Change is not really something you notice. Not when it happens to you. To your very essence of being. To how you think, act, and perceive yourself and the world around you. It just happens as time pass. And suddenly one day you look at yourself and realize you are someone else. When you are back where you once were and everything is the same except you.

Gendry had been there before. In front of the Cross Roads Inn.

The first time he was a bastard blacksmith running for his life. Accompanied by a young girl who he would come to love. He had been scared, defiant, and free.

The second time he was a newly minted lord thrown into a life he knew nothing about. Whose heart had just been broken by the same young girl. He had been confused, unsure, and alone.

But now, the third time, he was an established lord going to war for his family. So in love with the woman by his side. He was assured, determined, and loved.

Everything was the same, except him.

They stood at the last respite before it was time to fight.

Hand in hand. A lord and his lady. Gendry and Meera Baratheon.

The Baratheon troops were camped out nearby, preparing for the battle that was ahead. They had been on the road for about a week and the next day they would arrive at the Neck. To fight for Meera's homeland. To fight for freedom. To fight for their children. The ones who would inherit her lands one day.

But it wasn't time to fight just yet.

The ground was muddy from rain the night before. The courtyard was littered with people, animals, garbage. Tents were all around them. There was nowhere else to go for these people so those tents were now their homes.

It looked worse than when Meera had been there with her father and the other lords. So recently but yet so long ago. Everything had changed since. The kingdom had shattered. Young men had been broken. And she had given up what she never thought she could forsake. She had given up her title and last name to save her lands. She had given them up for love.

Gendry surveyed the people gathered in the courtyard, pondering if he recognized anyone. They were all refugees from the capital. They were all people he had lived among not long ago.

But as he stood there, dressed up as a lord, with his armies in tow, holding the hand of his lady, he realized he didn't feel like one of them anymore. He felt like Lord Gendry Baratheon. The son of Robert Baratheon. Lord Paramount of the Stormlands.

Somehow, somewhere along the way, he had stopped pretending and actually became who he never thought he would be.

"I want you to meet a friend of mine," he said to his wife. "From before. When I wasn't who I am now."

Meera nodded and squeezed his hand.

"I'd like to meet him," she said. "And I have a friend here too. She helped me when I had escaped from the Neck before I came to you."

Hand in hand they walked up to the stairs to the tavern. They had walked those stairs before, but never together.

They were greeted by the smell of newly baked bread as they entered. The interior still looked the same, wood details and flowers on the tables. Despite the world shattering outside its doors, it was always the same. Unchanging in an ever-changing world.

The place was the same but the two people entering were not.

Gendry spotted his friend behind the counter as soon as they walked in. But for a moment it seemed like Hot Pie didn't recognize him anymore. Gendry didn't look different but perhaps he acted differently. More assured of his role in the world. More like a lord.

A moment later it dawned on Hot Pie who the visitor was. He walked up to Gendry with a smile on his face. And he kneeled in front of him. Gendry had not expected that.

"Lord Paramount Baratheon," Hot Pie said, bowing his head. "It's an honor having you here."

"Get up, you silly idiot!" Gendry replied.

Hot Pie got up quickly, his cheeks flushed red. Apparently he had no clue how to act in front of a lord. Or he did but didn't know how to adapt when the lord in question was his childhood friend.

"Sorry," he muttered, looking down at the floor.

"It's not Lord Paramount Baratheon anyway," Gendry said. "It's Lord Baratheon or Gendry Baratheon, Lord Paramount of the Stormlands."

"I apologize... Lord Baratheon."

Gendry put his arms on his friend's shoulder.

"Hot Pie, for you it's Gendry," he said. "And it always will be."

Hot Pie finally looked up at him and smiled. Gendry put his arms around his friend. It didn't matter who they were in this world, they were friends. That's what mattered.

"I didn't come here to have you kneel to me, my friend," Gendry continued. "I came here to introduce you to my wife."

Hot Pie looked up, astounded. This reveal seemed to have piqued his interest.

"You're married?" he asked.

Gendry nodded and held up his hand that was still holding Meera's, Hot Pie had apparently not noticed her standing next to him.

"This is Lady Meera Reed," he said. "My wife."

Meera smiled at the burly man in front of her.

"Baratheon," she whispered to her husband.

"What?" he replied in a confused tone.

"I'm Lady Meera Baratheon. I'm married to you, dear husband, so I have your last name."

"Oh right..."

Meera decided to ignore the fact that her husband had forgotten that they now shared a last name and instead paid attention to the husky man in front of her.

"I'm glad to see you again," she said. "Thanks for your help last time."

"You know each other?" her husband asked.

"Yes, he helped me before. When I escaped to get help. He and his wife, Annie. I met her when I was here with my father. She took in the cat I found in the capital... when I sneaked out from your tent."

"You're married too?" Gendry asked Hot Pie, just as astounded as his friend had been a moment ago.

Hot Pie nodded and smiled.

"I got married soon after you were here last time," he replied. "We have a cottage down by the river with a bakery in the back. Annie is there now. I'm only here to drop off today's load of pies to the tavern."

Gendry smiled back and put his hand on his friend's shoulder again.

"So we're both married," he said. "Who would have thought? Apparently somewhere along the way we both became men... and we found women who could stand us well enough to marry us."

"I think I can still stand you," Meera said and leaned in and kissed her husband. And as always when they kissed they had trouble stopping.

Hot Pie looked down onto the ground as the kissing continued in front of him.

"You two should come over and see our home," Hot Pie said in a desperate attempt to interrupt the action. "It's just a cottage though. So much simpler than what you two are used to."

Gendry and Meera reluctantly paused they kissing.

"Hot Pie," Gendry said. "You know I'm used to much less than that. There's nothing wrong with a cottage."

***

There certainly was nothing wrong with a cottage.

It was small but well-cared for. Log walls and a roof of grass. A rickety fence around it. Curtains in the windows. Roses climbing the walls. A cat playing in the grass. The smell of pie lingering in the air.

Annie bounced out of the house and embraced Meera as soon as they entered the garden. Braids bouncing on her shoulders, freckles more pronounced now in the warmer weather, smile as welcoming as ever.

"Meera," she exclaimed. "I'm so glad to see you. And your husband. Who seems to know my husband!"

Next, she attacked Gendry with a hug. He seemed a bit take aback at first by the sudden sign of affection but let Annie embrace him.

"I'm Annie," she said. "And you must be Lord Baratheon. My husband has told me about you."

"I'm Gendry," he replied. "For you and your husband I'm not a lord, please call me by my first name."

Annie gave him a puzzled look as he introduced himself.

"I thought you were from the Stormlands?" she asked. "Not the Riverlands."

"I'm lord of the Stormlands, but I'm born in the capital."

"But Gendry is a Riverlands name... it's my grandfather's name and he told me it's the name usually given to the first son in families along the Green Fork River."

"It was the name my mother gave me. I never knew her. But she called me Gendry Rivers. I figured they just wrote the wrong bastard name at the orphanage but perhaps she gave me a name that could lead me back to her homelands."

"She must have been Riverlands girl, just like me."

Annie smiled at Gendry. Maybe his mother had looked like her. A blonde Riverlands girl with a sweet smile.

Hot Pie came walking from another part of the cottage, sweating profusely and covered in flour. He must have been in the bakery.

"Hot Pie!" Gendry said. "Your wife was just wishing us welcome."

"Hot Pie?" Annie responded. "Is that what you call my husband?"

"It's the name I've always known him by. I guess I never thought about him having another name."

Annie looked over at her husband.

"You've never told your friend your name?"

"I guess I never did..."

"Well, his name is Robert. That's what I call him. Married men shouldn't go by childish nicknames."

Hot Pie looked at his wife in embarrassment.

Gendry had to admit that he had never realized that Hot Pie might have a proper first name.

"Your name is Robert?" he asked his friend. "Like my father? And you never told me."

"Well, I didn't know he was your father back then..." Hot Pie, or Robert, replied. "And you never asked. There were so many children in the capital named after the king when I grew up so everyone got a nickname. My mom sold hot pies... so Hot Pie it was."

So as everyone now knew each other's names they all walked together towards the cottage.

"Where's the cat?" Meera asked suddenly. "I think my father will want to know that it's doing alright."

"Ser Pie is probably in the bakery," Annie replied. "I'll go with you and look for it."

They found the very content cat sleeping on a bag of flour right next to the bakery oven. Toasty, cozy, and hot. Just like cats like it. When Meera petted it the cat yawned and stretched slightly, exposing its belly so she could scratch it. And she did of course. Because you have to make sure that cats get as pampered as they deserve.

"So is that him?" Annie asked as they sat down on the floor together next to the cat.

"What do you mean?" Meera replied, still scratching the cat's belly.

"The man you love. The one you couldn't have."

Meera nodded.

"So I guess you could have him after all. I'm happy for you."

"I can be with him now, but that means I gave up my lands."

"Which you said you couldn't do. So why did you?"

"So I can save them. It was the only way. Gendry will help me take them back."

"But you're happy?"

"I am... but it will hurt to leave my father. I'm the only child he has left."

"But you think he will understand."

"He will. He always understands. But that doesn't mean it won't hurt him."

Annie put her arms around Meera and embraced her. Annie was great at hugs. It was very comforting.

"You did what you needed to do," Annie said. "You will save your lands. And you get to be happy."

***

As the two women looked for the cat Hot Pie and Gendry sat down on a bench in the garden.

"Who would have thought," Gendry said. "That this is where we would end up. Two boys from Fleabottom. So far from there."

"You certainly strayed further than I did..." Hot Pie replied.

"I might be a lord but that's not what matters... she is what matters. My wife."

"You love her?"

"So much. I can hardly believe it. Last time I was here... I never thought I would love again."

"I'm happy for you, Gendry. That you found her. But I gotta say... you got odd taste in women my friend."

"What do you mean?"

"Well... most men don't prefer women who could kill them."

"Meera wouldn't kill me."

"I'm sure she wouldn't. But I'm also sure she could."

"You're probably right..."

They laughed and joked together for a while longer. Until their wives joined them again. Then followed a long evening of pies, wine, and talking.

Anecdotes from childhood together in the capital were told by Gendry and Hot Pie. Of sneaking around in narrow alleys, jumping around on rooftops, and rummaging through the trash for treasures.

Annie told anecdotes of growing up by the river. Of fishing every night with her grandfather, competing with her cousins on who could swim the fastest over the river and paddling down the river to sell fish to the merchants in town.

Meera told anecdotes of growing up in the swamp. Of hunting frogs by hand, running with her brother through shallow canals, and sitting in trees at night to spot beavers and crocodiles.

The night ended too soon. As nights like these always seem to do.

That night they rejoiced and the next night they would fight.

As they were leaving Gendry looked back at the cottage again, one last time. It reminded him of something.

It was the cottage he had dreamt of. The only dream he had ever had. The one he had told Hot Pie about when they sat in the harbor watching the bonfires so long ago.

He had other dreams now.

He had dreams of a family. Of children that were his and Meera's.

He had dreams of peace. Of a kingdom without wars.

He had dreams of glory. Of being remembered generations after he was gone.

He had the dreams of a lord. Because that's who he was now.

And all those dreams would eventually come true.

But he would have to fight for them.