Chapter 2

Arya

After her sewing lesson with Septa Mordane, which had ended in a fight like it usually did, Arya seeked the market place to get her mind off things. Sansa hadn't attended the lesson, which was the first time in very long! Nor had she shown up for breakfast, and when Bran had asked after her, Mother had simply shrugged. But the look her parent's exchanged after did not go past Arya, and she knew something was wrong. They might not get along very well, but knowing Sansa was miserably gave Arya a strong feeling of pity, and she decided she would buy her something nice to cheer her up. A necklace, perhaps. Sansa had always enjoyed jewelries, especially since they were such a rare pleasure at Winterfell. Arya walked through the muddy snow to the forge, where she hoped Mikken had something pretty hid somewhere. She knew that although he mostly made swords and spears, he sometimes made trinkets for his wife, and she was hoping he might be willing to sell something to her.

Entering the forge, which was hot as always, she noticed a man with raven black hair standing with his back to her, hammering a piece of steel. His bare torso revealed how his muscles flexed by his movements, and Arya caught herself staring.

"Can I help you, lady Stark? Is your new sword not pleasing you?" Mikken's raspy voice called from next to her. Arya startled and gave him a smile, her cheeks reddening.

"The sword is great as always, Mikken. Today I was actually wondering if you have a necklace lying around that I could buy from you. It's for my sister."

Mikken scratched his beard had pursed his lips while thinking. As he ducked under a table and started to search through a drawer, the black-haired man turned and gave her a wide smile. Arya smiled back, struck by the man's handsome features. He couldn't possibly be older that Robb, but was much bigger built. While Robb's shoulders were rather slender, the new smith had wide and muscular shoulders, making his head look small. He reminded her a little of a bull.

Mikken reappeared with three necklaces draped in his large hands.

"Do any of these please the young lady?" he asked politely. Arya stared at them; they were so beautiful, yet none of them were as she had imagined.

"Although I find your work exquisite, I don't believe any of these are suitable for a sister to give to another sister," she said as politely as she could. Mikken's look darkened as he placed the necklaces back in the drawer. Arya felt bad for critizising his work, and considered buying one of the necklases just to please the old smith.

"You don't happen to have anything with a wolf on, do you?" she asked hopefully.

"If the lady means the house sigil, I have not," Mikken replied. "However, I could have something ready for tonight, m'lady."

Arya smiled widely by this. Sansa would be thrilled; not only would the necklace remind Sansa of her wolf, Lady, but it would be a symbol of their house. Surely this would be a suitable wedding present! Well, if there will be a wedding, that is, she reminded herself.

"That would be great," Arya said. Mikken nodded and turned to the young man, who was yet again engrossed by his work.

"Gendry, come here," he ordered. The man put the steel down and approached them, his stomach muscles flexing by every step he took.

"It's time to prove what you're worth. Lady Stark would like a necklace with their house sigil on. Take her order and sketch her description. Afterwards you can make it, and have it ready by tonight."

The young man – Gendry, nodded. He seemed a little nervous as he drew out a piece of paper and a pencil. Arya couldn't blame him; it seemed as if this was some kind of test, and Arya hated tests. Septa Mordane would frequently ask them to sew a dress to show how much they had learned these past years, and Arya had never gained anything but criticism from her.

"Would you like the necklace to be exactly like your house sigil?" Gendry asked, before hastily adding, "m'lady."

Arya bit her lip while she considered his question. Perhaps something a little different, but yet something similar enough would be more suitable? In case the Dayne's wouldn't like if their new lady of Starfall wore her old sigil, she decided it would be better if it was simply just a howling wolf. As she gave her reply, Mikken bowed his head and went to work on something in the far corner of the forge. Gendry seemed to relax considerably with his master gone.

"A howling direwolf?" he asked, a little skeptical. Arya realized he probably had never seen a direwolf in his life, and opened the door to call for Nymeria. Seconds later, her large wolf entered the forge and glanced at Gendry with big, weary eyes. Gendry gaped at the animal, obviously impressed.

"Something like her," Arya said. Gendry nodded and started to draw something on the paper. He sometimes looked at the wolf to get a detail right, but as he finished Arya was highly impressed by the result.

"That looks great," she blurted, her eyes big with envy. The man was skilled with a pencil. Gendry reddened by her compliment and returned his gaze to the paper.

"When do you think the necklace will be finished?" she asked, not taking her eyes of the sketch. It looked exactly like she had imagined, perhaps even better.

"By sunset, m'lady" he told her. She was happy to get such a precise answer.

"How much do you believe this will cost me?" she asked. Gendry considered the drawing for a moment.

"One moon," he replied. Arya nodded. It was a reasonable price. This would be, after all, Sansa's wedding, or no wedding gift.

She found Robb and Rickon practicing swordplay in the fighting yard, and was eager to fight whoever won. As she grew older, she had moved on from Needle, finding it was getting a little small for her. Although she wasn't nearly as tall as Sansa, she was still taller than she had been when Jon gave her the skinny sword. When her father had found out about her secret training, he hadn't approved it at first, but after seeing her in action, he changed his mind and let her continue. He had even gotten her a dancing master, who taught her how to move around the enemy during a fight. Her brother's had been skeptical to this foreign master, and kept practicing with Rodrik, but after seeing how much progress she made, they all asked for a few classes with Syrio. Even their master-at-arms had gotten a few tips from him, and even though they had eyed each other as rivals at Syrio's arrival, they were finally becoming friends.

"Hello there," a voice called from behind her. Bran came rolling towards her in the chair Mikken had made for him. It was now possible for Bran to move around the grounds without the need to be carried everywhere. His mood had lightened remarkably after the chair had finished, and he was no longer as depressed as he once had been after the climbing accident.

"I saw you at Mikken's. What are you getting? A new sword?" he asked as he approached her. She shook her head.

"An early wedding gift for Sansa, but if you tell her, I will hit you," she warned him. Bran chuckled.

"You cannot beat a cripple. That is unethical," he pointed out. Arya scoffed.

"Try me," she said. He gave her a grateful smile. She knew he hated being treated differently because of his handicap, but she had never shown him any mercy because of the accident. If she got mad at him, she would punch him in the shoulder, crippled or not.

"Did you hear the fight yesterday?" he asked, his expression darkening.

"I did," she sighed. "Sansa was a mess. Did you know she's been sneaking around with Jory Cassel?"

Bran rolled his eyes and shrugged. "I caught them once, but I promised her I wouldn't tell anyone. Obviously, mother figured out anyway."

"You knew and you never told me?" Arya asked, feeling slightly hurt. She and Bran had always been close, especially since the accident. She expected him to tell her everything, at least when it was about their sister.

"I made a promise," he said. "I would have done the same for you."

Arya sighed. Bran had always been good at keeping secrets, but not good at lying, which were one of his rare down-sides as he could never cover for her whenever she sneaked outside the castle walls without telling.

"What do you think will happen? Will she tell Edrick?"

"I don't know. I think she wants to marry Jory instead, but mother won't hear of it. He's not a lord."

"I think it would be great if she married Jory. He's always been good to us. Remember that time he took us bathing when mother and father were too busy? He's not just a guard, he's practically a part of the family," Arya said. Bran nodded.

"He's a bit older than she is, though," he said.

"Who cares how old he is? Aunt Lysa married Jon, even though he was twice her age!"

"That was many years ago," Bran stated, folding his hands in his lap. "Perhaps Edrick would rather marry you now."

She jerked around and stared at him. was he serious? The idea was repulsing! She couldn't even picture herself as a lady of a castle. She was no lady, nor had she ever been one.

"Relax, Arya, I'm only japing," he assured her, chuckling. "But you do know father will find you a husband eventually."

"Later rather than sooner," Arya said, shaking with disgust. "I don't want to be a lady! I want to be a knight like Brienne of Tarth! I want to fight, not attend stupid feasts wearing stupid dresses."

Bran sighed and looked at her with sadness gleaming from his dark eyes. "And I would give anything to be able to climb again, but we don't always get what we want, do we?"

Arya bit her lip and looked at her feet. She hated when he used his condition against her. Especially when he was right; Life is unfair.

Gendry

The young lady returned by sunset, her giant wolf following her. Gendry took a deep breath as he laid the necklace on the counter in front of her. His whole future as a blacksmith could depend on whether or not she liked it. Studying her reaction, he let out a sigh of relief; she liked it! Her eyes widened by the sight of the silver necklace, and her lips twisted into a large smile. She looked up at him, clearly impressed.

"Thank you!" she exclaimed, putting the necklace in the palm of her hand. "It's perfect, thank you."

He felt her words lift him several feet of the ground, and had to turn away to hide his smile. He had done it. She was happy, and he would be allowed to stay with Mikken and Myra a little longer.

"Oh, here's the moon," she said, pulling a money pouch from the hem of her breeches. He chuckled quietly as she scrambled through the pouch with muddy fingers. Mikken had told her about the youngest lady stark, who fought with swords rather than sew, and who played with her brothers instead of discussing fashion with her sister. Mikken also told him how much trouble she usually got herself into; she didn't like being told what to do, and rebelled against anyone who tried to tame her.

"Sansa will be thrilled," she smiled. Gendry accepted the coin she handed him, and tucked it into his pocket. The size of the coin felt odd and misplaced. Gendry had never had much money, and he knew that also this coin he would have to give to Mikken. Hopefully, he would earn a few slants for the work he put into it.

"I'm glad m'lady likes it," he said, bowing his head slightly. Arya frowned and crossed her arms.

"I'd prefer if you simply called me Arya," she said stubbornly. Gendry nodded.

"As m'lady commands," he said out of habit. She sighed let her hands drop to her side, looking exasperated.

"I'm not a lady, so you might as well stop," she patted her wolf's head. "Who are you anyway? I've never seen you here before."

"I'm Gendry," he almost said 'm'lady', but stopped just in time. "I came here from King's Landing." He suddenly realized he probably should have kept that last part a secret, but it was too late now. He made a mental note not to reveal where he was from to anyone else, and hoped Arya was not one of those who told everything to everyone. For some reason, he doubted she was.

"You're good," she said, motioning to the necklace in her hand. "Thanks again."

Just as she left, Mikken came down the stairs from their living area. "Was that the Stark girl?" he asked. Gendry nodded, and fished the moon out of his pocket to give it to his master, but Mikken shook his head.

"You did well today, kid," he said. "Keep it, you've earned it."

Gendry smiled widely and glanced after Arya through the window. Mikken sniggered huskily and started to pour water over the sparkling coal.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you lad, but Lady Stark is a little above your kin."

"I don't know what you're talking about," he replied gruffly and marched up the stairs where Myra had prepared dinner.

So, does it make sense? If there's any confusion, I can clear a few things up: The King did come to king's landing, but Ned turned his offer down. Jamie pushed Bran down from the tower, but he doesn't remember anything. Queen Cercei killed lady. I guess Joffrey and Sansa had some interest in each other, but as Ned didn't take the position as the king's hand, the marriage offer blew off as well. Arya did not chase Nymeria away, and Gendry was sent to Winterfell instead of the wall. Robb is to marry Tulla, Samwell's sister and Sansa is to marry Edrick Dayne and become Lady or Starfell.