run because he had done something bad! Arya thought, ready to jump in at any moment to defend Gendry if need be.

"Your Grace, why are you asking these questions?" Sansa asked, voicing the question in everyone's mind. It didn't make much sense that Daenerys wanted to know those things from Gendry, a boy whom she had never met before.

"I needed to make sure that he was the right person that I was looking for. I see that it is," the Queen replied, making them all frown even more. They hadn't seen until then that she was holding a rolled paper in her hand. Se looked at it for a moment before she sighed and stood up from her Throne. She looked glorious in front of the Iron Throne, like a true Queen. Slowly, she descended the steps until she was standing at the same floor level as them. She was taller than Arya but shorter than Sansa, and even more beautiful up close, exotic and striking. However, none of the men present in the Throne Room looked at her with even a pinch of desire or lust. Sandor only had eyes for Sansa (who was believed to be the second most beautiful woman in Westeros), Jon only had eyes for his wife Ygritte, and Gendry only had eyes for Arya.

The Queen walked up to Gendry. Now she was the one that had to look up to his eyes.

"You are a bastard. Am I mistaken?"

Gendry shook his head, letting her know that she was not mistaken. Then the Queen smiled, and she handed him the paper.

"Not anymore," she said.

Arya opened her eyes wide when she heard that. Gendry frowned, completely confused. He took the paper that the Queen handed him with unsure hands, and he unrolled it. He read in silence what it said. Arya couldn't see what was written in the paper, but she could see Gendry's expression changing as he read it. By the time he was finished, he was gaping and he was as pale as a ghost. He looked at the piece of paper awestruck, practically not believing it.

"What…?" he mumbled.

The Queen smiled even more with his reaction and returned to the steps, climbing them again to the Iron Throne.

"I have lived my whole life hating your family; that was what I was taught from my brother. He said that we should exterminate all of you when we took back the Seven Kingdoms. But my brother was stupid and intolerant, and he would not have been a good king. I understand that people are not guilty for what their families did in the past," she declared, and she sat on the throne. "I know the burden that it is to be the last surviving member of a family, I once was alone before I found my nephew. I hope you carry that responsibility with honor, and might the Houses of Targaryen and Baratheon be friends again, as the once were in the past."

Sansa and Jon gasped loudly, and the sound echoed in the Throne Room. Sandor was just as shocked as them, or maybe even more.

"WHAT?!"

They all stared at Gendry in awe. He was still holding the paper that legitimized him as Gendry Baratheon, son of King Robert Baratheon, first of his name. Arya thought that he looked like someone had kit him on the head with a hammer.

"Him?! A Baratheon?!" Sandor Clegane could still not believe it. And he had thought that he had seen enough with Jon Snow being legitimized as a Targaryen!

"But-but why?" Gendry mumbled, unable to speak correctly. He was still too much in shock. At his side, Arya was smiling widely, happy for him.

"I received a raven from your uncle Stannis a few days ago. He was the last Baratheon, his daughter Shireen had succumbed to illness a few months ago," the Queen exclaimed. "Stannis was ill as well, and he did not want the Baratheon name to be lost. He explained to me your origin and story, and revealed that it was his wish for you to be legitimized and become his heir. I didn't find any reason to deny him his last wish. You are now Lord Gendry Baratheon."

"Lord...?"

"I received a raven from last night informing me of Lord Stannis' death. Therefore, as his heir, you are now Lord Gendry Baratheon of Strom's End. All the lords and ladies of the Stormlands are your bannermen."

Gendry felt like he was getting dizzy. That was too much information in a very small amount of time, he had to take a lot in. He wasn't a bastard anymore, he wasn't a nobody... He was the Lord of one of the most powerful Houses of Westeros.

He chuckled, not sure of what to do or what to say. He didn't even know what to think. Because of his silence, Arya started to be worried. What if Gendry wasn't happy with those news? He had gone in a second from being a simple smith to being Lord Baratheon, it was a very big responsibility. It also mean a lot of pressure over him, as he had to learn how to be a highborn, he had to learn of politics and how to rule over his bannermen and the people of the Stormlands, and many other things... Things were going to be expected of him. Never in his life had anyone expected anything from him.

Arya would understand him better than anyone if he decided to reject that... gift... that he had been given by Stannis Baratheon and the Queen. Not long ago, she had hated the idea of becoming a lady, and she always repeated that she wanted to be wild and free. For her, that meant to be as far away from castles and lords as possible. However, over the last years and during the war she had finally realized how lucky she had been, and how hard life was for lowborn people. Gendry had now a chance to get rid of that hard life that had always treated him badly.

She saw hesitation in his blue eyes. He was looking at the paper in which his name, Gendry Baratheon, was written. He was probably thinking that it was a dream, and he would wake from it at any moment to find the harsh reality. But when that didn't happen, Gendry raised his head and looked at everyone in the eyes. He looked at Sansa, who was very happy for him. Then he looked at Sandor, who was still impressed, incredibly surprised, and still gaping in disbelief. Then he looked at Jon, who looked proud. Jon Targaryen knew better than anyone what it felt like to be nobody one day and suddenly become an important lord the next day, as he was one a Snow. He nodded his head in an encouraging way.

Finally, Gendry looked at Arya. With only one look at him, she knew that he was completely confused and had no idea of what to do, what to respond to all that. He wanted her to help him take the right decision, he needed her.

Actually, he wanted to make his decision based on what she wanted. He knew that Arya didn't like lords. How could he possibly be with her if he became the last Baratheon in Westeros? Years ago, Arya would have probably not liked the idea of Gendry being a lord. But now, after all that had happened, she knew that it didn't matter. She would love Gendry no matter what he was: bastard, smith, lord...

No matter what, he would always be her bull-headed idiot.

She dedicated him a warm smile, letting him now that he was free to choose what he wanted. After all, Gendry had been taking the right decisions lately. Arya trusted him to make the right decision this time too.

And so Gendry decided.

He turned to face the Queen sitting on the Iron Throne, and he kneeled in front of her. He bowed his head, but not with submission; with respect, instead.

"Your Grace, thank you for this gift," he said. His voice shook a little, and it wasn't surprising. He was still processing everything. "It will be an honor to be the Lord of Storm's End, though I'm not worthy of the title. I haven't been prepared for this."

The Queen smiled, not giving importance to that little fact. "I learned to be a Queen. Ad if Jon and Sandor learned how to be lords, so will you, I'm sure of it. Now rise, Lord Gendry. I hope this new life will make you very happy."

"It will, your Grace... I will just request one thing which I was going to ask to Lord Bran and all the members of House STark before I was summoned here" he said as he stood back on his feet as well.

"What is that request?"

Gendry looked at Arya with a playful glint in his eyes. He reached out and took her hand in his own in a gentle and tender way.

"The hand of Arya Stark in marriage."

Sansa Stark squealed then, unable to control herself. Her husband was staring at her in alarm, he had never though that she would do such an unladylike thing in public, and even less in front of the Queen. They were all looking at Sansa with amusement, and the girl covered her mouth with her hand. Her face turned to a deep shade of red because of the embarrassment.

"I'm sorry," she excused herself. She was very excited. "I just thought that I would never live to see this moment!"

That was true, neither she nor anyone had ever expected Arya's hand to be asked for marriage. They thought that, even if it did happen, she would kill the poor fool who dared ask for her hand. Instead, they were all amazed to see the way in which Arya was blushing, and she was doing it in a good way.

"Seven bloody buggering hells," Sandor Clegane cursed. Too many things were happening that day that he did not see coming.

They all looked at Arya then, and she blushed even more when she saw the looks in their faces. They were all waiting for her to say something!

"I consent to this marriage," the Queen announced. She was happy, because she loved to see people happy. Her own marriage had ended tragically, but there was still hope for other people. She could see in Gendry's face that he cared deeply for Arya, but she was not going to force the fierce young wolf-girl to do anything she didn't want to do. "Lady Arya, what do you say? Do you agree to marry Lord Gendry Baratheon?"

For a brief second, everyone feared that she would say no. They had grown up hearing Arya repeat over and over again that she would not marry, that she would not be a lady, that she was going to be a knight! Big was their surprise when, not even a second later, Arya screamed her answer, and it echoed all over the Throne Room.

"Yes!"