Even though Robb left them an hour ago he was still in her room, lost in his thoughts, looking through the window at the overcast sky which reminded him of home. He didn't spend much time thinking of Pyke while he was growing up in Winterfell and it was this way for a reason. Pyke was a dreary place, cold and wet, beyond all reason, even if you took frequent rains into account. It was definitely not as grand or as cozy as Winterfell, but it had one important advantage. It had an endless supply of fresh air. Whenever you had to make a trip from one tower to another over those glorified ropes they used for bridges, your lungs tended to get plenty of it whether you wanted or not. And considering that these trips were rather frequent people tended to take fresh air for granted. Curiously enough folk in Winterfell tended to take the lack of fresh air for granted too. And Theon himself didn't realize he was missing it until he came back to Pyke. And now that Winterfell was suffocating him, he couldn't make himself forget. How can you even make yourself forget something like this?
He promised himself he was done with Iron Islands, but now after all revelations he had second thoughts. Winterfell was easy, hardly a challenge, he admitted as much himself. One big, fat castle with a skeleton crew - ready for taking. Pyke however...
Well Pyke was a different fish entirely. For once it was on an island. And it had four separate towers on four separate cliffs, three of which happened to be surrounded by water. Even if he managed to lure the garrison out with a diversion lets say... at Lordsport, securing them all at the same time in a sneaky fashion would be no small feat, no small feat at all. Even so, he figured he could do it. Yes he could definitely do it. Because for all its differences with Winterfell, Pyke shared one fatal similarity with it - Theon happened to grow up there. He knew the place and he knew the people.
It was getting dark outside and he came back from his reverie only to find Aribeth quitely sitting at her bed, sewing of all things. That was a first. He took several long moments to reconcile what he saw with what he little he knew of her, only to realize that he knew very little indeed.
She sported a fancy sword, but he never saw her use it. She was a warrior, there was no question about it. Back on the isles he saw enough wenches, his own sister among them, weilding all kinds of sharp objects. So he could recognize one, when he saw one. But they were never too shy about demonstrating their prowess with their weapon of choice, always so eager to prove themselves. Aribeth was different however and that made him curious, but he decided to save it for later. Right now he could use a second head.
"Have you ever considered the question - 'Why'?" - he suddenly asked her to get her attention and she took a moment to look up from her work and meet his gaze with her own blue eyes. - "Why are we here? What is our purpose here?"
Aribeth have just shrugged her shoulders and went back to her sewing - "Some gods have a reputation of rather capricious beings. Especially those of evil alignment." - she said as if it was supposed to explain everything.
"What do you mean?"
"What I mean" - she drawled as if explaining something obvious to a child and he couldn't quite say that he enjoyed that - "that the answer to your question can be absolutely anything... Maybe they are bored, maybe they are curious. Maybe they want to see us crash and burn again. Maybe we are part of something much bigger and ultimately of no consequence to them. And maybe it is the opposite and they are betting big time on what stupid thing you are going to do next."
Theon narrowed his eyes, but didnt raise to a bait, so she continued.
"And maybe they already know that, because they are inside you."
"What do you mean inside me?" - he asked sceptically.
"They are called gods for a reason, we don't know true extent and limits to their power. At least where I came from greater deities can live several lives at the same time and in some cases possess the bodies of their chosen or even inanimate objects."
That was a new concept for Theon and it showed on his face.
"As I said" - Aribeth shrugged her shoulders again - "It can be absolutely anything. Maybe we are less than ants to them and maybe they are here with us for a ride. You can never know."
"Well, in that case I hope they find my father choking on his own blood entertaining." - Theon retorted bitterly and this time managed to get her full attention. She put down the needle and took several long moments to choose her next words, while regarding him with a critical expression on her face.
"Do you really want to go down that road again, Theon?" - she asked finally.
"And why not? At least this time it feels right."
"So.. you mean to go to Pyke and bury an axe in his belly, is that it? And then what? Fight your way through the guards or die trying?"- she demanded.
"No" - he defended - "I am more craftier bastard than that, remember?" - and it took her a moment to get on the same page with him - "The guards will be already dead." - he revealed.
"Great, so you mean to sack the place just like Winterfell" - she accused and it hurt.
"And why not? It is a castle, not a city. There is a difference and you know it" - he accused as well and actually managed to hurt her back, but she quickly recovered for him to feel too guilty.
"Someone innocent always gets hurt Theon." - she said with a sad sigh, but it only made him laugh:
"They are ironborn, they can take it. Trust me." - he reassured her with a twisted smile.
"What do you mean?" - she didn't understand.
This time it was his turn to explain.
"You may pose as one of us, but it doesn't make you an ironborn. These greenlanders might buy it, but you are still very much clueless about certain customs and our way of life. Back on the isles you are not even considered a man until you made your first corpse. There are no innocents on the isles. We live by the sword, we kill with the sword and we don't make too much fuss when we get the same treatment. After all, what is dead may never die." - he finished.
"What is dead may never die?" - she snorted in response - "What is that even supposed to mean?"
"Honestly? I think it is supposed to be open for interpretation." - he mirrored her reaction and cynically explained - "It is the words of our God, you see, and ever since I was a little kid I have been wondering the same thing. I asked my uncles and brothers and they all provided different explanations." - Theon smiled when he remembered what uncle Aeron had to say about it before he went all religious. And he said something like this: "Theon, if you jump from a cliff and drown, you will not die, not really, but it is going to make your mother very sad."
"But I suppose eventually it is expected from you to come up with your own interpretation."
"And what is yours?" - she asked curiously.
"It means you can't get out of this life alive, it doesn't work that way. Eventually we all die and in a big scheme of things we are already dead. So it doesn't really make that much difference if it happens now or lets say fifty years from now. What really makes a difference is how it happens. Do you understand?" - he asked.
"I think I do" - she replied with a thoughtful expression - "I suppose it makes more sense if you are human."
"What do you mean - if you are human?" - he narrowed his eyes. And then she explained to him who exactly she was and then she explained some more until his head started to hurt and refused to process any more knowledge.