The Stag and The Frog - (GendryxMeera GOT fanfic) Part 1: Alone

6: His father's son

Gendry was standing in the Great Hall of Greywater Watch waiting for Lord Howland Reed. Meera had gone to get her father after they had arrived at the castle. The hall looked like it was carved out of the swamp itself, the walls were made of cypress trunks and the floor was made of tree vines. It was much smaller than the Great Hall at Winterfell which was the only other castle Gendry had been to. Well, except for Dragonstone. But he hadn't seen much more of it than the dungeons and that one bedroom the red witch had taken him to. He wanted to forget that room and that castle.

Meera entered the hall again together with man Gendry assumed to be her father, Howland Reed. He wasn't a big man but he still looked like a warrior. His shoulders were wide and his arms were muscular. His hair was grey. He wasn't the young man he once was. When he fought beside Robert Baratheon and Ned Stark in the rebellion that put Robert on the throne. When he defeated Arthur Dayne, the greatest swordsman the kingdom had ever seen, by stabbing him in the back. When he was forced to tell Gendry's father that the woman he loved was gone forever.

Of course, Gendry knew none of this. Gendry didn't know most things about his father, the former king. Like most people in the kingdom he had heard the stories and songs told about the rebellion. Exaggerated and embellished stories. But he didn't know the true story. Howland Reed knew that story. Because he was the only man left who had lived it.

When Howland Reed saw Gendry he stopped in his tracks and looked at him in disbelief. Gendry saw the man's confusion and figured that he should introduce himself.

"Lord Reed? I'm...", he started.

Howland cut him off.

"Robert Baratheon's son. I can see who you are. Who your father is. I've seen your face before. It's Robert's face. You look just like him. Like he did back then."

It wasn't the first time this similarity was pointed out to Gendry. But he couldn't see it himself, his face was just his face to him. Not his father's.

"That's true. Robert was my father. I'm his bastard son. I'm Gendry Baratheon. Lord Gendry Baratheon."

As he said that Howland walked up to Gendry. He put both his hands on Gendry's shoulders and looked right at him. He smiled.

"Robert was my friend. My dear friend. I fought beside him. Any son of him is also my friend. I welcome you here as our guest Lord Baratheon."

Gendry was still soaking wet from his plunge into the canal earlier and Howland noticed that now.

"Did my daughter have you swim here?", Howland said while drying off his hands on his jacket.

"I got stuck in a sinkhole..."

Howland turned to Meera who was standing behind them.

"Why did you have our guest walk through the canals instead of the dry path?"

Meera shrugged and looked a bit guilty.

"I wanted to be sure to get here before nightfall."

"Well, you probably would have saved more time by not forcing Lord Baratheon to go swimming... Go get him a blanket or something so he can warm himself up. He's the last Baratheon we got and I don't want you to be responsible for killing him."

Meera disappeared out through one of the side doors and soon appeared again with a blanket in her arms. She put it over Gendry's shoulders.

"Sorry about the journey here. I didn't believe you were who you said you were", she said and he almost thought he could detect a smile on her lips.

Gendry was starting to feel a bit better about the whole situation. He wasn't freezing anymore and Lord Reed was friendlier than he had expected. Even Meera seemed to have become friendlier. Maybe he could actually do this.