Sins of Remembrance chapter three
Rain and Ruin
AN: so i am an idiot no new their but I somehow reposted a saved file of this storeys first chapter. Please be genital with the mockery.
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AN: well it took me a while to get to this one didn't it? Sorry about that I've being distracted of late I hope you enjoy this chapter and remember if you did please leave a review.
Also I'm trying something different with setting chapter this up EG the lengthy prologue, hope you like it and tell me what you think.
Also, also since this chapter has being a hell of a task for me to get to a standard that I'm comfortable releasing, it has being cut down from my usually length of really flicking long to something I hope is far more manageable and I've cut out a lot of the inane rambling that I am infamous for but some of the heart as well so I could get this monkey off my back..
This story was made for none profit, HPO and George R. R. Martin own Game of thrones and song of ice and fire. I know nothing but my own delusions.
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A chill wind blew through the narrow muddy road rattling the leafy trees, flecks of ice cold rain droplets fell from the ominous oppressive grey clouds that filled the sky from horizon to horizon. Distant lighting strikes arced across the night sky illuminating the world below with brief flashes of brilliant white, thunder fallowed soon after seeming to shake the heavens themselves.
Even the setting sun itself was all but being swallowed by those foreboding clouds in mere moments, the last feeble rays its orange light turned what little sky that was free of cloud cover a dark bruised purple.
A perfect reflector of the mood of that surrounded both he and Arya, if not the whole of Westeros. 'Bruised and brooding'. Gendry thought as he tried to roll his stiff shoulders and cast a glance at his fellow Night Watch recruit's many of them increased the speed of their steeps while casting him a fare share of dreadful glares. He knew well more than a few of them blamed him for having to track through the back woods for the last few weeks when two men from Kings landing city watch, the white cloaks had come looking for him. He did his best to meet their gazes lest he set them of all the while trying to keep the unexpected load Arya, whom road on his back. He could feel the whirly straight in her thin arms as they wrapped around neck as he could feel straight in her leg and thin mussels as she unconsciously clamped the latter around his chest, save for a small space where he pocked his arms through to support her awkward position, she may have being short for her age but she was at the very least half his size so supporting her had proved a difficult task as the long hours of the day wore on. He cursed his seemly eternal bad luck as the first drops of spittle like rain started to fall around him, more of a few of those spiteful droplets of water hitting him smack in the face leaching heat from him.
He grimaced as Arya moaned something he couldn't quite hear over the approaching roll of thunder and the ever present patter of rain that started to fall all around them with increased vigour. She huddled into him unconsciously seeking some form of protection from the storm, though remarkable enough she still slept soundly. He had hoped that the storm would hold off for a few more moments so she could rest a little longer as she hadn't being sleeping well over the last few nights and this morning hadn't helped matters.
Though inwardly he knew even if for once in his misbegotten life, that even if the gods both new and old heeded his request and held back the storm for a while longer, which considering his poor luck of late would indeed be a miracle worth of song. He knew the limits of his mussels well enough to know that he would have to set Arya down sooner rather than later as his body burned with exhaustion.
Still he soldiered on even as the rain began pelting down harder. 'a few more meters, a little longer' Gendry told him self even as more and more cold water lashed down from above. 'Just give her a little longer with her dreams' he prayed silently. He just hoped they were good dreams and not the night mares about the fate of her father and uncertainty about her sister that he knew often plagued her in sleep, though her stern and regal upbringing as well as her own pride would keep her from ever speaking to him about them.
Her whimpered murmuring grew more intense as she, languished some ware between the realm of sleep and wakefulness. Gendry took a moment to look over his shoulder and saw her pail eye lids and the bridge of her small nose scrunched up as rain droplets fell from on high and plastered her dark brown hair to her scalp before running down her soft features. He could have sworn he had seen a glimpse of her steely grey eyes. 'God's her eyes are more beautiful than any sword.'
He quickly tried to shake the thought from his head. "No I can't think like that" Gendry murmured under his voice but the moment lasted long enough to distract him from a tree root that emerged from the ground to snag his foot. He wheeled for a seconded before pitching forward. Just before he could fall flat on his face he managed to stretch out a and stop his forward fall by bracing himself on the trunk of the very tree that nearly sent him smacking head first into the ground. "Crud that was close!" he exclaimed.
"You can say that twice" Arya's sharp voice sounded, like a whip crack right next this Gendry's ear.
"Gods" Gendry exclaimed with a start. "You could have given me a heart attack!" he told her with a grimace.
"Unlikely" she said with a razed eye brow. She noticed his face was paler than usual. She conceited there could well be some truth to what he had said. If this had being any other day she would have likely made a jest of his remark but she decided to let this one go, it was only fair as he had being unusually kind to her. 'Not that Gendry's has never being unkind to me' Arya thought as she recalled all the time he had being nice to her even both learning she was a Stark, if anything that revelation had changed their relationship and she feared not for the better. Before Gendry had being far easier to engage with in conversations, which almost ended always in arguments and insults, now though he was far more reserved and withdrawn. Though she tried to tell him time again nothing had to change between them, that her being high borne meant nothing she knew better than that know and wished could return to way they used to be. "I'm sorry Gendry" she said biting her lip just before a ark of brilliant white lighting shoot across the sky fallowed soon after by and all mighty crack of thunder, which coursed both she and Gendry to cringe.
"Gods above!" a few of the men nearby swore. The sentiment was shared by many of the other men as they tried to calm the spooked mules. The animal whines filled the air adding to the panic caused by the lighting and thunder.
"We gotta help before the mules brake free and blot for the woods" Arya exclaimed as she let go of Gendry's neck and dropped to the soft ground. Almost immediately as her feet made contact with the muddy ground they began to sink into the brown mush. Unconcerned Arya made her way to the nearest supply caravan, motioning for him the fallow.
"Arry hold up will, ya?" he exclaimed fallowing the foot prints she left in the mud, which were already filling with water. "And she calls me bull headed." If she had somehow heard him over the down pour and the rumble of thunder, which was moving feather away, she showed no sign of heeding him. As he whipped rain from his eye and managed, he swore he heard muster bells tolling in his head. As her well worn cloths, clung curves of her body. It took him a moment to steal his eyes away from her rounded back side, cursing himself for his distraction. Gendry knew it would be obvious to any man that cast a glance in her detection that she was not what she first appeared to be.
As the realization dawned on him that even with the rest of the men distracted with trying to keep the heavy wooden wagons and caravans from sinking any feather into the mud. He knew without a shadow of a doubt that any errand glance cast Arya's way. Would destroy any notion that the boy they knew as 'Arry' was a boy at all. The possibilities of what would happen if and when they found out were too much for him to bear. Knowing better than to suggest to Arya that she should stay back, he sprain into action. Gendry removed his well-worn jacket and tried to draped it over Arya, hoping to hide her feminine aspects from a parsing glance.
As soon as the soaking wet jacket touched her, Arya wiped around to glare at him her eyes sharp, her left hand had snaked around and snatching the jacket from Gendry's grip. "What in seven hells are you up to now?" Arya snapped at him.
"I'm trying to keep you safe!" Gendry shot back as some ware in the near distance thunder rattled the sky.
"From What..." Arya retorted taken aback by his outburst but she refused to back down even if this was something wholly unexpected on Gendry's part. "If this is about some stupid notion that you've gotten in that empty head of yours!" she said shoving his jacket into his face before stomped though the thick mud towards the nearest caravan. "That I have to sit back and wait for people to everything for me because I'm a Girl...or I'm a high, you can forget IT!"
"This isn't about that...!" He snapped as bundled his jacket into a rough ball. "Would you stop...and listen for one gods dammed minute" Gendry hissed as he ran forward trying to close distance she had again put between them as she marched onward more driven than ever, to prove a point that she didn't even need to prove. It was now or never if he couldn't get to her, before she reached her destination.
He knew well what men could do, when they were too long removed from the company of women. Images of Arya, his wolf girl like that...to be used and discarded in such manor her young body ravaged and spirit broken by the needs of men. It lit a fire with in him one that even, the forge he had once apprenticed at would be envies off. He ignored the lash of rain drops as he rushed forward and caught up to her. Gendry solemnly reached down and unclasped his bull shaped helmet from his belt and all but shoved it into her hands. "Just look at your reflection"
Arya growled in pure frustration, first he insisted on her wearing his ratty old jacket. Now Gendry insisted that she stare into the reflective surface of his dammed helmet. She had no idea why he was acting so strangely today but she hoped whatever it was only temporary, perhaps she could humour him and he would let her get on with helping the others without any more distractions. "Fine give it here" she stated as he handed her the helmet and rotated it so it's back faced her. The helmet proved to be a remarkable poor mirror as it had the duel effect of stretching and widening her slight frame, making her body look like starched and flatten taffy and while she was no were near as concerned with her physical appearance as her mother or Sansa were, she was however slightly off put by the effect.
For a brief moment Arya wondered if this had all being a part of some elaborate practical joke, if so it was far from funny. She glanced away from her stretched reflection and turned her gaze to Gendry, she studied his expression for a moment but found no amused smirk or twinkling in his eyes that would incarnate that he found any of this funny. 'Perhaps she had hurt herself and hadn't noticed? But if that was the case why was he having so much trouble saying so?' on a whim she returned her gaze to the helmet to re-examine her refection, this time making the effort to re-examine it more carefully. It was then she finally saw what had concerned Gendry so much; her worn cloths were piratical sticking to her body like a silk glove. She had being well aware of the changers her body had being undergoing for some time however due in equal parts to the company she kept and her dismal view towards vanity. Still she was not prepared for the sight that greeted her, despite her binding's her small breasts while not as devolved as Sansa's yet for which she was thankful. They were quite noticeable, as were her hips and thick thighs. "Why couldn't you just tell me?" she asked unable to keep misplaced hurt and anger from her tone as she shoved the helmet back into one of Gendry's out stretched hands as she took his worn jacket with the other.
"I tried" he said sheepishly as he snatched the back of his head and looked away into the middle distant as she put on his jacket, her small body all but swallowed buy its unwieldy bulk due to their size differences. It would serve the purpose of covering up her famine assists until her cloths had time to dry and she could hide herself just as well as she did before, which with the storm having moved on. Would hopefully happen by the morrow, if they could find some wood and start a fire then she could dry her cloths in half the time. Unbidden a tenderizing image of Arya wearing nothing than his jacket and her small cloths flashed across his mind's eye. "Umm" he grunted as he tried and for the most part failed to get his mind back on task at hand as the image of Arya's nearly nude form lit by fire light was difficult to be rid off. "And sometimes you aren't the easiest person to tell things to, especial when you didn't...well..." Gendry trailed off hoping she couldn't see the blush he felt warm his cheeks in the low light offered by the moon and stars above as well as a few scant torches and lanterns the other recruit had managed to light after the storm had passed.
"Al...all right I Get it" Arya exclaimed with a huff, her admission was met by one of Gendry's more favourable easy going and broad smirks, which she attempted to return. Though hers failed to capture his easy grin, instead hers became more of a small almost flirtiest smile as her eyes paned up and down his form. 'He's not in a much better state that I am!' she thought absently as a not unpleasant but increasingly familiar tingle grew increasingly more prevalent. His cloths like hers were socked though, having long ago closed any kind of distance between themselves and their owners flesh. Her keen eyes could easily make out the contours of Gendry's impressive build, even given the lack of decent light. If anything the shadows made his form slight more...incising as if his form was some distant land far from Westeros and she was the first intrepid explorer to set sight on its shores. 'If his body were some mysteries island, than his peck's would be that islands mountains and his nipples there peaks' she thought absently suddenly feeling a little light headed, the smile she was already using to favour Gendry turned filtrates. Her cheeks flushed bright pink and the warm feeling she was now enjoying grew, more and more. Her heart beat thundered in her ears making her practically deaf to the world around her.
"Com...come on we're wasting time" Gendry studded having noticed Arya's intense gaze and flushed cheeks. While intensity was nothing new to his friendship with the Stark girl, as he inwardly doubted that he could recall a single instinct were she did not display some form of intensity. This was something new, something far, far removed from her usually frustrations, melon cloy or silent and far, far more frighting silent rage. This looked very much like desire, which he had seen plenty of times in flee Bottem. "And weren't you the one huffing and puffing about pulling your weight?" he asked. His better self hoped that this statement would snap Arya out of what ever had a grip on her. "In less...you..." he trailed off into a rasping crock. "Havv...Have something else in mind?" Gendry managed to force out.
Arya thought it over, relishing the warm sensation that pumped though her veins which did a good job of countering the damp chill that clung to her. "No..."she said with a somewhat husky voice. She let out a cough, than fallowed it up with another. For a moment she thought she had caught a cold from the dismal weather. She shook the silly thought from her head, 'Everyone knew that wasn't how that worked!' "Let's get to it, you lead..." Gendry raised eye brow at her turn off phrase. She cleared her throat. "I..I mean you probably know more about this kind of thing than I do" she casually suggested.
"Less than you might think" Gendry told her as he bit his lip as he tried to ignore Arya's strange and sudden change of attitude. 'But was it so sudden?' he asked himself as he began to trudge though the tick clawing mud toward the closest of the bogged wagons, this one happened to be one leaden down with box's and crates full of supplies. He looked over his shoulder to make sure Arya hadn't being waylaid by one other the other men, or had come up with yet another half backed plan. His concern proved misplaced on both counts as she was having a much easier time of making her way through the mud than he did and none of the other men seemed to notice her passage, their forces was sole on getting the wagons moving again.
As they both set to work in attempting to add a group of men whom were pushing the closest wagon up a slight muddy hill, the men told them that Yoren had already started to intact a plan to get the wagons unstuck while Gendry and Arya had bickered, he had spilt the night watch recruits into four different parties.
The first group would go into the surrounding forest and fetch stones, logs or anything solid and preferable large to put under the wagon wheels so they could gain traction. The second group was tasked to push the wagons along taking the stain of the mules that were still spooked form the hash and troubled weather. Yoren had tasked the third to carry supplies, creates, barrows and smaller items were all taken from the wagons and would be carried until the caravan as a whole could their way to solid ground. The fourth and final group would in theory steer the mules onwards, however in practice this turned out to far harder than the night watch man veteran had anticipated as the mules proved unwieldy at best and nearly unresponsive at worst.
Which Yoren confirmed when he noticed they had joined in the effects, the older man wastes no time splinting him and Arya up, sending the high born girl up front to take the reins of the lead mule and ordering him to continue pushing the wagon he had already set tasked himself too. Gendry for his part did not argue or attempt negotiate with the older man for a more easy task, the thunderous expression that had all but consumed his weathered face told him that at best any attempt at either wouldn't be heeded in the slightest and at worst he would reserve another beating. Though he hadn't wanted to admit it to himself or Arya, his body still ached form the one he had relieved this morning. 'Gods that seemed a life time ago' he thought bitterly as his fight hand drifted up from where it griped the corner of the wagon and messaged his shoulder. 'Perhaps carrying Arya day had not being his wisest of moves'.
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Still there could be no rest bit for Gendry or any of the men as they went about their tasks, even Arya herself had her own tasks to attend to, though inwardly she wished they Yoren would let her do more. However she conceded to the older man's requests and his wisdom and agreed that perhaps she was better suited for a different task. The task that Yoren had in mind was something she had a natural predisposition for, that of tending to the mules and horses. While she was no great house master and it was true she knew little in the way of rising or nurturing beasts of burden. She knew enough to tend to her own horse at Winter Fell and would ride regularly go riding or ride when ever her mother could be sufficiently distracted or placated with the reasoning that horse riding and tending was a useful skill for a women to have, true it usually came with the caveat that such skills would assist her in attracting a suitable husband or at the very least. 'Engaging in common interests can insure a happier union' as Robb, her father or some of the Winter Fell advises would often say to insure her mother wouldn't belittle Arya's interests or personality as she so often did.
It was also one of the few interests that both she and Sansa shared, other than history and strategy. For all her faults Arya could never say her sister was stupid when it came to the matter of books and the accruement of knowledge or even her own brand of cunning. Sansa's main fault, as far as she was concerned 'beside her idiotic attraction to Joffrey and trust in the Queen' was that Sansa hid her mind and wit behind the mask of being a prober lady. Sometimes she wondered if Sansa also chafed under their mother's overly narrow world view and priorities. "Maybe" Arya conceded as she encouraged the lead mule up a slightly razed inclined in the land, earning a hefty snort from the greyish brown creature. "But I hope she's all...alive, I hope she's smart enough to play their game long enough to see her though this madness." Arya said in a desperate whisper as she tried to keep guilt at leaving her sister behind and in the cultures of those monsters no less! She felt anger and resentment swell within her at not being able to do more to protect her father or her sister, but anger and resentment were not the only emotions that swam inside her. Guilt also demeaned its due, she felt a great deal of guilt for all the times she and Sansa had fought over, all of which seemed truly stupid things in the face of their shared loss. She felt guilt over her hesitation to leave her sword master Syrio Forel if only she hadn't augured may haps Sansa's own arguments may have fallen on deaf ears.
Arya had always wondered what had Sansa or herself had said that caught their fathers attention so?
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She had run the memory though her mind many times since her escape from Kingslanding. She had begged her father to not have them leave, she told him her swordplay lessens with Syrio were not yet complot, though she phased it differently lest Sansa catch on and tell their mother whom wouldn't have approved in the slightest.
"Who cares about your stupid dancing? You're not even good at it" Sansa at spate her pail face nearly as red with anger and pent up frustration as the Tully hair she had inherited from their mother. The only things they shared were the classic Stark steal Grey eyes and slightly pinched jaw and cheek bones, an exsanguination of the wolfish features some said the Starks shared with their dire wolf Sigel. "Every day you come back with fresh burses and cracked nails, looking like something a cat would drag in rather than a proper lady" Sansa told her Steely eyes sharp.
Arya shot her sister a look of utter disgust. "That's because despite both yours and mothers best attempts I'm still un bowed, unbent and unbroken."
Sansa rolled her eyes and let out a very un lady like snort of contersention "Those are the Martell words you oaf not us, and I thought you're were a proud Stark?"
"Girls please we don't have ..." their father tailed off as he was ignored by his teenage daughters. "I swear the battle of the trident was less hallowing than raising you two, old gods I miss the days when you two got along"
Arya glared daggers at her sister "There is nothing wrong with knowing another house's words lease I'm not ashamed that people think I have a brain that isn't oppressed with singing love poems, sowing and" Ayra paled as she forced the word from her mouth her it had caught on her Tung like bad taste "Making babes and if that fiend Joffrey no less! As for my... dancing its better than spend all my time pinning over a stupid Stag like Joffrey" Arya retorted.
"Girls..." their father tried to draw their addition again but like before their full attention was fixed on the other.
"What do you know about him nothing?" Sansa yelled "You've always hated my precious prince, he's...hes not a" she hesitated for a split second "a fiend and he's not a stupid Stag"
Arya's eyes all but blogged out of their socket, "You can't be serious he lied about that day on the river, it's because of him that Mycah and lady are dead, Gods know's what else the little shit had gotten away with. And he is too a Stag his father's a Stag that make him one too!" Arya resized she had gone too far in mentioning lady "Sansa I'm sorry I didn't..."
"He made a mistake" she said weakly Sansa's steal eyes welled up with pain from the mention of her dead pet. "He's still my precious prince and I love him and I'm going to have his golden haired babes, I'll have lions all my own"
As surely as a creek would dry in the middle of a draught, her sister's mention of the little shit stain Joffrey her own sympathy became equally as dry as Arya fought the urge to gag at the thought of a creature like Sansa's precious prince breeding. "Seven hell's your hopeless" she exclaimed with a long suffering sigh "they'd be Stag's like their grandfather you tit, their more likely to favour black hair, everyone knows that as much a trait of the Baratheon's as grey eyes are for us Starks or gold hair for the Lannister's. Joffrey, Tommon and Myrcella just favour their mother like you do and how John and I favour father" she told her sister.
Sansa rolled her steal grey eyes, "You're the tit, just look at the prince's and princess there's hardly a drop of Stag in them, their all beautiful lion's like their mother and..." She trailed of as if she was about to say something but then bit her lip. "The king's seed must just be weak" she said her face once again flush again.
Arya rolled her eye and looked to her father hoping that he would get Sansa to see reason. However when her eyes settled on her father aged face, it had completely drained of blood and his skin had turned weightier than snow. "Father, are you well?"
Sansa to her credit had also noticed their fathers discomfit. "Is it your leg again, do you want us to fetch a mester?" She asked as she warily approached her father.
"It's no trouble" Arya added when her sister's suggestion had appeared at fall upon deaf ears, their argument all but forgotten so they could address their father's well bean. Sansa again to her credit was trying to guide their father to a chair. Though it seemed were words had failed to break the spell cast upon their father deeds were enough to rouse him. As he gently but firmly bushed off Sansa's helping hand.
"I'm fine girls...I need...I need to check something, stay here, stay close to our guards and trust no one else" He said before leavening the room and giving gruff and brief orders to their house hold guards they had brought with them to Kings landing to not let his daughters out of their sights.
Sansa met and shared her little sisters befuddle gaze. "What was that about?"
"I don't know, I've never seen him like that he looks like he's seen a ice wreath" Arya stated crewing her own lip.
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The night seemed to stretch on forever, time losing much of its meaning as the tired caravan of weary travellers trudged through the darken woods as they battled against the sucking mud, biting insects and their own extortion. After what felt like an age relief finally came when one of their number a young boy called Rom whom had being sent out to scout the road ahead some time ago, had returned with new's that they were not far from a proper road. This was the seconded wind that the tired group had being waiting for and they responded with all the enthusiasm of a royal parade, buoyed by this news's the group proceeded to put every iota of strength and determination they had left into getting the caravan to the road before the night was out. It was hard gruelling work as the water socked land seemed intent to keep them bogged, the group pushed and pulled, their vigia seemed to know no end. Some men even broke into song as they crossed those few last meters.
A ragged defiant cheer bock out from the men as the wagons, finally, finally! Left the shucking muck of the wood lands behind, some of the men proclaimed that this simple road of warn stone was the most wonderful thing they had ever seen. It seemed to all that for once the gods both new and old had smiled upon the group as not long after the wagons were restocked and a short brake, the wagons started moving again the power of their attached beasts of burden again.
The mood of the group became jovial as not long after they started moving again, they happened up what appeared to be a small but disserted hamlet, which consisted a large stone mill water mill, its water wheel still turned if lazily, as it was feed by a swollen river that cut the hamlet in to. A collection of small wooden houses clustered in groups of twos and threes around the mill, the whole hamlet was clusters close together as no more than a half dozen meters separate one homestead from the others. Despite being Cleary abounded the ground and houses had not yet become over grown with vegetation. A Few of the more hardy mosses, toad stools and other such weeds were only starting making ingress into the merge plots of vegetable and fruit gardens that nestled between the houses. Indeed even fast growing vines and ivy had only started crawling up the walls of the houses. It was clear that home ever left this place had only done so a short while ago, perhaps as little as a week or two, three at the most. Though consideration on the fate of the hamlets perverse residence's and questions as to why they might have left such an italic spot, were the last things on the mind of nearly all the night watch recruits as they rampaged through the merger crops searching for anything addible.
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Arya couldn't help but notice that Yoren had not only. Not joined on the group's activities which wasn't unsurely for the morose man but for a moment she imagined she saw genuine fear or at the very least a worsening of his perpetually grumpy frown. As she saw him intently studying map she had seen him use a half dozen times since he had spirited her away from Kings Landing. His already dark expression became even more so as he made his way over to her and Gendry. While they alongside Hot pie and Lommy unpacked a few of the dryer sleeping rugs and furs along with some pots and pans, though the older man didn't spare them so much as a glance as he took a pan and a wooden spoon from Lommy and banged the two together a few times to get the attention of everyone in the caravan.
"All right listen up" Yoren ordered firmly. "Don't bother unpacking. Were setting up inside that big old mill tonight" he said stretching out left hand which still grasped the wooden spoon that he had used to draw everyone's attention to him, indicating the wreathed stone structure.
"What about food?" Lommy asked having being nudged in the side be Hot Pie, their small group having missed out on any of the merge bounty the hamlets small farm plots had to offer as the larger man descended upon them like hungry locusts.
"You'll have to make do with fruits and bread to night lads, no bowls of brown tonight" Yoren told them firmly eyeing the fat boy and his overly skinny friend. "If you lot manage to get any fire's going keep them small. No one is to leave the group without telling me were, you are going and why." Yoren told them before putting the pan and spoon back where he found them. "You all have till dawn, to get the sleep you need, we still have a long way to go to make up for today's setbacks that's ALL!"
"Ohh we just started to unpack" Hot pie whined even as he handed a large pan he had being holding, back up to Gendry whom stood on top of the flat bed of the lead wagon, a bemused if not outright confused expression filled his face, which was shared by the small group as the night watchman jumped down from the wagon and started to walk off.
"I wonder what up with him?" Gendry asked as he took the large pan from Hot pie and returned it to where he found it.
"I don't know" Arya admitted "but I intend to find out" she told her small group of friends before going to fallow the older man.
"Arry...wait up" Gendry called after her as he leapt from the wagon and landing in a sizeable puddle which splashed outward. He muttered a curse under his breath as the brackish water went up his pant legs.
Arya turned around to see her friend's misstep. "You'd better your step Gendry, one of these days your libel to do yourself an injury" she told him her amusement plain for any to see as a let out a snort of restrained laughter.
While sacking the muddy water from his pant leg Gendry closed the distance between them. "I'm sure if that were to happen, you'd there to mock me" he told her gruffly.
"Maybe" Arya admitted as she turned from him to see were Yoren had gone. She cursed herself for her lisp in concentration as she couldn't see the night watchman any were. "Dame it all, I was going to ask Yoren why we can't stay here, lest till the roads dry a bit"
"That might be for the best, the old drunk didn't seem in the best of moods, and you wouldn't want him putting you in the cage" Hot pie told them as he and Lommy did their best to avoid the puddle Gendry, landed in when the older boy jumped down from the wagon.
"You and Gendry have being testing him something fescue the last few days" Lommy added as he handed Arry and Gendry half a severing of bread and cheese. Which they both offered their tanks for and took form the small blond headed boy.
"He has a point Arry" Gendry agreed with a nod after taking a bight of the crusty rain socked bread, his displeasure at eating something that was mostly slush was pain to see "Best let sleeping shadow cats lie and all that"
"I suppose that's true enough" Arya agreed having favoured the cheese over the bread as the rain had not affected it as badly, the hunger that had gnawed at her innards all day finally started to abate as did the cramps that had constricted around her women hood. She was thankful that the rain had socked in enough to clean her cloths and wash away any trace that the river she had had taken an importuned dip in that morning, though she was less thankful that she was still socked to the bone. "Thanks for the food you two"
"It's no problem" Lommy told them waving away Arry's gratitude. "We felt bad not giving you the meal Yoren set us to give you after you were attacked by those dregs in the cage...Didn't we?" he stated glaring at his portly friend.
Hot Pie nodded vigorously "Yar ya we're sorry' he told Gendry and Arry.
Gendry shared a knowing glance with Arya. "That's alright we were a little tied up at the time"
"What was that about? I mean you two fight like cats and dogs as it is but that was something else" Lommy asked.
"It doesn't matter, it's in the past" Arya told the skinny boy. "Right Gendry?" she asked old to find Gendry face had once again flushed red.
"Yes...in the past" the eldest of their group told them after a moment. "We should to what Yoren said, if we leavening here at dawn we need all the sleep we can get" Gendry told them quickly hoping to cover up his distraction as the memories of having Arya under him once again surged to new life. To their credit Hot Pie and Lommy didn't need to be told twice and went off to find somewhere to sleep in the mill. Arya however lingered despite how clearly tired she had being though out the day.
"We are ok aren't we?" She asked, her hand gripping his.
Gendry couldn't meet her gaze, lest his nature as a creature born from last betray him. "Yes...we had a rough patch...but tomorrow will be better, you'll see"
Arya nodded and yawned before going making her way towards the mill. Gendry watched her go, as his hand still warm from hers opened and closed, opened and closed. "Tomorrow will be better" he told himself the words sounding hallow even to his ears though he hoped the gods would be kinder.
XXXX
NEXT CHAPTER ROAR OF THE DAWN
AN: it's done it finally done. Oh my friends you have no idea how hard completing this chapter was for me. From getting involved in a creative activity that was extremely questionable for someone of my tastes and world view and personality, that sucked up most of my time and creative drive, to real life messes. From everyone losing their god dammed minds this year over the smallest thing and battling serve writer's block and burn out and some depression.
This chapter has be my own personal Gordon note and I've being trying to cut though it with a blood rusty spoon.
You're going to have to forgive me for any poor gramma spieling or plot points that go no ware on my part as my usually bata has being extremely sick so this has not being edited other than, though word and my own capabilities as limited as those are.
Don't expect a new Sins of remembrance chapter's any time soon as I need a break from game of thrones to indulged in a few other franchises that I've left of the back burner or yet to explore.
I intend to create a new one or two shot star trek voyager story and then fallow that up with a star craft story. Both of which i hope to keep short and to the point.
