The sun was scorching. The air was still. Smoke was still coming from the city behind them. It was the day of the council.

Everyone was waiting for the last participants to arrive. The Starks had still not arrived from the North as they had the furthest to travel. Prince Quentyn of Dorne was also still missing. He was probably planning some kind of grand entrance.

The participants who had already arrived were all camped out on the field next to the Dragon Pit. It was now filled with tents and banners of different colors, people socializing with each other and so many horses. And one newly minted lord who didn't quite know what to do with himself.

Gendry had barely slept that night either. There were too many thoughts in this head. Thoughts of Arya, of having to face her. Thoughts of the ruined city behind him, of all the people and places he had known that now were gone forever. Thoughts of the council that was about to happen, of what he would be expected to do. He had never been a lord around other lords and ladies before.

He had also barely eaten because he felt guilty about every bite he took knowing that so many people were starving at that very moment. And he could so easily have been one of those people.

He stood outside the tent he shared with Devan, trying to get his damn jacket on properly. Marya Seaworth had made sure he had some appropriate clothes to wear for the occasion. But he just couldn't figure out how to get the hooks to close in the front. His hands were shaking too much and he just couldn't focus as he constantly was looking around to make sure Arya wasn't there.

But as Gendry stood there fiddling with the hooks of his jacket he heard a familiar voice behind him.

"Let me help you with that, Lord Baratheon."

Meera Reed. That flickering thought in his head that he couldn't quite shake, but also couldn't quite bring himself to think. For a brief second when he saw her he forgot all about Arya, he forgot about the city behind him, and he forgot about the council that was about to take place. It was only a second, but during that second all his worries went away.

***

Meera had seen him standing there for a while. Looking so lost and alone. And incapable of closing his jacket. She had perched herself high up on the old ruins of the Dragon Pit to ensure that she saw when the Starks arrived. Because if Bran Stark came she wanted to be the first to know. So she could prepare to face him. But instead Meera had ended up peaking down on Lord Baratheon, and she just couldn't let him stand there looking helpless anymore.

Gendry looked up, surprised. He didn't seem to have noticed her approaching.

"Thank you, Lady Reed," he replied. "I'm not used to all these fancy clothes yet."

She took a look at the hooks of the jacket. It really wasn't very complicated. She could tell how nervous he seemed now when up close. His hands were visibly shaking and his face was very pale. She wondered what worried him so much.

"You will get used to it. The clothes, and everything else," she said trying to assure him while she closed the lower hooks.

As she got to the hooks higher up she touched his chest over the jacket. She felt the warmth of his body. She felt his heartbeat. It was beating very fast.

She finished the last hooks but didn't move her hands from his chest, instead she let them rest there for a second. She felt something. A sensation. Something moving from his body to hers and back. Like a fire that was about to start.

She looked up at him, wondering if he felt it too. She looked into his eyes. Those darn beautiful blue eyes.

"It feels like all the other lords are looking at me, Meera," he confessed." Wondering what I'm doing here. Like they can see that I don't belong here."

"But you do belong, Gendry", she replied while still looking into his eyes. "You belong here as much as any of them. Please know that."

She moved her hands off his chest. Afraid of what she would feel, or do, if she let them linger there a second longer.

"Thank you Meera, for helping me with the jacket and for... everything else, " he said and she thought she could detect a faint smile beneath the nervousness.

"You're welcome," she answered. "You can always come to me if you need help, with jackets or anything else."

Suddenly there was a commotion behind them. Meera turned around and suddenly she saw him. Bran Stark.

She wasn't prepared. She didn't know how to face him. But she would. Because she needed to know the truth.

His sister Sansa was busy greeting the other lords but Bran just sat there, staring into nothingness. So Meera figured now was as good a time as any to approach him.

***

Gendry saw Meera walk away. Suddenly so distracted by something, but he didn't know what.

The feeling of her hands on his chest still lingered. Like a mark of warmth and affection. He had felt a sudden spark through his whole body from her hands. A spark of hope.

Devan was suddenly by his side, handing him a bowl of soup.

"You need to eat Lord Baratheon. Here, I got two."

"Thanks, Dev."

"Who is she? I saw you talking to her," Devan said and gestured towards Meera.

"Lady Meera Reed. I met her in the Neck."

"She seems... fierce. But also kinda terrifying."

"She is fierce. But she's not terrifying, she's... sweet."

Sweet was not a word that had ever been used to describe Meera Reed. Probably because she had never really been sweet towards anyone before.

***

Bran didn't even acknowledge Meera with a look as she walked up to him. He was still just looking at nothing. Not caring about anything or anyone around him.

He hadn't always been like this. Meera knew that. Once he had been sweet and kind. Once he had cared about her. She missed that.

"Bran... " she said, not sure if he was even hearing her.

"Meera," he replied. "You shouldn't be here."

So he recognized her at least. But he did not seem happy to see her. If happiness was even an emotion he was capable of anymore.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"It's not part of the plan," he replied.

Well, that was informative... Always talking in riddles. Sometimes she wished she could beat the answers out of him with her spear.

"What plan?"

"You don't need to know."

He was still just staring blankly into the nothingness, not even looking at her.

"But I do, I need to know what it was all for. Everyone who died. My brother... What was it for? Who was it for?"

"You wouldn't understand. But you will know soon."

As infuriating as ever to talk to. Like talking to a damn tree. But at least you wouldn't expect an answer from a tree.

"But I need to know now. I need to know that it was worth it, that it was for good," she pleaded with him.

"You're not important. You don't need to know," he replied in the same monotone voice.

That broke her. That angered her. That made her snap. Fuck him! Who was he to say that she wasn't important?

"I'm not important?" she yelled at him. "I saved you. I got you home. I did everything for you. And you say I'm not important."

She had tears in her eyes as she tried to make him understand. Or tried to understand herself what it was all for.

"You're not. You don't matter," was all he had to say.

She tried to regain her poise. His vacant eyes were threatening to engulf her in their nothingness so she avoided looking at them. Instead, she took a deep breath and thought of another pair of eyes she had just looked into. Beautiful, kind blue eyes that had made her feel safe, that had made her feel like she mattered.

"But I do... I do matter," she said. "And I did matter to you once. To Bran Stark. But you're not him are you?"

"No, I'm not Bran. I've told you."

That was true, he had told her before. But the truth had scared her too much for her to accept it.

"You did. I didn't want to believe it. But I now I know it's true because I mattered to him," she said with a steady voice. "Goodbye Bran, or whoever you are."

She turned around and left. There was no use talking to him anymore. The boy she once loved was gone. The boy who was kind and sweet wasn't there anymore.

Meera Reed had loved Bran Stark. But she hadn't been in love with him. It was never that kind of love, it was the kind of connection you feel for someone you are unavoidably tied to by circumstance. The kind of affection children feel for each other before they are old enough to know what love truly is.

Meera Reed had never been in love. Until now.

She didn't even know it herself yet. She just knew that something happened inside of her every time she saw him, every time she thought of him, every time she touched him. Every time she encountered Gendry Baratheon.

As she left Bran behind her she looked around the field for Gendry. He wasn't there anymore.

***

Gendry was once again hiding inside his tent. Hiding from Arya Stark. She had come out to greet her siblings on their arrival and Gendry had promptly gone into his tent as soon as he saw her. Now he laid on his bed trying to muster up the courage to go out there again. He knew he would have to face her eventually.

Gendry Baratheon had loved Arya Stark. It had also started as the kind of connection you feel for someone you are unavoidably tied to by circumstance. The kind of affection children feel for each other before they are old enough to know what love truly is. But then it had grown to something more. He knew how it felt like to love, and he knew how it felt like to lose love.

Gendry Baratheon had been in love before. And he was about to fall in love again.

But the knowledge of what it felt like to lose love was still stopping him from falling. He wasn't able to let go just yet.

As he laid there on his bed he put his hands on his chest, right where Meera's hands had been. The feeling there lingered. The feeling of warmth and hope.

***

Suddenly an unusual sound was heard through the camp. The trumpeting of an elephant. The Prince of Dorne had arrived.

It was time for the council.

Before any matters of the heart could be settled the matters of the kingdom had to be dealt with.