Author's note: This is my first attempt at a Game of Throne's fic. I have several chapters written, so hopefully I'll update often if it's well received. Remember, this is anAU, I have aged the some of the characters up several years. Some of the same events that had happened in the books and the show will happen in this... things will just happen differently. I hope you enjoy

Chapter 1

Arya sat with her septa, her sister, and her mother. She fidgeted uneasily in the horrible gown they had dressed her up in, like she was some sort of doll. And now her hair was being pulled in all sorts of directions in some sort of braid monstrosity that was no doubt of a Southron style. Arya suspected her mother thought it would show well to adopt the style, at least for the first meeting of the King and Queen. Which would probably be in a few hours, a messenger had arrived not to long ago announcing that the Royal entourage was indeed closing in on Winterfell. Arya knew that something huge must have happened, the King didn't just pick up from King's Landing to just visit the Warden of the North on a whim. She wasn't sure what it was, nor did she care, she just knew that she was being tortured with both the dress and the hairstyle, and she was already resenting it.

"Why do I even have to be there? It's not like the King even knows I exist." Arya said petulantly as her mother tugged on the young girl's stubborn hair once again.

"Sit still Arya," admonished her mother, Catelyn, with a huff of disgust at the fact that she couldn't get the girl's hair just right. "King Robert is not only our King, he is one of your father's oldest and dearest friends . It would not be proper if our entire family was not there to welcome him to Winterfell."

"Hmph," Arya pouted. "Fine, but I don't have to like it." Arya looked over at Sansa, giving her a murderous glare. Of course her sister would be enjoying all of the pomp and circumstance.

"I think it's going to be most exciting." Sansa gushed. "The Queen is going to be here and they say she is one of the most beautiful women in all the realm. And Prince Joffrey," Arya couldn't help but roll her eyes. "And Ser Jaime I hope he's as handsome as everyone says."

"You seem more excited about the Lannisters then the King." Arya deadpanned, then her eyes brightened. "Do you think the Imp will be coming? I've always wondered if the stories of his height were true."

Catlyn looked sharply at her youngest daughter. "Arya!" She scolded with a shock. "You will speak of a proper lord in the proper way. You will address him as Lord Tyrion, and yes I do believe your father mentioned that he would be part of the Royal party." Catelyn did not seem pleased by this particular fact.

Arya made a small face but then nodded to her mother to show that would at least try to act like a proper lady.

"You are done, I will set you free as long as you promise not to make a mess of your dress and hair."

"Yes Mother," But Arya barely heard as she scrambled to the door. She couldn't be out of the room fast enough. The freedom of the outdoors called for her too loudly.

Arya tore down the halls of Winterfell as if on a mission. It was only moments before she found herself in her room. She stalked to a trunk in the corner where she hid her bow and quiver of arrows. She had every intention of doing exactly what her mother had warned her against.

There were several people milling about the practice yard, making preparations for the arrival of the royal family. Her father and Jory looked on, a bit of smile on their faces. Her brothers were standing about, attempting to fill their time before the King arrived. They watched each other take turns at sword play and practiced with their own bows and arrows, even after they cleaned up for the King. It didn't seem fair that boys got to have all the fun, and didn't have to worry about messing up their clothing. She allowed herself a bit of a pout at that. Theon was there too laughing and having fun with Jon and Robb. At the moment it was Bran who held the bow and arrow. He held it up to take aim at the target. He was still young and wasn't as proficient as the rest of the Stark boys. And as he missed two times in hitting the target, Arya smirked with a bit of mischief, he also wasn't as good as she was with a bow.

While he lifted his arms to make his next attempt, she lifted her bow and lined up the arrow. She carefully took aim at the middle circle of the target that Bran had been practicing on. He worked on calming his nerves and was just about to let his arrow fly, when Arya beat him to it. There was a thunk as the arrow she had let loose hit true to her intended target. For a moment there was silence while everyone looked to where she stood, smiling proudly to herself. Bran looked like he swallowed something awful realizing that a girl had bested him, then started after his sister, who dropped her bow and started to run away from him.

Her father and Jory started laughing at the antics of the children, even though Ned knew he should probably calm his daughter. He knew Cat would not be happy with the behavior and so close to the time their visitors would be arriving. He just couldn't bring himself to tame the young wolf now, he didn't have the heart to. He knew he let his youngest daughter get away with too much.

Jon, Theon, and Robb were also laughing in. Robb eyed his friend, Theon, pointedly. "I didn't know she could shoot like that. I have to wonder where she learned."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Theon struggled to keep the smug smile from his face, hoping to give some illusion of innocence. He was quite proud of his little student. She really learned a lot from him over the past few weeks.

"Sure you don't." Put in Jon. "She's a just a natural." His voice held a hint of teasing.

Theon rolled his eyes. "Okay, so I might have given her a lesson or two." He was downplaying his role slightly. "But you know how she is when she gets her mind set on something, she'll pester and pester until she gets whatever it is she wants."

The other two boys laughed, they knew exactly how their sister was. "Aye, we'll give you that. But my mother is not going to be pleased." Robb mentioned.

Theon's characteristic smile faded for a moment. "We don't have to mention this to the Lady Stark, do we?"

Again the boys laughed. "Don't worry your secret is safe with us." Said Jon, just as the signal sounded for the arrival of King Robert.

All three of them looked at each other with a sort of dread. They hated the formality that came with being born of noble blood. They quickly made their way over to their prearranged places. Robb stood with the rest of the Starks, Bran was there but Arya was absent. Robb gave a quick a glance at Jon and Theon with a face that said "uh oh". The other two snickered from their positions. Lady Stark gave her husband a worried glance when she couldn't account for Arya.

But for now it was too late to go looking for her. The Baratheons had arrived. Robert, who was a larger man than the Starks had been led to believe, gracelessly lumbered off his horse as Ned stepped forward to greet him. The queen's carriage came to a halt and some knights moved to help her and her youngest son and daughter down. A blond young man who everyone assumed must be Prince Joffrey looked around with a bored expression at Winterfell, and he got off the horse with a grace his father didn't have. A knight dressed is in white to designate the King's Guard stood at the horse that held the halfling who could only be Tyrion Lannister. The Knight must have been Jaime. There were various others of the King's entourage milling about and mixing with the servants of Winterfell starting to get things in order while the nobles attended to their greetings.

It was just as Ned started the introductions that Arya decided to show up, her dress rumpled and her hair a mess. Her entrance was less then graceful. She ran right up to her place between Sansa and Bran, her face flushed and her body breathless. She looked apologetically at her father. He tried to look stern, but she could see the twinkle of laughter in his eyes, despite his frown.

Robert held the same amusement in his eyes as he watched the young girl take her place. He even seemed to be chuckling a little bit. "She reminds me of someone." He whispered to Ned. Whose expression seemed to go reminiscent of times past as he nodded his head, knowing of whom Robert had spoke.

Arya tried to give her mother her best, pitiful I'm sorry look and from the look her mother returned she could tell it hadn't worked. She winced knowing she would be in for quite the punishment when the greetings had been dispensed.

The others in the yard had their bouts of amusement too at Arya's expense. Theon and Robb exchanged knowing looks, Robb trying desperately to hide a chuckle, Theon just smiling in that special way of his. Jon had a little bit of a problem hiding his laugh and had to cover it with a cough, which also earned him a look from Catelyn. Queen Cersei raised her eyebrows in subtle disdain, at what she had no doubt thought of as the little northern barbarian girl. Jaime looked up at his little brother who was still seated upon his horse, both trading amused looks and smiles, thinking that perhaps not all the Starks were impossibly boring like the honorable Ned.

Finally, after all the introductions were made and Arya attempted to preform a passible curtsy, King Robert asked her father if he could go pay respects to her Aunt Lyanna, who had once been betrothed to the King before she had died. Quickly after that, the party started to disband and thankfully, Catelyn was busy entertaining the Queen. This allowed Arya to be able to slip away easily without anyone realizing that she had done so. She supposed that she could spend some time in the Godswood. She doubted anyone would bother her there. She thought maybe she could practice her sword play while everyone was so busy running around trying to impress the royals.

She was stealthy enough when she wanted to be and while it had taken her longer then she would have liked to get to the armory, she arrived there unnoticed. She had already retrieved her bow from the practice yard, all she needed now was a practice sword. She had hoped the building to be mostly empty, easily dodging her way around several of Winterfell's guards. Everyone seemed to be much too interested in their guests than they were with her. However her assumption proved to be a little off. When she reached the room that held the practice swords. Someone was already there.

"I knew I would find you here, you little wolf." Theon said with a smirk as she slinked into the weapons area.

Arya frowned at the fact that she was found out, but at least it was only Theon, maybe he could be reasonable. She turned towards him with with a bit of a furrowed brow. "You're not going to say anything to anyone are you?"

He had been leaning against a table that held several bits and pieces of armor. One leg crossed over the other, his arms crossed as his eyes showed just how amusing this whole situation was to him. He looked like the perfect picture of relaxation. He raised an eyebrow at what she said. "I don't know, what's in it for me?"

Arya sighed realizing that of course he was going to ask for something out of all of this. She seemed to deflate a little bit knowing that she didn't have a single thing to offer the young man. "What do you want?"

He pushed himself up off the table and shrugged his shoulders. Usually this would be the moment that he would say something lewd and uncouth, but she was Lady. Well sort of, but he had to be polite, even if it didn't seem like he had to treat her like the other Ladies he had encountered. And she was still young, five and ten, to his nine and ten and it would be like saying disgusting things to one's sister. "You have nothing I want. I just came to see that you kept you out of trouble. Your mother is already going to have a fit after what you pulled when the King arrived. You're awfully lucky most of those gathered there were more amused then offended."

"I think the Queen wasn't too impressed. She looked like she swallowed a lemon." Arya's brow furrowed a little before she offered him her girlish grin.

Theon chuckled a little. "Yes, well, you know the Lannisters…" He trailed off realizing that perhaps neither of them knew what the Lannisters were like except for what gossip they had heard from other people.

There was silence for a moment, before Arya looked at him hopefully. "So, you're not going to tell?"

He looked her over, as if he was still giving it some thought. Finally with a mock sigh, "No, I don't suppose I will." He moved over to the wooden practice swords. He picked up two. "If I were to hazard a guess, I would think that you were after one of these." He tossed one over to her.

She easily picked it out of the air with a grin. "Of course, I was going to go practice out in the Godswood, I figured it would be the only place that wasn't going to be swarming with Lannisters or Baratheons."

"Well, allow me to come with you." He said testing the weight of the wood sword as if it was a real option. "I promised Robb I'd keep you out of trouble, so your Lady Mother wouldn't get herself all in a twist. I'll give you a few more pointers with the bow too. You made some mistakes earlier."

"I did not." She protested. "I hit the target!"

"You still have a lot to learn, pup." He said with a laugh. "Will Nymeria be joining us?" He asked so he wouldn't let her respond to his last comment on her performance with the bow. A good way to get her to shut up about something was to ask about her direwolf. He walked slowly towards the door.

She still looked at him incredulously. "I…" She was quite flustered, because she had thought she shot quite well, she had after all hit the target. "Fine." She huffed as she realized she would get nothing else out of him pertaining to her performance. "Yes, she'll be coming. She's probably already there. She knows where she's supposed to go. Especially since I didn't tie her up like I was supposed to so she wouldn't bother the Royal Family." She said a bit guiltily.

Theon just looked at her with a chuckle. "You really are something Arya Stark." She shook his head and then pushed open the door and took a quick look around to make sure that no one was paying close attention to their location. "Come on, I think it's safe to go out."

Arya just nodded her head then slipped past him and made her way outside. She didn't look back as she walked towards the Godswood, she knew that Theon was following her. It was weird to think that he might just be her best friend, given the fact that he was four years older. And that he was technically the ward of her father because of a rebellion that his father had tried to incur years ago. So technically he should be considered an enemy. But to her, he was just Theon, the boy who had taught her to properly use a bow and arrow. And he didn't treat her like she was a highborn lady. She had to respect him for that.