From the Ashes (ASOIAF) (Sandor Clegane x OC)

Chapter 10: Brienne

     It was the day of the tourney. Brienne had ridden at the head of the procession from the castle early in the morning. She had seen that the King was settled comfortably in his royal box and now she was walking the tourney grounds taking in the festivities. The excitement was so thick in the air it was almost palpable. There were minstrels, jugglers and fools, and she thought she might even see some fire dancers in the distance. Everywhere she saw different variations of the Stark colors, and direwolves abounded. Dire wolf pendants, and banners, even dire wolf shaped cakes and pastries. She'd never been to a tourney in King's Landing before. It was much grander than she had thought it would be and this was a pared down version of what they used to be. She couldn't begin imagine what that had been like. There were tents as far as the eye could see with their various sigils flying above them. Some of them she recognized, the kraken of House Greyjoy, the leaping fish of House Tully, the blue falcon of House Arryn. Still others she recognized but couldn't put a name to the house. Three black ravens, a purple unicorn, two griffins. She almost forgotten how many noble houses there actually were in Westeros.

     She reached her destination. A plain grey tent with white detailing, the colors of the kings house. It was the tent he had provided for the men of the city who were participating. As she reached the tent entrance Gendry came out of it. There was no way around it, in his polished armor that was so dark it was nearly black and golden cloak embroidered with the black stag of his house, wearing a half helm of gold adorned with antlers, Gendry Baratheon was a stunning sight. Every bit the handsome warrior his father had been. Brienne noticed that he drew the eyes of several passing maids, some not even bothering to hide the way they stared. Gendry for his part, didn't seem to notice.

"What brings you here Ser Brienne?" He said brightly. He looked down and saw what Brienne was carrying under her arm.

"Oh that's right," He said, "I almost forgot. He's in the tent." and he walked away towards the main arena.

     Brienne ducked through the tent flap. It was a large circular tent with tables around the edges strewn with various weapons and pieces of armor. Sandor was standing in the middle of the tent with his back to her tightening the strap on one of his arm gauntlets. He'd traded his Lord Commander's armor for more simple battle armor complete with chain mail. He looked much like he had the first time she'd met him, the day they'd fought. He looked over his shoulder to see who'd come in.

"Oh it's you." He said, returning to his gauntlet, "what do you want."

"I came to return something to you." She said, "It didn't feel right, for the Hound to ride again without it."

     As he turned she held out the item she'd had tucked under her arm, a steel helm fashioned to look like a snarling dog. He stared at it for a long moment and then slowly reached out and took it from her, running his hand along the lines as if he almost couldn't believe it was real.

"Never thought I'd see this again." He said quietly, "Figured Joffery had it melted down for scrap the minute the Battle of Blackwater Bay ended. Where did you find it?"

"Gendry found it actually." She said, "He still has connections with a lot of the armories and smithies in the city. He said it was just sitting up on a shelf in one of their shops. You might not be too far off about Joffery, because Gendry said the man told him he couldn't bring himself to destroy it. Said it was a thing of beauty. So anyway, Gendry wasn't sure if you'd want it or not so he gave it to me. Let me decide when and if it should be given back to you."

     Sandor stayed quiet for another long minute, staring at the treasure she'd returned to him. Finally he looked up.

"Thank you Brienne. Truly." He said, and the deep sincerity in his voice caught her off guard. Before she could respond there was a loud trumpet blast that indicated all champions needed to make their way to the arena for the joust.