A/N: Thank you everyone who reviewed, alerted, and favorited the first chapter! I hope you won't be disappointed. Sorry that this is such a short chapter!

A/N2: Thanks to my wonderful beta Emberwillow14 for her work on this.

Arya

Arya Stark was hiding from Septa Mordane, creeping silently through the stone halls of Winterfell to avoid being caught. She was avoiding her lessons on needlework; she knew that her stitches would be crooked and that Septa Mordane would just make her redo the stitches over and over again. Nymeria, her direwolf pup, trotted along beside her, tail wagging rapidly and pink tongue lolling out of her mouth at the prospect of an adventure. Arya decided to go watch the boys practicing in the court yard. There was a window in the covered bridge between the armory and the Great Keep where she could have a view of the whole yard; that's where she decided to head now.

When she arrived, she was slightly disappointed to see Jon already sitting on the window sill. She would never admit it out loud, but Jon was her favorite brother. Her favorite sibling. He never treated her as though she were only a girl, only a child. He let her tag along with him, even sparred with her on occasion. Unlike her oldest sibling Robb, and the older boy Theon Greyjoy. And Jon never talked down to her like Sansa did. Jon treated her as an equal. She thought it was horrible the way everyone else treated him just because he was a bastard, especially her mother. They even looked more alike than any of her other siblings; all the others had the Tully coloring and hair, but she and Jon looked more like their father. She was only disappointed that he was sitting here because that meant she wouldn't be able to watch him sparring with Robb and Theon Greyjoy. She always cheered for Jon to win his matches.

Arya paused a few feet away, studying Jon for a long moment. Her brother looked upset about something, scowling down at the court yard from where the sounds of clashing swords rose up. He held his own direwolf pup, the pure white and silent Ghost, close to his chest. Arya could practically feel the anger radiating off of him and she frowned, wondering what could be wrong.

"Jon?" she spoke quietly, cautiously stepping closer to the boy who was sitting in front of her.

She saw Jon jump a little before slowly turning to face her. "Shouldn't you be doing your needlework, little sister?" His lips quirked up into a small, affectionate smile.

Arya giggled and moved right up to the window, both of them looking down into the court yard below. Robb and Theon Greyjoy were sparring with each other. "I'm avoiding Septa Mordane. Why aren't you down there, practicing with Robb?"

She regretted asking as Jon's face darkened; their moment of joy was over already.

"I am practicing." Even Jon's voice was dark. "I'm practicing staying out of sight for when the King visits."

"I don't understand," Arya replied with a frown. "When would you need to stay out of sight?"

Jon sighed deeply, the anger written on his face draining away to leave only sorrow. It hurt Arya deeply to see it. "Father said that it would be for the best."

Arya couldn't, wouldn't, believe that their father would tell Jon something like that! Possibly her mother would, but certainly not their father! "But why?"

Jon laughed quietly, the harsh, sad sound sending shivers down Arya's back. "Why do you think, little sister? He is ashamed of his bastard child. What other reason could there be?"

Arya could only stare at Jon in shock, unable to believe that he would even think something so horrible as that. "I'm sure that's not true, brother-"

"The King is his best friend," Jon interrupted quietly but firmly, staring down unseeing at the court yard. "And according to the talk in the yards, the King himself has a dozen bastards of his own. Yet Father doesn't want the Royal family to see me. What other reason could there be?"

Arya's frown deepened as she listened to her brother speak. She hated it when he talked like this, like he wasn't good enough to be a part of their family. "Maybe it's not the King he wants to hide you from," she suggested hopefully, desperate to try and make Jon feel better. "I hear the people talking in the yard too. I hear that the Queen's family is really . . . proper. Father probably just doesn't want you to be faced with their cruelty."

Jon slowly turned his head to look at his sister with wide eyes, before laughing quietly again. This time the sound was more natural and Arya sighed in relief. At least that dark and depressed expression had disappeared off of his face. She grinned again and punched him playfully on the shoulder. He snorted back and messed up her already messy hair affectionately.

"Thank you, little sister," he said quietly as he climbed off the window sill and set his direwolf on the ground. "I'd better get down there; Robb is probably wondering where I am. He's losing to Theon pretty badly."

Arya watched him walk away swiftly, proud that she was able to make her brother feel better. She watched until he turned the corner then hopped onto the window sill to watch the boys practice. She grinned happily as Jon came into the court yard and Robb rushed over to their brother, waving one of their wooden swords around in the air.

She hoped that everything was back to normal.