Chapter Text
For weeks the whole Castle was being prepared for the arrival of the royal family. Arya had a new green gown, which almost prevented her from moving. Sha had to wake before dawn, just to get ready for the meeting, and waiting for the royal carriage to enter Winterfell's gates beside her sister was killing her. She was prevented from being on the King's Road to be the first to see the Baratheons arrive, so she had to stay with her family, in the green gown she hated and with sore feet thanks to the shoes her mother forced on her.
It was a relief when she saw the first knights entering the gates. Arya started to feel her feet again when she saw the horses and the Baratheon banners inside the walls. They taught her how to ride, but she never really liked using horses; since the day when Robb, after a hunt, had gifted her a direwolf puppy, Nymeria, she was trying to train it, so that, when she grew up and she would become the size of a horse, she would be able to ride on her back.
She was thinking of Nymeria when she saw the Prince entering the courtyard on horseback, shortly before the Queen's carriage. She stopped whatching him, her eyes wide open. Watching Prince Gendry enter Winterfell on his white horse, dressed in gold, with a triumphant look, had a strange effect on her. Mabye it was the new cut he gave to his black hair, mabye the short beard he started to grow; she didn't know what, but there was something in him preventing her from removing her grey eyes from his blue ones.
Only when he looked away to get off his horse Arya realised how silly her thoughts were. She looked at the carriage and saw Queen Cersei getting off with her children. Their blonde hair almost reflected the shy sun and its sight irritated Arya's eyes like nothing else.
The King get off hi horse, Arya didn't even see him coming, and she found herself having to bow, jerked to the ground by her sister. When she saw everyone getting up, she did it too, and listened to her father talking with the King. They were talking like old friends, until Robert turned to her brothers. First he talked to Robb, asking him if he was ready to replace his father, then he asked Rickon and Bran to show hime their muscles. He went over to Sansa, and appreciated her beauty; how not to do it, Arya wondered when, looking up at the King, she saw him looking at her with an amused smirk:-And what's your name?
-Arya.- the girl answered, staring into his eyes. He nodded and turned back to Lord Stark, asking him to accompany him to the crypts. Arya watched them go and then turned to her sister:-Well, now what?- she asked smiling at her sister, while out of te corner of her ewe she saw the Queen approaching and talking to her mother.
-You can do whatever you want, I have to get dressed for tonight's feast.- answered Sansa, cold as ice, without even looking at her. She was probably looking at the Queen, who however did not seem to have any inerest in them. She was beautiful, Cersei Lannister. Arya was sure that Sansa too, someday, would become as beautiful as her, mabye even more than she was, each of her brother would find beautiful wives, and she would have been forced to marry a lord, hoping to be pretty enough for him, so that he woulf not return home after the wars with as many bastards as the days of absence from the fortress.
She shaked her head, making those dark thoughts move away from her head, before seeing aut of the corner of her eye Robb untie the lines, when Cersei asked Lady Stark to accompany her and her children inside. She started running towards the, at least that day, empty forge, where she had hidden Nymeria, and reached her direwolf in a few minutes.
She didn't understand that someone had followed her until Gendry's golden cloack made a dull thud when the Prince set it on a table. Arya turned her face shocked and her eyes widened when she found herself in front of the boy. Her head was telling her to bow, to respect the formalities, but her body didn't move. She felt his eyes on her, and her muscles no longer wanted to respond.
-Lady Stark... I didn't know I'd fine you here... usually forges are not places for a lady.- spoke Gendry, leaning against a tambe, his arms crossed over his chest, his gaze fixed on her, as if he had never seen a girl. Arya found herself shrugging her shoulders. She knew she was not a lady, but it would have been strange to tell another person, especially the Prince.
-It's... hotter here.- she answered without looking away from his eyes. -Although it certainly isn't even the place of a Prince... what... what are you doing here?- she then asked smiling. In her head, her mother was telling her to mind her own buisness, but curiosity was too strong. And Gendry understood that.
-I had to stretch my legs, after riding all day and... they brought me down here.- explained the Prince shaking his head amused by the lie he was telling her. The truth was that he had expressly asked where the forge was, he hadn't picked up a hammer for almos a month now, and he missed the warmth of the fire and the sound of wrought iron.
-So... neither of us should be here... and I hope neither wuold spy on the other. I surerly won't...- Arya started babbling, looking away from the Prince, before being interrupted by him:-My father wouldn't be surprised to find me here, and the Queen doesn't care. I think it's more important that Lord and Lady Stark don't find out. And I promise you I won't be the spy. But I think you should get ready... I know there will be a feast toniht and if you put in as much as the Queen, you're already late.
-I'm no lady... certainly not the Queen. I won't take more than my due. And I've already prepared myself enough this morning for your arrival, in short, this dress is killing me, and you can't even see it under the fur.- said Arya without thinking that she was talking to the Prince, and realising it only when he started laughing.
His laugh so cear that he interrupted the flow of thoughts in the girl's head. Thoughts that had finally found the time and the person to be revealed to, even though he was obviusly the wrong one. Arya believed it would be a disaster to dinfide in her sister or her brothers, but perhaps she had managed to find a worse person to confide.
Gendry shook his head, trying to stop his laughter. However, under Arya's embarrassed gaze, the Prince could not command his laughter, as he had never managed to command anything or anyone in the nineteen years of his life as a prince. It was when Arya tried to leave, that Gendry's laughter stopped, and his hand ran to hers, to keep her frome escaping; he had found someone who did not seem to think of him just as the Prince, and he had no intention of letting her escape.
-I... didn't mean to laugh at you, Lady Stark... forgive my insolence, but I think it was due to the profound truth you said.- told Gendry, making the girl turn back to him. Arya knew that he was referring to not being the Queen. Sh was probably famous in all the Seven Kingdoms for her clumsiness, her tomboy manner and her ugliness. -I think it's a shame that your fur is hiding the dress you put on for the occasion. It must be really lovely.
Arya was dumbfounded by the Prince's words, watched his lips smile at her, trying to assure her that it was what he really thought. The girl foud herself smiling back at him, as to show appreciation to the boy's comment:-Actually it's a horrendous color and I think it doesn't suit me, but... I appreciate the trust, my Prince.
Gendry nodded to her, leaving her hand and got back on his feet, not far frome her. He was about to say something, something too glazed, like he couldn't believe her words, but he was interrupted by Jon Snow, who was calling Arya to take her to her rooms to get ready. When he entered the forge, Jon didn't make the same mistake as his sister, bowing briefly to the Prince before calling Arya again and demanding, in the name of the Lady of Winterfell, that she follow him.