Work Text:
Sneak peak 2
Trouble
Gendry wasn’t in the least surprised when he heard the female voice telling off the loitering apprentices taking too long a lunch break outside. He knew she was due back soon, and the gossip on the town was that the Lady Daenerys had gone south to deliver jewellery to the capital and would bring her back to the Blessed Island. Not that she didn’t always visit at this time of the year.
There was a gust of icy wind when she opened the door, the bite of snow in the air sending a shiver down his spine, and Gendry put his hammer aside. Nymeria attacked him first, jumping excitedly and wagging her tail though she had only disappeared from his side at dawn and it was barely midday.
Then he saw her. Arya. She was wearing her riding breeches and leather jerkin, clearly intending to go out with a horse. She had changed, too, in the year since he’d seen her last, and Gendry couldn't prevent his gaping. Gone were the boyish features and the little-girl’s body. Her dark brown hair was long, falling down her back as far as her waist and styled into an intricate braid to keep it off her face as she rode. She had blossomed, curves growing in all the proper places and the breeches made her toned legs seem even longer. And while she was still petite and would never hold her sister’s southern beauty, Arya looked like the true Northerner she was. She still had a long face, but it had grown into something definitely feminine and beguiling. The only thing that had remained the same were her eyes — two pools of shining grey, excited and always craving the next big adventure.
“Why are you looking stupid?” she asked in her usual blunt manner.
Gendry chuckled, forcing his chin closed. “Sorry. I guess I… I didn't know you’d be back today. Should’ve suspected, though, once Nymeria disappeared. She usually gives me warning when she goes off.”
Arya smiled. “Dany said Nymeria’s been glued to your side since last year.”
“They’ve noticed up at the castle?” he panicked.
“No,” she waved her hand dismissively. “Well, Dany did, but she won’t cause trouble.”
“Your brother is going to skin me alive.”
She threw her head back in laughter. “We’re not Boltons, stupid. And that’s been outlawed in the North for generations, much to their dislike. Besides, Dany wouldn't let him.”
Gendry grumbled under his breath, picking up his hammer again. Arya rolled her eyes but kept quiet, resigning herself to cross the rest of the way inside the forge and jump onto the counter he was working at. He spared her a glance before going back to the sword.
“That doesn't look like steel,” she said after a few minutes of silence went by. Nymeria had happily settled in front of the fire and curled up for a nap.
Gendry sighed before turning to her. “It isn't. I’ve been playing around with a new alloy.”
“Lighter? More resistant? Stronger?”
“Don’t know yet.”
Arya was displeased with his tight-lip. She jumped down from the counter and rooted around his workplace, searching for something interesting. “What is this?” she asked, holding up the crude looking dagger.
“Dragonglass,” Gendry answered, putting his hammer aside again, turning to face her as he leaned against the counter.
“What for? What could you possibly attack with a dagger like this?”
Gendry shrugged — if her brother hadn't told her, he wasn't going to be the one to. He had a hard enough time believing it himself. “Your brother’s got a deal with the Night’s Watch or something.”
“Oh, is this about those icy monster he and Robb saw beyond the Wall? Gilly was telling me the ‘real’ story after I caught her telling terrifying bedtime stories to the babies. It reminded me of Old Nan.”
“All I know is that Jon started to mine dragonglass, even though everyone said it was going to be more expensive than what it sold for. But he ain’t selling—”
“He isn’t selling it,” she corrected.
“Right, he isn’t selling it, he is giving it to the Watch. There’s some brother that comes here every few months to take it and he’s even been trying to convince your brother to a meeting with wildlings. I think he’s about now.”
“I bet Dany will love it if Jon goes north again.”
Gendry chuckled. “If she gets to go this time, she might even like it.”
“I would,” Arya shrugged. “So, what else is new here?”
He shrugged. “Not much. How is the capital?”
“Why? Do you miss it?”
“Not in the least. Best decision I made was take this job.”
Arya smirked, biting her lip and stepping closer. “The best? Really?”
He held her back at arm’s length. “You’re a—”
“Don’t call me a lady. We’ve been through it enough times.”
“Doesn't change the fact that you are a highborn. I'm nothing.”
“I hate it when you talk like that.”
“It’s the truth.”
“It’s a stupid truth. My uncle and my father both married commoners. What is the problem?”
“The problem is that your uncle was set to inherit nothing and your father had already married a lady and had heirs. You’re a daughter of a Great House, you have no business messing around with lowborns.”
“You’re forgetting one thing,” Arya said, huffing in anger. “I don't care about what other people say. And I only do what I damn well want.”
She pulled him down by his collar, and though he was infinitely stronger than her, he didn't have any strength to resist her. She had stolen that away through the years, being an adorable rebellious little girl, then a tentative friend, forcing him to learn how to read so they could exchange letters when she was in King’s Landing.
The loud banging of the castle’s bells threw them apart.
“What is it?” Arya asked, confused at his panicked face.
“Those are the warning bells,” Gendry said, picking up his cloak. “Come on, I’ll walk you inside the castle.”
“But what is happening?”
“Trouble,” was all he said as they walked outside.
Soldiers were running about and, looking out to the sea, they could see the coast defences throwing flaming balls on three escaping ships. Arya looked back in the direction of Sunstone Town and saw two Starling warships pushing off from the harbour.
“We are under attack,” she whispered unbelievingly.
“Come on,” Gendry insisted, pulling her hand. “Whatever it is they’ll be looking for you at the castle.”
“What if they are at the castle?”
“Nah, the panic would be greater. Our ships are chasing those others, whoever it is, they fled on those.”
Arya let herself be guided from the forge to the castle, Nymeria circling around them attentive to a threat. Gendry insisted on seeing her to her family, so the guards allowed him inside. If Arya had thought Dany was prone to dragonfire rage when she was beyond pissed off, it did not compare to what she was seeing of her brother once they walked into the Audience Hall.
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