Author note: I'm so surprised at how much positive feedback I received from chapter one! Seriously, you people are lovely. This chapter is about the same length as chapter one and after this they're longer. I'll be publishing new chapters on Wednesday evenings for right now.

And of course, I'm not GRRM, I didn't make these characters up... if I did I probably wouldn't be writing about them on here.

TWO: ARYA STARK

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 15

"Gods, it's warm out," Arya muttered under her breath.

She shoved her ski poles upright into the snow and fiddled with opening the vents in her matching gray ski jacket and snow pants. She wore the Winterfell wolf logo on the back of her jacket and her name underneath it in capital letters. Everyone who worked for the resort had a jacket like hers, different colors for different jobs: red for ski patrol, a bright yellow for lift operators, forest green for instructors, and so on. Only her siblings, parents, and her father's younger brother Benjen had the wintry gray colored jackets with the large wolf on the back, their family colors and sigil since long before any living relatives were born.

Normally, Arya was in the forest green jacket and snow pants as part of her uniform for giving ski lessons, but as today was her day off work she was determined to enjoy it and didn't want the constant attention and questions she got with wearing the instructor outfit. Despite only a little fresh snow overnight she knew she would be back at work tomorrow morning and she should enjoy today while it lasted. More of the seasonal workers were arriving daily to start their jobs, which meant that the busy season would be starting soon and it wouldn't be often that she would get the entire day off work. She had found out from an early age that, despite being the owner's daughter, the privileges that came with that were few and far between. Her parents both worked long hours and the same sort of discipline was expected of herself and the rest of her siblings, whether it be aimed towards school or working. Sure, she never really had to worry about money and didn't need to pay for season passes but there was always something expected of her, how to act, going to special functions to represent her family, and for some reason she always seemed to mess it up somehow.

She finished the run she was on, a steep and narrow run through the trees that her and her older brother Jon had cleared out as their own private glades. Sure, there were plenty of other gladed runs for her to choose from, but there was something special about these ones. They had worked together every off-season for years when they were younger clearing out secret areas of the mountains that only the two of them, along with some trusted friends, knew existed. Okay, maybe some curious skiers and snowboarders found their runs too, she thought, but they were never marked as official runs and were not posted on any trail maps or signs.

That's who she was meeting in a few minutes anyways, was Jon. She knew when he would be on his lunch break and tried to meet him at the lodge at the top of Castle Black, the middle peak, as often as possible. Her mother Catelyn didn't like the idea of any of her children spending time with Jon, but since her father Ned refused to cast away his son, raising him together with the rest of his five children, how could she not be close to him? They even looked alike, both having the mousy dark brown hair, gray eyes, and brooding Stark looks. The rest of her siblings, Robb, Sansa, Bran, and even Rickon all favored their mother's Tully side with ruddy almost brown, almost red hair and clear blue eyes. She couldn't bring herself to think of him as just her half-brother or treat him with contempt the way her mother did. It wasn't Jon's fault that he didn't have the same mother as the rest of us, she thought, he never got a choice.

Arya arrived at the bottom of their secret run and followed a flat green cat track to the chairlift, a big express lift capable of seating eight across that was normally quite full, but since it was a Tuesday in the beginning of the season she found herself riding up with a young kid that looked like a local, probably skipping class at the high school in Wintertown, and an older man in an orange Winterfell ski jacket. He was a mountain host.

She loved the long lift ride up to the top since it gave her time to think and take in the scenery. Growing up in a large family, six children, seven if you count their foster son Theon, it was always difficult for Arya to find time to hear herself think, let alone get some privacy. It was different now though, only herself, Bran, and Rickon lived at home with their parents. Sansa had an apartment in the village with her best friend Jeyne, Robb had bought a condo a year or so ago and Theon paid for the spare room, and Jon had moved out as soon as he was 18 years old and Ned was unable to tell him that he couldn't leave. He still had four months left of his senior year of high school when he moved in with his older girlfriend Ygritte and his best friend Sam in Wintertown, almost six years ago. Arya didn't blame him. She missed having him around the house everyday, that was for sure, but she could not blame him. If she'd spent 18 years of her life dealing with the side of her mother that she showed Jon, she definitely wouldn't be at home still either.

What Arya didn't want to think about on the chair lift ride was what she was going to do. She had graduated from high school almost six months ago, and much to her mother's dismay, had yet to "make something" of herself.

"You're going to have to decide sooner or later," Catelyn remarked. They'd had this conversation before, over almost every meal together, and Arya was sure they would have it again in the near future. "Robb's engaged and now that he has his degree he's on track to take over for your father one day. Sansa is going to university despite all of her practice time and competitions. Even Bran is starting to research schools for physical therapy degrees and he's still in high school. You'll have to grow up someday, Arya."

"I don't need school to do what I want, Mom, I'm not like the rest of them. We don't all need college to get by, look at Jon and Theon. I'm perfectly happy teaching lessons and once I've saved up enough money for an apartment I'll be out of your hair, so don't worry."

"Don't compare yourself to those two, young lady. You've got so much more to offer than either of them." Catelyn snapped back. Arya knew that bringing up Jon was a bad idea, but what the hell, her mom pestering her again was a bad idea too, truth be told.

"I'll compare myself to whoever I want. Maybe I'll get out of here sooner, I'm sure Jon has a couch I can crash on and gods know he won't rag on me like you do. It's no wonder he left as soon as he could, with how you treated him."

It usually ended just about like that, give or take a few words. Catelyn would huff and go seek out Ned to complain about their wild and unruly daughter who had the ability to do so much better for herself, Arya would storm off angry, make the trek to Jon's apartment in Wintertown and sleep there for the night.

The chairlift climbed up past the last support tower, Arya and her two companions slid off in different directions, and she skated over to Castle Black Lodge. The large log cabin style lodge had a huge cafeteria as well as a more intimate full-service restaurant which was often booked full for dinner. Since you could reach the lodge via a gondola it was full most nights as the romantic hot spot for dining at ten-thousand feet. The majority of the mountain tours, intermediate and above lessons, and back country tours all started from Castle Black as well, so it was always a hub of activity. The lodge stood prominently on the front face of its namesake peak, the middle and tallest of the three peaks belonging to the ski resort. To the west was Shadow Tower and on the eastern side was the aptly named Eastwatch. Arya thought sometimes her great-grandfather Edwyle Stark could've been a little more creative with the names.

"Arya!" Jon shouted, waving his hands to get her attention. The lunchtime crowds were thinning but it was always difficult to find someone in the commotion of the cafeteria.

She quickened her pace as much as her ski boots allowed and gave her brother a big hug before shedding her gloves, helmet, goggles, and jacket. He had remembered she was meeting him today and had bought lunch for the both of them.

"What're you up to today, sis? You've got the day off, right?"

"Mfyes," Arya mumbled, quickly making a dent in the chili Jon had bought. "Yes, off today, a private lesson tomorrow morning, a kids' group in the afternoon, and then that stupid new employee greeting that Dad makes us sit through. Please tell me you're going this time."

Jon sighed. There was so much his little sister understood yet so much she chose to ignore. "Catelyn won't let me up on stage with the family and you know that. I'll be there with Ygritte and the rest of the department heads, but not with you."

And that's how it was. Jon could tell Arya was a little disheartened by his statement and worked to steer the conversation towards anything else the rest of lunch.

Next chapter: Gendry's POV. I meant for these first two chapters to be shorter and work as a bit of an introduction to each of them, so upcoming chapters will be significantly longer. This story is a bit of a slower moving storyline so please stick with me. And yes, Gendry WILL meet Arya next time :)