For the first time since she had left Winterfell, Arya has fallen into a deep sleep. Instead of waking up in a pool of sweat, feeling as if she was being choked to death or cowering with her hands above her head from falling debris, she woke up naturally. As she yawned and turned, still half asleep, she opened her eyes slowly to find Gendry peering down at her, smiling mischievously.

"She finally wakes up!" He crouched down beside her and as she opened her eyes properly and blinked a few times, she saw that he had a wooden plate and a cup of something in his hands.

She gave a light growl and yawned again before she kicked the blanket off herself. Gendry laughed and put the plate and cup on the floor and pulled the blanket back over her. "As much as I like the view should I remind you your as naked as your name day under there?" He laughed

"Mmm and yet you appear to be fully dressed. I don't think that is very proper of you my Lord."She stretched her arms out above her head before using them to push herself up. The blanket fell to her waist so her breasts were free. He smiled and tried not to laugh at her brash behaviour.

"Anyone could walk in. He reminded her and nodded towards the entrance to the tent. He didn't like the possessiveness that threatened to spill out of him. He wanted her all to himself, he didn't want anyone else to see this side of her. In this only, she was his.

Arya shrugged. "Is that for me?" She gestured towards the food and cup on the floor, leaning over to take some apple and the cup which she quickly drained dry.

He nodded and smiled again

"You should try to track down Hot Pie, get him to be your cook in Storms End. He's gotten better."

"You've seen him?" Gendry asks as he settled on the floor behind Arya who leant back on him, which surprised him abs he shuffled to support her properly.

"I had a choice to make, Kings Landing or Winterfell." She crunched the apple and went for the crusty roll which she split in half as best as she could and offered him a piece.

"Should have gone to Kings Landing, killed Cersei. Met Hotpie, he told me Jon had killed the Boltons and that he was at Winterfell. By the time I'd got there he'd gone. Gone to Her to get the dragon glass then across the wall for a Wight."

Gendry nodded, he remembered the disastrous trip beyond the Wall all too well.

"We need to get moving soon. Others have already began to move."

"Hang on, where did you get that food from?" Arya sat up with a start.

"Davos keeps a small trunk with food in, another thing I'll have to thank him for."

"So no one knows I'm here?" She asked.

Gendry wrinkled up his face as he tried to work out where she was going with this.

"Just me, you and Davos."

Arya began to nod "Ok. That's ok. Ok."

"Arya?" He asked with a tilt of his head

She sighed and took a long sip of the cordial in the cup.

"Just don't want everyone to know."

"I thought you didn't care. Arya Stark, Night King Slayer." He chuckled

She grimaced in response.

"I don't, Sansa does. Pass me those over will you?" She pointed to the clothes they had hurriedly discarded when he had taken them back to Davos' tent. He didn't need to get up, merely reached either side of him before passing them to her.

"As far as anyone knows, Davos slept in another tent so you could get acquainted with some girl from Kingslanding, not me."

She pushed her head through her tunic and pulled it down to cover her.

"I don't like you doing that face thing." He grimaced as be remembered seeing her slit her thigh to get blood to fix the face of some unknown girl into her own.

"It's necessary." She pulled on her boots and looked up at him.

"This is all I can offer you. Don't be getting ideas that you will change my mind." She told him firmly.

"I've never met anyone so certain of what they were going to do, why would I question you now?"

"Good." She lay back against him.

"We'll have to go soon. They think I've already gone on ahead." She mumbled, her eyes closed as she enjoyed the beating of his heart against her cheek.

"How are you going to get out without being seen?" He asked snaking his arms around her to pull her closer. He sniffed her hair. It smelt... nice.

"You don't have to watch but I'd prepare a good tale in case anyone asks you why you sent your men ahead but were seen kicking Davos, poor bedraggled Davos, from his tent and bringing a girl from the city in for the night."

"It wasn't like that-"

"Yes it was. As far as anyone else knows that's exactly what it was like." She told him firmly, tilting her head to look at him to check his understanding.

"Right. So I'm just like King Robert? Jumping into bed with any girl? Taking advantage of them? Great. Thanks!"

"No. You can invent something else if you want, just make it believable and stick to it. We have to be careful, this isn't just about us. There's Sansa and Bran to worry about now, anything could happen in the next few weeks."

"So why not stay to look after them?"

Arya frowned and began tracing a seemingly random pattern on Gendry's shin.

"I can't be in two places at once. Bran can see things, he will know if someone is in danger. He can call me back. In the mean time, Bran has Ser Brienne and Sansa has Pod."

"Pod? You mean Podrick who follows Brienne around like a child? You trust him to protect your sister?"

"Why? What have you heard?" She asked suspiciously, turning to look at him.

"Only that his chambers are always rather full with groups of ladies of an evening and they aren't sat there talking about the price of cuttlefish!" Gendry shuffled again, he wasn't used to having to stay in one position on the floor. They really would have to start moving soon, as much as he enjoyed being alone with her.

"Well...really? Podrick Payne?" She narrowed her eyes and tried to imagine what was so special about him.

"Really." Gendry confirmed.

They sat in companionable silence until they heard the distant hooves of horses begin to trot their carts out to the main roads.

"Maybe it's best if I go before you do the face thing." Gendry suggested. Regardless of what he had seen during the Long Night, there was something about watching Arya slicing into her own pale skin and seeing the blood slowly trickle out onto the blade which made him feel strange, like he had been at the anvil in the forge too long on a hot summer day.

"I'll come and find you, in Dragonstone. Don't look for me and don't tell anyone." She warned him as he pulled her close, kissed her hair, sniffing it again and slowly pushing her forward to allow him to get up. He stretched out his legs and looked behind him for his cloak.

"As you command, my princess."

It was just loud enough for her to hear. She picked up what remained of the apple and through it at him.

"You really have to stop throwing things at me." He laughed.

"And there was me thinking you liked having apples thrown at you when you were being petulant." She replied slyly as she watched him.

"Arry... I don't know what that means." He mumbled.

It was like a punch to her stomach to hear him so embarrassed and sad. She had done that to him.

"Maybe it's just a north word." She countered quickly. "It's like childish and stubborn but I didn't mean it that way Gendry, I meant it in jest." She sat up on her knees to pull him to face her but he remained facing the side of the tent, nodding slightly.

Arya pulled herself up to stand and stood in front of him.

"Gendry look at me please!" This time it wasn't said in her normal commanding tone and had traces of uncertainty to it. It was this that caused him to turn his head in her direction.

"I know." It was barely a whisper as he pulled her to him.

She relished his arms around her, trying to commit it to memory. For soon she would leave him