Snow Falls Hot

2

"Enith!" Ned called you over. "Would you like to accompany me on my tasks today?"

"Oh, Jaime was going to— well, I suppose he won't mind if I go with you today."

"What was he going to do?" Ned asked, words measured.

"Show me how to shoot arrows." Enith took the large book from Ned's hands. "He was teaching me to sword fight like Arya's dancing master but said my keen eyes are suited more to archery. I think I agree with him."

"I'm surprised you have taken to the Kingslayer," Ned said as the two of them entered a corridor.

"It's not very smart I know but... is it possible for a man to be so different in person to the tales of him?"

Ned looked around, checking that no one was spying. He still kept his voice quiet as he spoke.

"Knowing your father, it is entirely possible. When we are in safer spaces I will tell you more, tell you everything. Remind me."

Enith nodded and the two of them continued out of the Red Keep and towards the town. Enith was blindly following Ned around, unsure of what exactly he was doing. Being the Hand of the King seemed to have Ned doing anything and everything. The book in Enith's hands said the lineages of the Seven Kingdoms on the front.

Somewhere in that book her name would have been there, right underneath her father's. But if it was there, she wouldn't be alive. And life, to Enith, was more important than a name and rightful title written down in a book. She and Ned were stopped by Littlefinger. Petyr Baelish, one of Enith's least favorite people in the entirety of Westeros.

"Watch yourself, Eddard. Hands of the king seem to be dropping quickly around King's Landing. Arryan's work you'll find left unfinished with the blacksmiths."

Following his advice, Ned entered the blacksmith's workshop. An older and younger man were working. Enith admired the bull helmet the younger man, revealing his name to be Gendry, had made. He and Ned talked as Enith looked at all the weapons. The older man, the master of the shop, eyed her.

"Is the lady interested in something?"

"Do you have any arrowheads? And maybe a sword more for my stature?"

Gendry picked up a small burlap bag. "Here, just forged them yesterday. The helmet isn't for sale."

"I don't think I have much use for it as pretty as it is," Enith said with a laugh.

She fished in Ned's bag for some coin while the master looked for a sword for her. She placed the coin on the table and grabbed the bag from Gendry, fingers lingering on each other for a moment. Ned cleared his throat and the they both pulled apart. Enith thanked Gendry for the weapons and excused herself to be outside, the workshop feeling very hot all of a sudden. When Ned gathered all the information he needed he met Enith outside with a look on his face.

"The blacksmith apprentice?" He asked in a teasing manner.

"Can we go back to the Keep, now?"

"Do you recognize him? Gendry?"

"Should I?"

"I guess you wouldn't know it now with how much he let himself go. But that boy is the spitting image of Robert when he was younger." Ned laughed at the face she made.

"But then the king was handsome, what happened?"

The guffaw that came from Ned drew the attention of a few on the street. He pushed Enith forward with the fake threat to tell Robert what she said about him. There was no reason for the two of them to be in town any longer but Ned didn't necessarily want Enith back in the Kingslayer's presence even if Robert was expecting a betrothal.