Gendry's arms wrapped around her, crushing her into a hug. She wasn't really a hugger, but she had to admit it was kind of nice. He smelled of burnt wood and metal.

'Where have you been hiding this last year and a half?' he said, stepping back and holding her out at arm's length. 'Arya, HotPie, this is... what name you goin' by these days?'

The girl turned and gave the skinny kid next to them a closer inspection in the light of the flames. 'Is your name Arya? Gods, I thought you were a boy! I had a brother about your age. I was thinking of him when you... surprised me. I guess that's why.'

'Nah,' the kid called Arya said, shrugged. 'Most people think I'm a boy.'

'You're too pretty to be a boy.'

The kid glowered and Gendry laughed. Even HotPie snorted through his mouthful of cheese. 'It's only 'cause she don't know you well enough that she ain't hit you yet,' Gendry guffawed. 'Just don't go callin' her a lady, trust me. It hurts.'

The girl smiled politely at what was obviously an in-joke.

'Where's your brother?' Arya asked.

'What?'

'You said you had a brother. Where is he?'

The girl narrowed her eyes, irked by the kid's needling. 'I don't know,' she replied, in a tone that warned the topic was now closed.

Arya looked unsatisfied by this answer, but moved straight on 'What's your name?'

'Hey kid, settle.'

'I'm not a kid,' Arya said indignantly, 'and I only asked who you were.'

'Well, I called myself Robberta before, to some nosy-arse soldiers.'

'Is that your name?'

'No.'

Gendry interrupted the escalating tension, a hint of worry in his voice: 'Soldiers? Were they Lannister soldiers?'

'Nah. Those are the red ones, right?' The girl deliberately didn't volunteer any more information. Whatever it is you all are running from, it's not my business. Just like mine isn't yours. Arya opened her mouth to possibly fire off another twenty questions, but Gendry shook his head slightly and she closed it again.

Gendry turned back to the girl, put his hand on her shoulder. She noticed how broad his arms were, how much he'd filled out since she'd last seen him. 'Well, it's good to see you, Robberta,' he grinned. 'The Capital was a duller place without your visits.'

'I still go there,' the girl said,' I just don't hang about. Drop and run, on market day.'

'Yeah, it's got kind of crazy there I heard, with the war and everything.' A crease formed between Gendry's eyebrows. 'I missed you on Steel street. I could always see you from Mott's doorway at the end of every other month, you and that ugly horse. And I hate to say this girl, but -' he looked her up and down, 'You don't half look like shit.'

'I don't half feel like shit, too,' she grinned tiredly.

'Is that blood on your top? And your hands...'

'Sunburn.'

Gendry raised his eyebrows, but let it go. 'Days have been stinking hot lately,' he agreed.

'And some idiots say winter is coming.' The girl tried to laugh and ended up coughing instead. When she looked up, the kid Arya was fixing her with a dirty look.

'Fire always burns brightly right before it dies out,' Arya said. The girl smiled at her thinly. Weird kid.

'You look in need of some food and a bit of a sit down.' Gendry patted her shoulder, squeezed a little with his strong fingers. The girl thought he might go in for another hug, so she stepped over to the fire and held out her hands as if to warm them. The heat on her scabs made them sting, but she ignored it.

Gendry intercepted the cooking pan on the way to HotPie's mouth, tipping a portion of the food from it onto a thick slice of bread, slapped some cheese on top, and a scoop of white fish. He handed this to the girl. 'Thanks,' she smiled gratefully at them all, and tried to resist cramming the whole lot into her mouth at once. In the end the bite she took was almost too big to chew.

'Mmmm,' she mumbled appreciatively.

'Have a seat,' Arya offered, then turned to Gendry. 'How do you two know each other?'

'Ahhh, she used to deliver stuff to the markets in KingsLanding, a while back. We talked a few times, I shod her horse, she brought me gear I wanted if I asked nice... what was that posh looking shield you got me that time?' Gendry looked at the girl, but she still had a mouthful of food and couldn't talk, so he kept going, 'Remember? With the serrated gauntlet, and the spikes and the... lantern on it? That thing weighed a tonne, I think I pulled a muscle just gettin' it from the street to the back of the workshop. Never used it o'course, but damn it looked impressive.'

The girl swallowed. 'Ah yes, the Lantern Shield. Dazzling the enemy in the eyes while simultaneously breaking their sword and then stabbing them to death. I'm sure it looked good on parchment. As long as it impressed the Ladies.'

'You liked it well enough.'

'I could hardly pick the damn thing up, it near killed me and Sooty dragging that shield all the way from Deepwood.'

'Sooty's strong as an ox. Where's she at these days?'

The girl's cheeks were full of food again, and before she could answer, Arya spoke for her: 'Is that her horse? She said she lost it. That's why she was whistling before.'

'Oh I'm.. hells. I'm sorry,' Gendry said.

The girl kept chewing, nodded, smiled. Eat this food, get out of here, she thought.

'So where you off to, on your way to the Capital?' Gendry asked.

The girl finished her food, and tried a jest, 'Not if you're not there any more, Gendry.' It was obvious her heart wasn't in it though, and the teasing fell flat.

'Gah, don't make like you fancied me, not after avoidin' me for years.' Gendry turned to Arya, who was listening intently. 'I used to annoy the crap out of this girl, followin' her 'round the market like a puppy. Hey, remember when I called you My Queen for the entire day? You was paradin' around wearing that choker of jewels you was meant to deliver to some Lady, and your hair all up in a fancy 'do; you was just like her.'

'Like fuck!' the girl shuddered. She glanced at Arya. 'Sorry.'

'A younger, scruffier, more foul-mouthed version of her, mind,' Gendry elaborated, with a grin.

'I think peering into the smithy's furnace all day made you go blind.'

'You never even seen the Queen, girl. What would you know.'

'Yeah commoners like me don't know what we look like. Never had a mirror, me,' the girl rolled her eyes. 'Don't go dragging me into it your royal fantasies, just 'cause everyone was always telling you how much you look like The King.'

'Yeah, the old, dead one.' Gendry rubbed his head with one hand, as if self-conscious. 'The new one, not so much.'

'The boy King? Ugh. I hear he's a corrupt little coward, so,' the girl couldn't help herself. 'Maybe he won't be King long. Maybe someone will drive a big lance right up his arse and hoist him like a flag for the crows to pick his eyeballs out.' Too late, she regretted her vitriol, would have bit it back if she could.

The other three stared at her, and Gendry looked a bit startled. Why'd you go and say that for? the girl scolded herself. You don't know where their loyalties lie. Don't let old friendships slip you up.

'I'm sorry, I'm just... it's been a long day. You know those days that go on forever?' The girl yawned, stretched her legs. The food and the sitting had made her weary. 'I still need to get to the Inn, buy something, before it closes. Thank you so much, though, for the food.'

'If you can wait five minutes I'll come with you,' Gendry said. 'We was just finishing up gatherin' enough firewood to last us the night. Wasn't we, HotPie?' He gave the fatter kid a hard look, and HotPie reluctantly put down the pan and slowly followed Gendry out of the circle of firelight, still licking his fingers.

The girl stared into the flames. They leapt up and fell back like grasping hands. Sparks drifted upwards on columns of smoke and winked out in the blackness. Now that it was just the two of them, Arya's dogged attention was hard to shake.

'Are you travelling on your own?'

'Yeah. I like my own company.'

'We've been walking for days, you're the first person we've seen.'

'You'll see more people around here, soon enough. Not all of them friendly. Can you use that sword?' the girl pointed to the steel resting against Arya's seat.

'Yeah. I'm good at it,' Arya's lips turned up with a hint of pride.

'You look like you'd be quick. Quick beats strong, every time. Especially if you get 'em in the neck, right there.' The girl mimed a sword thrust. 'Dead.'

Arya looked pleased, the way another type of girl would if you praised her sewing. 'I knew someone used to say that.'

'Meh, I know a lot of people. I guess we have mutual friends.'

'Were you and Gendry... ?' Arya looked awkward.

'Fuck no! I mean, sorry. No. We were just friends,' the girl laughed a little. 'Just used to talk sometimes, when we ran into each other, you know?'

'Do you live in KingsLanding?'

'No. I... well I grew up around here, actually. But I haven't been back here for a while.'

'Why not?'

The girl looked pained, it was on the tip of her tongue to tell Arya it was none of her business. But then she sighed. 'Just bad memories,' she said, quietly. 'My brother he... died here. I just miss him sometimes, is all.'

Something stirred in the depths of Arya's grey eyes, a kind of knowing coldness, and they glazed over like frost settling on a puddle. 'I have bad memories of this place, too.'

The girl felt a chill breeze rise up her spine, like ghostly fingers brushing against it. She shuddered, pulled her jacket closer around herself. The fire crackled and spat, and it almost sounded like voices whispering. Arya went on, with a soft intensity, 'But you don't need to worry. I'm going to make it right. I say their names before I go to sleep.'

'Who's names?' the girl asked, unnerved, wondering if this kid was quite right in the head.

'My enemies.'

'What enemies?'

'You have to know your enemies.'

'Huh?'

Arya looked up, away from the fire, and her big eyes were black like holes in her head. As if she didn't have any eyes. 'When a dog is sent to kill someone, is it the dog's fault? Or the one who sent it?'

The girl shivered. This kid was creeping her out. 'I'd say... a dog doesn't know any better. Like, with my horse; if I told her to attack someone. It's my fault, not hers.'

'But people don't have to do what other people tell them. Do they?'

'I don't know,' the girl said. 'Maybe. Sometimes. It's complicated. What is this about?'

Arya's eyes glittered like shards of ice. 'In the end, it doesn't matter how a person dies. How someone dies isn't... who they are.'

'What do you mean?' the girl said. The food and warmth had lulled her, but now she sat upright on the edge of her seat. 'What the fuck are you even talking about?'

'If your brother died here you shouldn't be afraid. I had a friend died here, and a wolf, too. They were buried together. I always think the wolf is looking after him.' Arya's voice was flat, emotionless. 'She was a good wolf. She wouldn't hurt anyone.'

The girl started trembling, dug her nails into her hands. She waited for Arya to say something else but the silence stretched on, broken only by the snap of twigs in the fire.

'Your friend.. where was he buried?' she heard herself say, as if from a great distance. Blood rushed in her ears. She dug her fingernails into her palm to keep from shaking, heedless of the fresh blood that leaked from them. Was this the answer, here? Will I get resolution for you Mycah, here with this strange kid who once knew you, on this day that never seems to end?

The girl thought that if time stood still now she could be happy, because right at that moment, before Arya opened her mouth to speak, there was a faint flicker of hope. Hope that Arya would finally be the one to give her the answer she so desperately wanted. Needed.

'I don't know where,' Arya shook her head, and the hope flicked out.

'He wasn't trying to kill the boy King, like everyone says!' the girl whispered, tears welling up and blurring her vision. 'He would never hurt... anyone!'

'I know,' Arya said.

There was a loud crash as a log was thrown and splintered onto the fire, sending the sparks whirling and jumping crazily. The girls started, looked up. Gendry dusted his hands, as HotPie staggered up behind him, barely able to see where he was going over a massive pile of branches.

'Come on then,' Gendry said, 'You girls finished gossipin'? Let's go.'