They made it back to Acorn Hall the next evening. Lem had a tight hold of Arya's horse all the way.
"Are you going to chain me every night? You can't stop me forever." she told them as they travelled.
"I'll keep you locked up till you see sense, girl." Lem answered.
Arya had not expected that.
"I know you want vengeance Arya, but you need to be smart about it. You might be better with a sword than most boys your age, but you're no match for all the Frey's men. You won't get near them." Harwin pointed out in a kind tone.
"What would you have me do then?"
"Why not stay with Lady Smallwood and we will ask the master to teach you. He is old now, but it's better than nothing. Practice." Harwin suggested.
"Alright, if he will train me... and Lem promises not the chain me every night. But when I'm good enough you have to let me go where I please."
"Fine."
They all knew it was lie, but Arya was going to have to plan better if she was to kill everyone on her list, so she let them think that they fooled her.
Lady Smallwood bathed her and put her in dress for dinner. "I am happy to have you here, little one." She said.
"Arry, my name is Arry Snow." Arya said without emotion.
"So it is."Lady Smallwood looked at her and smiled gently.
Gendry's eyes brightened again when she entered the dining hall, but he could sense that something had changed in her. She did not engage him at all. He had hoped she was still playing a part for the men's sake, but he knew deep down that her coldness was real. The Brotherhood told them to go so they could discuss business after supper. No doubt they wanted to talk about the death of her family and did not want her to hear.
They went to the forge again, but this time there was no nervous sexual tension between them.
"I'm so sorry Arry... about your brother and mother, I really am. I wish you would talk to me. I'm worried about you." Gendry eyes were pleading with her to communicate.
"If that's true, help me." Her voice was so cold. It hurt Gendry to see his friend disappearing.
"Help how?"
"Make me armour, for my shape, not a mans. I need good armour that I can fight in and a man's is too heavy and awkward. I can't move in it."
He looked at the ground for a moment, and then said angrily, "No, I'll not do that."
"Why!" Arya demanded.
Gendry grabbed her shoulders, "I will not help you get yourself killed. I won't. I love you... I won't help to die."
His grip on her was tight and would surely bruise. They were so close she could feel his breath on her face. The anger and intensity of his glare would normally make her pause, but nothing affected her now.
She looked into his eyes and said simply, "Fine, I will find someone else."
With that she turned and left. As she walked from the forge she heard a loud bang. Gendry had obviously taken his anger out on the anvil. She didn't care about his anger though, she had enough of her own to keep her occupied.
The Brotherhood stayed for three days. Arya and Gendry barely spoke again. She would not engage in any real conversation with him. He often caught her starring into the distance. She ate little and never complained about Lady Smallwood making her bath and dressing her in gowns like she used too. She was plotting something, Gendry knew, but she no longer informed him of what was in her head. The men told Gendry to get ready to leave.
"Shouldn't I stay in case Arry tries to leave? I don't think she should be on her own."
"She has the Lady to take care of her now, boy. She won't run... not yet. We have others to protect." Lem reminded him.
"I know, it's just..."
Harwin cut in, "Perhaps we will find some of the men who killed her family and get some vengeance for her. We will be back in few months, boy."
Gendry went to the yard were Arya practiced with the master. She was in sword play, concentration etched on her face.
"You will never be as strong as man, girl. You have to be quicker than that or you die. Again!" he heard the master shout.
He stayed and watched until they had finished. Sweat dripped from Arya's face and she had the same detached look in her eye as she had since she came back from retching in the woods.
"I have to go soon."
"I wish you luck." She said flatly, not making eye contact.
"God's Arya, have you nothing else to say. I won't see you for months, if I make it back at all! You love me... you told me so yourself. Just say the word and I will tell my Brothers that I'm not going."
"Don't stay for me, unless you want to make that armour."
"No... I said no!... Have it your way. If I have a choice between you pretending not to love me or helping you get killed, I will gladly allow you to ignore me and act like the spoilt child you are." Gendry looked at her with fierce blue eyes. He would not back down. Arya clenched her fists and starred into his eyes.
"I'm not pretending. I don't love you, you stupid bull-headed Bastard. You are a craven... a real man would help me avenge my family."
"I'd help you if I thought you could avenge them. Maybe in the future, but not now."
"You're just sacred," she spat.
"I am scared that you will die, yes... but I was willing to risk my life to free you from a marriage you were traded into... and still you call me a craven! You are the most selfish creature I have ever met. You only think of yourself, 'Milady'. You are more highborn princess than you know!"
Arya's anger boiled and she struck him across the face.
"We will see how much of a princess I am when I sew Lord Frey's head to one of his sows! Go and play at being a knight Gendry, I have things to learn."
And with that she turned and walked away. Gendry left with the Brotherhood soon afterwards.
They had been gone six months when a traveller told Lady Smallwood that Ned Stark's youngest daughter, Arya, had married Lord Bolton, and they were travelling to Winterfell to claim the ruins. Lady Smallwood had told Arya casually. If she knew Arya's real identity, she did not allude to it. Arya keep her face still and treated the news just like she did when she heard that Sansa Stark had been married to the Lannister Imp, Tyrion, some weeks earlier. She had turned three and ten four month before and not long after had received her first moon blood. She was not particularly happy about it, like most girls seemed to be. The girls she had know in Winterfell spoke of it like a prize you receive so that you can wed and produce sons. Arya had no interest in any of that. All she cared about was her list and training so that she could kill every name on it. She thought of Gendry often, but pushed him from her mind every time. He makes me weak, she always thought.
In bed, on the night she heard that Arya Stark had married, she was overcome with sadness. They have taken my family, my home and now my name. I have nothing. I do not exist. She thought. It was only then that she realised how much of an advantage it could be. I exist only as Arry Snow. I can't be ransomed to King's Landing anymore... I am safe from the Queen. Arya started to think of the things she could become as Arry Snow. She didn't have to be a Lady. She could start again. But all she really wanted was vengeance. She began to form her plan. First, she would finally be able to reach out to her brother who, apart from Sansa, now married to the Imp at King's Landing, was the only family she had left. She would send a raven in the morning to the Wall. She would sign it Nymeria Snow, so that Jon would know it was her. The only problem was getting the apprentice master, who sent the ravens, to do it without telling anyone she was contacting the Wall. He was about five and ten, skinny and not particularly comely. His name was Sye and Arya had seen him look at her a few times when she passed him on the way to diner in one of her new gowns. It had annoyed her when he tried to catch a glimpse of her breasts as he passed, but that was before she needed his help.
She went to his tower the following morning dressed in a gown, which was low cut so to show her growing breasts. She needed to flirt, but had no idea how to do it. She had seen many women flirting over the years but she would never be able to act like Sansa and Jayne or the ladies at the Peach. She hoped the sight of her cleavage and a few smiles might persuade him. Arya hated lowering herself to these girlish games. She had thought to threaten him and say that she would slit his throat, but realised he would probably be scared and tell. However, if he thought she might lay with him, he would do anything, as all men do. They are so stupid and predictable, she thought. Not Gendry though. He had her kisses and threw them away by refusing to help her. He was so bloody stubborn.
Arya had written her letter to Jon in her chambers. In it she had congratulated him on the marriage of his 'little sister', Arya to Lord Bolton. She said that a girl called Arry Snow was at Acorn Hall and wanted him to know that she had spoken with Arya recently and that she was in the best of health. She was training because she was determined to 'right wrongs', a private message, but he would understand. Preparation was going well and within the next six months, Arry would head out and 'settle matters'. It was signed Nymeria Snow. Arya was certain that Jon would know it was her and reply. All she hoped for was a few words from her brother, the only one she now had. Sye had almost jumped when Arya walked into his raven room.
"Milady... ah, what can I do for you?" he fumbled.
Arya resisted the urge to tell him that she was not a Lady, and simply smiled at him and said,
"I would like to send a letter to a friend at the Wall, Sye. I was hoping you might help me."
She smiled as much as she could and tried to look at him the way she looked at Gendry, which always made him grab her and kiss her passionately. The only problem was, Arya had no idea how she looked at Gendry to incite that feverish reaction in him. It just always happened.
"The Wall? Umm... well Lady Smallwood usually..." he began to say before Arya walked over to him and touched his arm.
Looking into his eyes she said,
"Oh Sye, he is not a mere friend... but like a brother and I fear he has been injured. I would so much like to send him a comforting letter. He is so brave... living on the Wall, amongst all those rappers and murders."
Arya almost laughed when she emphasised those words. Playing a sad and venerable Lady was ridiculous, but also a little entertaining, she admitted.
"I would love to help you Lady Arry. I will just consult Lady Smallwood..."
Arya threw her hands to her face and sobbed.
"What is it Milady?... please, no do not upset yourself..." Sye was beginning to panic.
"I am sorry to be like this in front of you, Sye... it's just, Lady Smallwood would not approve of my friend at the Wall, and I fear she would forbid me contact with him... and then he will die, without a friendly word from me. Oh... it is too much to bear!"
Arya was enjoying herself now. She really had not laughed since Gendry left. He could always make her laugh out loud.
"Stop Milady, please... I will send the raven... do not trouble yourself any longer with these thoughts... Lady Smallwood will never know."
"I cannot thank you enough Sye, you are a true friend," she said as she lowered her arms, making sure he had a good view of her cleavage as she breathed heavily, faking sobs and insuring her bosom heaved before him.
When she raised her eyes he was starring at her chest and went a deep shade of red when he realised she caught him looking. She pretended she didn't see and watched him ready the bird, and send it. She thanked him, smiling and gently touching his arm before leaving.
As she walked back to her chambers, Arya could not help but laugh. I cannot believe that worked. There is as much power in kisses, flirting and breasts as there is in the sword, she though. Perhaps Sansa and Jayne were not so stupid after all. She did have to concede however, that she much preferred fighting and swordplay to flirting and pretend sobbing.
Arya waited impatiently for a reply. Two months had passed and nothing. She thought of sending another raven, but did not want to risk Sye telling Lady Smallwood. He had spent the weeks trying to get closer to her and be alone with her. She had rejected his attempts at 'friendship' in a nice way but was beginning to get frustrated. This is why killing them is much easier, she thought, they don't come back and bother you afterwards.
One afternoon, about seven months after they left, the Brotherhood returned to Acorn Hall. Arya had found herself hiding from them, before escaping to her chambers when she seen them enter the yard. She had not expected Gendry to return yet and did not want him to see her so flushed at the sight of him. Goosebumps had appeared all over her body, and the hair on the back of her neck had risen just by the sight of him at a distance. When she was getting dressed for dinner, she found herself choosing a low cut gown which hugged her hips. Gendry always moaned louder when he placed his hands on her hips during their kisses, so she though this purple gown would catch his attention. Her hair had grown longer so she allowed the gentle curls at the ends to fall over her shoulders. She knew she had something to prove to Gendry tonight, but she wasn't sure what it was.
Since getting her moon blood, Arya had begun to dream of Gendry and their intimate times together. In bed at night she would try not to think of him, his arms, his lips and way he looked at her when he was hungry for her. Those looks that made her body jerk with anticipation. She would feel hot and heavy between her legs. It was torture to her as she did not know how to release it. And now he is back.
She is angry at him and will not yield, she knows that, but she wants him again. The thought of his touch is the only thing that takes her attention away from her lust for vengeance. It makes her weak, yes, but it feels damn good.