CHAPTER 26: UNDER THE WEIRWOOD TREE (PART 2)

Arya

Fabric. She was surrounded by fabric. She had arranged some furs on the floor, so she could have something to sleep on. She knew they would not find her there. Arya Stark did not like fabric, silks and dresses. No one would look for her there. She could see the moon outside the window of the seamstress' work shop, she could hear people gossiping in the halls every now and then. She had needed an escape, it had all become too much, and the fight with Gendry had been the last straw.

She lay still when the door opened and the glow of a three candle candelabrum bathed the room in light. She felt the intruder walk towards her. She heard the sound the dress made as the person walked, silently sat down beside her head and placed the candlestick in front of them.

"So, you heard?" Arya asked Alara.

"It is hard not to hear doors slamming that way..." The other girl answered.

"This is a disaster. How could everything turn so wrong in such a short time?"

"I think that you brother coming back from the dead may have something to do with it."

"What am I supposed to do about that?"

"How am I supposed to know? I understand dragons and I have mastered the art of Edric being an idiot. Babies? I can tell you a thing or two. Long lost dead siblings coming back? No idea how to handle that."

"Have you also mastered the art of Gendry being stupid?"

"He is not being stupid, Arya, he is scared. You do realise that with Rob being back, everything has turned upside down. He is the last Stark male alive as far as we know, he has a better claim to the North than Jon does. It could complicate things immensely. Look, I do not know what you two fought over, although, I need to know if I need to call the wedding off."

Arya's head shot straight up when she heard that. "Is that what Gendry wants?" She said. "What does he think?"

"He is fine with whatever you say."

"Then tell him that he better be in the Godswood at midday, or I will make him regret it." She saw Ally smiling at that, and then reality hit her in the face. "I do not even have a dress..." She said, how could she feel as such a mess?

"Darling, you are in the seamstress' workshop... That is hardly a problem." She said standing up and picking some white, black and grey dresses. Arya watched her as she pranced through the room, looking for something. Ally stood in the middle of the room, looking at one of the large wardrobes in the place. She was staring at it, like trying to make a decision. Then, she pulled the doors open and took out a gorgeous white dress with beautiful black lace all over it. The dress was breathtaking, but Arya thought that it was a bit too much for her. She stood up and walked until she stood next to Alara, who was looking at the dress as if it hid the secrets of the world.

"They are all gorgeous" Arya said. "But, how come they are all grey or black and white?" Alara looked at her as if she had grown a second head.

"They are Stark colours." She said as if Arya had asked why there was snow in the North.

"And?" Arya asked.

"Gendry wants you in Stark colours."

"And what if I do not want to wear Stark colours?"

"Fine! Then what do you want to wear?"

"I do not know! I am not good with this things, Sansa is!" She blurted out without thinking it twice.

"I... I can go fetch her for you if you want. I should have thought you would have preferred your sister with you. I will ask a servant to..."

"No! I do not want her here! That is not what I meant... I just... I hate dresses. If I could I would get married in clean breeches and a blouse. I have spent my whole life running away from this kind of situations, and now... Now I am getting married. Willingly. And, I have no clue about what I should wear, or how my hair should look or..."

"Alright. Let us start with something easy. A colour, just choose a colour and we will have where to start."

"Golden. I want to wear Baratheon golden."

"Right." Alara said prancing around the room, opening every wardrobe and trunk she found her way, looking through all of them, dress after dress, while Arya stood frozen on her spot realising that she was indeed going to be married in some hours.

Suddenly Arya found herself surrounded by golden dresses. She felt trapped, overwhelmed, until dresses started disappearing around her. She saw Ally taking all of them one by one, frowning at some, shaking her head to others or simply tossing others aside with a snort. Before she knew Arya only had five dresses around her to choose from, and the seamstress' workshop... Well... It would take the servants at least a day to clean the mess...

"Breathe" She heard Alara say, and so she did. "Now, look at the dresses and pick the one that stands out to you the most."

Arya saw it the moment she looked up. It was not perfect, but it did represent her. She saw Ally smirking from the corner of her eye. Then, she walked towards the golden dress and left the room. Arya followed her to the west end of the palace, where she knew that Ally and Dorran stayed. She followed her soon to be sister into the room, and she started undressing as Lana was asked to give Arya a bath.

"Stay here" she told her. "I will go talk to Gendry". Ally said as Arya sat in the bathtub. She threw her head back and closed her eyes, enjoying the feeling of the warm water soaking her body. She felt Lanna adding scented water and soap. Then, she started scratching the dirt of her skin with a sponge. Any other day she would have demanded the servants to leave her alone, for she was capable of bathing herself. That day, however, she decided that she would not make any more scenes.

She opened her eyes when she heard the door being shut to see that in front of the door stood a breathless Madeleine. "The wolf again?" Lanna asked not looking up from Arya's knotted hair.

"Yes" Madeleine answered as she walked towards the crib where Dorran had started fussing. "He was supposed to be in the kennels, but it got away somehow."

"They will all leave in some days, and everything will go back to normal" Arya said from her spot. "Do not worry Maddie".

Alara arrived some time later, and immediately started dressing Arya. She stood there acting like a life sized doll while the two women fluttered about. Then, they made her sit down on a stool so Lanna could braid her hair, and Alara could line Arya's eyes with kohl. Once Alara was finished, she started looking through her dresser.

"I thought you had picked your dress already." Arya said, trying to make conversation.

"I had, but I cannot wear gold if you are wearing gold..."

"That is stupid! Of course you can! They are your house colours..."

"Maybe I could, but I am not going to. I will find something."

"Why do you not wear that blue gown, or the green one?"

"I will find something black Arya, do not worry." Ally said with a determined face. That is when Arya realised what would mean if her future sister wore any colour to her wedding. Stupid Westeros, stupid houses, and stupid tradition of wearing your house colours to big events. Wearing any house colour that was not hers would be telling the world they were allying with someone. That is how messed up things could get in times of war.

"You could wear that beautiful white dress you showed me before." Arya said trying to keep her head from her imminent nuptials. "The one with the black lace over it."

"I cannot wear that dress."

"Why not? It was gorgeous, not really something I would wear, but I am sure it will look good on you. Some people may think that you are the one getting married" Arya tried to joke. Needless to say, she regretted the words as soon as they left her mouth when she saw Ally get tense. Arya added two and two. The dress had been hidden inside a wardrobe, it was white and black just like Jon's banner, it had obviously been meant to be used at a wedding, and it was definitely something Ally would wear... "I am sorry" she said as soon as she realised. "I did not mean to..."

"It is alright Arya" Ally said with a sad smile. "You did not know". And with that she walked behind the folding screen to get changed. She walked out wearing a floor length dark gown, which was covered by a thin layer of dark fabric that had a beige pattern all over it. The thin dress was closed by tiny black buttons and a wide black belt on her waist.

She quickly arranged her hair with some pins. She also took some roses from one of the vases in the room and put them in her hair.

"You are going to freeze" Arya told her while Lanna chuckled adding the finishing touched to her appearance.

"The cold never bothered me" Ally said smirking as she secured a Baratheon cloak on her shoulders.

"All done, my lady" Lanna told her. Arya looked at herself in the mirror. Her hair had been braided from one side to the other, the shorter locks of hair that framed her face had been let lose, and the ending of the braid had been pinned in a messy yet elegant bun. The chiffon like material of her dress reached the floor from her waist down, flowing with a unique elegance. The upper body of her dress was entirely different. The fabric it was made of was tougher, stronger, and it was decorated with tiny dark pearls and bigger shiny stones that made it look like some kind of armour. She stopped smiling when she saw the shoes that Ally wanted her to wear.

"I will kill myself if I wear those" She said, but put the golden heels on nonetheless. She saw Ally take what looked like a grey blanket and turn it around. Arya took the Stark bannered cloak and secured it on her shoulders. They both kissed Dorran goodbye, and walked down the hallways. They saw Sansa enter the Godswood before them.

"She is dressed in red and black" Alara said. Arya ignored the comment. Of course Sansa was wearing black and red, those were Targaryen colours. However, Arya did not have time for chit chat, she was about to get married, and she was alone on the edge of the Godswood.

"Do you know where Jon is?" Arya asked nervous.

"He is... busy" She heard Rob say behind her. Rob. It was hard to wrap her head around the fact that her brother was somehow alive. She looked at him, studying him from head to toe, from his copper curls, his blue eyes, the scarf around his neck, to his boots. "I have something for you" he said, taking a small black pouch out of his breeches and giving it to her. Arya opened it and let the content fall into her left hand. It was a beautiful yet simple silver chain whit a Weirwood tree pendant hanging from it. The most beautiful thing about the necklace was the silver wolf that kept the chain and the pendant together. "This way you will never forget where you come from".

Arya could not help but smile at her older brother. She could see Alara nervously looking around. Then, she took the necklace from Arya's hands and talked as she tied it around Arya's neck. "You should take a seat, my lord" Alara said behind Arya "We will be there shortly".

"I should wait and escort my sister to the weirwood tree, my lady."

"My lord, I believe that your sister is more than capable of walking that distance without getting lost" Alara said with a giggle, to which Rob smiled, winked at Arya and walked into the Godswood.

"What was that for?" Arya asked when Rob had walked far enough.

"It is not you job to worry about politics today; that is my task. We will talk tomorrow, just... Promise me you will not do anything stupid..." Ally said. She kissed Arya on the cheek and left.

Arya waited some minutes before she forced her legs to move and start walking. She walked the path that guided her to the majestic Weirwood tree, where Gendry waited for her. She walked down the path between trees until she saw a crowd of people standing near the heart tree. She could see her brother and sister standing on one side of the tree, along with the rest of the people that had travelled from The North. On the other side stood The South, with the Baratheons standing proud in the front row.

Arya could not shake the feeling that both sides were measuring the other, never sure of the curse of action, two sides of a map that never seem to see eye to eye. However, she forgot all about it as soon as she found herself standing in front of Gendry. His left eyebrow was lifted as if he knew what was going on in her head.

He winked at her and she playfully frowned, barely paying attention to whatever the septon was saying. The old gods only needed her vow, she did not really care for the southern fanfare. She made rude faces when he stood in front of her to uncloak her and covered her with his Baratheon cloak, making his serious for a moment. It took her a moment to realize that everybody was waiting for her to say her vows.

"With this kiss I pledge my love, and take you for my lord and husband." She quickly said, making Gendry laugh once more.

"With this kiss I pledge my love, and take you for my lady and wife." He said before pulling her to him and kissing her in front of their families. Arya heard someone clearing their throat at some point. She heard Shireen giggling and Andry saying that they were not going to be able to breathe like that.

The whole party walked inside the castle, into the great hall where food and drinks were served. Arya and Gendry were busy shaking hands and greeting people, but she still noticed the world around her. She saw Ally near Edric for most of the night, probably avoiding Rob and Sansa. Those two were ignoring each other too, and Jon was still missing.

The evening was a blur of eating, drinking and dancing. She saw Ally leaving with Theon and Tommen at one point, and Rob disappearing short after. She noticed how Gendry got more nervous as the bedding approached. She had to admit that she was not thrilled about that either. Well, the part where all the men took her to her new chambers and "prepared" her for her husband's arrival. She would run if she were not wearing those stupid shoes.

Of course, Jon arrived at the last minute and saved the day. However, Arya could feel that his head was elsewhere, maybe thinking about a little boy sleeping in a little crib on the other side of the castle. That was, nevertheless, not very likely, or they would have heard about it. She entered her new room, and kicked her shoes away. She managed to get out of her dress and her corset and as she walked further into the room. That is when she saw a black nightgown laying on her bed. On top, a small piece of parchment said: Dorran wants a cousin to play with. She took the nightgown and disappeared behind the folding screen. She heard the door shut just as she finished changing.


Hey!

Short AN... Hope you liked it and stayed tuned. As always the dresses will be posted on my tumblr msstarhallow.

Thank you everyone once again! Talk to you soon!

Star :*