A/N: Hello, and welcome to one of my first two pieces — and attempts — at entering the Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire fandom. I greatly enjoy this universe, the characters therein and the community I've been able to witness thus far and hope that this work as well as the Fic that I'll be writing may contribute even a small bit to the happiness of the aforementioned community.
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"Get your arse in gear, Arry, else you'll fall behind with the rest of this lot," Yoren grunted as he shouldered his way through the frost-stiffened brush.
Arya shook her head but moved to stay right behind the tough older man. He'd saved her life twice over now, once when her father… when Joffrey had him murdered. The second time happened only yesterday too. When Yoren and the rest of the Watch's recruits beat back Joffrey's men, they'd suffered dearly for it.
Gendry had made it while Hot Pie hadn't, the rest of the men were little known to her. Hot Pie, she knew he wouldn't make it. He wasn't cut out for survival on the Wall, much less battles and the wilderness. That didn't stop her from feeling bad for the large boy.
Still, she knew she owed everything to Yoren. As she watched him move, especially his shoulder where he'd been hit by a crossbow bolt, she knew she had to make it up to him somehow, someway.
"Alright m'lady?" Gendry whispered, making Arya jump and whirl around on him with her hand already seeking out Needle.
"Shut up," She practically hissed, her eyes on the next couple of men over a dozen feet behind them. "If you speak any louder, they'll hear. Yoren, he won't be happy with you if he has to kill them too."
Gendry laughed and nodded a few times. "Aye, suppose you're right. I didn't think he'd cut down half as many as he did last night. Tough old man, he is."
Arya punched him in the arm as she ducked under a particularly large branch. "Yoren's the toughest one here. He killed more Gold Cloaks than anybody else here, and he did that while having a crossbow bolt in his shoulder. My father would say he's a real man of the north — hardy, tough and honourable."
"Honour's a dangerous thing, m'lady. If it weren't, I wouldn't have had to leave just like how you did," Gendry said, shaking his head and flexing his arms, one of his hands squeezing for an item he'd not felt in quite some time.
"Yoren said you were a smith before," Arya said, watching him flick his arm like he was swinging something. "Is that what you're going to do at the Wall?"
Gendry shrugged and stopped when Yoren did, the latter saying it was time to make camp. On the morrow, they'd be at Castle Black with warm food in their bellies and warmer beds than the cold, frost-bit plants that'd be under them tonight.
"Can't say, now can I? Nobody knows what you'll be doing, what I'll be doing, not even Yoren," Gendry said as the pair picked a spot away from the rest of the group save for Yoren.
Gendry was honourable like Arya's father, Yoren too. She trusted the pair of them to keep her secret and help her reach Jon. He'd keep her safe just like how father wanted, and Gendry, she'd make sure Robb and Mother rewarded him the same as Yoren. Gods know they both deserved it.
"Goodnight, m'lady," Gendry said, exhaling shakily as the cold started to nip at them; they kept a small fire to avoid any nearby Wildlings or bandits. Yoren said they had to do that the closer to the wall they got.
Arya didn't really understand that though, not with how big the wall was. The Night's Watch couldn't really be doing their job if Wildlings were such a big threat south of it. She huffed, rolling over and spitting out an incredibly short 'Night' to Gendry as she simply stared into the woods.
Jon was too close for her to sleep. She doubted that she'd catch any form of rest until she was safe and in her brother's arms, the hug he'd given her before he left for the wall was one of the last times she'd felt like everything was alright even if he was gone. Soon enough, Robb would relieve Jon of his oath and they'd all be together again.
Almost all of us…
She didn't much care for Sansa, not really.
"Arry, come with me," Yoren said as soon as the gate to Castle Black was opened and the small group had entered.
Arya didn't hesitate. As quickly as she could, she shouldered past the much larger men until she was at Yoren's side. Gendry had slowly followed up after her, keeping enough distance so that he didn't look too suspicious. He'd been a lot like Jon was, especially with how much he held her safety as his responsibility even if she called him stupid.
"You lot, go find the sad-looking cunt with a long face and bad breath. Ser Thorne, his name'll be and make sure he knows why you're here. I best not have to run off and find you in the woods, else that block to our right will be dyed red," Yoren said before turning and pulling at Arya's closer arm. "On my arse, Arry. Lord Commander Mormont'll 'ave to decide what to do with a young lad such as yourself."
Arya nearly laughed as the half dozen or so men behind Gendry dragged their feet over to an incredibly annoyed, older man. He definitely had a long face like Yoren said too… she felt bad for Gendry when he was the last one to arrive, his eyes still flickering over to her even as Ser Thorne as Yoren had called him started speaking gruffly to the men.
She knew he wouldn't be any fun or help. Not if he was that rough around the edges.
Yoren prodded her once, his eyes dancing all about Castle Black. "Lord Commander Mormont's a good man, he'll know best what to do," Yoren started off then, nodding over his shoulder when he saw she was standing stock still. "Get a move on, best not forget what I said about the lot we used to have — still rings true for most of 'em here."
Arya blinked, swallowed and hurried right after Yoren. She didn't need any more encouragement than that, not if the men of the Wall were just as untrustworthy as a majority of the ones she'd travelled with.
"Yoren," Said a tired, burly man from behind his desk. "It's good to have you back, how many did you manage to get for us this time?"
"Seven, had more too, but the lads ran into some trouble. One of the King's men, he weren't much trouble when I got him all alone, but he had dozens of Gold Cloaks with him. Killed him, half a dozen others or more by mine own hand," Yoren patted Arya on the head then. "This one, she was one of the reasons they were after us, I'd reckon."
The Lord Commander looked angry at that and stood up, his height just as imposing as the thickness of him. "We swore to neutrality, to staying out of the wars south of the Wall. You swore the same oath as I, Yoren, so who's this girl to you that she'd have you break it?"
"Arya Stark, Lord Commander, and aye. My honour, it's kept me good and proper to the oath I swore, but I'm a man of the North same as you. Could your honour have kept you from saving old Ned Stark's daughter?" Yoren asked, folding his arms as he looked at the Mormont man.
As stupid as it was at that moment, Arya couldn't help but compare him to a bear just like his sigil. Well, what his sigil used to be. She nearly forgot that the men of the Watch give up their houses.
Commander Mormont sighed and practically fell back into his chair, one hand rubbing at his left temple while the other went for a steaming cup of something. "This'll mean trouble for us if any survived. It could still mean trouble if you killed them all to a man…"
Yoren chuckled gruffly. "Don't need to worry about survivors, Lord Commander. Me and those new lads, we gutted them all. Got some new weapons for the Watch out of it too, fine lot of 'em."
Arya watched as that brought the smallest of smiles to the Lord Commander's face and a moment later, he called out to the door for 'Jon Snow' to be brought up. When she heard her brother's name, she couldn't stop the smile from forming on her face. She'd done it for the entire trip to the Wall, but now that she was here and Jon was so close, there was no way she'd stop it.
"We still have to figure out what we're going to do with you, my lady," Commander Mormont said while the three of them waited. "It'd be best if we got you to your lady mother and lord brother as fast as we could, but I've not got the men to spare. The Wall, we need more men. We know what's out there now, and horrible as it is to say, our war is the biggest war that matters."
"What do you mean, your war… Lord Commander?" Arya asked, tacking on his title at the end when she thought it'd sound more respectful.
Commander Mormont chuckled and shook his head. "No need for my title, my lady. Yoren here was right… honour, I'd have done the same if I were years younger and half as spry as I used to be," the Lord Commander shook his head and patted himself on the stomach, smiling at Arya with the same affection Grandfather Tully used to. "See to it that your brother sends us all the men he can spare. In normal times, I wouldn't ask for anything for doing the right thing, but we need men. The war is soon upon us and only three Castles are manned."
Arya nodded and was about to ask something else, but the door swung open at that moment and in strolled a brother of the Night's Watch. One that was very important to her when she saw his face.
"Snow," Commander Mormont said. "Have this one taken to the room beside mine. I'll have everything else taken care of. Be on your guard, and best be quiet."
That was that, and a confused-looking Jon was motioning for her to follow after him, stiff as she'd been when Yoren had warned her upon first entering Castle Black.
When the door was shut behind her and Jon, he turned to her.
"Wh—"
He didn't get to finish before she threw her arms around him and wrapped her legs tightly around his waist. "Jon," she said as she buried her face into his chest. "I missed you."
Arya didn't scream, she didn't cry, she barely made any sort of commotion thanks to how nervous she was from all the comments about the Watchmen. That didn't stop her from hugging Jon as tightly as she could as silent tears rolled down her cheeks, and it certainly didn't stop her from speaking a thousand words a minute even if none of them were intelligible.
Really, all that mattered to her was having her brother with her again.
Jon for his part instantly let go of all hesitation when he heard her say his name. Her appearance and the slightly rough edge to her tone didn't confuse him in the slightest. His arms wrapped around Arya as he rested his head atop of hers. She didn't see his face, he wouldn't let her right away with the few stray tears that made it down, but he was just as happy to see her as she was to see him.
"Arya," He eventually said, her face still buried in his chest. "When I heard about what happened to father… I tried… I wanted to get you. My friends, they had to bring me back but I wanted to save you. I'm sorry."
"You're alive," Arya said, muffled as it was.
"I wan—" Jon got cut off when she spoke again, her voice strained.
"Father would be happy to know that you stayed true to your word and he'd be just as happy to know that I'm here with you," Arya finally pulled back to look up at his face. "I missed you so much, Jon. Father did too, he loved you — even Sansa… please don't leave me again. Please."
Jon held on to her, but he slowly shook his head.
"The Lord Commander, he'll let you stay here until Robb and Lady Catelyn comes for you. I'll make sure you stay safe, I'll be right outside your door if you need me," Jon smiled softly and roughed up her hair in the way that she hated but missed so much. "I can't go back with you, Arya. I swore to stay on the wall, to guard the realms of men."
"Robb can fix that," Arya said, the tears starting to fall again as she clung to him tighter. "Please, Jon. Please don't make me have to say goodbye again."
Arya hated that she was crying on him, she hated that she was begging him too, but she hated most of all that she was trying to change his mind. She was greedy, she knew, and so she finally pulled back enough so that she could smile at him through her tears.
"I'll be with you for a few weeks at least," She said to him, earning a small smile from Jon despite his conflicted look and red eyes.
"Aye, you will be," He practically croaked out.
No more words were said as Arya went back in for another hug. She couldn't think of anything, but more than that, she just wanted to stay close to him. For the first time since she'd been with Syrio, she truly felt safe.
When the warmth of the fire got to her and she started dozing off in Jon's arms, the exhaustion catching up to her, she finally let it take her; there was no need to keep an eye open, to have Needle nearby, she was with Jon and the rest of her family would be coming for her before too long.
Arya fell asleep to those warm, comforting thoughts and the gods know it was the best sleep she'd had in quite possibly her entire life.
