Chapter 7

Robin groaned pitifully as he landed on his bed, not bothering to discard his dirtied clothes. It was dusk and he was absolutely exhausted, Barristan was a demon when it came to training. Robin thought the old man was taking the piss when he was ordered to fight the entirety of the Lannister Guards before going a round against the Lord-Commander himself. Robin's confidence in his so called 'Superhuman abilities' was shattered into a million pieces as Barristan knocked him down again and again without any visible strain on his part.

This was the Barristan-Style training, and by god it was hell.

Robin had never, never done any exercises for the six months that he had been training with the Lord-Commander. Fighting was all he had done, along with some techniques that he had been told to practice. These so called techniques was only really basic strikes and parries that he had been told to repeat a thousand times a day.

A thousand! Robin's eye twitched a little as he remembered the days where he almost thought he was going to die. Barristan had scoffed out loud when he was approached by certain Knights about Robin's physical training. He'd said that until Robin knew how to hold a sword properly, it was all the boy was going to do. Instincts were more important than skills, speed or power. Robin was really hoping that his research and meditations would make progress soon because he really needed a healing charm.

It was funny actually, that the old Knight was suddenly enthusiastic in teaching as Robin was in learning. Although the two of them agreed to never let the Queen find out that her son was getting beaten into a pulp everyday. Especially now that she was pregnant, the woman was a terror upon the citizens of the Red Keep. Her tantrums were a sight to behold and the swollen stomach actually made her that much more intimidating.

He couldn't wait to meet his little brother, he never had any family back when he was Harry.

Robert had popped in every once in a while to see how well his son was doing. He looked like he disagreed with the training methods but miraculously kept his mouth shut and allowed it to continue.

"Hi Jen" Robin slurred as he spotted a bright patch of red hair come into his chambers.

Jenny shook her head, not understanding why he would torture himself like this everyday. The girl and the Prince had grown close during their time together. Robin would even sometimes invite her to his chambers at night where they would speak all night long. Robin would regale her with tales of flying men on brooms, Horse-less carriages that operated on controlled explosions, tall buildings that touched the skies.

She wondered where he'd gotten all those from, the library perhaps? It was well known that the Prince always had his nose deep inside a book when he was not training, eating or sleeping.

It had even become a common saying around the Red Keep; 'If he's not holding a sword, he's holding a book, if it's not both than it's probably a spoon.'

Jenny giggled as Robin whined and pouted. "Come one now, let's take the shoes of you lazy bum! I've made sure the floor was sparkling and now you've dirtied it." she slapped his leg when refused to move. Jenny sighed as Robin started rolling on the bed, his hands over his head as he kept saying 'No no no no'

"I'll sneak in some wine tomorrow at breakfast if you take a bath now." She giggled as Robin jumped off his bed, throwing her a thumbs up before stripping off all his clothes, not caring that she was right there. Jenny merely shook her head, used to his antics already.

Luckily she had already drawn a bath beforehand, and groaned a bit as she heard a loud splashing noise. It looked like she was going to have to clean up all over again. She didn't mind though, it was her job and she would be happy to help her Prince and Friend, she knew he was dead tired. She had once peeked on one of his training sessions against his wishes and knew immediately why he looked like he was going to die every time he came back to the chambers.

"Robin!" she whined, "You always do this!" she complained as she came over to the bath, where Robin was struggling to wash the small of his back.

"Because we're friends! Trust me if you were the princess and I the Manservant, you'd do this too!" he said, pausing in his efforts to point at her in accusation.

"I beg your pardon? I would never do that to someone. It's only - oh come here you" she cut herself off, lifting her skirt up and walking towards the bath. She batted Robin's hands away and started washing his hair for him.

"Honestly how do you expect girls to like you if you have smelly hair?" she scolded as she massaged the scalp.

"I'm under-aged you pervert" he snorted as she tickled his nose. The girl pretended not to hear him and continued, ignoring the strange term he used.

"You'll have to marry someday you know, I reckon it'll be a beautiful girl, probably one from one of the Great Houses." she sighed as she imagined what would it be to be a noble.

"You're starting to drool Jen." Robin grimaced, as the girl started digging his nose unknowingly in her sudden daydreaming.

"Alright that's it! Get out will ya? I'll handle this myself." Robin yelled, gesturing wildly while sneezing uncontrollably due to all the soap in his nose.