Chapter Five:

Companions (2013)

The night before they were to cross the Twins Bridge, Arya and the others exited the minivan, a few minutes earlier pulled over on the side of the highway. Nearby, an abandoned, rusted car sat still. When they pulled over, Arya could see in the moonlight that the car's windows were all smashed out, its hood was open (revealing that parts of the engine were missing), and all of the tires were gone. Looted, no doubt, Arya thought after getting a look at the car with Lommy. The latter had hoped to search the car for usable parts, but now it was apparent that someone had beaten them to it.

Currently, Arya and Lommy were making their way back to the others, who were huddled around a fire Gendry and Hot Pie had made. Within the past few months, Lommy had taken to wearing green gloves he'd found that made his hands and part of his forearms look green from a distance. He was currently wearing them.

"Shame the car didn't have anything we can use," Lommy said.

"Everything was probably taken when everything happened," Arya suggested.

"The wights can catch us if something happens to the car," Lommy said. "We need more supplies so we can keep moving."

Arya had to agree. Every decent and good-looking car they found, they siphoned gas out of it. Despite the fact that the minivan was starting to look beaten and rusted itself, it still worked. However, Arya remembered the sedan and knew the minivan would have to be abandoned someday. "The minivan's fine, Lommy. The wights won't catch us."

Lommy raised an eyebrow, and his voice took on a jovial tone. "Really?"

"No, they won't."

Lommy grinned, raising his hands into the air and wiggling his fingers. "They're coming to get you, Arya!"

Arya softly sighed and shook her head in disapproval as they neared the fire. When they got close, Elmar looked upward and noticed them approaching.

"Took you long enough," he said as Arya sat down in between Gendry and Weasel.

Arya shook off Elmar's rudeness; while Lommy had stopped being nasty to everyone in the group, Elmar had seemingly stepped into his place. Elmar only really got along well with Edric and Lommy, and what made Arya very angry is that Elmar often targeted Weasel with his bullying. She shouted at him to shut up when he did it, and it almost always led to a fistfight Gendry or Edric or Hot Pie would have to break up.

"What are we eating tonight?" Lommy asked, looking over at Hot Pie.

"What little we have," Hot Pie explained as he began to pass food around. After a short while, Arya had a bag of pretzels. Next to her, Weasel had a small cup of applesauce. While eating, Arya glanced over at Weasel frequently. She wanted to make sure she was eating. From what Arya could see, Weasel had stopped eating dirt and bugs for the most part, but she knew it still happened behind her back, evident by the dirt she sometimes found crusted around Weasel's mouth and Elmar making fun of her for it.

As everyone ate, Gendry spoke, saying, "We're going to cross the Twins Bridge tomorrow." There was a pause before he spoke again, Gendry swallowing a mouthful of food before he kept talking. "We'll get into Seagard after and look for food there."

"That's it, Gendry?" Edric asked, crossing his arms. He'd already finished eating the apple slices he'd been given. "No other plans?"

"I mean we'll find weapon-related things, and we could also–"

"No, I mean the food," Edric corrected. "We're about to run out, and all we've been doing is scavenging this past year. I want to stop for once and set up shop somewhere to stay permanently."

Elmar nodded. "Yeah."

"And where do you suggest we do that?" Gendry asked, crossing his arms. "Because we'll likely get kicked out of every group, just like with White Harbor."

"Gendry, do you even have a plan outside of 'run and collect whatever we can find'?" Arya asked, raising an eyebrow. "Because I agree. We're just going from town to town looking for things to–"

"Arya, stop." Gendry's tone suggested he didn't want to hear anything else out of her or anyone else. "We've been doing fine."

"No, not really," Arya said. "How many times have we almost run out of food? How many times have we nearly frozen to death in winter? How many times has Weasel gotten sick–"

As she began to finish her sentence, she cut herself off when she saw Weasel wasn't sitting next to her anymore. Arya's heart lurched into her throat. "Weasel?" She shot upward and spun around. "WEASEL?!"

Arya saw Weasel hunched over behind the front of the minivan. Immediately, she walked over to her and saw what she was doing when she got over there.

"Weasel!"

Weasel quickly spun around with a surprised look, making a startled "Mmf!" noise. Arya looked and saw that Weasel's mouth was smeared in dirt. Her eyes narrowed.

Arya sighed. "Weasel, spit it out."

Weasel frowned, and she opened her mouth. A wad of dirt spilled out and landed on the asphalt with a wet plop. Also present in the saliva-laced dirt was a live cockroach. Frowning, Arya addressed Weasel again. "I thought you were done with this."

Weasel frowned. "…Sorry, Arya…"

Weasel followed Arya back to the fire, and when Elmar got a look at Weasel, he burst out laughing. Arya didn't think it was funny at all.

Upon reaching the Twins Bridge, a large bridge with two roads paralleling each other, Gendry stopped the minivan and got out with everyone else. Much to Arya's aggravation, there was another traffic jam, this one being on the bridge. It was impossible for Gendry to direct the car around the traffic jam, so they were forced to abandon the minivan. Everyone who had a backpack–Gendry, Arya, Hot Pie, Lommy, Elmar, and Edric–gathered whatever supplies they could take from the minivan and left the vehicle.

"Follow me," Gendry said before the group began to wade their way through the cars on the Twins Bridge. "We'll figure something out when we get into Seagard."

Arya felt like lobbing a crabapple at Gendry's head. You have no plan, do you?

Despite her complaints about Gendry, Arya quite liked his company. If she were given a choice, there was a chance she would likely try and tough out the apocalypse with just him and Weasel. However, on the other hand, she had grown attached to Hot Pie and Lommy as well, and Edric and Elmar were starting to grow on her (though more of the former than the latter). Arya could tell that Gendry appreciated her as well; this was evident by him trusting her enough to put her in the position of his second in command.

In front of the group, five wights which were wandering aimlessly on the asphalt stirred, grumbling, then turned to look at the seven in the process of crossing the bridge. Arya pulled out her machete, and Gendry tightly gripped his sledgehammer. Arya was sure that behind them, the others were gripping their own weapons as well.

The first two wights made for Arya and Gendry. Arya charged, and she swung her machete upwards, cutting through where the jaw met the neck and rammed it through to the brain. Next to her, Gendry knocked his own wight down and smashed its skull like it was a stale melon. Lommy, Hot Pie, Elmar, and Edric ran from in between them and headed for the others. Weasel stayed back, tightly gripping her dagger. Arya didn't blame Weasel for deciding to stay back; ever since the incident at White Harbor, Weasel absolutely hated situations like this. She hated it before, but now it seemed like the dislike and aversion towards these things was more intense.

Nearby, Hot Pie, Lommy, Elmar, and Edric made for the other wights as Arya got to work with wrenching the machete out of her own wight's skull. It'd gotten stuck, and it became loose and came out after four good, hard jerks. Arya, Gendry, and Weasel proceeded towards the others, who were in the process of fighting the other wights. Lommy had just speared one through the eye, and Hot Pie and Elmar were in the process of beating one's head in, respectively wielding a metal pipe and a metal bat. Edric had just then rammed his knife through the final wight's right temple and into its brain.

When the wights were dealt with, the group continued to cross the Twins Bridge, and when they reached Seagard, they all got together in one big huddle to discuss what to do next.

"Two groups," Gendry said. "We'll search Seagard that way. We'll meet back up here at dusk."

"Who's in what group?" Elmar asked.

"You're going to be with Edric, Arya, and Weasel," Gendry answered. "I'm going to look for weapons and a new vehicle with Hot Pie and Lommy. We'll meet back up here at dusk."

Arya frowned. She didn't want herself and Weasel to be stuck with Elmar. If she were head of the whole crew and picked the groups, she would be with Gendry and Weasel, and everyone else would have their own massive search party. Regardless, Arya realized she'd have to work with what she'd been given. At least I'm with Weasel, she thought.

Walking through the derelict town of Seagard, Arya and the three others with her looked around for abandoned businesses where they could scavenge for food. In her backpack, Arya carried some food taken from the minivan: a few cans, and a handful of carrots they'd found before arriving.

"Are you sure there's anything left?" Edric asked.

"What do you mean?" Arya asked.

"Food," Edric emphasized. "I think everything's been picked clean."

"You never can be too sure," Arya said. "There could be something. That's why we're all looking."

Elmar began snickering. "Maybe Weasel here can find some dead cockroaches or more dirt. If she can learn how to talk, she can tell us what she wants to eat besides bugs and dirt."

Arya frowned, then decided to speak up when she heard Weasel sniffle. Arya turned around to face Elmar, and she let him have it. "Elmar, will you leave her alone?! She's only four years old!"

Arya wasn't entirely sure if this was true; while Weasel had been two when they found her, it was clear that a few years had passed since the outbreak started, evident by the amount of winters the group had lived through. However, Arya hadn't kept track of them, and she was sure that she herself was now at least pushing mid adolescence since everything started when she was twelve. She knew that Gendry was sixteen when everything started, so Arya figured that, at the most, he was almost twenty. Hot Pie, Lommy, Edric, and Elmar were likely around her own age.

Elmar frowned, and his eyes narrowed. "Arya, don't act like it's not true!" He then pointed an accusing finger at Weasel, who turned around to look at him. "That's all she's good for! Eating BUGS and MUD!"

Arya immediately stormed over to Elmar, then grabbed him by the front of his shirt and pulled him forward so that their eyes were inches apart. Elmar flinched, then balled his hands into fists. "Listen, you–"

"Hey," Edric interrupted, prevented what would likely have been a fistfight.

"What?!" Arya and Elmar snapped in unison, turning their heads to look in Edric's direction. And then they saw what he saw: a supermarket.

The supermarket's parking lot had five abandoned cars, and Arya could see that the lights were out within the store. She wasn't surprised that the lights were out; most electrical things had stopped working a short while after the apocalypse hit. The doors, once functional sliding glass doors, were forced open by the group, and they stepped inside.

Whatever food wasn't grabbed at the start's likely spoiled by now, Arya judged. The only light provided to the group came from the front doors and the large, gaping hole in the top of the ceiling. Where the hole came from, Arya didn't care to know. The hole oddly reminded her of Lommy; recently, he had been using excess gas the group collected and other materials like propane and fertilizer he found in places to craft makeshift explosives. A few times, he'd nearly blown parts of his hands off, but he was never wounded. This had been going on for a few months, and Lommy seemed to be improving more as time went on.

"Let's stick together," Edric suggested. "I don't want any of us to get lost from each other in this big, dark building."

Everyone agreed, and they began to move in one big huddle through the store. Weasel tried to stay in the center of the group. Arya could feel Weasel's fingers tightly wrap around her left hand. She didn't mind. Arya had no doubt that Elmar would have made fun of Weasel if he saw her holding Arya's hand (he'd done this before), and this would end with Arya likely punching Elmar in the face or the gut.

The group entered the aisle to the farthest left, and Arya spoke, saying, "Look through the shelves. If there's nothing, go to the next aisle and look."

They got to looking then. From what they could tell, the aisle they were in once stocked bread and condiments. However, everything was gone. Frowning, Arya directed everyone to another aisle. "Let's go into the next aisle."

This process repeated for twenty-eight minutes. In every aisle, they found nothing. I was right, Arya figured as they entered one of the last two aisles. This store was picked clean.

"I don't think we'll find anything," Elmar whined.

"We might," Edric replied. "Be patient."

Arya and Weasel walked ahead of them, and Weasel let go of the former's hand. Weasel scooted away from Arya for a short while, and she got on her hands and knees and began to search under the shelves, just like what she'd done with every other aisle before. Arya had to admit it was a clever idea, in case something rolled beneath the aisles in the chaos that'd happened in the beginning days of the apocalypse. As Arya, Elmar, and Edric searched the shelves, Weasel looked beneath.

"Hey!" Weasel said, catching everyone's attention, crawling back with an unopened cup of applesauce in her hand. As Weasel continued, Arya noticed movement coming from under the shelf. "I found this–"

The wight that'd been under the shelf, which Weasel hadn't seen, growled as it crawled out from under it, tightly gripping Weasel's right leg with its rotting, bony fingers. Weasel screamed like she'd been shot in the abdomen and fell to the linoleum floor. Immediately, Arya sprung into action and drove her machete into the wight's head, cleaving it open with three good, hard swings. When the wight died, Weasel scrambled away from it and curled up in a weepy ball. Nearby, Edric picked up the applesauce from the floor and put it in his backpack.

Arya put her machete into its sheath on her back and hurried over to Weasel, kneeling down on both knees in front of her before she gently wrapped Weasel in a reassuring hug. In turn, Weasel quickly wrapped her arms around Arya's form and slowly began to stand up with her.

"You ready to keep going?" Arya asked her.

Weasel, crying quietly and slightly shaking with fear, nodded.

"You did a good job, finding that cup of applesauce," Arya said, hoping the compliment would lift Weasel's spirits. A small hint of a smile appeared on the girl's face, though she still sniffled and cried.

"Attention, gang," Elmar sighed as he watched Arya and Weasel, sounding annoyed. "We still have food to find."

Arya glared at Elmar, the fierce look in her eyes causing Elmar to back up a few feet, putting his hands into the air. Edric chuckled to himself when he saw this. Arya gently took Weasel's smaller hand in her own and addressed her. "We have to keep looking for food, Weasel."

Weasel, looking up at Arya, sniffled and nodded in understanding.

The four then made their way into the final aisles they hadn't checked. Again, Weasel looked beneath the shelves while the others looked through them. Much to everyone's delight, Weasel found more food that'd fallen beneath the shelves. After cycling through the final aisle, the group counted what they'd found, and they found that they'd scavenged three cups of applesauce and ten canned items.

"More than I expected to find in here," Edric commented. "I really thought everything would be gone at this point."

"So did I," Arya replied. "I really thought everything would be gone, too."

As they made their way to the front door, Arya held out her arm and stopped the others when she saw five wights shambling around near the front. Apparently, they'd gotten inside the store while Arya and the others were searching for food.

"What do we do?" Edric asked.

Arya pulled her machete back out. "Fight through them."

Arya, Edric, and Elmar all shouted loudly as they charged at the wights. The wights, noticing them, turned around and shambled over to them. Arya neared a wight and, as she smelled its carrion breath when its mouth opened, used this to her advantage as she rammed her machete through the roof of its mouth to its brain. The tip of the machete stuck out through the top of its head.

Nearby, Edric had knocked his own wight down and was repeatedly stabbing its face, hoping to jab the brain. Elmar was fending off the other three wights. Apparently, the buffoon had the bright idea to try and fight all three at once. Yanking the machete out of the mouth of the wight she'd just killed, Arya looked over and saw Elmar struggling with fending of the wights he was doing battle with, his pudgy body jiggling as he swiveled around.

And then one grabbed him by his hair.

Hollering and flailing his arms around, Elmar was pulled back, and Arya charged at the wight before it could have a chance to bite into Elmar's greasy flesh. She jumped and tackled it, causing herself, the wight, and Elmar to come tumbling down to the floor. The back of the wight's head made a wet cracking noise as it hit the floor. Before it could pick itself back up, Weasel ran over and jammed her dagger through its right eye as hard as she could, pushing directly into its brain.

Arya and Elmar didn't have time to thank Weasel. Instead, they jumped upwards and made for the remaining two wights. Elmar cracked one upside the head with his bat, a cracking noise emitting through the surrounding area. Adjacent to Elmar, Arya severed the arm of her own wight before lunging forward and running her machete through its brain after tackling the decaying thing to the ground.

After leaving the supermarket, though some had nearly died in there, everyone was generally pleased that some food had been found, even if all the food in the store should have been depleted long ago. Leaving the store, Arya looked into the sky and noticed that it was the middle of the day. Frowning, Arya realized that her small group wouldn't have as much time as she wished to have to find food in Seagard. This made her wonder if Gendry, Hot Pie, and Lommy were having any luck out there themselves.

"Where should we go now?" Edric asked Arya.

Arya thought for a moment. "Let's look around this area."

"Like the parking lot?" Elmar asked.

"Beyond the parking lot," Arya explained, pointing towards where they were before entering the store. "Down there."

They got to walking then, and before they got to the corner of the store, Arya heard it first: the sound of something walking. Because of how far away the sound seemed to be, Arya guessed that whatever was making this noise, it was around the corner, on the side of the store.

As the group kept walking, the sound got closer, and everyone stopped when they saw what it was: a starving German Shepherd appeared from around the corner, seemingly walking around aimlessly.

"Oh," Arya said, looking over the dog. She hadn't seen a dog in years, and this was the first one she'd seen. Seeing the poor, shambling thing walk around made her feel sorry for it. She approached, and Elmar watched uneasily.

"Hey," Arya said, getting the dog's attention, "you alright?"

Arya knelt down on one knee and began petting the dog. The dog stopped walking and observed her. Arya then noticed that it had a pink collar, but no name tag.

"ARYA!"

Elmar's shouting made both Arya and the dog flinch, the two of them simultaneously looking over at Elmar, who looked concerned.

"Arya, get away from that thing!"

"Why?"

"It might be rabid!"

"I don't think it's rabid," Arya said. "Look, it's got a collar. I'm certain it's vaccinated."

Arya, remembering that the dog looked hungry, removed her backpack, opened it, and began searching for the carrots she'd taken from the minivan. When she found one to use, she pulled it from the bag and held it out for the dog. The dog, now curious, sniffed the carrot and began eating.

Elmar sighed, annoyed. "Arya, what are you doing?"

"Feeding it," Arya answered.

"Arya, come on!" Elmar shouted suddenly. Weasel flinched when he started yelling. "If you feed it, it gets attached!"

Arya ignored him. By that point, the German Shepherd had eaten half of the carrot.

Elmar's eyes narrowed. "Arya!"

When the dog was finished, it looked at Arya, as if it expected more food from her.

Arya looked over at the others. "I'm taking it with me," she announced.

Elmar and Edric looked at her like she'd grown a second head. As always, Weasel was quiet. Finally, Edric was the one to break the silence. "Arya, are you kidding me?"

Arya raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"We can't take care of that thing!" Elmar hissed. Arya frowned as he continued. "Arya, we barely got enough food from the store, and we had just enough for the rest of us back in the car! And now you want to take in a new mouth to feed? And a dog, no less? We can't take it in, Arya. Just leave it to starve out here!"

Arya, though she wanted to fight Elmar and Edric on this, knew deep down that they were right. The group had a food shortage already, and what they'd just found in the store only barely helped. She'd already taken a great liking to the German Shepherd, however, and now she felt sad and angry being pushed into leaving it to fend for herself.

Arya took a deep, shuddering breath and spoke, resigning herself to the realities of the situation. "Fine, fine…"

When the group began to walk away from the dog, Arya began getting angry again, feeling rage towards Elmar and Edric, though mostly towards the former. Arya began to think that she felt angry at Elmar for most of the things he did and said, and she wondered why Gendry kept putting up with him instead of throwing him out of the group. Then again, Lommy was like him when he first met Arya, and they'd grown to appreciate each other over time.

Hopefully, Elmar will be the same, Arya thought.

Just as dusk was coming in, Arya, Weasel, Elmar, and Edric made it back to the Twins Bridge after taking a few hours to search for more food. Gendry, Hot Pie, and Lommy were there as well, the three of them standing in front of an RV that wasn't there earlier. Each group made a beeline for the other one, and before they ran into each other, they stopped to talk, but Arya didn't. Arya handed her backpack to Gendry, and she shuffled past the others towards the nearby curb.

She sat down, and she tried ignoring the others, watching the cracked, gray asphalt instead. Weasel hurried after her and sat down next to her. Arya had no doubts that Elmar and Edric would blab to the others about the incident with the dog, and Arya wanted to not overhear that discussion. In fact, she wanted to be anywhere but that street in Seagard in front of that bridge. At least Weasel was there.

Just me and Gendry and Weasel, Arya thought bitterly. If we ditch the others, we can make it on our own out there. Lommy can stay and be Elmar's best buddy if he wants. Hot Pie can come with us, too. He could stay with the others as a different choice.

"Arya?" Weasel said. "Are you okay?"

Arya looked over at the smaller girl sitting next to her. She took a deep breath and exhaled before answering, realizing that she was only thinking of ditching the group with Gendry and Weasel because she was upset about the outcome of the situation with the dog. Since she'd fed the dog, Arya wondered if it was out there somewhere in Seagard looking for her after it'd been provided with the carrot.

"I'm just upset right now, Weasel," Arya answered. "Nothing to concern yourself with."

"Okay," Weasel said simply. She paused to fidget and look at her feet. While Weasel's head was turned away, Arya got a look at her. Weasel's black hair had gotten longer, and it was greasy and even matted in places. The girl's face and clothes were smattered with dirt, but so were everyone else's face and clothes. Arya could not remember the last time she or anyone else was able to take a shower. Even while the group stayed in White Harbor, there had been no functioning showers available for them all to use. Everyone smelled like garbage, and Arya thought that this would make them blend in with the wights, but it didn't.

After a while, Hot Pie waddled over to Arya and Weasel. "Hey," he said.

Arya looked up at him. "What is it?"

"Gendry found an RV. We're getting in and leaving now. He says we're going south."

Arya looked over at the RV, and she climbed to her feet, Weasel following suit as well. The three of them began walking over to the RV, just as Lommy and Elmar began to climb inside. As Arya made her way to the door, Weasel–of all people–stopped everyone when she began yelling.

"DOG!"

Everyone looked towards the nearest stop sign, and the same German Shepherd from before came walking around the corner. Arya couldn't help but snicker; apparently, the dog had followed them back to the Twins Bridge. Lommy and Elmar came tumbling out of the RV to see what was going on.

"Wow," Elmar sighed. Lommy burst into a fit of laughter.

Gendry looked over at Arya. "That the dog from the store?"

"Yes," Arya said. "It has the same collar."

They watched as the dog approached, and it stopped in front of Arya and looked up at her, as if asking for more food. Arya looked at the dog for a moment, then turned to look at Gendry, feeling hopeful. "Can we keep it?"

Gendry shrugged. "Sure. Why not?"

Elmar recoiled as if slapped. Edric raised an eyebrow. The former immediately began storming over to Gendry, mumbling, "No, no, no, no, no" repeatedly.

Gendry turned to look down at Elmar. "Elmar, what is it?"

"We can't take in a dog!" Elmar hissed. "We have barely any food! That thing has who knows how many diseases and parasites in it–"

"It can hunt for its own food, like rabbits and squirrels," Gendry said. "I can tell."

"How?" Elmar asked.

"It's survived for this long on its own," Gendry explained. "I mean where's it getting its food from?"

Edric stepped in then. "Gendry, come on!" He looked flabbergasted. "Gendry, this is a horrendous idea!"

"You know what?" Gendry announced. "We'll put it to a vote. If you are fine with Arya keeping the dog, raise your hand."

Arya, Weasel, Lommy, and Gendry raised their hands, leaving Edric, Elmar, and Hot Pie as the ones who lost the vote four to three. "Okay, then, so it's settled," Gendry said, then turning to face Arya. "Arya, you can keep the dog, but it's your responsibility. None of ours."

Gendry looked at everyone else. "Everyone, get in the RV. We're leaving Seagard right now."

In the days following the group leaving Seagard to head southeast, the German Shepherd began to get healthier after being fed a number of times, and Arya one day found herself sitting outside the RV with the dog and Weasel. Both girls were on their knees, observing the animal. Weasel looked at the dog, as if contemplating something, then looked at Arya.

Arya noticed. "What is it, Weasel?"

"Can… can I pet her?" Weasel asked carefully.

Arya smiled. "Of course you can, Weasel." She gestured at the dog's fur. "Go right ahead."

Weasel gingerly reached her hand out and stroked the dog's fur with her fingers. The dog didn't seem to mind. Weasel spoke as she pet the dog, asking Arya, "Have you named her?"

Arya nodded. "I have."

"What's her name?"

"Nymeria."

Sitting in the front seat next to Gendry, who was currently driving down a desolate road, Arya watched said road. All around, she noticed as some of the leaves of the trees surrounding them were beginning to turn yellow. It was spring, and soon enough, autumn would arrive in all its glory. Between them, Nymeria slept quietly on the floor of the RV.

"Thanks for standing up for me," Arya told Gendry as they kept driving. It was early in the morning, so everyone else was asleep. The sun had just come up. It was common for Arya and Gendry to be awake first.

"When?" Gendry asked.

"A few weeks ago, when you said I could keep Nymeria, and we had the vote."

"A good decision on my part," Gendry said. "She's helped us hunt, right?"

This was true; Nymeria had proven to be a great companion for hunting. Arya nodded in response to Gendry. "Yeah."

Arya, though she still disapproved of Gendry's leadership skills sometimes, felt as of she'd grown closer to her good friend over the years. It seemed to her that the two of them had a mutual respect and appreciation of each other that the others in the group didn't seem to have. Arya definitely picked up on it, and she was sure that Gendry had dropped a few hints here and there that there was definitely a connection of sorts.

Arya had the road atlas in her lap and flipped through it, hoping to see where they were going next. Ever since leaving Seagard, the group had been out in the woods in between it and the next town looking for food and hunting. Recently, Gendry had decided that they needed to move to somewhere else again. Arya scanned the pages of the road atlas, and she quickly noticed a big area with a label above it, its name. It looked like a small city or a large town. The fact that the group was headed there next was confirmed to Arya when she saw a green sign nearby with the location's name adorning it.

OLDSTONES