Nothing happened that was interesting, for the rest of the week. Aulix sat in on a few card games and twice Arya joined him. They all had a lot of time to think, self reflect and relax. Arya couldn't stop her mind from trying to figure out the water beast. They still had yet to see clearly what it looked like.

"What do you think the beast below is? A big ass water snake?" Arya asked Aulix suddenly.

"I've been in a snake's mind, it's not smart. Not to mention they swallow food whole and our friend bites chunks…. don't ask why I know that. It's mind is nothing I've ever connected to."

"If we asked, do you think it would tell us what it is?"

"Does it really matter that much?" Aulix sighed.

Arya nodded, "I want to see it. Is it one of it's kind or are there more?"

"You ask it then."

She didn't like that answer. "You suck."

"What do I get out of it, since I don't care either way?"

Arya knew better than asking what he wanted. "How about a really long back rub, in exchange."

Aulix accepted the terms. "Alright, next time it comes around, I'll try and find out more."

That conversation transpired two days later. Aulix was once again helping Arya fish. The water beast made it's presence known, after they were done. It mind jumped into her first, laughing hysterically and asking her to send another body overboard. She pushed it out of her mind. Aulix then went into his trance, to join with it. He had a hard time getting a straight answer, but his promise to Arya was fulfilled. He also was now in debt to the creature.

She could see he was back into his own body. "Well what is it? Did you ask how far we are from land?"

He rubbed his temple, already feeling a headache coming on. "It's a young Nagga. Land is closer, soon we'll be able to see sea birds." The strain on him from that union of minds, made him stand up and vomit over the rail.

"Are you okay?"

"I think it intentionally hurt me this time. Like it was offended I asked."

"I'm sorry…. Sit down, I'll massage your temple and pressure points first. Drink some water." Arya felt bad for causing Aulix's misery. "A Nagga is a sea dragon right?"

"Yeah, I didn't think they existed anymore."

"Explains a lot though…. wow… we've gone into the mind of a dragon and survived!"

"We swam with it…. we're lucky to be alive."

Arya hugged him from behind and kissed his cheek. "Thank you."

"I promised it another human body. That debt is now on both of us."

She smiled, "give me a name."

He rolled his eyes, even though she couldn't see it. He wondered who had worse blood lust; the Nagga or Arya. Her fingers helped ease the headache and then began to travel from his head, to neck and then shoulders. It felt good and he relaxed under her manipulations.

"I bet when you get back and tell Taron about the Nagga, he's gonna flip shit." The only response she got was a grunt.

The back massage occupied some of their time, but boredom was setting in again. Arya kept trying to pick fights with male passengers, until Aulix put a stop to it. Normally he wouldn't interfere and just observe, but he didn't like how much attention to them she was drawing. How he stopped it, was quick and stealth. Waiting until her back was to him, then a quick tap of his knife under her armpit and a whispered order. She knew his patience was on the verge of breaking, since he'd taken it that far.

"The Nagga isn't in any hurry, so why are you?"

She didn't answer, but Arya found her body reacting in a different way, to his annoyance with her. She'd never seen Aulix truly angry, this was the most negative emotion he'd ever shown her. It was a turn on, but a dangerous game in every way. Taron had often warned her, that even if she thought she understood Aulix, she didn't. Would Aulix kill her even now? The answer was in his eyes and it instantly stilled her restlessness.

"I'll behave. I didn't mean to test your patience."

He sighed, "yes you did….are you sure you want to dance with this devil?"

A laugh bubbled out of her and she grabbed his hand, pulling him into a dance with no music. Using a language she'd almost forgotten and channelling what Arya imagined was what her sister Sansa would say, coaxed him to dance like the royal court would. The boy's who's mother she had saved, laughed and clapped his hands.

"I'm the one that should be leading," Aulix chuckled and added, "my lady."

Arya stopped suddenly. "Don't call me that." She let go and moved away from him. There was only one man, that she wanted to hear say those words.

He knew this mood. Taron had trigged it once and had come to him for advice, not understanding what he'd done or how to fix it. Aulix followed her. "Words from the man you love…. I won't say them again."

She turned and hugged him. He didn't take advantage of her vulnerability. Aulix liked when her humanity came out and if Gendry could do that with just a few words, then he'd help her find him once they reached land. "Sometimes we need to remember our past, in order to find the future."

The words needed to stop, he was right, but the part that she'd buried deep, began to pulse with hurt. Her lips made contact with his. A distraction is what Arya had been looking for all day. But seconds later, the Nagga interrupted and made the hand that was on Aulix's shoulder, grip her head. Unable to handle the mind merge, she collapsed in his arms. He still held her, when it left her mind, but they were now siting on the deck.

"I thought you said it was patient for our body debt?"

"Shitty timing," he teased. "How's your head?"

"No longer in the past, only in the present….It threatened to sink the ship and take what it wants."

"It won't. The Nagga is playing a game. Think about how easily the storm could've offered up bodies for it; live, struggling, humans. Or when the winds were gone and the ship couldn't run away?"

"And it put the demand into my mind and not yours….I'm tempted to dress a sack of potatoes in human cloths, put some pigs blood on it and throw it over board!"

"That would be a good way to piss it off."

"Can you get your hands on some cider?"

"Not a good head remedy."

Arya sighed, "No shit… never mind, I'll hit on the cook and get it myself." She tried to stand and could'nt. "This didn't happen the last time I connected to it…. why this time?"

"It came in when you weren't ready, not expecting the mind meld. Forced in, hurts more."

"Well I'm the idiot who wanted to know what it was…. stupid dragon."

He grinned and stood up, "I'll go get you some cider and find out who should be the next body overboard."

She let him get a few steps away, "Aulix… I shouldn't..I mean I'm…."

"Just relax, I'll be back in a bit." He walked away, a smile playing on his lips.