Arya

She had arrived back from the hunt well after dark, the men were sodden and cold from the snow but they had found a boar and several stags fighting through the ice to the south. Enough fresh meat to ensure the Queens wedding would be a truly regal occasion, she felt triumphant as she squelched into Winter hall blood smeared on her face and mud kicked up her haunches, Nymeria swaggering beside her.

"You've to bathe and bed." Jon said when he caught sight of her.

"says who?" she asked sitting beside him and taking a large swill from his cup.

"The queen, it's her wedding tomorrow so you must be on your best behaviour!" he said teasingly with a prod to her side.

"I have to wear a dress." She moaned, standing again and preparing to head back into the cold and over to the great keep and her warm room. "I'm going to look ridiculous."

"you're going to look beautiful." Jon said with a reassuring smile, Arya rolled her eyes in response.

Coralline was waiting for her in her room, the bath was already drawn and her night clothes were laid out.

"good hunting your Grace?" the handmaid asked as she helped the princess out of her muddy boots and sodden breeches.

"surprisingly so!" she stepped into the hot water with a satisfied sigh.

Coralline proceeded to scrub Arya from head to toe. The Braavosi girl used orange oils and spiced vanilla to cleanse her Graces skin and scent her hair "I shall comb it through tonight." She said to Arya as she eyed the many knots in her thick brown locks, "it'll be easier whilst it's wet."

Arya grimaced, just like she'd done all those years ago when her mother had told her the same thing. "the queen is coming Arya, you can't go out with matted hair" that's what her mother had said… she wished she could go back in time and acquiesce without note, she wished she could go back and smile and nod and hug her mother and tell her she loved her rather than curse her. She would be good for her sister's wedding, to make up for all the times she was bad. She was determined that she would be on her best behaviour, she'd enthuse about her hairstyle and smile prettily at the Lords… just for Sansa she would be a lady. She nodded and allowed her handmaid to run a bone comb over and over through the knots that had built up over days of inattention, her hair was longer than it had been in years almost down to her middle like her mothers It had been part of her reclaiming of the identity she'd lost the day it had all been chopped off, the day she'd stopped being Arya.

When it was finally untangled the water had grown tepid, she stepped out and was wrapped in linens by the handmaid who grinned puckishly "I'm quite sure I've just developed muscles where there were none before." The girl said as she flexed her aching arms.

"maybe give the ones in your jaw a rest to compensate?" Arya responded with a twin grin as she nudged the girl and pulled her night dress on. "are my dresses for tomorrow ready?" she asked, her nose scrunched in distaste at even discussing finery.

"yes your Grace, the day and the night. I'll lace you in and make sure you're presentable. There's nothing for you to worry about." Coralline smiled reassuringly as she turned down the bed, already occupied by Nymeria. The wolf had taken to the little Braavosi as quickly as Arya and gave her hand a gentle nudge with her nose as she pulled the sheets back.

"Your sister wants to Break her fast with you in the solar, then you're to get dressed together as is northern custom. You'll be in the Godswood by sundown which will fall at around three" she listed the activities for the next day as she tucked Arya under the blankets in a motherly fashion, Arya liked that about Coralline… she was young but had an old soul. It was a typical Braavosi trait, the women there were very maternal in nature "it will just be you and your brothers and sister, her betrothed, The imp, and the Maester. Then you and your sister will return and change for the feast, and the rest will be easy." The little woman said soothingly as she extinguished the lamps and made to exist.

"Thank you Coralline" Arya called, sounding younger than ever.

"You are welcome Princess Arya." As she closed the door the girl from Braavos sent up a prayer of protection over the wolf girl, her ward.

The wedding day felt like a rush and Arya struggled to hold to her promise to be on her best behaviour, Sansa was a potent mixture of giddy and anxious which seemed to cause Arya great laughter. They broke their fast with a luxurious meal of creamed eggs and lemon tarts and while Arya shoved the delicacy's, Sansa's favourites, down her throat like they were her last meal Sansa frowned and worried her lips.

"What's wrong?" Arya had asked for the millionth time "You've done nothing but go on about how much you love Pod, and I've been really patient and good at feigning interest… and got no credit might I add… and now you look like you're on your way to an execution" Perhaps not the wisest choice of words, Arya's gallows humour was far more refined than the queens.

"I am a maiden" Sansa groaned, she wished there were older women, a septa, a mother, an aunt to tell her what exactly she should do "what If I do it wrong?"

"Oh don't be silly, it's easy… you just let him stick you with the pointy end." Arya grinned at the queen, her big sister… who's tension broke in a roar of laughter, like a crashing wave against salted rocks.

" Arya!" she squealed in delight and shock.

'I will be good today, I will make Sansa smile and be polite to drunk Lords, I will not stab anyone, I will eat with utensils and not my fingers, I will not run, I will behave like the Septa always wanted me to… I will be a princess for Sansa.' Arya repeated her mantras as she was forced into the first dress of the day, Coralline had picked her clothes and her day dress, the dress she'd wear to the heart tree was very nice if dresses were your thing. Thick sky blue fabric formed a stiff garment, the neckline was high and only allowed for her collar bone to show, the sleeves long and fitted showed off her slender but well defined arms. Arya was short and slim but she had breasts, much to her own chagrin "I can't fire a bow like I used to" she'd countered when Sansa had complimented her on her bosom… Sansa had been drinking wine since breakfast

"Coralline, please force my sister to sit and eat some bread at least." Arya said as she eyed herself once more in the long polished brass. the fitted bone of the corsetry made her usual hunched figure seem longer and more womanly. She'd been forbidden from strapping her chest down and so felt a little off balance. "I'll be wearing a cloak over this?" she asked Coralline who was currently helping Agatha with the elaborate braiding of Sansa's hair as the queen silently ate strips of bacon.

"As Her Graces witness and unwed sister you must stand with her… cloak-less as a show of solidarity my grace." Agatha answered, she was a font of knowledge when it came to the 'old ways' Arya imagined that she was how an 'old nan' started, and perhaps in 100 years' time when they were long dead 'old Aggy' would still be here in Winterfell, wizened and knitting and telling the Stark children about the first Queen of the North and her wolf sister.

"I'll be frozen."

"You will be fine." Coralline said reassuringly as she guided Arya to a chair and made a start on her hair.

There was a knock at the door.

"who is it?" Sansa called tipsily.

"Maester Samwell your Grace, I have someone who wishes to speak… it's urgent your Grace." His tone was so strange, so worried that Arya knew something was wrong. Sansa seemed to sober instantly. Coralline reached into her waistband and retrieved a small dagger and placed herself between Arya and the door.

"enter." The queen said, her voice no longer giggling.

The door opened and Sam stood aside to reveal a man, older now but still familiar "Harwin?" it was her father's man, the master of horses.

"You are to be married today?" he asked Sansa, she nodded. His voice was cold and worn. "and you someday soon Lady Arya?" Arya nodded too.

"Then I have come at the right time." He laid two small packages on the floor and cleared his throat, he was filthy, his hair long and wild his nails grubby. "Lady Stoneheart wishes you luck and happiness on this special day" he recited without much tone "She wishes that your mother could have been with you but hopes that the gifts she has sent will ease the loss" … "She also requests that Arya stop attempting to make contact with her, she is north of north where she will stay till the skies turn black and the earth turns to ice. Alone." His final word seemed the only one with emotion.

"she has sent you away?" Arya asked, hoping her sister would not be upset at her direct disobeyed orders… she wanted to see her mother, even if she wasn't her mother at all.

"She sent us all away once she found a spot."

"a spot?" Sansa asked.

"to sit." He responded as though the most logical thing ever. "I must leave, Lyanna, Caitlyn…" he looked around the room disorientated before Samwell led him from it. "I'll see he's cared for." The Maester said quietly as he closed the door leaving the two packages.

"I will inspect them." Coralline said firmly as she strode to the packages and eyed them, prodding them with her knife. She nodded her satisfaction, Arya was the first to walk over she bent and picked a small parcel wrapped in grubby cloth. The letter 'A' was shakily scrawled, she peeled back the fabric revealing a small wooden box. She opened it with shaking fingers and saw something she'd never thought she'd see again "It's mother's fish comb!" she gasped "Sansa it's the one I loved when I was little, look!" she looked to her sister who remained seated, Agatha was no longer braiding her long auburn hair. Sansa's eyes were red and fat tears rolled from them; Arya bent low and picked up the other package handing it to her sister.

"They're not really from mother, you know that?" Sansa said sharply

"Yes." Arya said.

"But it was nice of Old Cold heart to think of us." Arya projected calm acceptance, inside she was a cyclone of hurt, anguish and fresh loss. She would be strong for her sister.

"It was probably Harwin's idea, now that she's gone… North. An old lady sent us our Lady mothers jewellery for your wedding day, isn't that nice." Arya knelt before her sister "It's my fault she sent him, I've been sending Ravens for months now all over asking to see her. It's my fault I'm sorry, I just wanted to see mother."

"I felt the same way when I heard word, but then when I got an audience with her… She's not mother, she's monstrous." Sansa sympathised with Arya's curiosity "I understand little sister; you were only doing as I had already done." Sansa took a breath and looked to the small box Arya had laid on her knee, a crude S carved on it. She opened it and couldn't help the smile when she saw the black onyx ring her father had bought for her mother when she'd bore him Robb. They were both in this ring, and that seemed to lighten her slightly.

"Your Graces, time… We haven't much of it left." Coralline said as delicately as one could in this situation.

"I want my mother's comb in my hair please." Arya said handing it to the maid, she noticed with a smile that Coralline wiped the teeth of the comb on her skirt thoroughly, a poisoned comb was not unheard of.

"you know Jon and Sandor have already been through all this, they'd never have let him up without a full search." She said quietly to the ever diligent maid.

"One can never be too careful when it comes to combs" the Braavosi said cryptically with a wiggle of her eyebrows before picking up a length of hair and weaving it with another.

The rest of their time in the solar went by with a much more sombre tone, Arya attempted to lift Sansa's mood by offering her more wine but she had shaken her head and retreated back to veering between anxiety and light headedness. Finally, it came time to head to the Godswood, Jon, Rickon and three Wolves arrived at the door of the Solar to collect them and escort them to the heart tree. Bran, Podrick, Samwell and Tyrion waited there.

"Take a deep breath Sansa" Jon said as he led her down the stairs "there's a lot of people waiting." Arya hadn't expected that, but when the doors of the great keep opened and dusks light trickled in she saw a sea of humanity split down the middle allowing them to walk across the courtyard and into the Godswood. All of the lords, Banner-men, small folk from Wintertown and the surrounding hamlets stood in silence and watched in awe as Sansa their queen led the Stark Pack out of the Great Keep, a wolf at either side of her, Arya walked behind her with Rickon at her side and her Direwolf, Jon finished the train alone. The people in silent awe fell in behind him as they walked, closing the passage. Arya kept her eyes forward-facing, watching her sisters head, she knew the men at the front of the crowds were Sansa's men and felt safer for it. She heard whispers of praise as she passed, apparently the wolf girl in a dress was a bigger treat than the wedding itself to some... she grinned a little at this and attempted to quell it. When Rickon saw her struggling to remain straight faced he too started to grin, it was infectious anyone who looked at the two young Starks struggling to remain composed as they walked the short distance to their sister's wedding started grinning too. And then they were in the Godswood, and soldiers blocked off the archways leading in and everything felt quiet.

"lord Edmure's making a fuss My lord." She heard one of the guards tell Jon.

"Tell him to fuck off." Jon responded in a barely audible whisper.

"Edmure is here?" 'Well of course he is' she thought to herself, 'it's his nieces wedding.' "Oh Gods is Gendry here?" she gasped suddenly very self-conscious.