Gendry couldn't sleep. This was nothing new, as he hadn't slept for days. But this time it wasn't because of anxiety, nervousness, or sadness. It was because of her.
Because of the tingling emotion spreading all through his body when he thought of her. When he thought of her eyes that were the color of swamp water looking into his. When he thought of his fingers getting stuck in her curly hair. When he thought of her pressing her lips against his.
The moment when she kissed him was stuck on a loop in his mind. How her lips had been so soft against his. How her hand had stroked his. How everything else had faded to exist at that moment. He never wanted to forget that moment. He wanted to live in that moment forever.
But the truth she had told him also kept nagging on him. How it threatened her, him, and the entire kingdom. He had seen it with his own eyes when looking into the king's eyes. Something dark and sinister that scared him.
He wished he could see her again, but he didn't know how to. It wasn't like he could just waltz into the Reeds' tent in the middle of the night. Howland Reed seemed to have a friendlier attitude towards Gendry than most of the other lords but even he wouldn't tolerate that. And he couldn't just ask her father for her hand in marriage either since Meera just like himself was the last of her house. Gendry knew that she would never give up her name or her lands. Not for him, and not for anyone. She was those lands, and those lands were her. He could never ask her to leave.
But even if those moments on the castle balcony were all it would ever be he didn't regret it. Because those moments had given him hope.
He was laying in his bed in the tent he shared with Devan, who appeared to have fallen asleep as soon as he hit the bed. Devan was very good at sleeping. And eating. And talking. But right now Devan was quiet for once. This wasn't always the case when he slept, as Devan also talked in his sleep at times. Usually, it sounded like he was trying to charm some poor servant girl.
The tent wasn't very big. It had two beds, one on each side of the entrance. By the foot end of each bed stood a trunk containing their belongings. The walls of the tent were yellow, of course, that color followed Gendry everywhere now. The color of House Baratheon. Lanterns were burning right outside the entrance, creating the of the guards outside.
Suddenly a shadow appeared on the opposite wall. The shadow was dull as this side of the tent wasn't lit up but he could still see it clearly. Something was standing right outside the tent.
Gendry got up, wondering what was going on. He untied some of the strings that held the tent wall together to peak out.
And there she stood. Meera Reed. Seemingly trying to find a way to get into his tent.
"Meera, what are you doing here?" he whispered, afraid to alert the guards by the entrance of the tent.
"I heard what happened at the council. I needed to know how you were doing," she whispered back.
He didn't answer. Instead, he pulled her in close and kissed her. And suddenly nothing that had happened during the day mattered anymore. Because it was only them in the world. The king's hateful eyes didn't matter, the lords' despise towards the commoners didn't matter, the foolish words Gendry had uttered towards the king didn't matter. Their lips touching was all there was and all there ever would be.
"I'm fine," he said. "I am now at least."
He took her hand and pulled her into the tent, away from whatever eyes could be out there.
"Someone could see us out there," he said. "I don't want to get into more trouble with the other lords than I already am. We should be safe in here. The guards won't come in and Dev is asleep."
"I'm not," was heard from Devan's side of the room. "I mean I was until someone opened up the tent wall."
"Dev... please don't tell anyone about this."
"You know you can trust me, Gendry. I won't say anything to anyone. Just keep it down so I can go back to sleep," Devan said and turned around in his bed.
"And maybe remember how many bastards your father had. So don't do anything you will regret," Devan added before appearing to go back to sleep.
That last statement made Gendry blush. Luckily the tent was dark so Meera couldn't see that. He didn't have any such intentions. Not that he didn't want to. But he wouldn't.
"I wasn't going to... I don't want to..." he stuttered.
"I know," Meera said and kissed him again.
Her lips were against his again. Her breasts were against his chest and her hips were against his hips. Dammit, he really wanted to now... But he wasn't going to. Although it was becoming quite obvious that he wanted to. Hopefully, she hadn't noticed or she didn't know what happened to a man when he really wanted to.
"I think you do want to though," she said as her lips parted from his. "Even if you're not going to."
She looked down towards his pants as she said that. Apparently, she did know and she had noticed.
"Sorry," he said. "I can control myself."
He sat down on the bed to escape his own urges. Embarrassed that she probably thought he just wanted to bed her. Which wasn't his intentions. He was just happy she was there and that she cared about him. He just wanted to be close to her. But being close to her made his body react in certain ways.
She sat down next to him, curled up with her legs under her leaning against him. She nestled her hand into the space between his arm and chest looking for his hand. When she found it she let her fingers caress his palm lightly before interlacing her fingers with his. This was certainly not helping him escape his urges.
"You don't have to apologize."
"I may want to but I don't want to disrespect you in any way. Besides I'm quite sure Dev is not asleep and is ready to bust in..."
"I'm very asleep," was heard from Dev's side of the tent.
"I'm the one who came to your tent, you are not disrespecting me," she said. "I wanted to know how you were feeling after what happened... and I wanted to kiss you again."
She put her hands up to his face and tilted his head around so he was facing her. Then she leaned in and kissed him. Her breast stroked against his arm as she did. Her hand was on his cheek. None of this was helping his current situation either.
"I'm the one disrespecting you if anything," she said.
"I don't feel disrespected. I'm happy you're here," he replied with a smile. "Your father told you about today then? How I made a fool out of myself."
"My father did tell me, but he doesn't think you're a fool. He was upset about how the other lords talked to you and about what they wanted to do. He thinks they should feed the people as well, but he can't really do much since they won't come to our castle."
"I am a fool though. Who thought they would listen to me. Who thought I could make a difference."
"You're not a fool, Gendry. But you need to be more careful. You must not enrage him."
She crouched up closer to him and whispered the next part so Devan, who was very asleep, wouldn't hear.
"You don't know what he can do. I don't know either. But I think he could hurt you if he wanted to. I don't want you to hurt. I don't want anything to happen to you. And it would be my fault for telling you."
"I'm sorry, I don't want you to have to worry about me. I just saw it... when I looked into his eyes I saw it too. The darkness and emptiness. He's not... a man anymore. And he doesn't care about anyone. I could see it. And I can't stand for that. I can't just let people die. Not if I can make a difference. So I had to do it."
"You're a good man, Gendry. You're honest and kind. Probably too much for your own good. But he's not a man, and I don't know if you can fight him."
"I will if I can. But I will try to be more careful. If only I could get some sleep maybe I can control myself better tomorrow."
"When did you sleep last? I know you barely slept last night."
"I don't even know anymore... before we left Storm's End I believe. At least since I got a proper night's sleep."
"Lay down," she said and patted with her hand on the bed behind them. "I will lay next to you until you fall asleep."
He did and she laid down next to him. The bed was so narrow that they both had to lay on their sides, facing each other.
Their faces were so close that their noses were almost touching. His hand was on her hip and her hand stroked his face.
She kissed him and when their lips parted he was already asleep.
Meera hadn't planned to stay there all night but soon she was asleep as well.
***
Gendry awoke the next morning from Devan shaking his shoulder.
"Gendry, people are starting to stir around the camp. It's probably best if Lady Reed leaves before her father notices that she's missing."
Meera was still next to him and appeared to have woken up from Devan's rough methods as well. She still looked quite sleepy and her curly hair was standing up in all directions. She looked awfully cute.
Gendry wanted to stay there in bed with her forever but unfortunately, that wasn't an option. If she was found in his tent it could mean trouble for both of them.
"Put on a shirt, Dev!" Gendry snapped at his bare-chested friend who appeared to have no considerations for the fact that there was a lady in the tent. At least he had managed to get a pair of pants on.
Meera turned around and sat on the side of the bed.
"Thank you, Devan," she said. "I didn't mean to fall asleep here."
Devan was still not wearing a shirt. But he did appear to be looking for one under his bed.
Gendry scooted over in the bed and sat down next to Meera. He put his hand on her hair, trying to pat it down a bit and make it look less like she had just got out of bed. It wasn't working.
"I need to go," Meera said to him. "My father isn't strict but he might start to wonder if I'm missing every night..."
"I suppose you do. I wouldn't want to offend your father in any way, I respect him too much."
He got up and opened up the hole in the tent wall again for her. She got up from the bed as well and went over to him.
There was so much more they wanted to say to each other, so much more they wanted to do to each other, but they couldn't. There wasn't time.
So he just pulled her close and kissed her. He didn't care that Devan, who now had found this shirt, was watching them. It didn't matter, because the world didn't matter when they kissed.
"Just promise to be careful," she said before leaving.
"I will, you don't need to worry about me," he said. "But if there is ever anything I can do, come to me."
Then she left and Gendry was alone again. Although not really, because Devan was there. Now dressed in a shirt, even though he hadn't managed to button it properly.
"And you tell me to behave," his friend said. "But you're the one having a lord's daughter in your bed."
"Shut up, Dev. It's not like that."
"It never is, yet it always is."
"She just... makes me feel like I matter. Like I can actually accomplish something. Like I'm not failing at everything."
Devan was suddenly by his side and put his hand on his shoulder.
"I know you feel like you're failing. But you're not. You're really not. And I want you to know that I don't hold anything against you. Not even giving away the food. It was the right call. After I got to eat again I could see that. And I don't blame you for going off on the king and the lords. I understand that it upsets you that they refuse to feed the commoners because that means they would have refused to feed you. And if Lady Reed can make you see that you're not failing, by all means, kiss her every night. Although I'm not sure her father would agree with that..."
"Thank you, Dev. For always being on my side."
"I'm glad you were able to get some sleep. Because I haven't seen you sleep or eat since we got here. That can't be good for you, no wonder you're going off on the other lords."
Devan went over to his trunk and started poking around, seemingly looking for something. Then he came back over and handed Gendry some bread with a piece of ham on top and an apple.
"Here, you need to eat too," Devan said. "I might have stocked up on some food in case you would give it away again..."
Gendry did as Devan ordered him. He didn't feel guilty about eating anymore. He knew he needed to eat to be able to fight for the people who couldn't. And to do it in a way that didn't make Meera have to worry about him.
***
As Meera exited the tent she saw a lot of people already moving around the camp. Her father was probably already up, he always woke up early. So she needed to come up with an explanation as to why she would have already left the tent before he woke up.
As she stood there thinking something stroke against her leg. A cat. It was very furry and very dusty from roaming the streets of the city. She crouched down and petted it and tried to get some of the dust of it. But just as she thought she had got the worst off the cat decided to roll on the ground and envelop itself in more dust. The cat gave her an idea of how to explain her absence to her father.
So she picked up the cat. It was a very docile and cooperative creature. And she walked into the tent she shared with her father carrying it.
Her father was as she had suspected already awake.
"Good morning father," she said. "I heard something meowing outside earlier this morning so I went out to investigate and I found this one. It doesn't seem like it's used to fending for itself so I brought it back here."
She put the cat down on her father's bed. Howland liked animals and she hoped he would be distracted by the cat's presence. That it would keep him from wondering where she had really been.
The cat instantly started rolling on Howland's bed, covering the sheets in dust, Her father petted the creature and seemed to be looking at something around its neck.
"It seems to have a collar on it so I'd say it definitely was someone's pet. We should try to find a new home for it. It won't survive by itself around here," Howland said and showed her a very fancy collar around the cat's neck. It looked to be made of red gemstones.
Meera went to her trunk to try to find a hairbrush, she needed to make her hair seem a bit less unruly. Less like she had just spent the night in a lord's bed.
"I hope you told Lord Baratheon that I agreed with him," her father suddenly said behind her.
She turned around, probably a bit too quickly. She couldn't hide the shock on her face.
"If you met him outside when you looked for the cat I mean," her father continued, still petting the cat rolling on his bed.
Meera could see from the smile on his face that he knew exactly where she had been though. But he wasn't going to embarrass her by saying it out loud. And he wasn't going to get either of them in trouble for it.