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

25: His mother's son

Another day had dawned. The Northern lords and ladies had left. Leaving the remaining ones to once to discuss the future of the broken city.

Gendry had not slept. He had not eaten. He had barely got his jacket on properly. But he was drunk on life and love. And he had a newfound sense of confidence. Confidence that he was just as good as any of them up there.

As he walked up the stairs to the podium in the Dragon Pit he looked right at the king. He knew now who the king was, and who he wasn't. He looked right into his eyes and saw just emptiness and darkness. Just like Meera had said. And Gendry had believed her.

The king looked back at him. There was something else in his eyes now. Anger, and confusion.

***

The king looked at Lord Baratheon and saw his whole carefully built plan fall apart. Because he shouldn't be there. He should have left with Arya. And now the king couldn't see him anymore. The man was standing right in front of him but he also wasn't there. The king couldn't see his faith, his future, his role.

Gendry Baratheon wasn't supposed to be important. He was just a bastard blacksmith pretending to be a lord. But now suddenly the king couldn't see what the man in front of him was anymore.

Something had changed. Something was out of place. Something would have to be done.

***

The council went on for a long time. Honestly, Gendry didn't understand a lot of what was said, and he was dozing off a bit. He wasn't accustomed to the vocabulary or phrasings used by the lords. And he had also barely slept for days.

But as one specific matter came up he began to listen. Because this he knew about. This he cared about.

"And now on to the matter of food," said Tyrion Lannister, the new hand of the king. "What should we do with all the hungry people fleeing the capital?"

"We can't feed them all," Lord Royce chimed in. "So better not to feed them at all."

"So you suggest we let them fend for themselves," Tyrion replied. "Let who survive, survive so to speak."

Lord Royce nodded.

"We can't feed all forever," the prince of Dorne chimed in. "So better not make them used to it."

"They will storm out castles when we stop feeding them," Edmure Tully said.

"Won't they storm your castle regardless though?" Howland Reed asked. "I mean they won't storm mine, because of the crocodiles... But if the people are hungry they will come to your castles anyway. Where else are they to go?"

"At least we haven't already let them in then," Edmure Tully replied. "If we start feeding them they are already in our castles, they will storm us from the inside."

"We can feed our own people, that's who we have an obligation towards." Paxter Redwyne said. "If we start feeding everyone we won't be able to feed our own soon."

"I*ve looked this up in some ledgers from the past," Samwell Tarly, who was apparently the appointed maester at this council, said. "And in previous times of disaster, the population has always declined afterward. It's just the way it goes. But the strong will survive and thrive. The kingdom will be better for it."

Several of the other lords nodded in agreement to this. This seemed to be an easy solution for them all. No need to deal with pesky commoners at their castle gates demanding more and more food.

"Very well," Tyrion Lannister said. "What do you say, King Bran? Do you agree with the lords' assessment?"

The king was quiet for a bit after the question, a little too long to not be weird. He stared into space as usual, at what no one knew. Then he spoke.