‘ i’m no lord. you are. ’
he doesn’t talk about the slight moment o’ happiness that he’s got when the news is delivered, that little jump o’ pride he had t’ learn that maybe he’s finally had it : a place in this world, or the proper recognition of it. and he definitely doesn’t try t’ remember the way arya had pushed him away. stay in the north, he asked. i might be a lord soon if the dragon queen wins. next t’ you, i can be more than just a poor southern bastard and we can have good lives again. peaceful ones. north and the storms t’gether. but she doesn’t want him. and ‘t hurts, it does. more than any pain ‘n the smithy had given him during work, more than the rough handling o’ any guards who had ever touched him t’ put him in jail, more even than knowing he’s wanted for his blood, cruelly, from his own family who ought t’ keep him safe.
‘cause that’s what family does, ain’t it? war ‘s a funny thing, it is - it makes men easily forget these things. and the highborns, lots o’ them, all they’ve ever given a shite about was the name, the blood. what of the person? i won’t be the same, gendry remembers vowing - and just as he did, another one o’ robert’s kin ‘s introduced to him. immediately, the black hair and blue eyes s’ too startling. too similar. gendry is not a fine brother - the first time he met the younger lad, he is filled more with stuttered words and long hums in his sentences. yet, ‘fter the great war is done, he feels... there’s a need, really, t’ always know edric is safe. now he kneels down at his brother’s feet, his stance is surrender, o’ resignation. some may spat at him, they would - an older o’ the two showin’ a stance o’ submission. but what does it matter ? he vowed t’ never wrong a family member o’ his, he wouldn’t. he won’t be breakin’ no vows now.
‘ the queen may named me, and i - m’ too quick t’ agree, i was. but we will name you ‘stead, if it’s what y’ wish. ’ none o’ it will mean anything if you’re not here with me, gendry had remembered his own voice claim only a few hours ago - only t’ realise now o’ how wrong he’d been. aye, ‘course, the title would mean none without arya ‘round. but it would mean much less if, in his reward, he’d t’ put aside his own family, t’ not be able to share it, or give, truly, what ‘s theirs by right. ‘fter all, gendry ‘s only a bastard; unacknowledged, even. edric - he is so much more. ‘ i think the queen may only want me t’ control. m’like chess pieces, i am : always a pawn in somebody else’s war. y’ know better than i, ye’ do. commons and courtesies i never did learn. yer’ well suited, yet she named me. ’ a pause. ‘ but ‘t doesn’t have t’ be. i am your brother. your older one by age. i swear t’ myself t’ not wrong any kin o’ mine like the baratheons did to theirs. whatever ye’ decide, edric - we’ll fight t’ make it true. i - i’ll protect ye’. ’
@enstorm / weapon request completed.
