Chasm

The mornings in the cabin of the no longer so small family are always chaotic. Gareth is the first to wake up and as soon as he does he goes to feed the animals, after which he prepares breakfast for the whole family.

Gawain is used to waking up to the smell of food and today is no exception. The redhead smells the eggs and bacon before opening his eyes.

He tries to get up but he can't move a muscle, he looks around him and sees his brothers surrounding him. Garth is sprawled across his chest clutching a handful of his shirt in one fist and drooling slightly. Galahad and Godric are using his arms as pillows, effectively immobilizing him completely.

`Operation Get out of bed is on!` He carefully pushes Godric and Galahad away, freeing his arms. He rolls and puts Garth near Galahad and is out of bed before his brothers notice.

The entire operation took less than a minute and as he got dressed his brothers piled back together, this time with Garth in the middle.

He comes out of their bedroom and sees his father cooking breakfast and his mother sitting in the rocking chair with her eyes half closed.

"Morning, father, mother."

"Morning, son." Gareth waves back but Marian just mutters something incoherent.

`I think if coffee existed in this world mother would be another coffee addict.` Gawain chuckles and helps his father finish breakfast.

"How are things at the smithy?"

"Very good, Willem says I'll outskill him shortly."

"That's my son!" Gareth smiles proudly and ruffles his hair. "Don't you think it's about time you got a haircut?" His father looks at his hair with a raised eyebrow.

Gawain's hair is not very long, it is a medium length with about 3 inches long but the question itself is not very far-fetched since most children his age have almost shaved hair as it is more comfortable and requires less maintenance.

"No!" Marian's eyes snapped open. "Gareth, don't even think about touching his hair!" She glares at her husband.

He snorts in amusement and turns his attention back to the eggs.

"Gawain has beautiful hair! His curls are his best draw!" Marian says passionately, getting up from the rocking chair and walking towards her son. "Curls not too long but not too short either, that is the best hairstyle for Gawain!" She strokes her son's hair lovingly.

"Whatever you say, wife." Gareth smiles good-naturedly. "But if his hair catches fire in the forge it will be your fault, not mine."

"Father, I have been working in the forge for three years and I have not had an accident."

"Certainly, Gawain is very responsible!" Marian nods.

"What's all the fuss about so early?" Galahad comes out of the boys' bedroom, the twins behind him rubbing their eyes.

"Your father wants to cut your brother's hair." Marian informs her second son.

Galahad's eyes snap open and he runs to his brother's side, stepping between him and their father with his hands outstretched.

"Father no!"

Gawain looks between his brother and his mother and bursts out laughing at how alike they are.

`Mornings are never boring.`

After a hearty breakfast Gareth went to work, Gawain watched as his father walked away down the side road while he said goodbye to the dogs. His house is in a corner of the village, surrounded by the forest and originally there was only one path leading to the house; the one that leads to the main street of the village. But a few years ago they built a second path that leads directly to the path that leads to the fields that used to be a meadow years ago. The secondary path saves Gareth about ten minutes of walking.

`It is time for me to go to work too. Hopefully Willem has something more than horseshoes today... `The redhead says goodbye to his brothers and goes to his job.

Unfortunately for him, Willem only had two horseshoes to repair today, a job that the two of them finished in less than an hour. Without any plans for the rest of the day, Gawain decided to take a walk through the village.

Gawain walked down the main street and greeted his neighbors in passing, but he did not stop to chat.

`Lately, every time I talk to a neighbor, the subject always comes up about how pretty their daughter or granddaughter or niece is.` The redhead sighs and decides to go to the tavern.

He goes up the wooden steps and opens the door, only Tobias, Jenny and Genna are inside.

"Morning, Gawain." Tobias smiles at him from behind the counter, he's cleaning some mugs.

"What are you doing here so early? Did Willem fire you?" Jenny, the daughter of Genna and Tobias, taunts him.

"Hmm." Gawain ignores her comments as by now he is used to it, and sits on a stool at the bar.

Jenny has always enjoyed taunting him since they were kids, whether it's insulting his appearance, his clothes, or whatever else her young lady comes up with. Gawain won't lower himself to arguing with a ten year old so for the most part he ignores her, which only annoys the girl even more.

"Are you ignoring me? You stupid!"

`Wow, what a clever insult, I am shaking in my bots.`

Seeing Gawain's amused smile makes her even angrier.

"Jenny!" Genna scolds her with her hands on her waist. "Stop bothering Gawain and go get ready! We have to leave right away if we want to get there before dark!"

Jenny sulks but obeys her mother.

"Where are you going?" Gawain looks at Genna curiously.

"We're going to visit my aunt in Shelton." Genna informs him as she puts some things in a basket.

`Shelton? That village is half a day away.` Gawain turns his attention to Tobias. "Will you leave someone in charge of the tavern or will you close?"

"Only Genna and Jenny will go, I'll stay." Tobias says. "Balor is not around, as you can see. He went to visit the taverns of some neighboring villages to make some coins."

"Was I that obvious?" Gawain smiles sheepishly.

"You only come to the tavern when you're sent to run an errand or when Balor is here." Tobias chuckles.

Gawain says goodbye to Genna and Jenny as they leave and he stays chatting with Tobias for a while. He finds out that Genna's cousin just had a baby and that she is going to help them for a few days, he also learns a lot of gossip. Apparently Bofur the carpenter got into a fight with Eric and his uncle Ralof got into an argument with a drunk.

`Uncle Ralof was right, for a small village this place is full of gossip.`

Before going home he goes to the bakery and buys some cakes for his brothers and his mother, Willem gives him his pay that morning and Gawain thinks that pampering his family is the best way to spend his coins.

Arriving home he is greeted by the twins, who were running from a very grumpy Galahad.

"Those dwarfs threw mud in my face!"

Gawain laughs and nods, looking at the dark brown stain on his brother's cheek.

"I can see it, go clean yourself up and I'll take care of these rascals." Galahad glares at the twins before turning and running towards the well.

"Whose idea was it?" He squats down to the level of the twins and looks into their eyes.

Godric looks at him defiantly, obviously not sorry for his mischief, while Garth is half hidden behind his twin staring at the ground.

"He deserved it!" Godric crosses his arms.

"Oh? What did he do?"

"He didn't want to play!" the three-year-old says proudly, as if that explanation is perfectly reasonable.

"So you threw mud at Galahad because he didn't want to play with you?" Gawain looks at them expressionlessly.

Godric nods, the redhead looks at the other twin and sees that Garth is starting to tear up.

"That was wrong and you will apologize to Galahad, both of you." He looks at them seriously and uses his most firm and scolding tone, the one he always uses whenever his brothers get into trouble.

"B-but he didn't play with us!" Godric's tone sounds more annoyed and frustrated with each word.

`... toddlers`

Dealing with the twins' mischief took more than he expected as the tear show started as soon as Gawain refused to give in to Godric's demands, both twins burst into tears and he had to calm them down and explain why their actions were wrong. Galahad, to his relief, was much more reasonable than the babies (Gawain is sure the cakes had something to do with it as Galahad always had a sweet tooth, give him something sweet to eat and he'll forget about everything else).

While Gawain was taking care of this mess his mother was repairing a section of the barn that had been damaged by a spring storm a few days earlier.

"Being a big brother is not easy." Gawain watched as the three children played with Thor and Loki, he sighed and looked at the sky enjoying the rays of the sun.

His peace was interrupted by the arrival of two dozen knights, Gawain jumped up and watched all those men on horseback coming up the side road leading to the fields.

"Gawain! Take your brothers and come here!" His mother ordered him urgently and the boy rushed to comply, grabbing the twins in his arms and Galahad following close behind.

Once next to his mother, he inspects the new arrivals.

`Father and Aerys's entourage.` Gawain felt his stomach sink.

Aerys Targaryen was mounted on a steed surrounded by Steffon Baratheon, Luther Tyrell, Roxton, and other men whose coats of arms Gawain did not recognize. He sees two men in white cloaks near Aerys, one of whom he recognizes as Barristan Selmy but he doesn't know who the other is.

His father and two other peasants were walking beside the horses, their faces pale and sweaty.

"Get on your knees!" His mother whispered urgently and Gawain quickly dropped to one knee.

"So this is your family?" A pompous voice speaks.

"Yes, mi lord." His father's voice is soft and humble, Gawain can practically see him trying to make himself as small as possible so as not to offend these men.

"Woman!" An authoritative voice yells and the redhead raises his head slightly to see who is speaking.

`Roxton.`

"My guests are hungry, go and prepare something for them to eat!"

Gawain sees a malicious glint in Roxton's eyes and his jaw clenches.

`This is a fucking power move! But why? What do they gain by taking food from a peasant family? Are their egos so fragile that they have to bully peasants to feel superior?`

"Yes my lord!" Marian hastily stands up and after hesitating for a moment she looks at Lord Roxton. "My lord m- my children were about to go to a friend's house. Do you allow them to go?"

Roxton laughs, and Gawain can practically see his fragile ego swell.

"You should ask the prince, woman."

Marian turns to Aerys and the prince looks her up and down before nodding.

"You!" Aerys points to the two peasants who accompanied them, Gawain remembers that their names are Adam and Mullin. "Accompany the children, see that they arrive safely."

"Yes, your grace!" The two peasants sigh with relief at being able to get away from these people.

"Thank you, your grace, for your kindness." Marian smiles at the prince with a charming smile that Gawain recognizes as false. Aerys puffs out his chest like a peacock and smirks.

"Gawain, take your brothers to Ralof`s and tell him what happened here. Stay with him and take care of your brothers." She whispers in his ear. "Promise me that you will stay away until these men leave."

Gawain nods but crosses his fingers behind his back.

"I love you son, I love all three of you." Marian kisses them on the forehead and tells him to go.

The redhead feels a sense of oppression, he doesn't want to go and leave his parents with these men but he can't leave his brothers either. With a heavy heart he follows the two peasants with the twins in his arms and Galahad and the dogs following them.

***

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