MEANWHILE…

ACROSS THE NARROW SEA IN BRAAVOS

"Your wolf is changing just as you are," Calmok said to her as they walked through the market.

"Is she? I hadn't noticed," Maya responded plainly and stared straight ahead.

"So are you I've noticed," she added.

It was true about her. She had changed in almost two moons. She was stronger and smarter too and had seen many things since she had been in Braavos. The Faceless Men had taught her well. Her hair was darker now, almost black, but still wild with curls and she was paler causing her cheeks to still have rosiness to them. She had darker make up on though she was told that it made her more. She never wore a dress since she got here and she didn't regret it.

"How have I changed?"

"You are more like them." She answered and Maya knew that she was referring to The Faceless Men yet again.

She shifted beside her. "I am sorry, Calmok, but I must go and train now."

She scoffed lightly. "That is all you do all day. You train yourself and dare I say, but you're getting better within each passing day you do so. I'm worried for you."

Maya stopped walking when came to the steps to the grand and hidden building. "Do not be worried, my friend, for I am capable of taking care of myself."

Calmok was a middle aged woman who had become her friend instantly when she got here. They talked every afternoon, only if Maya wasn't training which was rare for them to take a walk now and catch up. Maya had gone the second day of her time in Braavos to the House of Black and White to begin her training. She thought that it was unusual how she didn't have to change her identity and personality like they had told others before her to do so. She thought that they must've been planning something. Calmok had helped her many times, giving her wise words to think about. She was a seer though she kept that a secret. She saw all past, present, and future. Maya had forced Calmok to not tell her anything about those times because of the task they gave her.

They only had one rule for her…she was not to worry about the past, present, and future of her home. She had agreed.

The House of Black and White sat upon a rocky knoll made of dark grey stone. It had no windows and had a black tile roof. Its wooden doors were twelve feet high and carved. The left door was weirwood, the right ebony. In the center of the doors was a carved moon face ebony on weirwood, weirwood on ebony. Its grey stone steps lead down to the dock. which she was always hesitant to go down when she had first arrived. She stepped inside and her eyes darted from side to side when she heard a tiny noise.

She closed her eyes and used her senses to seek out the source. Her eyes shot open when she heard the very soft sounds of chains clicking together. Then she moved out of the way when she heard a yell as a man dressed in black robes flew down from the ceiling. He took out his skinny sword which gleamed against the candles' light. She took out her sword as well and raised an eyebrow. He lunged at her with his sword shooting out, aimed for her belly, but she moved her torso to the side just as quickly as he moved.

She took the hands on the sword and slammed them into his head and forced the sword out of his hands. He stumbled backwards for a moment then regained his balance. He lunged forward in the air again with his fists aimed towards her face. She fell onto the floor with the man on top of her, her hands wrapped around his fists that were just inches away from her face.

She slammed her head into his and he grunted in pain, weakening his position. She kicked him off of her and quickly rolled away and onto her feet. She grabbed the sword and aimed it for his belly, but as swift as the wind he moved aside and went around her. He was soon behind her and she felt herself falling forwards into the ground and she didn't know how fast she was, but her hands stopped her from hitting the ground. She looked at him over her shoulder and he bowed, walking backwards into the darkness.

"A cat," a clear and stern voice mused from above, it's voice echoing in the room.

"Yes," an old voice agreed. "Swift."

"Clever," the stern voice added.

"Silent." A raspy voice said.

"Deadly." A soft voice said.

"No, not deadly yet…there is still one more test," a girl's voice disagreed.

From what Maya had learned when she had been here was that the girl's voice seemed to be the one that the other voices obeyed to. She seemed like the leader…

Or she could only be the messenger or the puppet to the master.

"What is it?" Maya asked as she stood up, looking into the darkness around her and above her.

Maya heard the girl's voice sigh in disappointment almost. "I don't think you're ready yet."

"You never know until you try," Maya told them. "How can you already know that I'm not ready when I don't even know what I'm up against?"

"Are you sure of your choice?"

Maya thought about it for a moment then had come to the decision that she needed to do whatever it took to get to her family and Jaime. "Yes."

"Then follow the heads."

Maya held in the gasp in her throat as she walked forwards and saw the massive pillars of severed heads. There was blood all over them and their mouths were open like there was something being sucked out of them. Some of the heads had their eyes rolled in the back of their heads, but some of the eyes had stared into her, watching her every movement. She forced her eyes to look straight ahead and show no type of emotion as she walked forward.

There were all types of heads, all squished together like they were the ones creating the pillars.

Maya had to walk about a mile till she reached a plain brown door. She looked back and saw nothing, but heads behind her like a maze or something. She opened the door and walked inside.

Maya had walked inside of a nursery of some sort. It was a hot room and very bright. She walked out onto the balcony and saw how high the room was. They seemed to be on a cliff. She walked back inside of the room and knitted her brows in confusion when she saw the light blue crystal ornaments hanging above a crib. Her hand lifted up and touched them, afraid she might break something so beautiful to her.

They were lions and wolves mixed into together. Something in the corner of her eye, caused her to freeze then slowly turn to a chair where Jaime sat with a white bundle in his arms, but she saw the blonde curls on top of the babe's head.

"Maya, you're home," Jaime said as he slowly rocked the bundle back and forth. "She missed you."

Maya cautiously came closer to them and asked softly, "Is this a dream?"

"I hope not," Jaime confessed and stood up with Hope in his arms. "I don't want my daughter to see me kill whoever wakes me up from this."

Maya pulled back the cloth covering her daughter's face and gasped happily when she saw her face. She looked so real to Maya. Maya smiled as she sniffled, tears in her eyes as she looked down at her. She had blonde curls and Tully blue eyes. The rosiest cheeks that Maya had ever seen before and thin soft pink lips with slightly chubby cheeks.

Hope's tiny hand came out and held her pinky in her tiny hand; she gripped it tightly, smiling brightly up at her and Jaime.

"She has a tight grip, doesn't she?" Jaime asked. "That's our little girl, huh? She takes after us."

"Where are we?"

"Casterly Rock," Jaime told her as Maya glanced around. "I wish I could've showed you the gardens…my mother always liked it there. It was her favorite place to go to clear her thoughts, but after her death, my father chained it up so no one could go in there anymore."

"I would've liked it there."

"There were winter roses there as well…Hope likes them too just like her mother and Aunt."

Maya chuckled softly and touched the curls on her head. "She's so beautiful. I can see you and I in her little face."

"I know so can I."

Maya frowned and looked over her shoulder when she heard screeching in the distance. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion as she kept on looking over her shoulder and at the double doors. She then looked back at Jaime and shook her head as she stepped back from him.

"This…this i-isn't real." Maya said softly.

"How do you know?" Jaime asked as he eyed her curiously. "Look at her-what we could have created together."

Maya shook her head frantically and said sadly, "It's not real though. No one's life is this perfect. Even the fucking sky is perfect right now with the clouds and the birds chirping their hearts out in the distance."

"Maya," Jaime said gently.

Maya shook her head again and backed away from him when he came forward, Hope cooing in his arms.

"I-I can't. I'm sorry," she whispered as she turned and then walked away.

Maya walked out of the room and followed the screeching noise that now became more than one. She came to a tall black skinny door and then slowly opened it. She walked inside of it ad heard voices in the distance of a long and narrow hallway. As she walked towards another tall skinny door that was in the hallway, the voices became clearer than before.

Maya put her ear up to the door and listened in.

"Lord Eddard," a woman's soft voice called.

Maya knitted her eyebrows in confusion and pressed her ear more up against the door.

"I promise," she heard her father whisper. "Lya, I promise…"

As if she had been burned by the door, she jerked away from it, her face twisted into one of confusion.

Maya backed away even more from the door when she saw blood seep through all over the door. She heard the screeching again and ran away from the door, going towards the screeching noise. She ran down another hallway and froze when she saw a message written in blood that was on the stone wall.

"Until there comes another, younger and more beautiful," it read.

Maya turned away from it and ran towards the other direction of the hallway.

Maya had heard the screeching noise again and she stopped and looked to a double door. She pressed her hand upon the wood and felt the coldness of the winter in there. She moved to open it, but another door opened beside her that lead to darkness, but it drew her into it. Maya walked inside of the room which was first encased in only darkness then torches were lit all around her.

"Do you feel it?" an eerie voice asked, it's voice echoing all around her.

"Feel what?" she questioned as she glanced around the room which was roundly shaped.

"Feel him," it whispered in her ear.

Maya whirled around and saw that there was nothing there. She could've sworn that the voice was right next to her.

When she didn't reply to the voice and it continued, "Him of Many Faces."

"The Many-Faced God," Maya realized. "Are you him?"

"I have many faces," it responded. "Soon, I may have yours…or someone you know."

"Who?"

"One eye of a cat, another like a wolf," it said cryptically. "Stay long and you may find out."

"How long will I stay then?"

The little girl's voice came back and she sighed, "No, you won't stay long. Not while your family is soon to come to an end. Then again snow will do what it does best…snow will have to fall."

"My family? What's happening to them?"

"You still have to past the test." She reminded her.

"I don't care about your test if my family is in danger."

"If you go then you will be surrounded by only your enemies."

"Then so be it."

"You have such great potential to become one of the Faceless men. Why would you give up this much power for only death?"

"Power is a dangerous thing. It'll only cause death as well. My Gods are powerful and yet when people pray to them, they do nothing, but watch and take life away. Death is only the beginning of something, never the end in my opinion. I don't want power."

"You want strength…for your family."

"Yes."

"Then do not trust X."

"Who are they?"

"They're closer than you think."

"Can't you feel it," an old woman's voice whispered in her ear. "He'll breathe down your neck…blood will ooze at your fingertips and they'll have a mark."

"I am sorry, but I must go if you say that my family is in danger then…I have to help them." Maya said and turned to walk out the door.

Her hand was on the latch when a stern voice that she thought to be one belonging to a man's said to her, "One goes, another will come." It chuckled softly. "The Cat of the Canals…Beth…Weasel…" Maya shook her head and opened the door, not bothering to close it.

As she walked away, she heard him name off the names again, "Squab."

"Salty."

"The Blind Girl."

"The Ugly Little Girl."

"Mercedene…Mercy"

Maya couldn't get the last name since now she was so far away, but it didn't matter to her since all those people would be there to stand in her place. Maya opened a door and walked inside.

She looked at Calmok in confusion and Calmok looked back at her in confusion.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Uh, you were only in there for a minute, Maya." She responded.

Maya scoffed and walked down the steps. "No, I wasn't. I feel like it's been hours or something."

"No, it's only been a minute."

Maya glanced back behind her and at the door. "Well, that's weird." Maya shook her head at herself. "Come on."

"Where are we going?"

"I'm going back to Westeros," Maya told her. "I need to get back to my family."

"What about The Faceless Men…why are they letting you go?"

Maya shrugged. "They basically said that I could easily be replaced so that was nice…I guess."

"I may have a ship that you could board and lead you a safe passage to Westeros."

"Really?" Maya asked and Calmok nodded. "That would be great. Thank you."

Maya didn't really have anything in Braavos so she didn't need to go back and get anything except for Winter of course.

Winter trotted beside her, always on high alert as they walked down the dock and to a ship.

The captain looked down at her in disgust as he sat on ledge of the ship while she stood on the docks with Winter beside her. "And why should I grant your passage on my ship?"

Maya took the coin out of her pocket and threw it up at him which he caught and looked at when she said impassively with a cold look in her eyes, "Valar morghulis."

The captain got off the ledge, his black beard long and scruffy looking as his face was covered in many wrinkles. He bowed before her and responded as he locked eyes with hers, "Valar dohaeris."

Maya gave him a nod and walked up the plank to the ship, most of the men's eyes on her and Winter as they walked across the ship and to a ledge that was facing Braavos when they sailed away from it.

TBC…

THANK YOU ALL FOR THE REVIEWS, FOLLOWS, AND FAVORITES! YOU GUYS ALL ALWAYS SO AWESOME TO ME, MAYA, AND THIS STORY!

I know I left it on a cliffhanger and that this was only a Maya chapter, but you all needed to read and see what this woman was up to and as you can see, she was on her way to becoming one of the Faceless Men, but when she found out that her family was in danger, she just couldn't do it and decided to go back home to them.

I am going to explain her test to you guys because I don't know if you all maybe didn't get it or not. Ok so there were three parts of the tests that she had to complete. The past, the present and the future. All of them are her weaknesses and her vulnerable points about her. It was chipping away at her face and if she passed it then she would able to change her face and then the Many-Faced God would've had her face along with others before her.

So the future had to do with Jaime and their baby and what could've happened, she had to give that up and move past since it was apart of her.

The past had to do with Lyanna and her father…she had to give up trying to find out more about her father and what he promised to Lyanna and since Maya was so much like her, she had to give up that part of her personality as well. The Mocking Knight.

The present had to with her family and what is going on right now in Westeros. As you can see, she couldn't move past it and decided to go back to them. But if she had stayed longer then she would've met Arya, but she didn't know that the Many-Faced God was talking about Arya and she thought that he was talking about other people and how easy it was to replace her position.

The screeching noises were Dany's dragons and that double door was the throne room which Dany was in and if Maya would've opened it, she would've found her. I know it's confusing, but her and Dany were kind of in the same place of dreams and the future. They were in the same reality and allusion if you think about it. But the Many-Faced God didn't want her to go in there so he led her away. I wonder why though…

I may put Dany in here…that may come up once or twice…I can tell you all that they WILL meet very, very, very later in the story though cause they both got things to do right now. We all know Cersei's prophecy and now those words will haunt Maya because she thinks that they may have to do with her death now and is very curious to those words.

So the Many-Faced knows about X, huh…that is how she will find out about who they are.

Next chapter will be interesting, but you may like it since Maya's coming home and she gonna try to kick some ass. I hoped you all liked this chapter.

REVIEW. FOLLOW. FAVORITE. Until next time…