Think Arya's had a personality transplant???
There's a reason for that...
Two weeks previously:
"So apart from me, who else knows where you were the last two weeks?" Sansa asked as she brushed Arya's hair. "And stop wriggling!" She added pulling Arya's head back.
"Bran more than likely. He seems to know everything else. Gendry, obviously. Davos." Arya huffed "I don't know why I'm letting you do this." She started to wriggle in her chair.
"Because tonight is the first meal of our brother's reign of the Six Kingdoms."
"And yours as Queen of the North." Arya cut in and bit her lip as Sansa began to pull Arya's hair into a complex plait.
"Well yes, that as well but I expect to do mine in the North."
"And we are presenting a united front?"
"Yes."
"And I've got to look presentable?"
"Well...yes. To the other Lords...and Prince Manfrey from Dorne"
"The other Lords won't give a toss what I look like. They'll be plotting who to marry their damned children to out of you and Bran."
"And you."
"Like hell. If I wouldn't marry Gendry then I'm not going to marry some pock-faced, spoilt little drip of a thing."
"You haven't married then? We did wonder..."
"Who? Surely Bran can see if we have or not like he did with Lyanna and Rhaegar - must it be so tight?" She whinged, hands reaching to the hair but being seated away by Sansa.
"I know you don't want any of them but we need to keep them thinking you are an option. Whether or not you like it, you're an eligible match now."
"But I'm not a bloody Lady!"
"No." Sansa replied calmly "You're a princess twice over."
Arya just rolled her eyes
"I can't wait for all this shit to be finished."
"Just a few weeks until we see how the land lies. Like I promised."
"You never said you were putting me out to market like a pig."
"That's not what we're doing."
"No? So you haven't been plotting on how I can be useful? I've already promised to behave myself in the day and make Gendry keep quiet."
"And I will be forever grateful."
"So grateful you've been plotting behind my back with Tyrion Lannister?"
"How did you..." Sansa's fingers stopped plaiting Arya's hair and for the first time since the had sat in the Dragon Pit, Arya saw the face of her sister not her Queen. She turned and tilted her head as she studied her older sisters face.
"That's who you spoke with about Gendry." The widening of her sisters eyes confirmed Arya's suspicion "And that's not all you've been planning. Tell me, does Gendry know you are putting him out to stud too? What were you thinking? To let Tyrion control him in the South and me in the North?"
"Arya. That is not what we-" Sansa tried to reply firmly.
"Tell me, in the Imp's eyes are we better together or separated? Does he want a little lion cub to be heir to the throne? If he can't fuck you, he'll use us instead?"
The stinging wasn't as painful as seeing the look of fury on Sansa's face.
"You slapped me!" Arya turned
"You will not speak to me like this, I am your queen and your sister and I demand you shut up and listen to me." Sansa stood firmly and pushed her shoulders back
"You get that one slap Sansa, next time I will hit back." Aria swung herself back in her chair
"That's treason."
"Only if I bend the knee to the Queen of the North." She muttered. "Now are you finished scalping me? Can I go?" Arya crosses her arms around her chest and stared at the wall.
Sansa took a deep breath and took Arya's hair back into her hands as her fingers worked away again at a plait on the side of her head.
"I appreciate what you are willing to do. Not Tyrion, not Bran, not as the Queen but as your sister. I do not want us to fight."
"That's what we do, what we've always done."
"Not anymore. If I thought you would accept I would make you captain of the Queen's Guard."
When Arya didn't reply, she continued.
"I know this isn't you. I know I'm asking too much of you but I wouldn't ask if there was another way. I only asked if you had married Gendry because your marriage could affect the negotiations over the next fortnight. If a child were to be born..."
"There won't be." Arya muttered
"Tansy doesn't always work."
"Not just that. When I was...Away, I got injured. I don't bleed much now. Even if I do it's hard to see. I'm barren. Another reason I have to go. I don't want him getting attached to me."
"I think it's a bit late for that." Sansa tried to joke
"He's always wanted a family, more than anything. I can never give him that."
"Arya you don't know-"
"No. You don't tell him. He mustn't know. He'd say it didn't matter when it does, now even more so now he has Storms End. He needs an heir just as much as you do. This isn't your secret to tell, I mean it. Even to the Imp."
"Don't call him that."
Arya rolled her eyes. "Well we've never been formally introduced and you know what a stick in the mud I am for rules."
"Be careful what you wish for little sister."
"Are we done here?" She was starting to feel as if the walls were closing in on her, she needed to get out, out of the castle, to be no one. She couldn't wait to get away.