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

42: Into the storm

The ground on the field outside King's Landing was still stirred up from where the Knight of the Vale had stood. Imprints from horseshoes and footprints from boots were scattered all over. There was a line in the dirt from where they had stopped. Where they had waited while Robin Arryn parlayed with the king. When he could have stopped it all and taken the crown for himself.

As Meera rode over the field she thought about Robin, and about Tyrek. She remembered them as immature and childish boys. Boys who had wrestled with each other on the floor of a tavern. It wasn't that long time ago but it felt like forever. Both of those boys were now married. Both had gone to battle. And both were irrevocably changed.

What had happened to those boys had to be the king's doing. Meera knew it. He had hurt them for the purpose of his games. He had wrecked them for his own amusement. He had broken them just because he could.

Meera left her horse in the stable outside the gates and made her way into the city. She was going to the castle. She didn't think the king would help her, but she had to ask. For her father's sake, because he still believed in him. And for those boys' sake, she had to try to find out what the king had done to them.

The capital was a city again, instead of a graveyard. The gates were patched up and reinforced. The streets were once again bustling with people. The sounds of the city were back: chattering, laughter, crying, screaming. The smells were back as well: fresh fish from the harbor, fried food from market stalls, sewage from the latrines, mud from the streets.

But the city was still broken. Temporary roofs and walls had been installed in the ruins. Beggars sat by the walls asking for scraps. Meera got out the last food she had brought from the tavern and gave it to a little girl in tattered clothing and dirty braids. Burn marks were still visible on walls and piles of bricks laid on the sides of the road. The city was patched up but the scars would never heal.

The only thing building that seemed whole was the Red Keep. The castle shone in a way it hadn't last time Meera was there. The pale red walls appeared to be without holes and cracks. It was as big and magnificent as ever, with towers reaching almost up to the clouds.

The Stark banner hung from the balcony of the throne room. Meera smiled when she looked at that balcony, remembering what she and Gendry had engaged in on it. She could still feel it. His lips against hers. His body so close. How everything else had seized to exist at that moment. It was still their balcony, no matter which banner hung from it.

There would be another banner. One day. And another kiss on that balcony. One day.

***

Meera was shown into the throne room by Tyrion Lannister, the hand of the king, after announcing her arrival at the gates. The room looked so different than the last time she was there, with Gendry. It was decorated with silvery grey curtains and carpet. All the columns lining the aisle leading to the throne had been reerected. She liked how it looked last time better.

Behind the throne hung another huge Stark banner, this one had a grey wolf on it. So many details to show that the king was of House Stark, when in fact he was no Stark at all. He was someone, or something else. Meera had no doubt about this anymore.

The king sat in his wheelchair, which had been outfitted to resemble a throne, at the end of the aisle. He didn't acknowledge Meera's presence in any way when she walked in. His eyes just stared emptily into the distance.

"Lady Reed is here to see you, Your Majesty" Tyrion announced to the king.

Something happened to those empty eyes at that moment. A spark, a jolt, an emotion. His eyes suddenly went dark and hateful.