"I am sorry. I think I need to deal with this," Jon said apologetically to Margery, while jerking his head towards the gates.
"I-Yes, of course," The girl replied immediately with a nod, her eyes darting towards the approaching party of the king with a somewhat nervous expression on her face, "But will you be fine though? Or do you need help?" she asked, looking genuienly worried about him, "My grandmother is nearby, and she should be able to speak for you, I think."
"No need, this does not seem like it would be too much trouble," Jon replied with a wave of his hand, looking very much unbothered, which somewhat annoyed the girl, as it appeared to her that he was not taking the King very seriously at all. "So I shall see you later then?"
"Yes, certainly," Margery replied subconsciously, her mind still on the approaching royalty and how she would explain it all to her Grandmother.
"How about in the evening then, over a warm meal?" Jon continued with a mischievous smile on his face.
"Sure, I shall be there—" She started to reply before her mind comprehended his words and her eyes suddenly widened as she turned to look at his grinning face, and his waiting expression, finally realising what was being asked of her, "I..." The girl stuttered, and her face turned red as her brain was unable to come up with a proper answer to this sudden, bold proposal that came out of nowhere.
Unfortunately for Jon, someone interrupted them before he could properly woo the girl, "Stop flirting with the dame, boy, and hurry up here!" grunted the annoyed King from a few meters away as he disembarked his horse, feeling quite vexed at the boy's audacity to still be talking with a girl at a time like this, but it also made him feel pleased for some reason, as this was the exact kind of thing that he would have pulled off in his younger years.
"We shall continue this later then," Jon smiled with a wink, before he immediately turned around and began walking towards the King, leaving the flustered girl all alone to ponder on what had just happened.
Robb rolled his eyes at the blatant flirting from his brother, but joined him nonetheless, along with Lord Manderly, Ser Rodrik and the others.
"You have kept us waiting for a long time, boy," Robert began the moment Jon came in front of him, his eyes taking in every feature of the boy.
And when the king saw the countless features of his friend in the face, his eyes automatically dilated in surprise, especially when he compared him to his half-brother standing beside him, 'So I was not the only one whose bastards resembled him more than his trueborn children, huh? It seems that we are both blessed with this curse, Ned,' he mused to himself, feeling relieved for some reason.
"A thousand apologies for the delay, your grace. But my fleet unfortunately got hit by a fierce storm on the way, and we got waylaid by almost a week from there, so it took a while to get back on the correct path." Jon replied as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "But I must say, you really are as tall as Father always made you out to be." Jon suddenly praised as he looked at Robert with a very earnest look of wonder in his eyes, "Because I was always of the opinion that he was exaggerating in his tales."
Seeing him speak so frankly with the King left nearby men very much dumbfounded, as it was rare for anyone, let alone a young man who was meeting him for the first time, to speak with such ease with the King of the Seven Kingdoms.
"Haha, is that true?" Rober immediately guffawed with a joyful expression on his face, as he never would have known that his best friend was telling tales about him to his sons and daughters.
"Of course, your grace," Jon continued with an honest smile, as if he were someone who had never spoken a lie in his life, "In fact, the stories of the Rebellion were a favourite one of mine, especially the Battle of Bells, where you single-handedly escaped from the pursuit of hundreds of men,"
'Is he fucking flattering him?' Robb thought as he stared at his brother as if he were a stranger, never having known that his brother was even capable of doing something like that, 'What the hell have you learned in Essos, Jon?'
"Tell me, what else did your—" Just as Robert was about to merrily ask for the details, an audible gasp interrupted him, and his and every other eye there turned towards the white-armoured elderly Knight, whose body seemed to have turned into stone, his eyes staring stiffly at Jon as if unable to take them off his face.
"Anything the matter, Ser Barristan?" Robert asked curiously, as it was very unusual for him to see the veteran knight lose his composure for no reason.
"No, your grace, I apologise," Ser Barristan cleared his throat and immediately answered after coming back to himself, "I was... just shocked for a few moments after seeing how similar the lad looked to the Lord Stark, and lost myself," he explained as he bowed and took a step back.
"Haha, you think so too," Robert laughed out loud with a large smile on his face, and everyone else also bought that excuse.
But Jon did not, as his eyes narrowed and he looked towards the Knigsguard with a wary scrutinising gaze, but sadly the knight seemed to suddenly find the ground very fascinating and looked reluctant to look up for some reason, "Tell you what, boy? Why don't we head back into the city, find a Tavern, and you can tell me all about your travels and—"
But once again, the King was interrupted midway through, and this time by a very unexpected addition to the gathering.
"Your grace," called a benign voice from behind Robert as he turned around with a surprised expression, only to see his Master of the coin walking towards them from the direction of the city with a smile on his face.
"Littlefinger? What are you doing out here so early?" Robert asked with a confused expression.
"I was out there handling some documents with the Port Master for the upcoming tourney, Your grace, when I happened to hear of your arrival. So I hurried here to see what had alarmed you so," Petyr replied in a soft, smooth voice, his eyes wandering over to Robb, Lord Manderly, and then finally on to Jon, whom he scrutinised closely for quite a while.
"I didn't know you woke up this early for work," Robert muttered with a strange look in his eyes, staring at Baelish as if he were an odd creature.
And it was very rare for anyone in the capital, let alone a noble Lord who held a high position in the small council, to wake up at dawn like a common farmer for work. "Anyhow, it was all a misunderstanding from the start, and there was never a need for alarm in the first place. Just that idiot Slynt making a mountain out of nothing,"
"Hm? That is strange then," Baelish replied with a taken aback expression, "Because according to what I have learned from the worried soldiers on the way here, they were disturbed by the sightings of an unusually high number of ships coming towards the city without any previous warning of their arrival. And I can see that they were indeed right about those foreign ships," he said while pointing towards the fleet standing a few leagues away from the harbour.
"Oh, those are all his," Robert stated dismissively, as he moved sideways to show Jon, "This is Jon Snow, Ned's son, the one we have all been waiting for," he introduced, looking proud for some reason, "And Jon, this is Littlefinger, my Master of coin, and he may not look it, but the man is very cunning, and has a very uncanny knack of always managing to find coin for me whenever I have need it," He chuckled with a wink.
"Greetings, Lord Baelish. I have heard a lot about you," Jon nodded with a friendly smile on his face, "And I must say, you really are not as your nickname made you out to be," he continued with an amused look on his face, "After all, you are too tall to have gained that unfair name, My Lord," he said genuinely as if emphasising with him, but it felt strange coming from him, a fourteen-year-old boy who was almost a head taller than him.
"Haha!! Tall, you say." Robert immediately burst out laughing as if it were a great jest, "It seems you finally found the first ones who think you are tall, Littlefinger."
Baelish face did not so much as twitch, as he just kept on looking at Jon with a calm gaze, and the moment Robert was finished with his chuckles, he began, "I am sure your grace, that you place a great trust in Jon Snow here, but I must admit that I feel a little apprehensive seeing so many unfamiliar ships waiting to dock in our harbour, when we have no clue what they could be carrying inside them."
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