Meera watched the unknown man from the treetops, obscured by knotted branches decorated with hanging moss. She had watched him when he arrived at the camps. She had watched him when he spoke in front of the troops. And she watched him now when he walked through the swamp.

She wondered who the young man was. Judging from the reactions in the camp he was someone important. Even though he didn't look it. As he moved through the swamp he looked awkward and unsure.

And handsome. She couldn't deny that.

She kept watching the man as he got further into the swamp. She waited to make her move.

***

Gendry was lost. Every canal looked the same to him. Knee-high green water shaded by cypress trees, with water lilies and straw growing on the sides. It was wet, humid, and inhospitable. He tried not to think of the leeches who were probably circling his legs at this very moment. How could anyone want to live in these lands?

He needed to find the castle of Greywater Watch where Lord Reed resided. Because if the Baratheon armies tried to leave the encampment they would be unprotected and open for attacks. And the people of the swamp were relentless and unforgiving. Even if they saw that the armies were leaving they would keep attacking. They tolerated no intruders in their swamp. And they had their ways of changing the surroundings, through magic or other ways. They made people get lost in the swamp forever.

Therefore he needed to find Lord Reed and explain to him that they no longer fought on different sides. Maybe the lord of the swamp would let them leave then. So Gendry had been sent out into the swamp, together with a few soldiers, to try to find the castle and negotiate a deal.

They had walked in circles in the canals for hours, constantly coming back to the same places. The castle was nowhere to be found. As they started to grow tired Gendry suddenly realized he had gotten separated from the soldiers. He stood all alone in a canal and didn't know how to get back.

That's when he met her. Meera Reed. The woman who would become his wife one day.

She came out of nowhere, wielding a spear. Untamed curly hair and wild eyes full of defiance. He would go to war against a king for her one day.

Gendry put up his hands in a gesture of surrender as the woman pointed her spear at his chest.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I'm Gendry Baratheon," he answered.

Realizing he had forgotten his title he corrected himself. "Lord Gendry Baratheon," he said. "I'm here to declare the withdrawal of my armies from your lands. I want to negotiate a safe passage south."

She didn't lower her spear.

"There are no Baratheons," she said. "They're all dead. Their armies fight for Queen Cersei."

"There were no Baratheons, that's true," he replied. "But there are now. There's me. I'm the bastard son of Robert Baratheon. Legitimized by Queen Daenerys. And I've reclaimed my father's armies. They fight for me now."

"They invaded our lands."

"They did so on Queen Cersei's orders. They no longer obey her. They obey me. And I intend to march south with them to the Stormlands. To take back my father's castle."

She finally lowered her spear. Gendry put his hands down.

"I'm Lady Meera Reed," she said. "And my father, Lord Howland Reed, rule these lands. I will take you to him."

Her expression had softened slightly. She no longer looked like she wanted to kill him. Perhaps just maiming him would do.

"It's this way, follow me, Lord Baratheon," she said and gestured at him to follow her down the canal. He obliged.

They waded up to their knees in muddy water. Meera moved at a brisk speed.

Waterlilies in various shades of pink and purple lined the canal. The sun lit up their path as it shone through the lacy moss hanging from the branches of the ancient trees. Frogs were croaking and cicadas singing. It could have been a romantic walk. But it was not a time for romance. This was a time for war. And they did not know yet if they were fighting on the same side.

Gendry didn't really know what to make of the woman who walked in front of him through the swampy wetlands. She looked young, probably younger than himself. Yet she acted with such confidence and authority. She seemed hard but at the same time fragile. Like the dragonglass weapons he had forged in Winterfell, unbreakable in battle but if you hit them just in the right spot they would shatter. Meera Reed seemed like she would be unbreakable in battle too. But she also seemed like she had that one spot, that deeply hidden secret, that could break her. That one thing that no one could know.

Her attire consisted of leather pants and a fur jacket. She didn't seem like the kind of lady that wore dresses. She seemed like the kind of lady that would join her men in battle and fight braver and better than any of them. Just like Arya...

Meera looked like she belonged in the swamp. Like she had begun existing by stepping out of it. Her hair hung down in locks, just like the vines of the trees they walked by. Her eyes were the same color as the muddy water, a mix between green and brown. And her movements were as quick and agile, just like the frogs jumping from lily pad to lily pad. Gendry couldn't keep up with her.

While she seemed so at home he felt so out of place. He didn't fit in here, and he didn't fit in his new role as lord. The clothes he wore didn't fit him. And they weren't his, they had belonged to the late Theon Greyjoy. Lady Sansa had given them to him before he left to make him look the part. But the jacket was too tight around his shoulders and the boots were too narrow, which made it even harder for him to keep even pace with the intimidating woman walking in front of him.

***

Meera was intrigued by the young man who lagged behind her as they walked through the canals. He had said he was a lord and he was dressed as a lord. But he didn't seem like a lord. He didn't sound like one and he didn't look like one. His clothes might be the ones of a lord but they didn't fit him like they would a lord. It was obvious that the had the muscles of a working man. And his demeanor didn't match what she knew of noblemen, they were usually so assured of their place in the world that they assumed that everyone else was there to serve them. But this man had none of that, he seemed uncertain, almost scared. He tried to hide it but he didn't do it very well. It was almost endearing.

His hair was black and his eyes were blue. Those were the traits of a Baratheon. Meera knew that from being regaled with stories by her father of the time when he went to war with Robert Baratheon. Those traits were striking, she had to admit that. Handsome men were few and far between in these parts of the kingdom. And she certainly hadn't met any on her journey north. So she couldn't help glancing at him sometimes when he wasn't looking.

But she was also suspicious about if what he had said was actually true. Maybe he was just a pawn. Maybe this was some kind of trick played on them by the invading armies to make them surrender. And Meera was never going to surrender her homeland. Never ever. It was all she had left.

***

Meera heard a splash behind her and turned around.

Gendry thrashed around in the water as his foot had got caught in something. As he tried to get himself loose Meera held out her spear towards him.

"You've stepped in a sinkhole. Grab this and pull yourself up. You will just sink further otherwise," she told him.

Gendry grabbed the end of her spear. He couldn't help studying it as he grabbed it. He might be a lord now but he was still a blacksmith at heart. It was quite an unusual looking spear.

He leveraged himself on the spear to get his leg out of the sinkhole. When he finally succeeded the force of the motion ricocheted him forward, towards Meera. He ended up falling face-first in the water right in front of her.

Meera couldn't help but smile at his helplessness. But she made sure he didn't see her smiling. As he stood up he was suddenly right beside her. She couldn't ever remember being so close to a man before. Not a handsome man at least.

"You couldn't have told me about the sinkholes?" he asked.

"You wouldn't know how to avoid them anyway. Just be glad this one didn't have leeches in it."

His eyes instantly widened in terror as she said that and he started to ferociously pat down his legs to ensure the absence of leeches. The reaction surprised her; leeches weren't pleasant but they weren't dangerous.

"Leeches won't kill you," she said trying to reassure him.

He still looked terrified.

"I know, but I've encountered them before... and I rather not again."

It didn't seem like he wanted to talk about his previous experiences with leeches, but it did make her wonder. What could have happened that made him that scared of leeches?

One day much later, he would tell her. He would tell her everything about the worst night of his life.

But right now he just wanted to talk about something else. Anything but leeches.

He still held the end of her spear in his hand and he pointed to the tip of it.

"Is that dragon glass? Where did you get it from?"

The spear was from the cave where Bran Stark had died. Where they all had died. Meera had grabbed it as they escaped and now she couldn't let go of it. But she didn't want to tell Gendry that story. She didn't want to tell anyone that story.

"Up north," she said.

One day much later that story would also be told. She would tell him everything that she never had wanted to tell anyone.

Meera grabbed her spear and started walking decisively down the canal again.

Gendry, now soaking wet from his encounter with the sinkhole, followed suit. More hurried than before. He wanted to get to their destination before the leeches got to him.

That's how they met. Lord Gendry Baratheon and Lady Meera Reed.

They were the ones who had been discarded. Who weren't good enough. Who would had given their lives to save the people they loved. People who would not have done the same for them. They both knew that painful truth now. They had never been as important as the people they had loved and protected.

But they would become important. To each other. And to the kingdom.

Two broken hearts. Two different paths. Two stories that would turn into one. This is where their story began.