Sandor didn't know what surprised him more. The fact that someone could sneak on him like that or that the girl didn't seem intimidated at all by his presence. His rough appearance and the burnt face usually had that effect on people, but the girl just stood there with the hands on her hips and a expression of disappointment and concern.

"How did you get in, girl?" he asked with his raspy voice

"Don't change the subject" she answered "Getting drunk never helps anyone"

"That voice" he thought, he knew he had heard that voice before. Her face was also strangely familiar.

Arya knew he recognized her when his eyes widened. He looked at the bottle and then back at her.

"Great" he said "Now I am seeing things"

He turned from her and put the bottle on a small table, then went to his bed to lay there.

"I am real, sandor"

"Go away, you are just a fragment of my imagination"

He turned his back on her but she immediately appeared standing on the other side of the bed.

"You do know who I am, do you?…you used to call me the little wolf-bitch"

Sandor grunted and closed his eyes, wishing for her leave him alone, but when he opened his eyes she was still there with a bemused smile on her face.

"I may be drunk, but I know you are not real….I heard she died when I was in winterfell 3 months ago. They even accused me to having something to do with her death"

For a moment he seemed to reflect on his words

"Why am I talking to myself?"

He closed his eyes again as tiredness was finally gaining on him and soon he was snoring loudly.

"Great" Arya thought

Sandor woke up with a terrible headache; he barely remembered the last night's strange encounter with his own imagination.

He rose from his bed and poured some water on his face.

"Sleep well?"

Sandor froze, he knew he wasn't drunk and yet he heard the voice very clearly.

He turned and saw the smiling face of the Stark Girl. Now that he was sober, he noticed how changed she was from the last time he had seen her. No longer a child but a young woman, perhaps 17 or 18 years old; she was tall for a woman, taller even than most men he knew. Her dark brown hair was also longer than what he remembered.

"Am I going mad?" he wondered and decided that the best course of action would be to ignore her. He reasoned that perhaps his "vivid imagination would just go away. Unfortunately his "imagination" was persistent.

"I know you can see me" Arya said when it was obvious he was ignoring her "And I am not going anywhere"

Sandor left the room followed closely by her. He found Tyrion and Bronn already having breakfast.

He sat with them and tried to eat his breakfast at peace, but it was hard to do so as Arya sat on an empty chair next to him, refusing to be ignored.

"Something wrong?" Tyrion asked when he noticed the uneasiness in his face.

"Nothing" he replied "Just a bad night"

Arya smirked at him and then reached out to touch his hand

"I know you can feel my hand, Sandor….the sooner you acknowledge my presence the better for all of us"

he tried as best as he could to ignore her during breakfast, but his efforts only seemed to amuse her.