Chapter Text
“What is it Jon?” Arya asked with eyes full of curiosity. He looked down at the expectant face of his little sister and smiled.
“We went on a expedition to the volcano, Lord Tyrion read that ancient dragons had made a lair in there and wanted to try to find some dragon eggs so Daenerys could hatch.” He said and saw her eyes going big.
“You found dragon eggs??” Arya and Gendry said at the same time and Jon pushed down the possessive monster squeezing his chest.
“No…we couldn’t find any eggs…but we found a dragon graveyard.” He said and saw the way Gendry’s eyes lit up.
“How many dragons? How big are they?” He asked excited.
“I counted 5, and they are huge!”he said with a smile seeing the expression on Gendry’s face.
And then Gendry looked at Arya and she looked back at him and they smiled at each other…but it wasn’t just a smile…it was like they just had a whole conversation only with their eyes…and he pushed that suffocating feeling down again.
As they entered the kitchen, the smell of hot stew made Gendry’s stomach growl loudly and Arya laughed. “Almost there.”
“I feel like I’m hallucinating the good news from the hunger and I’m scared I’m gonna wake up still inside of that boat.” He said as he rubbed his stomach frowning.
“You’re so dramatic…” she said rolling her eyes and her eyes lit up as she looked at someone standing by the fire. “Saniii!!”
“My little mouse!” the woman turned around letting the wooden spoon fall back into the pot and hushed over to where his sister was. Arya was already closing the distance between them but then she stopped.
“Don’t hug me…I stink…”she warned the woman and Jon wished his little sister smelled like a drunk pirate’s ass, but he knew the one scent mixed with the scent of sea water and sweat he could smell all over her when he hugged her in her chamber.
It was Gendry’s… and he could smell her scent all over him as well…he had to control himself not to grab him by the neck earlier… they’ve spent days on the sea in a tiny boat…they probably stayed close to each other to stay warm… he took a deep breath as the feeling started to grow again.
The woman who seemed to not care at all what his sister smelled like, hugged her, swinging his little sister from left to right.
“I don’t care!! I’m so glad you’re back safely! How was the…” and then she seemed to take notice that his sister wasn’t alone and went stiff, her cheeks turned into a crimson shade. ”Your Grace…My Lord…” she said bowing at them “I’ll prepare the supper at once…” she said and turned to Arya with a shy smile.
“Thank you.” The three of them said in unison. The woman bowed at them before squeezing Arya’s hand with a smile and went back to stand beside the fire stirring the pot with practiced hands.
They took a seat at the table and soon Gendry and his little sister had a bowl of steaming stew in front of them.
“Thank you. You’re my savior!” His sister told the woman making her smile shyly as she bowed at them.
“When can we go there to get the dragon bones?” Gendry asked while blowing the stew on his spoon.
“We can go tomorrow if you want…” Jon said and Gendry frowned a bit. “Do you already have plans?”
“Stay cooped up inside that smithy…that’s his plan…”Arya said in a mischievous way before filling her mouth with a generous spoon of stew.
“Thanks to whom?” Gendry replied with an arched brow.
“If you don’t want it, just leave it…”
“I might…” Gendry said dismissively and his little sister looked at him like she didn’t believed it even for a second. “Shut up…” Gendry said without looking at her and she snorted almost spilling the stew she had on her spoon.
“What are you talking about?” Jon asked trying not to sound too eager to participate in whatever was going on there.
“I gave him a second hand armor…” She said with an innocent tone and Gendry snorted.
“She stole me a second hand armor…”
“If you look at it closely, it wasn’t actually stolen…you are the only one who actually has a clame on it…” she said to Gendry and then looked at him “I took Robert Baratheon’s old armor from the Red Keep…” she added as explanation.
“And his hammer.” Gendry reminded her with a sheepish smile.
“And his hammer…”she added with a proud smile on her face. So his little sister was gifting him weapons and armors now…great… “It was forgotten there in a room covered in dust and cobwebs… nobody touched it in decades probably…”she added quickly looking at him concerned.
“I think nobody will come complaining about it then…” he gave her a reassuring smile.
“What is the other news you said you have for me?” Arya asked.
“It’s just the best news I had since you came back from Essos…”
“What is it??” She said impatiently.
“I don’t know if you’re ready to hear it…”
“Jon…” She said annoyed making him chuckle.
“Eat your stew first… I don’t want you choking…” and as soon as the words left his mouth she brought the bowl to her lips drinking it in big gulps before hitting the empty bowl over the table wiping her mouth with the back of her hand making Gendry snort.
Jon moved her bowl to the side and grabbed her hands. “Ready?” He asked her and she rolled her eyes. “Bran is alive… he’s at home.” He saw the way her eyes started to fill with tears of joy.
“What?? Really??” She asked him incredulous.
“Really… I received a raven about a sennight ago.” Jon said not being able to contain his own smile. Arya threw herself over the table and hugged him tightly, he hugged her back rubbing her back.
“I’m so glad you came back now… I plan to stop at Winterfell to see him before heading back to the Wall.” He said and she went back to her chair.
“Im coming with you!” She said instantly wiping her eyes with the heel of her hands.
“Why are you going back to the wall?” Gendry inquired.
“Lord Tyrion had an idea to get help from all the lords… so I decided to give it a try.” Jon said not wanting to get in too many details in front of Arya now that she was so happy with Bran’s news.
“What we gonna do?” she asked him
“You don’t need to worry about it, you should stay at Winterfell with Bran.” He said with a smile.
“What is the plan Jon?” She asked suspicious.
“We gonna get some proof…”
“What do you mean?” she asked confused.
“They don’t believe it… so we will give them some proof…”
“How can you prove it? Unless you show them… wait…are you going beyond the wall to get one of them?” She asked incredulously.
“The original plan is to get two…”
“two?? And you think I will be sitting my ass in Winterfell while you go beyond the wall to get not one, but two wights?” She said in a chastising tone.
“One is already a bad idea… why two?” Gendry asked concerned.
“The plan is to ship one of them to Sunspear and start bringing awareness while taking it up to Reach and Stormlands… Lord Tyrion estimate that by that time there will be already troops marching North to fight, if not for survival, for the glory and fame that the battle will give to those who fought in it…”
“The second one we should bring from the wall down south so the people there start moving south for safety so even if the dead breach the wall there won’t be humans to add to their numbers.”
“That’s clever… stupid suicidal mission still…” Gendry said looking serious at him.
“I’m going with you...” Arya said with a determined face.
“What about Lord Tyrion?” Gendry said looking at her and she bit her lip.
“That’s not fair…” she said frowning to the table. “I’ll take him there tomorrow… I’ll be back before a fortnight…”
“Do you think he can survive on his own in kingslanding…?”Gendry said looking at her with a serious look on his face. “I mean…I know you want to help your brother…” Gendry said and looked at him briefly shaking his head almost imperceptibly before looking at her with worried eyes. “But even with all the bones Jon found… we still need Daenerys’s dragons to melt it all…”
“Gendry is right… we gonna need all the help we can get…”he told his little sister and saw the way her shoulders sagged as she brought the heel of her hands to hide her eyes.
“I really wanted to see Bran…” she said in a tiny voice making his heart break, he knew she missed Bran as much or even more than him… he was the one closest to her in age and they’ve always played together when they were little. She always protected him…
Jon didn’t knew what to say to comfort her because he knew Gendry was right… she wouldn’t stay at Winterfell waiting and he didn’t like the idea of bringing her across the wall with those creatures roaming around…and yes… they needed those dragons.
Just then a knocking sound got his attention. As he guessed a raven was hitting the window glass just like that night he recieved Bran’s raven in his chamber’s window, this one too came directly to him in the kitchen window now… Jon didn’t understand how Bran taught the birds how to do that.
He went to the window and opened it reaching his hand to the parchment rolled on the birds leg but the raven tried to bite his fingers making him pull his hand back quickly.
The raven cawed almost as if it was mocking him. “What is that?” Arya asked him curiously and the bird flew past him gliding to a smooth stop in front of her over the table. “Hello, you…” Arya said to the bird who looked curiously at her tilting it’s head this way and that way as if it wanted to take a better look at her.
The bird streched the leg with the parchment at her and Arya reached for it, the bird leaned the head towards her hand and she stopped. But instead of trying to bite her fingers the bird leaned to her hand nudging her hand with it’s head making Arya chuckle.
She caressed the bird lightly with her finger a couple times before getting the paper from it’s leg. “Can I open it?” She asked uncertain at him.
“I’m not a specialist but I think it’s for you…”He told his little sister and she rolled her eyes at him with a half smile.
She unrolled the parchment and passed her eyes over it once with her eyebrows knitting, then one more time before turning the parchment backwards as if trying to find an explanation, a hidden clue or something. “How?” She asked him with her eyes glistening with unshed tears.
“I still don’t know either…he sent me one saying he was at Winterfell, it found me in my chambers…” he told her. “What does it say?” He asked her and she passed the parchment to him.
‘I miss you dearly, but it’s not the time for you to come yet.
Take your blacksmith with you.
You need to pay the price.
If your heart is heavy find a godswood, You’ll always be a daughter of the north.‘
“Take your blacksmith? What price? What does this mean?” Jon asked her confused.
“It means I’m not going to Winterfell yet…”she said in a sad but resigned tone. “I need to go to the Riverlands…” She said looking at Gendry with pleading eyes and he nodded.
“I’ll go wherever you ask me to…” Gendry said in a reassuring tone that made Jon’s chest heavy and his hand clenched instinctively.
The bird cawed loudly over the table and flapped it’s wings a couple times and flew through the window into the night.
“I think I’m going to take a bath…”a Arya said standing up and getting her clothes from the bench beside her.
The woman from early appeared in the kitchen as if someone had summoned her and took their bowls from the table “We brought the hot water to the bath house” she said to Arya with a smile.
“Thank you Sanira.” Arya said to her.
“Are you coming tonight?” Jon asked her feeling a little stupid.
“Do you want me to?” She asked him.
“I wouldn’t mind…”he told her and she nodded at him with a smile.
“I’ll be waiting then…”He told his sister and then “Try to get some rest.” He said to Gendry who looked like someone had insulted him for some reason.
“I’ll try…”he answered before standing up and turning his back around heading out of the kitchen, Arya following him suit, giving Jon one last look before running a little bit to catch up to Gendry’s long strides.