Before Queen Cersei fell she did hear his name. She heard the name Gendry Baratheon spoken. And she cursed as she did.
The Queen stood looking out over the capital from the balcony of the throne room. She was, of course, sipping on a glass of wine.
Behind her was the iron throne, the symbol for everything they were fighting for. A thick red carpet stretched from the throne to the balcony. Sturdy marble columns lined the room on both sides. It was a magnificent room, and it was only hours from being reduced to ashes.
Qyburn walked in as she stood there, to give her a report on the war ahead. She didn't even bother to grace him with a look.
"Your Grace, the Northern armies are closing in on us already. By my estimations, they will be here tomorrow."
"So soon... Did the Baratheon armies not hold them up?"
"The Baratheon armies left the Neck... they no longer follow you, Your Grace."
"Then who do they follow? They can't follow her... she would burn them on the spot. They fought against her father, they took his throne from him."
"No, your grace. They don't follow her. They follow Gendry Baratheon."
She spun around quickly. This ridiculous claim needed to be faced head-on.
"Who the fuck is Gendry Baratheon?" she snapped.
Qyburn shifted a bit as he stood there. He hadn't expected this sudden flood of anger.
"They say he's Robert's bastard son, Your Grace. The Dragon Queen legitimized him. A young blacksmith apparently. Rumor has it he's also taken Storm's End."
As she heard that she suddenly remembered. She remembered the boy who fled. The boy who her men hunted down. The boy who her men said they killed. The last of her husband's bastards.
A faint memory of her late husband also hit her. It was just a feeling really, of when she had almost loved Robert. Of when he had been the brightest shining light in the whole kingdom. Apparently that light hadn't quite burnt out yet.
The Queen couldn't help to feel admiration for the boy. That he had crawled out from whatever rock he had been hiding under and risen so high. But she also felt rage that he dared to come back and haunt her now.
"I'll deal with him later," she said as she turned back to look out over the city again.
But later never came.
Instead, everyone fell, and everything burned.
Queen Cersei fell. As the city around her burned.
Queen Daenerys fell. As she burned the city she was supposed to rule.
Jon Snow and Tyrion Lannister fell. As they took down the queen who burned the city.
But that is the end of another story. A story that's already been told. That's not this story. This story begins in that story but will end somewhere else. Yet in exactly the same spot.
***
Gendry stood atop the tower of the castle that he now ruled. He could see almost the entire Stormlands from there. The wild and thick forests teeming with life. The lush islands in the deep blue sea. The water crashing against the rugged cliffs below them. He stood atop that tower every day, trying to take in the fact that these were his lands.
But this day he also saw smoke appearing in the distance. Giant plumes of smoke covering the lands around the capital like a blanket. He could feel the smell of it in the air. It smelt like when he burned his hands in the blacksmith workshop. It was the smell of burning flesh. He didn't know what the smoke meant yet but he knew it couldn't be good. That smell was never good.
Gendry would find out soon that the smoke came from the city that once had been his home. The city burned. It burned to ashes. Ashes that turned into smoke.
People he had grown up with were dying at that very moment. The workshop where he had worked was collapsing into a pile of rubble. The streets where he had walked were turning into seas of fire. Gendry would have been there if Davos hadn't come for him.
Davos's son soon joined him atop that tower.
"What is happening, Gendry?" Devan asked and pointed towards the smoke.
"I don't know. But it must be something more than just a battle. A battle shouldn't make it burn like that, it shouldn't make it smell like that," Gendry replied.
He worried about the people he knew in the city. He worried about Davos and Jon. They were his friends and he knew they would never back away from a fight. And he worried about Arya. Because he knew how much she hated Queen Cersei. He suspected she wouldn't be able to let the Queen get defeated without being there.
But he could do nothing. He could just stand there and watch as the smoke spread. And wait for news from the capital.
***
Meera also saw the smoke. She and her father stood atop the main watchtower by their castle. The watchtower was created from a huge cypress tree where a platform had been built atop. Here they could survey their surroundings without being spotted.
The smoke appeared to them as giant black clouds above the trees of the swamp. It rolled in like stormy weather, almost obscuring the sunlight.
"Whatever that is, it's not good," Meera said to her father.
"Whatever that is, we will know soon," her father replied. "And we will fight like we always do, if we need to."
But they could do nothing right now. They could just wait as well.
***
The day after the smoke first appeared the rain came. It rained all over the kingdom. Black rain.
It turned the grey stone walls of Storm's End black and it turned the vines and cypress trunks of Greywater Watch black as well.
The whole kingdom turned black. Black from the ashes of the people who had burned.
But they still didn't know what had happened. Their castles were black but no news was heard. Not for many days. They did not know who had won and who had lost. They did not know who had lived and who had died.
***
Seven days went with no news. Then a raven arrived at Storm's End.
Gendry stood in the blacksmith workshop overseeing the work when Courtnay Penrose walked in and handed him the scroll.
"This just arrived Lord Baratheon," he said. "As you can read it's from Davos Seaworth."
Gendry couldn't read that, and he suspected Lord Penrose knew that.
"Call Ser Balon and Devan to the Great Hall. We will read it there," he replied. "And call Lady Seaworth there as well, she deserves to know her husband is still alive."
As they all gathered in the Great Hall Gendry handed the scroll to Devan.
"It's from your father, you should read it."
Devan knew full well why Gendry asked him to read the scroll. It was just part of the game they played around Lord Penrose. He distrusted Gendry enough already, he didn't need to know just how uneducated the new lord was. So Devan was always on hand to read whatever needed to be read. His father had made sure all his sons knew how to read as that was a skill that had been denied to him as a child.
Devan unrolled the scroll and read it out loud.
"The war is won. The capital burned. Queen Daenerys dead. A council will be held. Come to the Dragon Pit."
It was quiet in the room as they all tried to take in this news. Tried to figure out what it meant.
"I need to go there, " Gendry said after a few moments. "I need to know what happened to the city."
He of course also thought of the people he cared about. He needed to know they were safe.
"It might not be safe there," Lord Penrose argued. "It might be a trap. It's not your city Lord Baratheon, these are your lands. The Stormlands are what you should care about."
Like Lord Penrose cared about Gendry's safety. Often it seemed like he argued the counterpoint of whatever argument Gendry made just to argue it. He was not the best advisor, but it was important to remain in his good graces as he was influential in the Stormlands.
"Davos wouldn't trick me, or anyone. I trust him. And this concerns the future of the Stormlands. We need to know who will rule the kingdom now."
Lord Penrose nodded hesitantly. He had no choice but to give on the decision of the lord. It was a weird feeling to Gendry, that he was the one who decided what would happen. That his word as the law, no matter what anyone else said. He didn't really like it. Although he did like shutting up Lord Penrose.
"I will leave you in charge here Lord Penrose and bring Devan with me to the capital, as it's his father inviting us there, " Gendry continued. "Ser Balon, can you spare a few men for us to bring with us? If it turns out to not be safe I rather not be completely unprotected."
"A hundred men should be enough, I'll go prepare them now, " Ser Balon replied. "They should be ready to leave with you tomorrow morning."
"Then we'll leave for the council tomorrow and try to figure out what the hell is going on."
***
A raven arrived at Greywater Watch as well after seven days of no news.
Howland called Meera to his study so they could read the letter together. They were both eager to know exactly what had happened.
"I guess I need to go the capital, " Howland said after reading the letter.
He had not been to the capital in many years, he seldom ventured out of the Neck. The last time he was there was right after the Rebellion when Robert Baratheon had been crowned king. Howland preferred to stay in the swamp.
"I'll go too, " Meera replied. "You shouldn't go alone, and I want to know what's happened."
She felt she needed to take care of her father who was not used to negotiations and politics. He might need her help. Howland trusted people too easily in her mind. Meera didn't really trust anyone, except her father.
And there was someone she hoped would be there. Someone she had trusted enough to tell about her fears.
"You should stay here, where it's safe."
"You should know by now, father, that I don't care about whether something is safe or not. I'll go with you."
Howland saw it unwise to argue with his daughter. She had made up her mind and would go with him whether he wanted her to or not.
***
All around the kingdom lords and ladies had arrived with the same letter. And they all came to King's Landing.
There they would make a decision. A dire decision. A decision that would almost doom the kingdom.