Spar

298 AC, Red Keep…

It had been a hectic day for Rody. First, he nearly lost his virginity. Then, the clansman that was lost in the infamous tunnels of Red Keep came out from behind the walls of a brothel's room. And now, he was standing before Lord Stark with a bowed head.

"My lord, I believe this is a great opportunity. No one other than the prostitute in the room and the owner, Madam Chataya, knows about the tunnel. Maybe we can have an agreement with the madam about a contingency escape route in case something happens?" said Jory, who was sitting on a chair before the table. He was trying to save some face for Rody.

"Though your idea has some merit, that does not change the fact about what Rody did." Lord Stark's eyes were trained on Rody as he sighed. "I'm not going to judge you about going to brothels. You are a man of your own and you can do whatever you want. However, you are a first generation noble and if you want others to accept you as one of their own, you need to act as one of them."

"Yes, my lord." Rody said without raising his head.

"Come, sit." Lord Stark said as Rody sat on one of the chairs. Lord Stark turned his head to Jory, "Were you able to find anything?"

"Yes, my lord." Jory's face took a serious tone as his eyes briefly looked at Rody, then to Lord Stark.

Both of their eyes turned to Rody as he looked at them with a questioning gaze, "What?" he asked.

"Jory, tell the guards, standing at the door, to wait for their next orders in the small hall." said Lord Stark with his gray eyes taking a dangerous glint as he watched Jory leave the room.

Lord Stark waited for a few seconds and Jory came back in. He turned his head back to Rody and said, "This matter is of utmost importance and cannot leave this room."

Rody sat straight and looked at his lord with a serious look on his face. His bushy brows were looking downright as he was frowning.

"Catelyn received a letter from her sister before the king came to Winterfell. Her sister was blaming Lannisters for the death of his husband, Lord Arryn." he said and told Rody about his suspicion regarding the parentage of the king's children.

Rody listened with a gaped mouth. Every word uttered by his lord was revealing a huge plot that could create chaos in Seven Kingdoms. However, now he was realizing the reason why Jory did accompany them to Master Mott's shop.

"Now that the words are spoken, Jory you can tell us about what you have found." Lord Stark said.

Jory nodded his head and began telling his findings, "The boy, Gendry, was the exact copy of him. Though Master Mott was reluctant to speak, I learned that it was Lord Arryn who arranged the job for the boy."

"Lord Arryn was like a father to both Robert and me. I know that he gave a job to Robert's first bastard as well so it is normal for him to do this." Lord Stark sighed with a thoughtful look. "What about the other one?"

"Her name is Barra, my lord. She is still a baby but her hair is black and her eyes are blue just like the king's." said Jory.

"Robert also has a bastard son in Storm's End. He was conceived on Stannis's wedding day. They say he also resembles the king." Lord Stark said, "Even though the royal children do not have an ounce of resemblance to Robert, it is not enough."

"What are we going to do, my lord?" Jory asked.

"We need concrete proof…" Lord Stark spoke with a hand on his chin.

"If the children had looked similar to someone from the court, we would have guessed the father but they all look like a Lannister." Rody said experastedly.

"Aye, but there is nothing we could do about it. I will continue to search around for a clue with your permission, my lord." Jory said.

"Hmm," Lord Stark nodded his head. "Be careful, by now some people must have some guesses about our purpose."

"The coming weeks will be busy as the tourney is coming close. There will be many eyes roaming around so try to stay away from them. If possible, don't get involved in anything and send your men to deal with your jobs." Lord Stark said, "We cannot give them a leeway to grip us from our necks."

"Now, I have some papers I need to deal with." Lord Stark pulled out a stack of papers from the drawer of his desk, "Rody go find Arya, she should be with her dance master. And Jory you go find Sansa, she should be with Septa and princess. Tell both of them that we will have a family dinner tonight and they should be at the tower earlier."

Seeing this as a dismissal, Rody and Jory rose to their feet. They bowed their heads and left the room. They descended from the tower and went their own way.

Rody passed through the long and dark corridors of Red Keep. The sun was already falling behind the keep so the insides were only lit by the hollow torches.

There were various types of people around Red Keep. Rody saw some maids, guards, and even a man who was trying to hide amongst the shadows. However, when he finally arrived at his destination, he was only greeted by the sounds of wooden swords and the sight of two people.

"Lady Arya," Rody said, "Your father requested your presence in the tower at an earlier hour."

Hearing herself being called, Arya turned her head but that was a mistake as her dance master did not care and hit her with his thin blade.

"Ouch," Arya held her arm and looked at her dance master frowningly, "What was that?"

"How can you be as quick as a snake or as quiet as a shadow, when your head is somewhere else?" The dance master lowered his sword and a belittling look took over his face. "Focus on the present. Remember only one at a time."

"You must be the First Sword of Braavos, Master Syrio Forel, Lord Stark hired." Rody said with a raised eyebrow.

"And you must be the Demon of the North everyone talks about." said Syrio while grinning, "Though they say your skill is just a ruse and you were only lucky. However, the boy speaks the opposite, I would like to test it myself."

Syrio picked up a sword from the shelf just beside him and threw it to Rody.

Rody grabbed the sword while grumbling. There was no harm to have a small spar so he untied the sword that hung on his belt and extended it to Arya, "Lad Arya, can you hold it for a minute?"

"A minute?" A small laugh came from the side of the dance master. "I say that is too much, I only need half of that to best you."

"Oooh!" Arya made a mocking sound as her small mouth took the shape of a bowl.

Rody snorted and turned around with a tight grip on his wooden sword. His opponent was holding a different sword from his as it was pointy and had no sharp edges on sides.

Rody never fought against such an opponent so he was wondering what kind of style he was going to use. "We will see whether you will be able to handle me, old man."

The old dance master took his stance and waited for Rody to make the first move.

Rody weighed his sword and looked at his opponent to find a weakness in his stance. However, he found none and at that moment, he realized that the old man standing before him did not keep his title for nothing.

"Afraid of clashing swords with an old man like me, huh?" Syrio mocked Rody.

"We will see about that soon." Rody did not let the old man mock him more and advanced upon him with a sword in his hand.

He slashed with his sword vertically to try his chance but instead of blocking it like his other opponents, the old dance master dodged the strike.

Syrio poked Rody on his leg after dodging his strike and said, "Pity, it did not even take half a minute and I already hit you."

"Show him what a Northman could do, Rody!" Arya yelled from the side.

"Aye, looks like I underestimate you, old man." Rody said as he gave up on playing and readied himself for a real clash.

Syrio also became serious as he watched Rody. The mocking boy was gone and it was replaced by a manticore with a barbed tail, ready to strike any moment.

Rody raised his sword just as he was taught by his Uncle Duncan. His grip on his sword was strong and his legs were steady. Before the dance master could utter any other mocking word, Rody's sword was on him.

"Such speed." The shock was apparent on Syrio's face as he muttered to himself.

Rody's sword rained on the old man and forced him to step back. Syrio tried the same trick and attacked Rody after dodging his strike.

However, this time Rody did not give him that chance. He pulled his leg back and turned around to swing his sword horizontally.

Syrio bent himself backward and watched as the sword moved before his eyes. His sword was not for slashes so he did the only thing sensible, he backflipped and backed away.

Syrio put his left leg behind his right one and only left his right shoulder open for strike. He began poking his sword right and left to Rody.

However, Rody was not some green boy who would fall over after facing a foreign style. He quickly adapted and tried to close the distance between them.

Syrio's sword was fast enough to blind a cat but Rody was agile enough to leave dust behind him.

As they were fighting, Arya was watching them with shining eyes. She witnessed Rody spar with other knights and warriors but never saw him fight like this. Even the Kingslayer everyone praised highly so far was not as fast as her dance master and Rody.

Just as she was going to yell in support of Rody for a second time, someone put his hand on her shoulder. She stopped and raised her head to look who it was.

She saw a huge beard and a pair of blue eyes looking down on her. There was another man behind the hulking man. He was wearing all white and a helmet of polished steel was on his hand.

The big man put his finger on his mouth and motioned Arya to stay silent. Arya nodded her small head with her big eyes and turned her eyes to watch the fight.

After several minutes of intense clashes, both were beginning to tire. Their eyes were only for each other and their breath was not as steady as before. Their drops of sweat were glistening before the falling sun.

As Syrio continued to attack with his thin sword, Rody did the unthinkable thing that was taught to him by his Uncle Duncan.

He thrusted his sword forward and let Syrio dodge it again. However, before he could attack with a thrust of his own, Rody gripped his sword with both of his hands and threw it towards him like an ax.

Syrio tried to dodge it again by sidestepping but that was a mistake. Rody closed on him and threw a low kick to Syrio's left leg.

Syrio was quicker than most so he raised his left leg slightly to block his kick. However, he realized it late as Rody was closer for a usual kick.

Rody's kick swept past through his left leg and came to the back of his right knee. While the kick was connected with the back of his right knee, Rody pushed him from his chest and made him fall on his back.

Rody did not give his opponent any chance and kicked his sword away. He put his heel on the dance master's throat and grinned while beads of sweat slid down his face.

"I won," Rody said as he pulled his boot from Syrio's throat and extended his hand to the old man.

"Aye, you won." Syrio said while grabbing Rody's hand. "Though your last move was unexpected. Who taught you that?"

At that moment, a heartful laugh and clapping sounds came from behind them. Rody turned around to see the king and the lord commander standing beside Arya who was jumping up and down while clapping. Rody and Syrio bowed down, seeing the king.

"Pity, that was a fight deserving a big audience." The king said with a huge grin on his face but the one thing that caught Rody's eyes was the frown on the lord commander's face.

"Huh, remember the Rebellion, Selmy?" The king clapped his head guard's shoulder. "I fought just like the boy in Trident."

However, Lord Commander Barristan Selmy did not give the answer the king was expecting and instead answered with a question of his own directed towards Rody. "Where did you learn that move?"