The tavern at the Cross Roads Inn was loud, bustling, and crowded. All the tables were filled with people and the barmaids were running around trying to feed everyone. But the tavern still had a welcoming feeling as fresh flowers stood on the tables and the place smelled like freshly baked bread and fried onions.

But outside in the courtyard, the feeling was less than welcoming, as refugees from the capital were living there in tents. The courtyard was filled with suffering and misery. It was muddy, wet, and cold since it had been raining the last few nights. Children were running around in way too little clothes for the weather. The Inn was feeding the people as well as they could because they couldn't really let people starve, but they were running scarce on resources as well.

Meera sat at a table inside the tavern. Next to her, the fluffy cat that Howland had brought from the capital was sitting. Her father had insisted on the cat coming in with them and even given it its own plate. The cat was very docile and didn't seem to have any intentions of running away. It just sat there on its chair, looking like it owned the place. Meera was feeding it some scraps from her meat pie. It seemed to prefer to be hand-fed.

Opposite of her Robin Arryn and Tyrek Lannister sat. Two boys. Two Lord Paramounts. Two men with great responsibilities to the kingdom and the people. One with blonde curls and one with dark locks. Neither had a beard yet. They were currently engaged in a game of arm wrestling. Tyrek appeared to be winning.

Meera, Howland, Tyrek, Robin, and Lord Royce had all arrived at the inn together to arrange how to dispense food to the commoners who had fled from the capital. Howland Reed and Lord Royce were therefore currently engaged in conversation with the owner of the inn about how to set this up.

A blond barmaid came up to their table and started gathering plates. Suddenly the girl noticed the cat as it started swatting at her long braids when she reached over the table.

"Oh my," the barmaid exclaimed. "I didn't see this pretty kitty sitting here. It looks so regal."

"It's from the capital," Meera replied. "My father's trying to a home for it. There are crocodiles where we live so we can't bring it with us."

"I could take care of him if you wanted me to," the girl said. "I'm about to get married and my husband and I will move into a cottage not far from here. He's a baker and will start up a pie bakery by the cottage. So we will need a cat to take care of mice."

"I think the cat would like that," Meera said and smiled. "It does seem to like pie."

"Does the cat not have a name?"

"Not one I know at least. We haven't given it one as we're not keeping it."

"It does look very regal... I think I will call it Ser Pie."

The cat seemed to perk up and look at the girl as she said the name, almost like it already recognized it. The girl reached out and petted the creature who now had laid down to wash itself on the chair.

"I'll come over and get him after the workday ends," she said. "I'm Annie by the way, nice to meet you."

"I'm Lady Meera Reed," Meera replied. "I'll take care of the cat until then."

As Annie left Meera suddenly noticed the two lords by the table looking longingly after her. Annie was very pretty and the cleavage of her dress revealed a quite large bosom that apparently interested the boys.

"If only I could have a wife like that," Tyrek said. "Whoever is marrying her is very lucky."

"She's just a barmaid, " Robin countered. "You'll marry a lady, surely she'll be even more beautiful."

"I'm already married," Tyrek revealed. "I've been married for years. And my wife Lady Ermesande is very cute. But she is a toddler. I was married to her to ensure her lands for house Lannister when she was just an infant, as her parents had both perished."

Robin looked in shocked at Tyrek upon hearing his. Maybe he still believed that marriage was an arrangement out of love. It wasn't, not in this world. Not if you were a lord or a lady. The barmaid might be allowed to marry her baker just because she loved him but no one sitting by that table would be allowed to do the same. The cat not included. Cats can't marry.

But soon they would all be married. Not because of love but because of duty. Because the world would require them to grow up and become wives and husbands. But duty doesn't have to be the death of love, and love doesn't have to be the death of duty.

"My uncle Tyrion is trying to get my marriage annulled though. Since I'm now Lord Lannister and need to produce heirs," Tyrek continued. "Since the marriage obviously wasn't consummated that should be possible and I will be able to marry someone else instead."

"But what will happen to your current wife then?" Meera asked.

"I'll probably keep her as a ward at the castle still. She's a sweet child, Lady Ermesande. Just not a suitable wife," Tyrek replied.

"Paxter Redwyne wants me to marry his daughter Desmera, he asked me when we were in the capital," Robin suddenly piped up. "And I don't know... I've never met her. But Lord Redwyne is worried about what the new king will do with the Reach, there are rumors Highgarden has been promised to someone else. And Lord Redwyne wants to ensure that I'm loyal to him if that happens."

"Lady Desmera is a sweet girl," Tyrek said. "I've met her. She's shy but very beautiful. Red hair and freckles. I'll have her if you won't."

"Red hair...sounds like my cousin Sansa," Robin replied. "I probably should marry Lady Desmera. I'm just... not ready I guess. To be someone's husband. To do everything a married man needs to do. To have children of my own."

"Neither am I," Tyrek replied. "I still am. No one in this kingdom gets to wait until they're ready."

"You're married to a toddler, Lord Lannister... it's not like you have to perform the duties of a husband," Meera interjected.

"It would be a good alliance for my kingdom to marry Lady Desmera." Robin agreed. "And Lord Redwyne will probably marry her to someone else if I don't accept soon. Lord Baratheon is also unmarried... But I think Lord Redwyne is hesitating on whether he wants to give his daughter to a bastard blacksmith who might not keep his kingdom for long."

"Lord Baratheon is more of a lord and man than you'll ever be," Meera snapped at him, probably a bit too quickly and angrily.

The two boys looked at her in surprise. Not really sure what to do of her outburst.

"Lord Baratheon's done well so far," Tyrek said. "He made me give him his castle after all... But he's a bit rash and emotional at times. You can tell that he's not born a lord. He's too gullible, I tricked him into marrying my sister."

"Lord Baratheon is marrying your sister?" Meera asked in an upset tone. Surely Gendry would have told her if he was marrying someone else.

"Relax, Lady Reed," Tyrek replied and chuckled slightly. "I don't have a sister. As I said Lord Baratheon is gullible. Why do you care so much anyway?"

"I don't..." Meera said, looking down at the floor and pretending like she didn't care at all about the subject of this conversation.

The boys did not look like they believed her. But they didn't say anything else about it.

"I support Lord Baratheon," Robin said instead. "Because my father supported his father. But he still needs to prove he can keep his kingdom."

"I'm sure he will prove you all wrong," Meera replied, probably still sounding a bit too angry and upset.

She was starting to ponder where she had put her spear and if anyone would mind if she used it on Robin. Just a little bit to scare him.

Luckily her father and Lord Royce returned to the table at that moment. Before Meera had managed to locate her spear.

"I gave away your cat," she said to her father as he sat down and started petting the fluffy thing that was now comfortably sleeping on its chair.

"It's not my cat," Howland replied. "But I do want to give it a good home. Who did you give it to?"

"The barmaid, her name is Annie."

Meera pointed over to where the blonde girl was standing, enveloped in conversation with a sturdy-looking young man who seemed to be covered in flour. Probably her soon-to-be-husband, the baker.

"She and her husband will take care of it. He's a baker and needs someone to catch mice around his bakery."

"Sounds like the cat will be well-taken care of," her father said, but he looked a bit sad. Howland seemed to have gotten very fond of the cat already.

"I'm sure you can come around and visit them when you like," Meera said and patted her father on the shoulder.

"Well, I do need to come back here soon to drop off food for the refugees," her father replied. "That's what we agreed on with the owner, all us lords will drop off our food, and then the tavern will dispense it to the people."

As Howland said that a scream was heard from the other side of the table. Meera looked over and to her surprise she saw Robin lunging at Tyrek, trying to wrestle him to the ground.

"What in the seven kingdoms are you doing boy?" Lord Royce called out from where he was standing at the end of the table. Since he always insisted on wearing his full suit of armor he couldn't sit down comfortably.

"Tyrek says he's gonna marry Desmera Redwyne as soon as his marriage is invalidated," Robin screamed. "But I was going to marry her! I mean I didn't know if I wanted to but... he shouldn't get to! Lord Redwyne asked me first!"

"Robin said he didn't want her!" Tyrek retorted. "And I'm not going to let a cute girl like that be passed by!"

Meera could just roll her eyes as the boys kept fighting on the other side of the table. Robin was throwing punches while Tyrek was parrying. Lord Royce was trying to tear them apart but was not very graceful in his full suit of armor. Howland held on to the cat, now named Ser Pie, to make sure it didn't get injured in the squabble.

"KLANK!" was heard as Lord Royce fell over in his attempt to separate the boys. Howland handed the cat to Meera so he could go over and assist the clumsy lord in getting on his feet again.

Robin and Tyrek were rolling on the floor trying to get the upper hand on each other. The other tavern guests were giving them confused looks. Hopefully, none of the guests realized that the two squabbling boys were Lord Paramounts of the Westerlands and the Eyrie respectively.

Meera took the cat and went out and sat on the stairs of the tavern while the situation calmed down. She didn't want to be associated with those two stupid boys. To think that they had called Gendry rash and emotional... when they were currently engaged in a fistfight for a girl neither of them knew.

This made her think of Gendry. And she tried not to think of him. She missed him too much when she did. His blue eyes looking at her like she mattered most in the world. His arms around her. His lips against hers. No... she was not going to think of him. But yet she did.

As Meera sat there, petting the cat and not thinking of Gendry, Annie came up and sat next to her. She was a very cute girl up close, Meera could see now why the boys had been looking at her. Her blonde braids were so long they flowed down to the end of her back. She was voluptuous and round in all the right places. She had tons of freckles all over her face, cleavage, and arms. And her smile was infectious.

"I'm sorry about my travel companions," Meera said. "I hope they're not making too much of a mess in there."

"I've seen worse," Annie said, seemingly unbothered by the commotion going on inside. "Is either of those lords in there your husband?"

"Definitely not!" Meera said with emphasis, feeling a bit embarrassed that Annie would even think that. "I'm not married. But the man right now trying to pull Lord Arryn off Lord Lannister by his feet is my father."

Meera looked in as she said that and saw that her father had managed to get Lord Royce off the floor and was now actively trying to stop the wrestling match himself instead. Howland Reed wasn't one to suffer disorderly behavior for long. Meera trusted him to sort the boys out in no time. And probably make men of them both in the process.

Annie started petting the cat sitting in Meera's lap. The cat was purring and once again pawing at her long braids. Meera sensed that Annie and the cat would get along well.

"You just had that look to you," Annie said. "The look of someone in love. I can tell. I see so many people pass by here all the time and I know the look."

"I might be..." Meera said. "But certainly not with one of those stupid boys. With someone kind, honest, and handsome. With someone I can't have. "

Meera wasn't one to usually spill her inner thoughts to strangers, but for some reason she trusted Annie. She felt like she knew her. And she needed to talk to someone.

"Why not?" Annie asked.

"Because he's the heir to his lands, and so am I. That means we can't marry, because one of us would have to give up their title. And I can't do that, and neither can he. I wouldn't let him, and he wouldn't let me."

Annie surprised Meera by giving her a warm hug. She put her arm around her and squeezed tightly. The cat seemed a bit spooked by this but stayed in Meera's lap.

"It all sounds so complicated when you're a lord or a lady," Annie said as she let go of Meera. "People always seem to wish they were nobility, but I don't. I want to be able to choose my own life. And your life seems so regulated by rules and traditions."

"It is... it's all about duty. To your house and your family. But I would never want to be anyone else. Because my house and my family is all I am."

She and Annie remained on those stairs for a while longer. Petting the cat. Talking about life and love. Annie started braiding Meera's hair into some kind of fancy hairstyle she would never be able to recreate.

Inside the tavern, Howland Reed seemed to have sorted out the situation. Of course, he had. The boys were now neatly seated trying to beat each other in a board game instead. Still squabbling a bit but not violently. It was unclear which one of them would get to marry Desmera Redwyne. Lord Royce seemed to have recuperated from his fall and was now propped up against a bench drinking ale. Howland himself was lively engaged in a storytelling session and seemed to have the majority of the tavern's denizens around him listening. He was probably telling them some tall tales about his participation in Robert's rebellion.

Little did they all know that these were the last moments before their already broken world shattered. Before everything fell apart. Before there was no more time for childish squabbles. Before the kingdom would depend on all of them to put it back together.

Author's Note: Yep I went full slapstick again... it's not my fault that Lord Arryn and Lord Lannister are teenage boys who can't behave properly :)