"No," Jon said when Arya was about only about halfway through her explanation of what her and Gendry came up with. Gendry rolled his eyes and didn't say anything as he leaned back in the chair and Arya wanted to smack him. He should have been speaking up and getting Jon to listen to them but instead, he seemed keen to sit there and let their plan get blown to bits. She glared at her husband who shrugged and seemed to say, without words, "I told you so".
"Look, Jon, this is the only idea we have to deal with the food problem," Arya said. "Have you and Sansa come up with anything better in the last couple of days?"
"That isn't the point," Jon snapped. "My little sister is asking her to let her and my good brother go off to fight one of the houses of Westeros with nothing but a bunch of wolves to help them out. What kind of leader would I be if I let something like that happen on my watch?"
"Jon, I've told you about all the fights Arya and I did before we came North," Gendry said as Jon glared at him. "This won't be much different from when we were operating as Wolf and Bull only this time we're trying to find someone reasonable to put in charge of the house instead of stealing supplies."
"You only just finished recovering from an injury and now you want to run off to get hurt again?" Jon asked.
"It would happen eventually. I wasn't planning on sitting idly by when the dead came and neither will Arya," Gendry said.
"You need to let us do what we do best. We operated for years without any issues and the one time we did get seriously injured it didn't have anything to do with our tactics but getting jumped by a bunch of bandits," Arya said. She crossed her arms across her chest and narrowed her eyes. "Lord Beric and Thoros probably like me more than you. They'd come with me without me."
"Meera and Podrick have both said they go where I go and if I go down to fight the Freys I'm fairly sure both of them are coming with me," Gendry said.
"And the wolves already decided Gendry and I are worth protecting so they will come with us," Arya said.
"That's enough!" Jon shouted and Arya didn't think she had ever seen him this mad. "I am your brother and your King. If I forbid this that is the end of it."
"Jon," Sansa said quietly. Thus far she hadn't said anything in this fight and Arya glanced at her sister who was frowning deeply. "We don't have enough food and there is no getting around that. Even if we win the fight against the dead none of us will survive the winter."
"By then Daenerys should be Queen and she will force the Freys to trade with us," Jon replied but Sansa shook her head.
"It will still take time to write out exactly how we are controlling the border and what kind of trade we will be doing. Even if Daenerys took King's Landing tomorrow we still would starve before we sorted everything out," Sansa said. "We can't ask the people of the North to fight for their lives only for them to die later. We need food and this is the only idea we've had so far."
"Arya was the one who decided we needed to come to you for permission," Gendry said as Jon and Sansa looked at him. "I told her it was better to ask for forgiveness than permission and we should go take care of it. She was the one who wanted to make sure that she didn't undermine either of you."
"Sansa, if you ask him, I'm sure Sandor will come too. With that group, the wolves, and any other Brotherhood members we can find I'm sure we have enough people to take care of it. I know we can," Arya said.
"How exactly are you planning on getting members of House Frey out of the Twins and into the woods where your strategies would work?" Jon asked. Arya glanced at Gendry because that was part of the plan that they hadn't worked out just yet. Jon raised an eyebrow and seemed to take that as confirmation that they didn't know. "That's what I thought. Look, I want revenge for Robb, Talisa, Lady Catelyn, and our unborn niece or nephew at much as the rest of you but I won't let House Frey take any other member of this family."
"They still hold a member of our family," Sansa said. "Our Uncle Edmure married Roslin Frey and he has been their captive ever since. House Tully is part of our family and they are refusing to release a member of our family. If we sent Arya, Gendry, and the convoy down to negotiate a release of Edmure and his family that could be enough to get them out of the castle."
"No one familiar with the Red Wedding would ever come into House Frey and believe they wouldn't turn on you in a moment," Arya said with a nod. "Only I can't go as a member of House Stark as if you sent me. I will simply say I am making my way North to be with my family and I am picking up Edmure and his kin on the way. They can't know you know what I'm doing or it'll look like an attack from the North instead of a singular family member acting out."
"Sansa," Jon said. "Please don't tell me you're thinking of agreeing to this insane plan. We just got her back and you want to send her out again?"
"Of course I don't," Sansa snapped. "But I also know that we need to eat or we're all going to die and the Long Night isn't worth fighting at all." A silence fell over the room as the three Stark's stared each other down and tried to see who was going to be the most stubborn out of all of them. Arya would put coin down on herself since she figured years of being with Gendry had rubbed off on her. Gendry, who was watching this entire exchange with a slightly amused expression on his face, as he sat forward in his chair.
"Why don't we just ask Bran?" he asked and everyone turned to stare at him. "He says that he sees things, why don't we ask him to see if he "sees" whether or not this is a good idea?"
"And if he says it's a bad idea will you both swear to stay in Winterfell and not go off on your own?" Jon asked. Arya glanced at Gendry who shrugged and nodded.
"Fine but if he says it is you need to let us go and handle House Frey without argument," Arya said. Jon nodded and they all stood up. It was the middle of the day so there was really only one place that Bran could be and that was in the Godswood. He was sitting next to the tree with Meera who smiled when she saw all of them walking toward her.
"They are earlier than you predicted," she said with a smile.
"You knew we were coming," Sansa stated and sighed when Bran smirked at her. "Very well, I'm assuming you know the details of this plan that Gendry and Arya have?"
"I do," Bran said.
"Will it work?" Jon asked which wasn't exactly the question that Arya thought they were going to be asking.
"I cannot tell whether or not the plan will work because that could change things," Bran said. "But that isn't what you're supposed to ask me, brother."
"Fine, I want to know if the plan is a good idea," Jon said.
"If the North is going to survive through the winter we need food and unless House Frey is dealt with we will starve," Bran said. "Arya and Gendry worked very well together against the Lannister's for many years. If House Frey meets them outside of the castle I do believe this is a good idea." Jon frowned deeply and looked like he wanted to argue but Arya wasn't going to let him get away with that.
"Jon, you gave your word," she said softly. "Please, let me help out family. We want to help our family and we want to help the North. We can get revenge against the House that wronged us, free our Uncle, and get food to those that need it. Let us do what we are good at doing for the sake of our house, brother." Jon sighed as he looked at Meera who was smiling softly as she watched this exchange.
"You know they intend to bring you with them, you know," Jon said.
"I've already sharpened my spear," Meera replied without hesitation. Jon sighed and seemed to know that he had lost this fight and there wasn't anything he could do about it. Sansa placed a hand on his shoulder and it seemed to calm him down a little. Jon closed his eyes, slowly released a breath, and turned his gaze on Arya and Gendry.
"If you are unable to get Walder Frey to meet you outside of the castle walls I need you to abandon this plan of yours. Your little group cannot take on an entire army," Jon said.
"We have no interest in dying," Gendry said as he took Arya's hand.
"You have our word that we won't take any unnecessary risks," Arya replied. Jon looked between the two of them, then at Meera and Bran, and heaved a long sigh.
"Sansa, you might want to go have a conversation with Sandor. I have a feeling you're the only one who can convince him to go and keep an eye on these two," Jon said. "Permission granted. Winter has come for, House Frey."
Now that they had permission to go and take care of the Freys Arya decided it was time to start getting everything together. Meera already confirmed that she was coming with them and smiled at Gendry about showing him what a real warrior with a real spear could do in battle. Next, it was time to fins Beric and Thoros and see how they felt about helping out. It was a day later and Gendry squeezed her hand as they walked around the castle to try and find the men. They were high on the ramparts as Thoros drank and Beric sharpened his sword. They both looked up as Arya and Gendry approached.
"The King is walking around with a very sour look on his face," Beric said as Gendry and Arya sat down with them. "I haven't gotten word that the dead are at our doors yet so I can only imagine there is one person in the world capable of making Jon Snow look like that."
"What did you do to make your brother so upset little lady?" Thoros asked.
"It has to do with what we want to ask you," Arya said. "The North is running out of food and with Daenerys coming with her giant army we aren't going to make it through the Long Night let alone through the entire winter. We could trade with the Reach but the Freys aren't letting anyone looking to work with the North come through."
"So consider this me calling in a favor for the whole selling me thing," Gendry said. "Jon has given Arya and me permission to go South and deal with House Frey so the North has food. The Lady Meera is joining us and Nymeria has her pack of wolves but we could use two men who know the Riverlands and who know how to fight large groups of people with few resources."
"The King won't send an army to help because it would complicate things," Beric said as he looked at the two of them. "So you two want to go back to your roots only this time you want to displace an entire house. How, exactly, are you planning on doing that? Because I saw the remains of the Red Wedding and I wouldn't trust Walder Frey not to kill you within his own walls."
"We're going under the guise of negotiating for the release of my Uncle Edmure Tully whom House Frey keeps prisoner," Arya said. "As far as we're going to tell them I'll be traveling North for the first time to help my sister and brothers reclaim the North and want my family with me. They won't know we're coming from Winterfell at all."
"Plausible deniability when it comes to someone accusing the North of attacking the South," Thoros said with a nod. "Very clever and you think you can eliminate an entire house using your old tactics with the help of a girl from the Neck and some wolves?"
"And you two and any other former Brotherhood member that will help us," Gendry said. "While I know Arya and her family would love to see all of House Frey killed we all know that there is no saying "no" to powerful men. We can't say the entire house is guilty when they couldn't say no to their father."
"That's rather wise coming from two people who killed Lannister soldiers for years," Beric said as he eyed the two of them. Arya glanced at Gendry who narrowed his eyes.
"Yes, we did kill soldiers, and those were just men following orders as well. However, we made sure that any man we killed was part of a group that terrorized the Riverlands or attacked the small folk in some way," she said as she looked at the two men in front of her. "Will you help us? Jon won't order you."
"We're with you, my lady," Beric said as Thoros nodded as well. Arya smiled as Gendry stood and helped her to her feet. They left the two former Brotherhood members to have their night and went back into the castle. Arya wasn't expecting to find Sansa waiting for her but her sister had a pinched expression on her face.
"What happened?" Arya asked.
"I may have found something that could make your plan harder. Come with me," Sansa said as she guided the two of them to her solar. There was a piece of paper sitting in the middle of the table and Sansa handed it to Arya without saying anything. Arya frowned and began to read the paper.
"This is a marriage contract," Arya said as she began to read and it dawned on her exactly what she was reading. "This can't be."
"What is it?" Gendry asked as he looked over her shoulder to read it. One of the man things that Arya taught Gendry over their many years together was how to read and write and while he wasn't the fastest at either he could understand what it was he was reading. "Arya, this has your name on it."
"It seems that part of the deal that allowed Robb to use the crossing at the Twins was your hand in marriage to Waldron Frey," Sansa said. "This was on top of Robb marrying Roslin Frey and taking on a Frey as a squire."
"What does this mean for us? I'm afraid that the idea of signing a piece of paper in exchange for marriage is something I don't really understand," Gendry said. "Arya and I are married, we have been for a long time now, what could they possibly do about it?"
"Walder Frey could claim that the marriage wasn't legitimate because it wasn't done in a Sept," Sansa said. "He could demand Arya."
"I would like to see him try," Arya snapped. "I'm a woman grown who is wedded, bedded, not to mention barren. I hardly think I would make an ideal bride for any man." Arya didn't realize that she had said until she saw Sansa turn white with horror and she realized this was the first time anyone from her family learned that she couldn't have children. Gendry reached over and took her hand and interlaced their fingers together. The fact that she couldn't have children was something that Arya came to terms with a long time ago and her time with Gendry had all but proven it. She never got her moonblood again and they stopped being careful a long time ago.
"Arya," Sansa whispered. "What happened?" She wanted to tell her sister what happened but it all came back to her again. The pain and how she thought she was going to have to watch Gendry bleed out in front of her. It stole her words and she squeezed Gendry's hand to try and tell him that she couldn't explain this right now.
"A bandit attack," Gendry said. "They nearly cut me in half and one of them stabbed Arya in the stomach. We nearly died were it not for Nymeria alerting some nearby healers that we needed help. They told us that they were fairly certain Arya couldn't have children and it seems to be true. We haven't been careful for a long time." Arya watched as tears began to form in Sansa's eyes as she crossed the room and pulled them both into a tight hug. Gendry seemed surprised that he was being included in this hug but, as Arya thought about it, that attack stole his ability to have children when he decided to stay with her.
"I'm so sorry," Sansa whispered as she pulled away from them. Arya was holding onto Gendry's hand tight enough now that it had to hurt but he didn't even flinch.
"I have a family," Arya said and she was surprised at how steady her voice was. "I have the two of you and Bran and Jon and Meera and others. Perhaps once the war is over we try to find a child that needs a home. Until then I would rather not talk about this, Sansa."
"I understand," Sansa replied without hesitation. "Just be careful when you meet with Walder Frey and know that he could try and invoke the contract."
"No one is taking your sister from me," Gendry said. "Not while my heart still beats and there is breath in my lungs." It was a terribly romantic thing to say so, of course, Sansa looked like she was about to cry with happiness from it. Arya wanted to change the subject before Sansa started talking about the songs the two of them would be written into.
"Sansa, I have a favor to ask of you," Arya said. "Sandor is one of the best fighters in the realm and would be a great help on this trip that we are taking South. He won't come if either of us asks but if you do I think he will." That seemed to get Sansa to compose herself as she nodded and agreed to try and get Sandor to help them. Arya all but dragged Gendry from the room because she didn't want to think about this anymore. She didn't want to think about marriage contracts and how her mother had all but sold her for a bridge.
"Are you okay?" Gendry asked he continued to allow Arya to drag him through the castle to their room. She closed the door and leaned against it as she tried to get her heartbeat under control.
"They sold me, Gendry," she whispered. "They traded my life for a bridge and they didn't even know if I was okay at the time." He walked forward and pulled her into a tight hug as the reality of the situation really began to dawn on her. "You were right. You were right to say that you weren't going to come with me that night. I was promised to another and they never would have allowed us near each other. I know that a daughter is often used for some sort of alliance but this feels different and I don't know why. I might have to face the man I was betrothed to."
"I meant what I said," Gendry whispered into her hair as he held her. "I'm not letting anyone have you."
"I didn't know about the stupid contract so it's not like they can get mad at me for breaking it," Arya snapped as she pulled away from the hug and tried to calm her beating heart. "That also isn't how I wanted my family to find out I can't have children."
"Hey," he tilted her chin up so she looked him in the eye. "You said so yourself; there are plenty of orphans out there that need homes. When we're ready we'll find someone to bring into our lives. We found each other so it makes sense that we need to find our child as well." Arya couldn't help her laugh as she pulled Gendry down for a kiss. They couldn't stay in her room for long because they had one more person to talk to.
"You did swear to protect me," Gendry said as he stood with Podrick and Brienne both of whom were looking at them like they lost their minds.
"Well, yes, but I thought that meant from people here in the castle that wanted to hurt you," Podrick said. "Not following you to fight for control of a castle with no army. Lady Brienne? Surely you can't condone this."
"The King has agreed," Arya said. "And I'm sure he would appreciate any warriors who would come and keep his family safe. Duty and whatnot."
"Very well," Brienne said with a heavy sigh. "I did tell him to protect you, my lord, and to tell him not to now would be something unbecoming of the night that Podrick is training to be. He will accompany you."
"I don't want you to force him," Gendry said as he locked eyes with Podrick. "I only want him to come with us if it's of his own free will." Podrick stared at Gendry before he laughed and shook his head at them.
"I hope when all of this is over they give you two a Holdfast because I would very much like to serve your house," Podrick said. "I'll come with you."
"You already serve our house Podrick," Arya said. "Thank you for coming."
It took three days for all of them to pack their belongings and for Gendry to finish fixing all of the weapons and armor. Sandor came out just as they were packing their horses swearing up a storm and yelling about keeping "stupid wolf bitches and hammer swinging twats safe" as Sansa followed him out. Arya was forever amused by how fond of Sandor Sansa seemed to be and how he seemed to do anything that she told him to do. Jon came out with Ghost just as they were getting ready to leave.
"I know you have an entire pack out there waiting for you but I'd like you to take Ghost with you. That way I feel like I'm there with you," Jon said.
"Of course," Arya said as she beckoned for Ghost to join them.
"I asked one other person to accompany you and it would make me feel a lot better if you agreed," Jon said and he nodded to Tormund of the free folk. He grinned at them as he climbed onto his horse.
"The crow asked to come and keep an eye on you and your blacksmith, do you agree little wolf? Tormund asked. Arya knew that Jon trusted Tormund a great deal and to send him and Ghos with them was his way of saying that he wanted them to be safe.
"We'll be going South, do you think you can handle the heat?" Arya asked and Tormund laughed.
"I like this one," he said. Arya looked around at their band as everyone made their final preparations. Meera and Bran were softly talking to each other and Howland hugged his daughter goodbye. Beric and Thoros were already talking to each other about where they might find other members of the Brotherhood that could help them. Podrick was smiling at Brienne who nodded to him and stood close to Sansa. This was more help than she thought she would have and she smiled at Gendry who nodded to her.
"Please come home safe," Sansa said as she took Arya's hand and squeezed it.
"We'll do our best," Arya replied.
"Work together despite any issues you might have in the past," Bran said which was about as close to a 'good luck' as she was going to get from her brother. Arya could see Meera rolling her eyes from on top of her horse. Arya climbed on her own and nodded to her family. She just got home and she was already leaving but Arya knew that she was going to come back. Arya was going to come back after she got revenge for her family.