Arya
"Nymeria, gloves." Arya couldn't help but try and see if Nymeria remembered any of the commands she taught her long ago. As far as she had seen, the only things she responded to were commands of movement such halting, following, and so on. The great direwolf just continued to lay and Arya's bed and stare at her. "Glove Nymeria, don't you remember?" Nymeria just groaned lazily and shifted her position on the bed. "It was worth a try." Arya was grateful enough that Nymeria kept close to her rather than her pack ever since the end of the battle. There were so few of the wolves left that it was no bigger than any regular wolf pack now.
Arya had few things to pack anyways, no more than two bags. All that was left for her was to leave out a fresh change of clothes for the beginning of the march back to Winterfell. She set her bags at the foot of her bed and sat down on the fur blankets.
She was ready to go home, back to Winterfell where the Starks belonged. Despite every that she had been through, her training, traveling, and the fighting, she wanted to have a break from all of it. But as long as her list had names, her battles wouldn't be over.
She rested her head on Nymeria and whispered the names remaining on her list. "Cersei, the Mountain. Cersei, the Mountain. Cersei-"
"Arya," Jon's voice called from outside her tent, "are you in there?"
Both she and Nymeria perked their heads up when they heard Jon's voice. "You can come in."
He stepped inside, looking rugged for a King. He wore his hair loose and let it flow on the pelt of his cloak. He hadn't worn his black boiled leather armor since the battle and kept to wearing thick doublets.
"Well well," she keenly said, "look who decided to spend time with his sister."
"Actually," Jon said, "I was wondering if you knew where Gendry was."
She scoffed at him and fell back onto Nymeria. Ever since he returned from the Iron Islands with Daenerys, she was the only one who got to have the most of his time. "I may know where he is. But what's in it for me if I tell you?"
"Uh… the gratitude of the King?" Jon jested.
Arya swung herself up to her feet and looked Jon straight in the eyes. "I'll tell you where he is if you give me a rematch."
"Rematch? What do you mean?"
"I mean another duel. But this time, you take it seriously and not like you did at the Dragonpit." Jon wanted to protest, but Arya wouldn't allow it. "I may not have noticed it, but someone did. And I want a real fight from you." Sandor said that what Jon gave her was nothing but pity. She wanted to know what a real fight from him was like.
Jon didn't hesitate to answer. "Alright, deal. Where's Gendry?"
The lack of enthusiasm from Jon was unsatisfying to Arya. So she wouldn't give what he wanted yet. "Why are you looking for him?"
"To ask him to forge me a new sword for one thing, but the other… I'd rather not say." He got all serious after the second thing. Sensing a bit of urgency in his voice, Arya divulged what she knew.
"He went north of the Wall with some of his men about an hour ago. Said there was something he wanted to get and he'd be back by nightfall." He looked just as confused as she was as to why he went there. "I don't know what it was, but he seemed excited when he left."
"But there's nothing there besides a wreckage ice and burnt forest." He sighed out, obviously disappointed. He motioned to leave but stopped and looked back at Arya. "It's better you learn now than later. Will you walk with me?"
He didn't look happy about what he had to say, in fact he had the face he makes when he would go somewhere to brood. Arya got up from the bed and joined his side. Before she could give the command, Nymeria was already off the bed and following behind her.
Jon held the flap of the entrance open for them and smiled gently as Nymeria passed him. "It's nice to see her be in your company more often."
"I'm surprised Ghost isn't in yours."
"He's still healing from his wounds. Nearly gutted open. He'll need a few more weeks to heal." Though the camp was bustling with men working, they path of direction was relatively private for the most part.
Being with Jon always made Arya feel calm, but the way he was acting gave her a troubling feeling she couldn't shake away. He was almost afraid to speak to her. "Tell me, what was the other reason you were looking for Gendry?"
Jon looked at her concerned and upset, but it was towards himself rather than her. "I've noticed you've grown closer to him."
"Friends tend to be close."
"Arya, please."
She obviously had no chance to hide what she felt for him from Jon. "We haven't done anything… sinful as mother would say."
"That wasn't what I asking for, but thankyou for your honesty. Listen, as you already know, we'll be losing a great number of soldiers after the truce. The Fiery Hand has no purpose here anymore, and the Night's Watch is remaining at the Wall. But a great number of houses will be stepping out of the war for the throne."
"Is Edric still firm on returning to Dorne?"
"Aye, he is. And so are all of his men. I've spoken with dozens of lords already and very few of them will be supporting us against Cersei. But the ones we need, the Hightowers, Brackens, many of the major Houses are keeping out of it. They have no reasons or ties to fight for us."
"No reasons? What about the battle we just fought? The one that you won for all of them?"
"It's because of that, most of the Houses are staying out of the war instead of allying with Cersei. But even then, there are some who are will be fighting for her. I think only one house from the Westerlands is pledging fealty to us, and it's not the Lannisters unfortunately."
"What?" If Jaime was going back on word, it would be no surprise at all from the Oathbreaker himself. It would just give Arya all the reason she needed to add him to her lists of names. "So does that mean Jaime is going back to Casterly Rock with his soldiers?"
"His men are, but he isn't. Varys has heard some whispers that a great many of the commanders in the Lannister forces aren't accepting Jaime as their lord. Only about a thousand men of his seventeen are staying to fight with him and us."
The Kingslayer is keeping his word it seems. But Arya wouldn't believe it until Cersei was dead.
"The point is, our numbers we have now will drop nearly forty thousand. We still outnumber Cersei, but numbers have never been what determine a victory, however they do help and we need all the help we can get and if have the entirety of the nine Kingdoms supporting us, Cersei will have lost in everything except the fight."
"And what Gendry have to do with all of this?"
Jon stopped his pace and looked out to the distance ahead. "He's Lord Paramount of the Stormlands, one of the most powerful men in Westeros. And he's unwed."
That last word sent a shiver down Arya's spine and her like rippling water. She shot her head to Jon and saw he was just as uneased as she was. "What are you planning?"
"Me? Nothing. Tyrion and Davos, finding him a bride that will create a strong alliance, and they aren't the only ones. Many of the lords I've spoken to have offered allegiance for a price. I haven't agreed to anything because it's not my choice to, but many have offered themselves or their sons for Sansa's hand, and I suspect many with offer their daughters to Gendry."
Arya's heart began to feel heavy. Nothing was set in stone, but it was turning that way. She wanted to say that he couldn't let this happen to Sansa and Gendry, that it was a stupid idea and that he should threaten the lords with the dragons for their fealty. But she couldn't. Her words had no worth in matter like this. She refused to be a lady of the court, and what place did a fighter have in politics?
"So you plan to sell both of them off like broad mares?"
"Arya, they aren't they only ones on the table, so to speak. Lord Manderly has his two granddaughters, Ned Umber was brought up, almost everyone with a name and unmarried in the North and the Vale was considered. I was looking for Gendry to warn him about this before it got larger than it is since others have more to gain by marrying into the Baratheon bloodline. And I'm not forcing Sansa to do anything after all she's been through. Her choice is hers."
"But Gendry's isn't?"
Jon didn't answer her, he just grew frustrated with himself. "We all have a duty, Arya. Gendry's is to take a wife and make her the lady of the Stormlands. I know you love him, don't deny it, and he loves you. But what you have can't continue if you remain as you are. Things like these will bring consequences. Robb ignored them and that's what got him killed. He chose love over duty."
Arya felt herself growing angry. She didn't want to him speak anymore because everything he was saying a was cold truth. "So did you." She spat at him. "You chose to love a Wildling rather than be loyal to the Night's Watch, and it all worked out for you. Everything always works out for Jon Snow."
"Arya, I have died twice. Once is enough to prove that everything does not work out for me."
"Yet here you stand, alive, a king, a husband, and soon a father."
Jon looked on the verge of shouting. "What is it you want from me? You don't want to be lady but Gendry has to have one."
"He never wanted to even be a lord in the first place until you and the others pressured him into doing it! He never wanted any of it to begin with."
"So what then? Should I strip him of everything he has just so you can have him? Is that what you want? We don't need his armies anymore so what use is he? That was the only reason we made him a lord after all." Jon obviously didn't mean any of what he said, but it sure felt that he did. And what he said wasn't fair to say. He made it sound like she had some sort of claim over Gendry.
Nymeria began to growl at Jon and bore her teeth at him. "Nymeria, no!" Arya turned to face her direwolf and did her best to calm her down. Arya realized that she needed to as well. Everything was just so chaotic to her right now.
Jon took a deep breath and left Arya without saying a word to her.
"Where are you going?" Arya asked him. He didn't reply or even look back at her. He just ignored her and walked out of sight.
Arya felt like an arse for leaving things off like that. He clearly didn't want to speak with her anymore, and maybe it was best that she didn't him. But not talking was killing her inside. She couldn't have one thing without giving up the other. But then she remembered the words of sentiment that Sandor gave to her before the battle. maybe things were only horse shit because she was making them be.
Jon was wrong to talk to her about this. He spoke more like a lord than her brother, and the latter is who she needed. She could talk to Sansa, but she was the ideal Lady of the court and wouldn't have much of an idea of how Arya felt. Maybe Brienne, but she had no idea where to find her and she was still green as grass being the Lady of Tarth.
The sky was turning into the hour of twilight as the sunset grew fiery orange and small glitters of stars began to appear in the evening blue.
"What should I do girl?" Arya asked to Nymeria, half expecting her to reply. But if anything, she did need someone to speak to, but she didn't know who. She had to speak with someone who had experience and was well respected as enough as a Lady that no one would think twice about obeying.
Arya almost laughed at herself for not realizing the obvious choice sooner. "Come on girl." Nymeria followed Arya into the camps to where the Northern Houses were gathered.
Together the two of them passed tents with banners of Houses Manderly, Umbers, Reed, and Tallhart until they finally arrived at the tent Arya was looking for with a Mormont banner.
There were two Northerners standing guard at the entrance to Lady Lyanna's tent and stood at attention when Arya approached them.
"Lady Stark," one of them spoke, "is there something we can do for you?"
She didn't like to be called Lady Stark or Lady Arya, but given that she wasn't a knight or had any official occupation, she bore with it. "I was hoping for an audience with Lady Mormont."
"Of course, one moment." One of the guards entered the tent and a muffled conversation could be heard. The guard came back out and was followed by the maester of Bear Island. "Lady Mormont will see you now."
Arya bowed her head in gratitude to the man and nearly forgot one thing before she entered. "Nymeria, stay." The direwolf walked right next to the other guard and laid down in the snow. The men looked absolutely terrified being so close to her, yet she paid him no heed or any kind of attention.
Entering Lyanna's tent, Arya saw her sitting at her table looking over a piece of parchment. She looked up when she realized Arya's presence. "Arya Stark," she said freely yet respectively, "I must admit that I didn't expect such an audience with you of all people."
"I was hoping for a moment of your time if it wouldn't be too much to ask right now."
"House Mormont is sworn to obey House Stark when called upon. If you require something of me, you need only ask. Would you like to sit down?" She gestured her hand to the free seat next to her. Arya never spoke to her directly until now, but she was very impressed that Lyanna could be so regal at such a young age. She was only eleven years old, and yet she gave off the maturity of an adult.
"No but thank you very much for the offer." Arya declined.
"Then what is it I can do for you?" Lyanna asked.
"I have a rather personal question to ask, but you do not have to answer if you do not wish to."
"The question you ask will determine the answer I give, but don't let that stop you from asking."
"If you were asked by the King to accept a marriage proposal to someone you didn't know only for the sake of an alliance and to build strength, would you say yes?"
Lyanna's brow arched as she did not expect this kind of a question. "If it was a command, honor would bind me to say yes. But if the King only asked it of me in the same set of circumstances as you said, then I would still say yes."
"You would?"
Lyanna nodded her head. "I may not be pleased about such a thing, but I know that his grace wouldn't ask something of me he that didn't have a reasonable cause behind it. He always puts the best interests of others first as much as he can, and I know he wouldn't demand it of me either. He knows he could, but he never does. He gives us our own choice, and it's because of that I still called him King in the North even after learning who he really was."
Hearing this eased Arya enough that she saw the whole ordeal she had with Jon differently. He never once said that the marriages were going to happen, only that it was a possibility. She felt calmer about things, but the fact that they remain as ideas for now still made her unsure. How long would it take for ideas to turn into action? Gendry was one of the few people in the world she had love for, and she didn't want to see him sold off to another witch and never see him again.
"I have something else I would ask. How do you act so… hardened and experienced at such a young age? You're fiercer than most of the lords of the North and I've never seen anyone but you shut Lord Glover up."
Lyanna held back a smile at the compliment as she got up from her seat. "I became Lady of Bear island when I was eight years old. I heard that my mother was killed at the Twins, and all I did was cry for days. She didn't leave a castellan for the castle or someone to handle the dealings of the other lords. Everyone was scared and confused. But then I decided that I didn't want to be anymore. I wanted to be strong like my mother and my uncle, I had to be for my people. It took months of work and training that was unbearable to do, but it was worth it in the end. I handle things with caution and reason, but I never doubt myself. If I do, then the people will begin to doubt me as well. No one has ever questioned my command because I earned my people's trust and my own. It's not so much something to teach how to do, but just the simple matter of having faith in yourself and what you do. And here I stand because of it."
"But surely there was something you wanted before that you had to sacrifice when you took the position, wasn't there?"
"I won't lie, I wanted to be a princess, but that was never going to happen." There was almost a hint of honesty in that statement. "If someone ever told me I couldn't be something other than what I am, I would remind them that I am the Lady Bear Island and the Head of my House, I decide my destiny and will become whatever I choose to be."
When the last of Lyanna's words left her, all the fear and doubt in Arya's heart melted away. Everything was clearer now, and it didn't bother her as much anymore.
"Thank you, Lyanna."
"If you ever need guidance in the future, my ears will always be listening for you."
Arya left Lyanna's tent and began to walk through camps once again. Nymeria quickly got to her feet and followed Arya closely. It was nearly Nightfall and there was one last person she had to see before the day was truly over.
Arriving at the tent, Arya peeked inside to see if Gendry had returned from beyond the Wall. Sure enough he was inside, sitting at his table and eyeing a small object in his hand. She began to feel nervous, but confident enough that she wouldn't turn away.
"Gendry?" He turned his head and saw her peek her head inside. "Can I talk you?"
"Arya," he said with a grin on his face, "come here, I want show you something."
She entered the tent but felt unsure about things. "Gendry, I need to tell you something."
Her words went right over his head as he got up from the chair and held out his hand to her. He was very excited about something as he revealed a small chunk of metal resting on his palm. "Do you see this? I dug it out of ice from the northern battlements. It's from the scythe of Castle Black when the White Walkers used their magic to shatter it. I think this is-"
"Gendry!" Arya raised her voice and grabbed hold of his arms, finally gaining his attention. "Please."
"Sorry, I just… what's wrong?" His excitement died and he looked concerned.
Arya didn't know where to begin or how. She let go of him and took a few steps away from him. "I just… has anyone talked to lately about certain things?"
"Nothing worth of mentioning. I was invited for drinks yesterday by some lord. Seemed real friendly to me. Can't remember his name though."
"What did the two of you talk about?"
"Bit of everything. He said he heard I fought bravely and asked a bit about myself. Then he went on to tell me about himself, his family. Though he talked about his daughter more than anything it felt like."
Things were already preparing to be set in motion. "Gendry, Jon and I had an… we had heated conversation about you this evening."
"About me?"
"It was…" She was at a loss for words. She was afraid the words she said to him would bring the ones she didn't want to hear. But first, she had to know something first. "Why did you become a lord?"
"Why do you ask?"
"Please just tell me."
He didn't understand where this was coming from, but he gave her his answer regardless. "At first it was because I wanted to be something more than I was. I had the chance given to me so I took it. But then it turned into something else. Despite having my father's name, I'm still a bastard and everyone sees me that way. So I'm going to show them that I can be greater than they think of me. Now why are you asking me this?"
She couldn't tell him yet, there was something else she had to know first. "So you wouldn't take it back then? Even if you learned you gave up something important to you?"
"I already did. I gave up the chance to be out of the shit the world keeps giving. But I get to become who I want to be because I did. Now tell me what this is all about?"
"When I spoke to Jon, he told me that you need to take a wife now that you're a lord. And with the list of allies we have growing shorter, marriage will bring some back."
Arya was surprised when Gendry started chuckled heartedly at her. "That's what this is about? Who will by my side in Storm's End?" Of all times, he looked amused with Arya. "And I suppose you're against it all now that we finally have something for each other?"
"Gendry…" She knew exactly what she wanted to say, had to say, but she couldn't form the words.
Gendry approached her and wrapped his arms around her before kissing her. Arya's eyes fell closed as everything she felt began to melt away.
"I love you Arya," he spoke softly, and he parted his lips from hers. "to the ends of the world and back."
"Gendry, I can't… I," her voice was trembling, "I want you to be happy, but I don't want to see you leave me again."
"You won't have to, I promise."
"How can you be so sure?"
"Because I'm going to make you mine."
She felt she wanted to reject him. But at the same time, she didn't want to and wouldn't let herself.
"Arya, there is no one who can fill the place in my heart that is meant for you, no one. You're the family I never had, and you're the lady I need."
She looked at him sternly. She kissed him back and they viciously went at it like two animals. She parted lips so she could speak. "Do you remember that promise you said before the battle?"
"About Hotpie and you?"
"I've decided I won't be your lady or your family, I want to be both."
He smiled at her as her father used to. "As my Lady desires." Without thinking, only feeling the emotion of the moment, Arya grabbed hold of Gendry's shirt and began to pull it off of his chest. He worked at her cloak and let it fall to ground. They resumed kissing each other as they made their way to his bed and both collapsed onto it.
It didn't take long for either of them to get the other as naked as their namedays. For these moments, she was his and he was hers.
But while they gave themselves to another, they were interrupted.
"Gendry?" Jon's voice called out, "are you in there?"
Gendry and Arya ceased just as things were about to get good for the two of them. He had utter shock on his face while Arya didn't care anymore.
"Yes, but don't come in!"
"uh, do you have a moment?"
"I'm a little busy right now!"
"With what?"
Before Gendry could think of something to say, Arya gave an answer for him. "He's making an alliance with the North!"
Gendry lost all air in his lungs and tensed up. Arya, however, didn't give two shits about Jon's reaction to this. There was a pregnant silence between all of them lasting longer than it should have. The only noise that was made was the sound of Jon's footsteps of him leaving.
"I can't believe you just did that." Gendry said.
"Shut up already." Arya pressed her lips back on Gendry and was determined to finish what they started.
