AN: Please Review! It just makes it so much more fun to write when I get feedback...
Olly
He'd never appreciated how dangerous women were until he met the Lord Commander's sister. She'd stunned the men in Baldread, riding past them her back straight her eyes set on the tavern ahead.
They'd dismounted and she'd paid the stablemaster for his troubles, flashing him a stunning smile that left the poor man gaping after them. Olly found himself narrowing his eyes at her suspiciously. Arya Stark didn't flirt unintentionally. She'd come with a plan of action, and he was just going to have to follow along.
"Brother dearest, a word?" She said to him sweetly, stopping just outside the door of the tavern, seeming shockingly like a bubbly carefree flirt of a woman rather than the cold hardened killer he knew her to be.
"Yes sister of mine?" He responded, trying to hide his irritation.
She giggled prettily and leaned cutely on his shoulder, standing on her tip toes to whisper in his ears as if they were playful conspirators in some ninny-minded game of hers. When she spoke though, her soft words came out laced with fierce intension and concentration.
"When we go in there I will flirt until one of the men tries to take me upstairs. You will then sidle over to the barkeep and ask him what kind of women his lordship Ramsay Bolton favors, and whether he can get us an introduction or not. You will not get into a fight with any man here in defense of my honor. You will not stop me or presume that I do not know what I am doing. Is that clear?"
"Yes milady," he said quietly. Mother help him what was she planning?
They made their way into the tavern. It was full enough, mostly with men who lived in the Dreadfort, though there were a few travelers, villagers, and tavern wenches about the place.
Arya settled herself at a table closest to where the best dressed men at arms sat smiling prettily as a warm blush spread across her cheeks.
"Milords," she said inclining her head at them deferentially. This bloody woman. Olly thought to himself darkly as he sat down across from her.
"'Allo sweetheart. And what brings you to this fine establishment on an evening like tonight?" One of the men at arms came swaggering over, leering down at Arya, from above, no doubt treating himself to a superb view of her breasts. Olly saw now why she felt the need to stop and warn him before they came out into the tavern. He was already seeing red, furious at the presumptuous bastards crowding around.
"Oh milords. My young brother and I are visiting with the hopes of getting an audience with the Warden of the North. Our father has just passed away you see, and his last wife has turned us out to fend for ourselves, an' it being the middle of Winter and all. We were hoping the good lord Bolton might be willing to enforce our rights to the property sers, my brother here being the oldest. Without the farm milords, we're both lost, him with no property and me with no dowry, no way to get a decent man…"
Gods how ridiculous. He thought as the men crowded around her murmuring their sympathies and offering to do unspeakable harm to her imaginary evil step mother. It was a variation of the story she'd told him and the other watchmen when she was still clad as a lad but he had to admit it had s0me distinct advantages coming out as the sob story of a beautiful damsel in distress. And that last bit about finding a man, seven hells.
"As it happens my love I might be able to help you get an audience with Lord Bolton. I am one of his son's top liegemen," said a middle-aged man with a weak chin and a rather expansive midsection. Arya looked at him with eyes so full of wonder and admiration you would have thought he'd declared himself the crown prince of Dorne.
"Oh sir! I would be forever indebted to you! Goodness me to be so close to such great folk! What is his heir like? I hear his lady wife is the most beautiful woman in the Kingdom save mayhaps Margery Tyrell!"
She's smart, Olly had to give her credit for that. The men were shouting over each other to assure her that Ramsay Bolton's wife had nothing on her.
"The lady Sansa, well she's gorgeous but…"
"She has nothing on you lass! No spirit to her!"
"…just too cold for my tastes sweeting, meaning no offense to the lady."
"…hardly gotten a good look at her since she started to show with child…"
So it was the Lord Commander's other sister then. Olly felt himself straighten, more attentive than ever to the chatter of the men. The tavern around them was filling up and the noise level had risen substantially.
"Is she tall?" Arya asked, "I've always wished to be taller. Who would notice a little mouse like me when there's a tall graceful beauty to be had?" She pouted prettily and Olly wondered for the hundredth time what kind of twisted things the Faceless Men had done to teach her to be such a chameleon. He was only beginning to understand now that her performance as Arry had been significantly handicapped by the fact that the Lord Commander was her long-lost brother. He wondered if Lord Snow had not been there if he would have noticed anything strange about the boy at all. Not that Arya likely would've given them the opportunity. Olly had had an excellent view of the fighting when the men ambushed the Lord Commander and she had dispatched of them with more ruthless efficiency than he'd ever seen before. And Olly had seen a lot of death in his fourteen years on this earth.
The men are jumped again at the opportunity to compliment her.
"No truly darling, though she's tall your beauty…"
"…always preferred a small curvy lass myself…"
"She couldn't hold a candle to you love! I swear it!"
"Now this…" came a steely voice from behind the ring of men. Everyone fell silent at once, fear seizing up each of the men at arms faces, "this must be quite a woman indeed, to so out shine my lady wife."
The whole tavern was subdued now, and the men parted automatically to reveal a young man well dressed in simple dark attire. His hair was a brown and cropped around his ears and he was of a midsized build. His face was technically formed to appear good natured, but there was something off about him, something sinister in his dark eyes that made Olly want to rise and go for the door at once. Those eyes were currently fixed on Arya, appraising her greedily.
"Pretty, pretty I must say…" he said in a light almost sing song voice that somehow managed to be laced with menace despite its gaiety.
"But! I think lad that it's just too close to tell from this vantage point. Come lass, we'll take a closer look shall we? And then for fun you can tell me all about your petty little problems over your brother's inheritance."
He extended a hand to Arya, but it was clear from the tenor of his voice that it was no request. Still, Olly marveled she managed to keep up her flirty façade, somehow managing to rise from her seat suggestively all the while holding his gaze with alluring bedroom eyes.
As he led her away Olly heard one of the men at arms mutter under his breath. "Always ruins the fun Ramsay does. I've no issue with him going first, but by the time he's done with 'em there's nothing left of 'em worth bothering with."