As Gendry, Devan and their men made their way towards the city they saw evidence of the destruction that had happened. They saw people fleeing the capital. Scared people. Burnt people. Hungry people. With only the clothes on their backs, and sometimes not even that.

There were only a few people at first but then there were more. All walking down the King's Road, not really knowing where to go. Some of them had made camp by the side of the road, waiting for something, anything really, to happen.

As they turned around a corner they saw a woman laying on the road. A man was sitting next to her, holding her in his arms. She appeared to be pregnant. Her long reddish hair was in two braids that had started to unravel. Her face and arms were dirty from sooth and her skirt looked like it was about to fall apart.

Gendry stopped his horse and walked up to them. Someone needed to do something, and he realized now that he could be that someone. He had never been someone who could do something before.

He crouched down and put his hand on the man's shoulder. The man turned around and looked at him. He was thin with blond wispy hair and a short beard. Gendry realized that he recognized the man. He had worked at one of the other blacksmith's workshops on the Street of Steel and they had greeted each other every morning. He always had a smile on his face and joked around with the customers. He wasn't smiling now though. And he did not seem to recognize Gendry. Apparently he looked that much different now, all cleaned up and in fancy clothes. Or maybe the thought that this nobleman could be the same man that he had worked beside just didn't occur to him.

"What happened to her?" he asked.

"She just passed out," the man replied. "I think she needs water. We ran when the dragons came over us and haven't stopped. We've barely had anything to eat or drink since."

"I got water. And we got some food too we can give you."

Gendry signaled to Devan to bring a bottle of water over. He handed it to the man who began to pour in on the woman's lips.

"How much food we got?" Gendry asked Devan.

"Enough for us and the men to eat for the journey ahead, which should take about two days."

"We can go hungry for two days. Hand out the food."

Devan looked at Gendry in shock. He wasn't used to him making swift decisions without consulting him. And he didn't seem to agree with this decision.

"But... the men. They will complain."

"Then they can complain. They won't starve, they can eat when we get to the capital. These people are starving. They are dying."

"As you wish, Lord Baratheon."

Gendry had his men hand out their food to the people fleeing the capital who were passing by. The men grumbled but obliged. They didn't stop until every last piece of food had been handed out.

The woman who had been passed out on the road had started to regain consciousness. Gendry walked over to them again.

"Thank you," the man said and took Gendry's hand. "What was your name again?"

"I'm Lord Gendry Baratheon."

"Mychel Waters," the man said. "And this is my wife Lilya."

The woman didn't appear to be able to speak yet but she stretched out her hand towards Gendry to thank him. Her hand felt so limp and lifeless still.

"It's weird. It feels like I recognize you..." Mychel continued. "But yet I've never met a lord before."

"I've been to the capital before. Maybe you've seen me on the Street of Steel."

Who he used to be didn't matter right now. He was Lord Baratheon now. The man gave him a strange look though as Gendry said that last part as if he suddenly realized where he had seen him before but still couldn't quite put it all together. Gendry was out of place. Or maybe he was exactly where he should be.

"My castle is up ahead on this road. Maybe a day's walk from here. Go there. They should let you in."

He called over Devan again. Whose pockets looked suspiciously full of bread.

"Get that bread out of your pockets, Dev. You're a younger man than me, you can deal with hunger for a day or two. Hand it to the man here instead."

Devan got the bread out of his pockets with a look of guilt. He had probably never had to starve before and he seemed to fear the prospect of it.

"Sorry, Lord Baratheon. I figured a few pieces wouldn't make much difference..."

"Write a letter to your mother and give it to this man. Tell her it's my order that we let people fleeing the capital into the castle. As many as we can fit and feed."

Devan nodded but had hesitation in his eyes.

"Lord Penrose won't like that... and you left him in charge."

"Well then he's gonna have to argue with your mother about that, and I have a feeling she will win. Or she will knock him out and throw him in the dungeons."

Devan smiled as he knew that arguing with his mother was a fruitless effort. And even Lord Penrose did seem to fear her.

"I'll write it, Lord Baratheon. But you will have to deal with Lord Penrose when you get back."

"I'll take that fight then, Dev. It'll be worth it if I can save people."

***

They arrived at the capital in the afternoon the next day. The men were predictably starving by that point. Devan had shut up for once and was just riding along with a sulky expression on his face. Gendry was more tired than hungry though as he hadn't been able to sleep the night before. The screams and moans from people fleeing the city had kept him up. And worries about what would face him when he arrived at the capital.

As they saw the capital they all forgot their hunger and tiredness. They saw the fallen walls, covered in sooth. They saw the gates that had been blown up, still laying shattered on the ground. They saw the smoke still rising from the ruins. Whatever had happened here had been brutal, merciless, and unnecessary.

They also saw Unsullied guards by all the gates. Helmets down, spears by their sides. No one would be tempted to try to pass them.

They kept going, towards the Dragon Pit. Where Targaryen kings and queens of times past used to keep their dragons. The domed building was fallen into ruins since long ago, just like the city beside it seemed to be now. Fallen marble columns and iron beams were scattered around the empty field. But the podium in the middle still remained and this was where the council would be held.

Gendry had been there before. As a child of King's Landing, he had gone there many times. Scavenging, climbing, playing. Of course, it was a dangerous place for children, but no one had cared enough about the orphaned bastard to prevent him from going there.

By the entrance to the Dragon Pit stood Davos Seaworth, waiting for the lords and ladies to arrive.

Gendry disembarked his horse and went up to Davos.

"Davos, I'm glad to see you, " he said and reached out his hand to greet the man. "That you made it through what happened here."

"Gendry, or Lord Baratheon now I suppose..." Davos said as he grabbed Gendry's outstretched hand.

"I suppose it is now... although I'm not sure I'll ever get used to being called that."

"Regardless of what you're called, I'm glad you're here."

"I wouldn't be here without you, and your son too of course."

"My son.. is Devan with you?"

Gendry nodded. Davos looked very caught up in emotion as he scanned the field for his son.

"I believe he is hiding from you behind his horse over there... " Gendry said and pointed towards Devan's hiding spot.

As a man who had never got the chance to meet his father Gendry wasn't about to let his friend escape from reuniting with his, no matter how much he protested it. He knew they both needed it.

When Davos heard about Devan's presence suddenly nothing else mattered to him. He started walking over towards his son. Devan saw him approaching and realizing that he couldn't escape his father he reluctantly stepped out to meet him.

"Devan? Is that really you?"

Devan looked unfazed, stoic. He looked into the ground trying to avoid making eye contact with his father.

"Father... I haven't come for you. I'm here to support Lord Baratheon."

Davos didn't care. He embraced Devan. He wouldn't let him go. After what he had seen when the capital burned to hold his son in his arms was the only thing he wanted to do. His son who had been just a child last time he saw him but who now was taller than him. His son who looked so much like his brother Mathos, the son he had lost.

"I'm sorry my son. I'm sorry I've been a coward," he said between tears.

Devan first squirmed in his father's arms but after a short while, he seemed to give in. As if being in his father's arms made him become a child again.

"I forgive you, father, I forgive you," he said while his father held him tightly. "Just come home soon. Mother and my brothers miss you too."

Davos released him and took a step back to look at his son. To see the man he had become.

"You're so tall!" he said. "But you need to brush your hair..."

Davos stretched out his hand and tousled Devan's as always unkempt hair. As he did Devan seemed to regain some of his usual poise.

"Is there any food here father? I think I might be wasting away. Lord Baratheon gave away all our food yesterday..."

Davos looked surprised as he heard that like he hadn't expected Gendry to be able to make such a drastic decision. He looked back towards the new lord.

"Is that true Gendry?"

"It's true. We encountered so many people fleeing the capital. Starving and desperate people. I needed to do something."

"You're a good man, Lord Baratheon. Better than most lords here. I hope I would have done the same in your shoes."

Davos turned back towards his son again.

"I think you will live Dev... But the Northern armies brought a lot of provisions with them as they were prepared for a long battle. Take the men down to their camp and you should all be able to get yourself a warm meal."

When Devan heard that he quickly made his way back to his horse and jumped up. He signaled to the men to follow him towards where the food was.

Gendry still remained by Davos's side. He needed to know more about what had happened before he would be able to eat something.

"Thank you Davos, I was starting to get afraid they would rebel against me otherwise... Your son certainly looked like he was about to all day today."

"You should go there too Gendry. You must be hungry"

"I've been hungry before... When you put me on that boat from Dragonstone, I think I went a week without anything to eat."

"You never actually told me what happened to you after I put you on that boat."

"It's not much to tell really. I couldn't row that boat for the life of me and eventually, I passed out from hunger and exhaustion. It was only by luck that I made it back here. The boat washed ashore down by the beach outside the city. A few fishermen found me. Then I walked back into the city, right by the guards looking for me. And I got my job at the workshop back the same day."

And now it was all gone. The city, the workshop, everything.

"Tell me what happened here, I need to know what really went down, " Gendry continued. "I've heard stories from the people fleeing but I don't know what's true or not. What did the Queen do? And where is Jon?"

It was time for one boy from Fleabottom to tell another what had happened to the city where they had been born and raised. The city they both loved and hated. The city that now laid in ashes.

Davos told Gendry how the queen had not accepted the city's surrendering. How she had burned everything and everyone. And how Jon and Tyrion had been forced to take her down. It was not a happy story or even a good story.

***

After hearing what had happened Gendry finally made his way down to the camps. His men had by then got some food in their bellies and seemed a lot happier and more energetic than earlier. They had also put up the Baratheon tents right next to the Northern armies so they had somewhere to sleep for the night. Gendry gathered his troops and told them too what had gone down.

That's when he saw her. As he stood there talking to his troops. Looking like the lord he now was. He saw Arya. And everything stopped. He trailed off in the middle of a sentence, caught up in his own thoughts.

He was happy that she was safe, that she was alive.

But he didn't want to see her, he didn't want to talk to her, he didn't want to feel anything again. He didn't want to be in that moment again, laying on the floor of the forge crying. He wasn't that man anymore, he was Lord Baratheon now.

He saw her noticing him too, looking at him. Maybe she was even smiling. He didn't know, because he had stopped looking that way.

He picked up the trail of the sentence he had been in the middle of again. He finished talking to his troops. Then he went into his tent and hid, not ready to face the girl who had broken his heart. He still hadn't eaten. Devan would have to go and pick up some food for him later.

That's why Gendry didn't notice when Meera Reed and her father arrived at the camps later that night. The girl who would mend his heart again. The girl who would never break his heart. This was the place where their hearts would come together.

But first Gendry would have to face the girl who broke his heart. And Meera would have to face the boy who broke hers.