FOUR: ARYA STARK

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 16

Surrounded by a group of three seven-year olds, Arya stood off to the side of Maiden's Voyage green run holding the hair of a fourth girl while she threw up on the side of run. Her group had been fine until about ten minutes ago, when one of the girls in her lesson group started complaining that she had a headache and felt like she needed to throw up.

Just my luck, Arya thought. It'd have be today that one of these little rugrats gets altitude sickness. The one day when I actually have to be somewhere.

Arya had tried to plan everything out for today. It would work out perfectly. Up until now everything had been going according to her plan. She'd woken up with her alarm at 6:30 and only hit snooze once, a feat that she was very proud of. She ate breakfast in relative peace and quiet with the housekeeper and sometimes cook, Nan, and then met up with a girl in her early teens for a private intermediate lesson for the whole morning. The intermediate lessons were always her favorite. Arya knew that she was good at her job, and she loved working with students that understood the basics and were still eager to learn more and improve. She had actually worked with this same girl in previous lessons and even the little bit of familiarity made the morning so much easier. The intermediate end point was at the lodge at the top of Castle Black Peak so once again she was able to eat with Jon. Ygritte was even there to join them today.

Though Arya would never admit it out loud, she was jealous of Ygritte. She's pretty much got everything I want, Arya thought. We both have jobs we love but she's got no one to hold her back from what she wants to do. No Catelyn Stark to make her feel like her job is just a hobby. Hell, she's even got an awesome boyfriend who is clearly head over heels for her… even if it is my dork of a brother.

The group lesson she was teaching was set to end at four-thirty, so she'd would drop the children at the meeting place at the Castle Black base area and then have plenty of time to get back to the staff changing rooms, take a shower, and change into the horrible outfit Sansa and her mother had chosen for her to wear to the Stark Family Greeting at 6pm. That was until the girl decided that throwing up on the side of the mountain seemed like a great idea. I told her to eat more, told her that she needed to drink more water even if she wasn't thirsty. But did she listen to me? No, why would she do that? She should've known better than to think that all of that planning would get pulled off without a hitch.

When it seemed like the little girl couldn't possibly have any more in her stomach to throw up, Arya asked if she thought she was okay to make it down the rest of the hill on her own, or else they'd need to call the ski patrol. The little girl nodded and said she could make it, and then pulled her gloves and helmet back on. As she readied herself again, Arya took the chance to check the time.

It was 5:10pm. She could partially tell just by how much daylight they had lost, but luckily they weren't too far from the base. The lifts were all stopped for the day so luckily they just had to make it the rest of the way down. Once all her students were ready, they followed her tracks behind her, weaving in giant turns across the wide and gently sloping run. It is normally one of the most popular runs to finish the day on, starting at the very top of Castle Black peak and then casually winding its way back and forth across the front face of the mountain. The lower parts of the run make their way through many of the ski-in ski-out access houses and timeshares scattered around the lower part of the mountain before ending in front of the main base area.

Today, however, was different. The light was slowly dissipating and since the run was almost empty, Arya moved a bit more quickly down the mountain than she would normally take, with her tail of children following her like ducklings behind their mother. Thankfully they were able to keep up and there was no more vomiting on the side of the mountain. The four kids were soon reunited with the group of parents waiting at the bottom, all of which were looking at the same time worried yet annoyed. They were forty-five minutes late so it was surprising that Arya hadn't gotten any calls on her walkie-talkie yet.

Arya quickly walked the young girl over to her mother, explained what happened loud enough so that hopefully some of the other annoyed looking moms would hear her, before tossing her skis over her shoulder and walking off to the staff changing rooms as fast as she could.

Seven hells, Arya thought as she trudged her way towards the village center. I'm going to need to have a talk with Dad about this. There's no good reason why the changing rooms are on the opposite side of the village from the lifts.

She would have to go across the main village, change into her 'presentable' outfit, and then book it back to the administration building, which she would actually pass on the way to the lockers. At least with the big clock tower in the village square she could catch what time it was without having to stop walking and put down her skis to check her cell phone.

Five-thirty.

"Five-thirty?!" Arya said aloud, maybe too loud as she saw a couple people turn their heads towards her. Keeping up her pace but still staring at the clock she made to finish her way across the square. "Oh, shit, shit shit," she mumbled under her breath. "Gods help me, I can't be late for -"

In a matter of seconds, Arya's situation when from "sort of a raw deal" to "worst day ever." Without any warning, she felt the wind suddenly knocked out of her as she fell to the ground, pinned under some guy she didn't know, with skis and poles strewn about everywhere.

Well, that's certainly the first time I've yard-saled without being on the mountain, she thought and smirked a bit. But any amusement quickly faded, only to be replaced with anger. Anger at being late, anger at getting into a collision in front of everyone in the main square, and mostly, anger at this unknown man who had her pinned on the hard bricks on her back.

"WHAT the HELL!? Get off me, will ya?" She yelled, hoping to free her arms so she could push him off.

"Oh, gods," he started, his voice startled and frantic sounding. "I… I didn't even see you and -"

"Hey! Could you get your fat ass off me?" Arya yelled again, louder this time, cutting off whatever he was struggling to say. Frustrated that she couldn't get her arms out, Arya quickly spun her head around to see exactly what she was dealing with. He must have had the same idea in mind, as soon as she saw him she stopped cold. Gentle fucking Mother, Arya thought, he's strong. And she stared, forgetting for a few short seconds that she was angry, or that she was on her back in the square, and could only focus the dark blue eyes that were intently set on her and the slightly wavy black hair that was partially hanging in front of them. She couldn't stop herself from staring back at him, but once he blinked she was transported right back to where she was and right back to her growing rage. She changed her look of surprise to back to fury and glared back at him, as if challenging him to do something. But he didn't. Is he so dumb that he's just going to lay here on top of me? Arya thought. "Oi! Dumb shit! Did you hear me? Get. Off."

"Alright, alright," he said at last. About damn time, Arya thought. Bloody hells, what is he doing now? She gave him a mortified look when he pushed himself off her and then held his hand out to help up off the ground.

"I can do it myself," she spat back at him and picked herself up, ignoring the hand that was still awkwardly thrust out in front of her.

"Fine then, here, at least let me help," He offered as he gathered up her ski poles that had somehow landed behind him. "Listen, miss, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"Don't call me miss!" She said and snatched her poles out of his hand. "You know, maybe if you weren't so stupid and walking around staring at a map instead of where you're going, you wouldn't bulldoze right into people." Once they were both upright, she noticed how much bigger than her he was. Sure, ninety percent of grown adults and most middle-schoolers were bigger than she was, but he was easily a foot taller. He watched her awkwardly while she gathered the rest of her things and she noticed that he was wearing a very clean, most likely brand new deep blue Winterfell jacket along with obviously brand new snow boots. She was just thinking about how stupid her brother's fiancé Jeyne must be to hire someone like this when they both looked up at the clock tower chiming again, this time to let everyone in earshot know that it was five forty-five. "Ugh, I'm going to be late and mom's gonna kill me," she said as she stared at him again, making sure to catch his gaze. She knew that not showing fear and starting straight into people's eyes helped them to take her words seriously, despite her small stature. "I will finish yelling at you later," she warned, then finally looked away from him when she tossed her skis back up over her shoulders and practically ran across the rest of the square, finally making it to the changing rooms and flinging the doors open.

Alright, she thought. Thanks to running in to that stupid boy I'll be horribly late not to mention I've got no time to shower and change into the outfit from mom. Well, at least that part isn't horrible.

Trying to save as much time as possible, Arya haphazardly threw her skis and poles into the tall locker, put her boots in beside those, and quickly pulled on the black jeans she'd worn that morning and her big grey snow boots. She didn't even want to think about the amount of shit she'd catch back at home tonight for showing up late and dressed in her street clothes, but when the choice was showing up like that or not showing up at all, it wasn't much of a choice.

Arya put back on her green Winterfell jacket as she ran back out the door and sprinted across the square towards the administration building. The bells on the clock tower were chiming for quarter after six as she pulled open the large double doors into the huge ballroom the family greeting was always held in and launched herself inside.

As the doors opened, everyone's attention quickly went from Ned's introduction of Sansa and the World Winter Games straight to Arya whom, due to her snow boots, was running rather clumsily towards the stage. She didn't notice any of the staff sitting at the tables staring, all she could notice was her dad's surprised face and how ridiculously difficult it was to run this far in snow boots and her heavy jacket.

"Sorry!" She yelled as she ran up the small staircase on the side of the stage, hoping that no one notice how she almost tripped over the last step. "Dad, I'm so sorry I'm late, there was this problem with lessons, and... and..." She stopped and bent over, hands resting on her knees as she tried to explain yet breathe at the same time.

"Alright, everyone," she heard her dad say as he helped her stand up straight before putting his arm around her and guiding her back to her appropriate place in line, right between Robb and Sansa. "This is my daughter Arya... she really does know how to make an entrance, right?" Arya was glad that her dad was laughing, and as she looked around she saw that Robb and Bran were amused but new better than to show it. She only chanced the slightest looks at her mother and sister, knowing that if looks could kill she'd be dead on that stage at the moment. The best part in her mind was that Rickon was down on the end, laughing hysterically and showing no signs of realizing that his behavior might not be acceptable.

"So, where was I?" Her dad said, started the introductions again. As she stared out into the audience, trying to see if she could make out where any of her friends were sitting, she vaguely heard her dad talk a little bit about her, then for a while about Bran - his accident and how Winterfell is now very proud of its comprehensive adaptive skiing programs. After finishing up introducing Rickon, there were a few more formalities, really the same each year, and then the part that everyone had been waiting for - the food. It was like inviting a group of college students to a free buffet. They'd all gladly listen to the same speech year after year as long as the reward of free home-cooked food was available.

When his speech was done, Arya didn't waste a second in trying to bolt off the stage in search of her friends, some food, and a few minutes of sanity to spare before she had to deal with the repercussions of barging in like she had.

She got no such thing.

"Arya Lyanna Stark, where do you think you're going?" Catelyn's voice was calm yet forceful, and it cut through the noise of the crowd, stopping Arya mid-step dead in her tracks.

"I… ugh, was just going to grab some food…" Arya replied as she turned to face toward her mom, but continued to look at her shoes. "I had lessons all day so I'm starving."

"Well, young lady, you'll be happy to know that Nan went grocery shopping today and has the fridge at home stocked full. You'll have plenty to eat and I'm sure we'll have plenty to discuss as well."

Fuck.

There was no use in protesting when her mother used that tone. Arya was normally a fighter, but after today eating some dinner and enjoying a quiet night was starting not to sound bad.

"Fine, let's go then if that's what we're doing," Arya replied and started to make her way off stage, watching her sister start towards the other side of the stage.

The regular lights had been flipped back on and she saw her father and Robb talking with some of the other managers and Robb's fiancé Jeyne Westerling, who was manager of the HR department. Rickon had already barreled off towards the buffet like a wolf to the slaughter and Bran had made his way down the ramp on the side of the stage and was pushing himself in the crowds towards Meera Reed, his girlfriend, or something like that. They never actually confirmed or denied the rumors. With Meera she saw the rest of her closest friends, Hot Pie, Jeyne Poole, who both Arya and Sansa had grown up with, Ned Dayne, her ex-boyfriend who turned out to be a much better friend … but who was that with them, she thought to herself. There was someone with them she hadn't seen before and while normally a new hire wouldn't get her attention that much, there was something familiar about him. She squinted into the crowd to try and see a bit better, but the mystery employee soon turned around.

"Oh, for fuck's sake," Arya grumbled softly under her breath. She looked at her mom and it was clear she hadn't heard. There he is, she thought, watching what looked like Hot Pie introducing him to everyone. Not only was he here, and on time, but it looks like I won't be able to avoid him the rest of the season. Dear gods, could it get any worse?

"Thank you for cooperating," Catelyn said, then spotted Sansa going the other way. "Oh, Sansa, I'm sorry dear. Why don't you come have dinner with us? Nan was talking about how much she misses having you around the other day."

Why, yes, yes of course it could get worse.

"Alright, mom. You know how much I love Nan's cooking." Sansa said, joining them as they walked off stage. "I'll give Jeyne a call once we get to the car and see if she'll come get me after dinner so you won't have to go out again."

The politeness was enough to almost make Arya gag. Could she be anymore perfect? Arya thought to herself. She'd never show up late to anything, especially not underdressed. Her hair's even in place after a day in a ski helmet whereas I look like I stuck my head in Nan's food processor. I guess we can't all be the golden child.

"Arya! Are you coming or not?" Sansa yelled, already off stage and halfway down the back hallway. Well, she can certainly be a bit of a snot to me when she wants to.

"Ugh, yes, Sansa." She grumbled and half ran the rest of the way to catch up with them.

The car ride back home short but still painfully awkward. They didn't live too far from the village, but her mother maintained that despite living in the North for 23 years she still had a hard time getting used to the cold weather this time each year when fall gave way to winter. Arya thought she was just being difficult. She sat in the middle row of her mom's Escalade, playing with her phone, mostly texting Jon to complain. The only conversations were between Catelyn and Nan, asking her to start up a quick dinner for the three of them, and Sansa talking to her roommate Jeyne to ask her to come pick her up later in the evening.

When the finally got to the house, Nan let them know that it would be about a half hour until dinner was ready. Hoping that maybe looking a little bit more proper like her mother had always wanted would make her go a little bit easier on her tonight, Arya announced that she was going to run upstairs and take a quick shower and change before dinner was ready. Catelyn simply nodded and Arya turned and hurried upstairs to her bedroom. Shutting her door behind her, she jumped in the shower to wash the day off her and then tried to pick out some clothes that might appease her mother. It was a long shot and she was sure it wouldn't make the problem go completely away, but maybe looking a little more ladylike would help. It definitely couldn't hurt, she thought. Her mother and Sansa were always buying her tops and nice pants or skirts and all they did was take up space in her closet. Sansa was a size smaller than her and over half a foot taller so it wasn't even like she could take the clothes back for herself if she wanted them. She'd had on old jeans and a dark grey Under Armour long sleeve top but she'd have to do better than that. After standing and staring at her closet, she finally picked out a clean pair of dark skinny jeans, that she actually liked, and settled on a metallic-y purple loose blouse that Sansa had bought for her. She had to admit; it didn't look too bad and even sort of matched her dark brown hair and grey eyes.

Dinner was another mostly silent affair, at least from Arya's side of things. Sansa couldn't shut up about anything, from how excited she was that the Winter Games would be held at Winterfell to explaining to their mom about how awesome the Bukowski and ee cummings poems she was reading in her 20th Century Westerosi poetry were. She'd be lying out her teeth if she tried to say she didn't feel the same way about both of those things, but gods be damned if she was going to let either of them know that she had interests in common with Sansa, outside of the few they already knew about. She sat there and finished her dinner while they had their conversation, neither of them pausing to mention that she looked nice, except for Nan when she had went into the kitchen to grab a couple serving spoons that were forgotten.

"Sansa, do you mind helping Nan with the dishes? You know she's been starting to get a little bit slower now that she's getting older and I'm sure she'd appreciate the help. I'd like to talk to Arya alone for a little while." Catelyn said, pulling her napkin off her lap and folding it neatly on her dinner plate. Oh crap, I guess smelling nice and putting on a blouse didn't help in the end, Arya realized.

"Yea, it's not a problem. I don't mind at all." Sansa gathered and stacked their dirty dishes and headed towards the kitchen, before turning around and smiling at the both of them. "Maybe I can even get Nan to give up her secret recipe for that macaroni salad." With that, she excused herself and went to help clean up.

After a few seconds of horrible silence between herself and her mother, she decided it might be best if she went on the offensive and broke the silence.

She cleared her throat and started. Time to grovel, she thought. "Listen, mom, I'm so sorry. I know it's not acceptable to be late to official functions and I understand that I made us all look bad up there by being late and showing up in my regular clothes. I didn't mean to be late, honest, I didn't. I was doing great, on time. I swear it, mom. I planned on showering and changing into that awful outfit Sansa picked out, but one of my ski school kids got altitude sickness and spent forever throwing up on the side of Maidens Voyage… and if that's not the worst, I'm already late when some new employee crashes headfirst into me in the middle of the village square. It's all true, mom. About a million people saw it happen. It won't happen again, mom, really." She finally took a deep breath after word vomiting out that apology. It was so fast she wasn't completely sure afterwards what she'd said or if she meant all of it.

"Whatever the reason for your tardiness tonight, it doesn't matter now. It's not just this though, Arya, and you know it." Catelyn said, using that soft but stern voice which meant she was not messing around. "Robb and Jeyne are getting married in a few months, Sansa's got her big competition coming up… maybe it'd be a good idea for you to spend sometime with your Uncles Bynden and Edmure in Riverrun. There's a UW Riverrun campus there and I'm sure you'd get in, your grades from high school were decent. You just aren't doing anything with your life here, I'm afraid you're stagnating."

Stagnating? She repeated in her head. In that moment in Arya's mind, the tables had turned and it was back to how it normally was - furious Arya trying to convince her mother that she was not the same person as any of her siblings. What the hell is that supposed to mean? My life is not stagnant. I can't believe my mother just compared by life choices to a gross warm pond.

"Well, shit mom, what is that?" Arya said, somewhere between that firm voice she uses with her students and her usual yell. She didn't want Sansa and Nan to come out of the kitchen or being able to hear what was going on. "Why is it fine for you and Dad and Robb to work at the resort but it's not okay for me to do the exact same thing? How is that fair? I'm the most requested ski lesson instructor in the whole resort. Does that not matter to anyone?"

"Arya, you know we're glad that you're good at your job here, but your father and I just want to make sure you're not missing out on any opportunities that you don't have here."

"No. Don't you dare," she started, grabbing her phone off the table and standing up. "Don't you dare being dad into this, I know these are your thoughts and not his. You can as try much as you want, but sorry, mom, I'm not moving to Riverrun just to get a degree I won't use and look around for someone to marry."

She unlocked her phone and quickly started typing.

"Who are you calling, Arya?"

"Not that you care, but I'm texting Jon to let him know that I'll be making use of his couch tonight." Arya replied, hitting send on the text to Jon and walking out of the dining room and up towards her room, she quickly changed out of her nice shirt, pulled on old hoodie from the floor, grabbed some clothes for tomorrow and ran down the stairs, shoving her clothes in a backpack as she went.

Why does she have to be like this, Arya thought, walking through the laundry room to get to the back door. It used to be every time I'd bring home a grade that wasn't up to her liking or when I'd refuse to play the role she wanted me to in front of guests, but now it's almost every conversation we have. It's like she's starting to provoke me just because she can. Gods, even talking to Sansa would be preferable.

As soon as her hand reached the door handle, she heard the laundry room door click shut behind her. Sansa.

Seriously? I didn't mean talking to her right now.

"You know it doesn't have to be like this, Arya."

"It's not my fault, not this time," she started, sitting down on the bench by the door and putting on her snow boots. "You've gotta believe me, I didn't mean to be late. Really there was -"

"Yes, yes, Arya, I heard. Sick children, collisions in the square… I wouldn't believe it normally but I don't think anyone would make up an excuse that implausible, even you. Just try a little harder, that's all mom really wants anyways. None of us want to see you waste your life away." Sansa said as she folded her arms across her chest and leaned back against the dryer.

"You always make it sound so simple, you know. And maybe it is for you, since everything seems to come to you so easily, but it isn't like that for me. I can't play the lady just because mom asks me to."

"Fine, Arya, then go. Run to Jon's apartment and complain to him for the night. But you know what, it won't solve anything. Ignoring the problem doesn't make it go away, believe me I learned that the hard way. You've got to grow up a bit and figure out what you're doing here." With that, Sansa shot one last look at Arya and calmly turned and left her alone.

Great, Arya said to herself, just great. Now I've not only got mom mad at me, but Sansa's decided to get her hand in the action as well.

She picked up where she left off lacing up her boots, grabbed her hat and coat from where they'd been sitting on top of the dryer, and finished putting everything on. She opened the door and let herself out onto the side of the house and started the walk to the corner to catch the bus to Wintertown. It's going to be a long night.

Author's note: Thank you to everyone for all the reviews, follows, and favorites. I am seriously amazed. I know that the story up until now has been Arya x Gendry, but like the description says, there is a Sansa x Sandor element to it as well. I realize it makes me a bit of a rarity to like both Arya AND Sansa. Chapter 5 will be a Sansa chapter. There will also be some later chapters with other POVs as well to help get some other viewpoints on our main characters' situations. If you're not a Sansa person, please stick with me!