Title: The Stag and The Frog Part 1

Genre: Fanfiction / Romance

Author:  lisa_london_

Character Name: Meera Reed

Nominated by:  000artemisrising000

About the story:

This is the Game of Thrones romance you didn't know you wanted. This is the story of how Lord Gendry Baratheon met Lady Meera Reed.

***

Yesterday she almost died protecting Bran Stark. Today she's not sure he's worth dying for.

Meera Reed gave up everything. For Bran Stark and the quest her brother sent them on. But now her brother is dead and she's been discarded by the boy she swore to protect. All she has left is her home, and she will do anything to defend it.

But then she meets someone. A young man who's never had a home.

Yesterday he was a bastard and a blacksmith. Today he's a lord.

Gendry Baratheon has never had anything. No last name, no family, no power. Now he has it all. But his heart is broken. And he has no idea how to do any of the things expected of him as a lord. But he will try anyway.

In him Meera finds something she didn't even know she was looking for. She finds love.

But as the kingdom shatters around them they will have to fight for that love.

Hello! May I call you Meera?

My name is Lady Meera Reed. You should call me Lady Reed. It's not proper customs to call a lady by her first name unless you know her.

Apologies Lady Reed. Welcome and thanks for agreeing to talk to us today.

You're welcome, although I hope this won't be too long. I have duties to tend to back home in the swamp.

I'll try not to take too much time. Can I get you something to drink? Water? Soda? Coffee? Wine? Whiskey?

Water please. I don't like wine, I prefer to stay sharp. And I don't even know what the rest of the options are.

On its way. While we wait can you tell me a little about yourself?

I'm Lady Meera Reed. My father is Lord Howland Reed. What else is there to know about someone except their name and their family? That's what matters in this world. I am my family and my lands.

Where do you live?

In the Neck, right in the borderlands between the North and the rest of Westeros, which is the kingdom where I live. The lands are swampy and wet. People say they are inhabitable but my people thrive there. Our castle there is called Greywater Watch and I live there with my father.

Do you have any jobs or hobbies?

As the lady of the Neck it's my duty to protect the lands. I'm not sure if that qualifies as a job but it's what I do. I guard the swamp. Quite often I sit up in the trees and watch everyone who goes by. If I deem someone to be threat I will jump down from my tree and approach with my spear ready.

When I don't guard the swamp I like to interact with the animals of the swamp. I feed the crocodiles from the dock, even though my father doesn't like it. Or I venture deep into the swamp to watch them play. I also like to hunt with my bow. I can shoot better than most of my father's men and I'm excellent at skinning rabbits.

Good skills to have. What are some of your likes and dislikes?

I dislike people incompetent people and people who get worked over nothing. The other day this man came to the swamp. The king of the North they call him. Jon Snow. I lead him through the swamp to my father and a crocodile latched onto his boot. He tried to kill the poor thing! It was only a baby, it would probably not even have been able to bite his leg off.

I like loyalty and earnestness in people. There was another man that came to the swamp... he was those things. Gendry Baratheon was his name. He seemed lost and he didn't try to hide it. He promised to protect us but he wasn't sure if he could. But I know he was telling the truth when he said he would try.

An admirable trait. What is your greatest fear?

To lose what I have left. To lose my father and my homelands. After my brother died that's all I have left.

If you could change one thing about your life, what would it be?

I would never have gone North. Me and my brother would have stayed in the swamp. Then we would have never met him. My brother wouldn't have died.

Him?

Bran Stark. That's who he was when we met him at least. He's someone else now.

I wish I had left him in a snowpile up there. I shouldn't have helped him home. He didn't even say thank you. My brother died for him. I almost died for him. And I got nothing in return.

So sorry to hear this. Even so, are you happy we know your story?

Yes. It's my turn to tell my story. I never got to tell it before. So much happened that people don't know about and I think if they see it from my point of view they will understand things better. And I fear things might happen in the future where what I know will become important. Because no one else knows what I know.

You mentioned your brother.  Tell us about him. 

I had a younger brother. His name was Jojen. He was the sweetest brother you could have. I always took care of him. He was sick a lot so he wasn't as strong as me. And he had these... dreams. Dreams that were true. But they weakened him.

What happened to him?

He died up North. He got injured during a fight and I slit his throat to put him out of his misery.

Apparently he always knew he would die on that journey. But... if we hadn't gone there he might still be here. We shouldn't have gone there.

I'm sorry for your loss. I appreciate you sharing. Tell us about someone important to you?

My father, Howland Reed. He's a good father. He never gets mad at me. Well, almost never... once when I was a child I put a bunch of baby crocodiles in his bed. He got a little bit perturbed then.

He tries to tell me what to do sometimes but I usually ignore him. I'm not a child anymore. Although I didn't usually obey him when I was a child either.

Do you have a pet?

I don't have one myself but my grandmother, whose name is also Meera, has a pet albino crocodile named Lily. I often go and visit my grandmother and play with Lily. She snaps at people sometimes but never at me. My grandmother walks her on a leash.

That is very cool. Are you in love?

I've never been in love. I don't know how it feels like.

Then how do you know you're not?

I guess I don't... I did feel something recently for someone. Something I never felt before. 

Can you tell us who?

Lord Gendry Baratheon. He said he was a lord but he didn't act like one. Lords are assured and cruel. But Gendry was uncertain and kind. And when I took his hand... I felt safe. Perhaps that was love.

I hope I'll see him again. Maybe I'll know then what it was I felt. Maybe he felt the same.

I hope you get your chance. Is there anything you want to say to your fans?

I just hope people haven't forgotten about me. I'm still alive and now it's my turn to tell my story.

And want to tell the showrunners to go fork themselves!

They were the ones who forgot about me, and they were the ones who created that ending. No one asked me about it, but maybe they should have...

I agree. They should have. Can we look forward to reading more of your story?

There's definitely more to it. It will be a long story. I don't know how it will end of course, but I'm quite sure it will be better than the show ending. Because it can't really get worse.

Lady Meera, thank you for taking the time to talk to us. 

I'm just glad you took the time to talk to me. A lot of people think I died at the end of the show. But I didn't. I still live. I will fight for what I believe in. And I believe Bran Stark died in that cave.

It was my pleasure to support your cause.

To read Meera's story, click on the link in the comment here. ---->

Now it's your turn to ask Meera.

Add your questions as an inline comment here. Don't forget to tag lisa_london_  so they can get the question to her. ---->