Jasper was crouching by the Ruby ford, peering into the water by the bank of the river, trying to identify if there were any rubies from Rhaegar's armour present. He had met up with the Royal carriage at the ruins of Moat Cailin, where he, Devan and Beric had been resting, spending their days riding atop the barrows. Jasper had been more than a little pleased to see Joffrey still had a bandage going around his nose. The party had decided to stop at Castle Darry on the way back south for a while and Jasper had used the opportunity to leave the main column again, where he could avoid the awkward stares at him, for the tale seemed to have spread, and the fawning over his brother that made him want to retch. In truth, the Ruby ford was just a viable excuse that came to mind, he did not expect to find anything in the water, for they had surely been stripped clean years ago, or washed downstream by the currents of the Trident.

"You don't truly expect to find anything, do you Jasper?" Beric asked, ever able to discern Jasper's thoughts whilst they were still in his own head. Just as Jasper opened his mouth to reply, he smelled something, giving Beric the warning look, he caught Devan's eye and beckoned him over, silently drawing his sword from its scabbard. However, he need not have worried, the smell belonged to a boy with bright red hair and freckles who was being chased by, he should not have been surprised, Arya. Both of them were carrying sticks and clearly play fighting, although it was shoddy work, the hacks and cuts that they made reminded Jasper of when he had first started training with Ser Aron Santagar and Barristan Selmy in the Red Keep. Their focus was also appalling, for Jasper got up, and walked up behind Arya, causing the red-head to freeze in fear and Arya, not noticing that he was looking over her head made to hit him, but Jasper caught the stick deftly and yanked it from her grasp, rapping her on the top of the head with it.

"What are you doing?" Arya demanded, spinning when she felt her stick pulled from her hand. She stuttered to a halt when she saw him, clearly not having noticed him.

"Me, nothing", Jasper replied, holding the stick out of Arya's reach, "but I think the better question here is, what were you doing?"

"Fighting."

"No no", Jasper replied, his face beginning to split into a grin, "that was not fighting, I was watching from over there", he pointed to where he, Beric and Devan had been squatting by the bank. "That was swinging, fighting is something else entirely", Jasper pulled Devan close to him, "this is Devan, and he can fight."

"Well, why don't you show us then?" Arya demanded, whilst the boy stayed silent throughout the whole conversation, clearly intimidated by the presence of the Prince.

"Done", Jasper said, dropping the stick in the ground, drawing his sword and nodding to Beric who did the same. "Sit down by the river children, and watch the masters at work." He and Beric settled into basic stances, before Jasper turned to look at them. "Firstly, when you swing, you don't want to swing to wide", Jasper told the onlookers, "if you do", he nodded at Beric, who swung out widely, just as the children had been, but slower, as it was a demonstration, "you leave yourself open to attack", Jasper quickly poked Beric lightly with the end of his sword. "You want to keep your sword in a position to defend yourself." He continued, "which is why the best stances are here", he held his sword out in front of him, so that the tip was in line with his nose, "and here", he raised his sword high above his head. "These positions allow you to defend yourself whilst being able to attack."

Jasper nodded and Beric attacked him several times with basic attacks, whilst he parried them swiftly and efficiently before attacking himself, he then switched to the other stance and demonstrated the effects again. "But before we can get on to that, you need to know the basics", he declared and put his sword point down in the grass. "Up, all three of you", he said, looking pointedly at Devan as he did so. The three of them got up and, whilst Arya and the boy picked up their sticks again, Devan retrieved his own practice sword, which he had left in the undergrowth from where they were hiding.

"Okay", Jasper said, after spacing them out so that they would not hit each other with wild swings. "The first strike you will learn is simply a diagonal strike from right to left." They all did it, not surprisingly, Devan was the best, having trained in that particular cut endless times under Jasper's tutelage. Very surprisingly however, Arya was noticeably worse than the others, shifting her hips to accommodate an awkward swing, her grip was weak and flimsy. Jasper wondered something, he had never seen a trained knight who was left handed, but maybe Arya was. "Are you left handed Arya?"

She nodded, "yes"

"Good, that will surprise any opponent. Very well", he continued, "you will strike from upper left to lower right."

"Can I use your sword?" Arya asked, to which Jasper raised his eyebrow, "maybe just your short one", she pointed at the shortsword Jasper kept at his lower back.

Jasper drove his longsword into the ground and pulled out his shortsword. "No", he said after examining it.

"Why not?"

"Because", Jasper said, "you are not ready to use a real sword."

"Why not?" Arya asked again.

Jasper nodded to Beric who nodded back and then he replied, "this is why." In the blink of an eye he had raised his shortsword above his head and brought it down towards Arya, who dropped to the ground, as Jasper brought his arm to a halt.

"Are you trying to kill me?!" She demanded scrambling to her feet, thwacking Jasper in the side with her stick.

"No", Jasper replied calmly, "and that strike would not have killed you."

"Yes it would have", Arya demanded.

But Jasper shook his head. "No, walk up to the blade", Arya didn't move so Jasper walked forward, his sword perfectly still. It passed barely a hair's breadth from Arya's scalp, but never touched it. "Unless you can control a sword like this", he told all three of them, "then you will not train using a proper blade."

The lesson learned, the five of them passed a happy few hours training in the basics, Devan was the best, understandably as he had already done this sort of thing before; Arya was next, for she had a surprising amount of skill for someone who had never trained before. The boy, whom Jasper learned was called Mycah, did not have much skill at all and was struggling with the basics, but Jasper concluded that he had seen worse in the training areas in the Red Keep.

Not long in to the training however, Jasper noticed something. "Arya", he asked looking around, "where's… um…" he mimed pawing at the ground as the word was at the tip of his tongue, "Nymeria?"He finally remembered.

"Father kept her at the camp", Arya explained, "didn't want her running about." She looked down about it so Jasper did not press the issue.

It was then that this pleasant, summer afternoon was spoiled by the arrival of a snotty little blonde haired prick. "Ah look, Jasper is playing with the children."

Jasper, who had just been explaining the difference between a parry and a block to Arya and Mycah, gritted his teeth just like his mentor Stannis, and turned on his heel to see Joffrey approaching with Sansa in tow. In the weeks of travelling, the bandage across his face had been removed, although the middle of his face still had a pinkish hue and his nose seemed slightly more crooked than it was before, unfortunately, not as much as Jasper would have liked. "Joffrey", Jasper greeted, before bowing at the waist to Sansa, "my lady." Sansa looked at him with disdain and Jasper could not work out whether that was for training Arya, or for attacking Joffrey, but he strongly suspected the latter, for Sansa, although clearly beautiful, was also very naive and all she probably saw was a monster who attacked her beloved. "May I ask what you are doing here?"

"I am taking my beloved for a walk along the river", Joffrey explained. "And you are playing with sticks; do you not think you are too old to be doing that?"

Jasper shrugged and turned back to his trainees, muttering under his breath so only the trainees and Beric could hear, "keep going on about sticks and I'll shove them all up your arse." Arya stifled a small laugh with her fist before straightening her face.

"Would you need help with a demonstration brother?" Joffrey asked and Jasper turned to him in surprise, it was not like Joffrey to offer to train, let alone demonstrate, he normally left that to the Hound.

Cautiously, very cautiously, and because he didn't want to embarrass Joffrey, for he had not yet provoked Jasper and the witnesses would say so, Jasper nodded. Joffrey pulled out his sword and took Beric's place who looked on with trepidation, but Jasper nodded to him and he stood to the side, still with his hand on his sheathed sword.

"Another key lesson you must learn, is that the blade is not the only part of the sword", Jasper said loudly. "Brother, if you would do the honours", he beckoned Joffrey on, who attacked with a clumsy strike. Jasper stepped forward, into the arc of the blow, parried it, slammed the pommel of his sword into Joffrey's shoulder before pointing his sword at his brother's neck. Joffrey cried out at the blow and stumbled backwards. "You see", Jasper said turning to the children, "that was a clear demonstration of why-" Arya screamed slightly and pointed behind him. Time slowed down as Jasper turned, he saw Arya's point, he heard a second cry from Sansa, a yell from Devan and Beric's sword being drawn. Then he saw his brother, and more importantly his brother's sword coming straight for his belly. Beric deflected the blow but the blade still sliced straight into Jasper's thigh. Jasper gasped as he felt the metal slice his skin and his blood begin to spill from the long cut, which was several inches wide but thankfully not very deep, at least, it didn't seem it. Jasper stumbled back and tripped over a fallen stick, landing hard on the river bank.

"You must also be prepared to defend against any attack", Joffrey said in a disgustingly gloating-like manner.

"That wasn't fair!" Arya yelled out vehemently. "You attacked whilst his back was turned, we weren't training on that you coward!"

"Don't call me a coward!" Joffrey roared as Sansa yelled a chastisement to her sister. But Arya was too quick and she smacked Joffrey over the head with her stick several times. Joffrey cried out in pain and dropped his sword. Arya picked it up and pointed it at Joffrey.

"Arya!" Jasper called out, worried that she was about to do something stupid "drop the sword."

But the little Stark paid no attention to him and sliced Joffrey lightly across the cheek. "There!" She yelled at him, walking over to the river, "now don't threaten Jasper again!" She hurled the sword into the river.

Joffrey whimpered and ran away, Sansa followed him as fast as she could, calling out, "oh my prince my poor poor prince how are you my prince?"

Jasper clambered to his feet, stormed over to Arya and seized her by the front of her dress and pulled her in so her face was inches from his "you fool", he said darkly, "you just made a horrible mistake." He released her and turned to Mycah. "You, did Joffrey hear your name?" The boy shook his head, and so Jasper reached into a pouch and pulled out a silver stag, one of many he kept on him. "Take this and go home, now!" The boy nodded and rushed off. He turned back to the group. "We need to return to the castle now", he said to them, "and you", he turned to Arya, who looked slightly scared now, for she recognised what she had done, "you go straight to your father, you understand, you don't leave his side, not for a moment, I must go to mine and try and keep things calm."

They all nodded and rushed off.

Back at the castle, things were worse than Jasper feared, there was already tell of how Arya had ambushed the prince and beat him bloody and bruised until he could barely make it back to camp. Jasper gritted his teeth and, upon hearing that the Lannisters were searching for Arya, and that there were more of them than Stark or Baratheon men, Jasper told Arya to hide in the forest for as long as she could whilst he tried to defuse things. "But do not stray far", he warned her, "go too far and the Lannisters might find you."

He found his father present in the main hall of castle Darry, with his mother, most of the Kingsguard, bar his uncle Jaime and Ser Barristan as well as Lord Stark, Lady Sansa and Joffrey were not present. "Ah Jasper", his father said, "have you heard what little Arya Stark has done to your brother?"

"I have heard the lies", Jasper replied, "and I know the truth, what Joffrey says is a lie, I was there at the time."

His mother looked surprised, "you were there and did nothing to stop the ambush."

"There was no ambush", Jasper said through gritted teeth, just as Stannis would have, "I was giving Arya some sword training, Joffrey came and offered to help, so I let him and then, when my back was turned he attacked me." He pointed to the cut in his breeches and the cut beneath that had already mostly scabbed over. "Arya told him not to do it again, cut his cheek and threw his sword in the river, I was on the ground, I could not stop it."

"On the ground", his father demanded, "from a small cut like that?"

"No I stumbled backwards and tripped", Jasper replied, "the fact is, Arya is innocent. Do not harm her for this."

"There Robert", Lord Stark said in relief, "call off this manhunt for my daughter, let her be found with dignity."

"Whatever the circumstances, that little animal hurt your son", Jasper's mother said to his father, in a tone that made Jasper sigh, for he was certain his father would give in. "She must be found and brought here to explain it."

His father nodded after a much shorter time than Jasper would have guessed. "Bring her here Ned, I want this issue sorted. Jasper", Jasper looked up, "go and help find the girl." Jasper nodded and turned to leave, but then a Baratheon man burst through the door.

"Your grace, Lord Stark", he panted, "the lady Arya is in the river". Jasper barrelled out of the great hall and sprinted for the river.

Sure enough when he was there, he looked over a cliff with about a four foot drop, and saw Arya, holding desperately on to a hanging branch from the tree. Beric ran up beside him and said, 2that river is flowing fast, it is a wonder she has not been swept away."

Jasper nodded and then turned around, seeing Lord Stark approaching he said to Beric, "make sure Lord Stark does not jump in after her, with that amount of clothing on, he'll drown." Beric nodded and raced off toward Lord Stark, at that point Devan arrived next to him. "Devan, knife", Devan nodded and passed Jasper his battle knife, which he rarely used anyway, due to his having two swords, and he passed his sword belt to Devan, before stripping his boots off. By now a large crowd had gathered, several were trying to reach Arya but she was too far away, it was as they were lowering spears to reach her, that the hanging branch snapped and Arya fell, screaming, into the river. Jasper saw Beric seize Lord Stark to prevent him jumping in and rushed moved back slightly from the edge of the small cliff. "Devan, do not lose those!" He slipped the knife into his belt and sprinted up to the edge of the cliff. "MOVE!" He yelled and the men at the edge of the cliff dived aside to make room for him. He vaguely heard his mother call for him to stop, and his father too, before he dived into the river.

The water was not too cold, but still not pleasant to drop into at high speed. Jasper surfaced and, after wiping his eyes clear, kicked after Arya, who he could see was struggling to stay afloat. He ignored all the calls from the bank as he swam up to Arya, thanking the Seven for all the swimming he had had to do under Stannis' tutelage, at Dragonstone, in the Blakwater Rush and, when he had visited Highgarden, in the Mander. He was able to catch up to Arya and he pulled her kicking and flailing form against his own body, turning onto his back so that they could both breathe. He noticed that most of the royal party was rushing down the bank of the river to follow them, including several on horseback, Lord Stark leading those on foot at high speed. But the bank was getting higher as the river flowed further downstream. Turning his head, he tried to find something to grab on to, and saw an upcoming tree, whose roots were protruding from the river bank. He raised his left hand, his right busy trying to hold Arya up, and locked it around one of the roots with his elbow joint. He roared in pain as a pointy bit of root stabbed into his arm, even more loudly after he instinctively pulled away and the spike tore a cut into his forearm several inches long. But it also made him lose his grip and he and Arya were forced downstream again, far faster than anyone on the bank could keep up. Gritting his teeth against the pain in his arm and thigh, and spluttering out a mouthful of water, not knowing who had shat in it, Jasper decided to just hold Arya close and wait for the river to slow down. He pulled her on to his front, so that she was closer to the surface, where she could finally calm down and stop kicking wildly, and did everything he could to keep them both above the water and able to breathe.

It felt like forever, before the speed of the river slowed sufficiently enough for Jasper to force his exhausted limbs into taking them to the nearest bank, and he could no longer remember whether it was the one they had been on before or the opposite one, but he no longer cared, he wanted to get out of the cold water. As soon as his knees hit the bed of the river, Jasper shoved Arya into the shallow water and they crawled out of the river. Jasper spluttered and a cascade of river water fell from his open mouth as Arya did something similar. It took them both a while to recover their breaths and when they did, it was Arya who spoke first.

"Thank you Jasper, thank you."

"No problem you fool", he said, shivering now, from the extended amount of time in the cold water. He looked over at Arya and saw that she was doing the same. He quickly found some wood and bracken and, using skills he had learned in the Rainwood and under Stannis, he built a small fire and pulled Arya close, sharing their body heat as well as the warmth of the fire to prevent them getting a chill. Jasper knew how devastating chills could be, for one of his best friends, Lord Bryce Caron, was the one surviving legitimate child of Lord Bryen Caron, who had died along with his wife and other children at Nightsong, leaving only Bryce and his bastard brother Rolland Storm to carry on the Caron line. When the fire was up, it gave jasper time to examine his arm and his hip, which had lost the scabbing and was bleeding again. He winced as he touched the cuts but tore lengths of fabric from his tunic to bind his arm and thigh.

Whilst he was doing this, Arya had been catching her breath and rubbing her arms. "Rub your chest", Jasper said off handedly.

"What?" She replied, still shivering slightly, but not as much as she had been before.

"Your arms will warm up by themselves, you should rub your chest instead". Arya nodded and slipped her hands through the sleeves of her dress, like a child would do when they were pretending to have no arms, and started rubbing her chest. After a moment, Jasper had to ask. "You know, I said to go and wait in the forest, but keep the castle in sight", Arya looked at him. "Why in the seven hells did you decide that was a good time to go for a swim?"

"I didn't", Arya said emphatically. "I had to go further into the forest because someone was coming, so I ended up beside the river again. But then someone pushed me in."