Arya
Despite her best efforts, she had been forced to dance with at least three young men, only one of whom got notably handsy. She had dealt with his wandering digits by swiftly grabbing them and bending them in a direction the god s had never intended, he'd fallen to his knees before her with an almighty roar that had stopped the revellers in their tracks. Guards sprung to their princess's side; "It is treasonous to grab your royal princess' arse, do you understand that boy?" Arya had asked of the man ten years her senior who was currently sobbing in her clutches, he had nodded and she had released him only to watch him then be dragged from the hall legs first by the guards on duty. Gendry had yawned three times in a row and rubbed his eyes furiously, she'd had to order him to bed after he seemed determined to stay by her side… as a result he'd missed her "arse" incident.
"The party is concluding my grace, you can retire." Tyrion said from somewhere near her elbow.
"Really? I promised Sansa I'd do my family duty…"
"My Grace, you don't have to wait until every last gin soaked Lord has had his fill. You leave them with ale and wenches, that is more than generous." The imp lead her by the elbow "I shall accompany you to the keep."
"Plan to defend me?" she asked scathingly.
"Heavens no, It's I who need the defending!" he responded quickly leading her to the large doors, she nodded her goodbyes to the loutish Lords as she went.
"If we are to be friends my lord… Please don't make things complicated with Gendry." She had tried not to sound so pitiful, but she'd had a knot in her stomach since her sister had mentioned his arrival in the Gods Wood and it hadn't gone away. She wasn't sure what had her so scared, but she recognised that the fear was there nonetheless.
"I wouldn't dream of it my Grace… I might tease on occasion but I'd never complicate."
"I don't suppose I can tempt you to curtail the teasing?" she probed further.
"And deny a very small man his only joy?"
Arya was glad to be rid of the Imp at the door to the great keep, she was even gladder to be returning to her own rooms and not her father's solar. The ribbons had begun to dig into her flesh, her hair follicles felt cramped and her feet sore, she wanted nothing more than to allow her maid to unlace her before sleeping for at least ten hours. Her plans were halted momentarily when her foot came into contact with something soft yet unyielding on the dark floor outside of Robb's old room. For a second she wondered if it were one of the wolves but realised not when the shape whispered "Oi"
"Lyle… is that you on the floor?" she asked her hand on the hilt of needle until her suspicions confirmed.
"Keep your voice down Grace, my lord is sleeping in there." Lyle uttered in a hushed tone as he leapt to his feet silently.
"Gendry?"
"Lord Baratheon yes, queen Sansa had him moved into the family keep to make room in the guest house… for drunk Lords." He sniggered a little as he kicked his little makeshift bed back into shape.
"You've got a bed Lyle, why are you sleeping outside his door?" Arya asked, cupping his chin and using her thumb to wipe away a sticky glob of sugared plum that had adhered itself firmly to the little boy's face.
"I'm making myself indispensable your Grace, his Lordship'll need a pageboy or a man servant, someone who understands Winterfell." Lyle said seriously, his tone still hushed.
"Very smart Lyle." She made to walk away.
"My lord asked where your room was, should I not have told him?" he blurted out in a rushed whisper, his predicament had clearly been eating at him.
"It's fine that you told him Lyle, help him with anything he needs. If he's living with the family, he should know where we are situated." She smiled reassuringly.
"That's what I thought. You should be off to bed my grace, don't want to be caught lingering outside a young lord's room do you?" Lyle giggled.
Princess Arya couldn't help the smile that spread across her more often than not sullen face "Lyle if you were anyone else I'd have you clapped in irons" she pinched his chin one more time before continuing her quest to reach her inner sanctum.
"Arya." A voice stopped her, her brow furrowed suddenly and she turned her head to see a nervously grinning Sansa.
"Shouldn't you be with your husband?" Arya asked, sudden worry seeping into her psyche. The Stark girls had been betrayed and hurt enough times to ensure thoughts of misdeeds where never far from their minds "Are you well Sansa?" she asked tentatively.
"Very" Sansa grinned as she moved towards Arya "He's asleep." She paused nervously "Could I sit with you while you get prepared for sleep?"
"Of course, you used to do the same with mother?" Arya pushed open the door to reveal a smiling Coralline, a roaring fire and large bath full of hot water.
"My Grace, I didn't know the queen would be joining you… would you like me to send for another tub?" Coralline asked with a low bow.
"Not necessary, my sister will be helping me ready myself for slumber" Arya grinned puckishly at Sansa who had vivid memories of a screeching Arya refusing to have her hair combed in the bath they would share as young children "You go take the rest of the evening off, there's still drink and food in the hall" she stopped at the disappointed expression on her maid's face "I'll tell you all about it tomorrow!"
"Thank you my Grace, goodnight" she left quietly and Arya shot her eyes to Sansa again.
"Why are you not in some rutting embrace with your husband?" Arya asked again
"We were" Sansa giggled "But he fell asleep after a few times, he said he'd been awake for almost two days with nerves" she giggled more as she moved to help her sister unlace from the complicated network of ribbons holding her dress together. "You have returned late, spending time with Lord Baratheon?" Sansa asked unthreading the top layer with ease.
"No" Arya took a breath to reign in her tone, she couldn't snap every time he was mentioned… it was too obvious. "He was overly tired, I sent him off to bed some time ago." Arya shuffled and allowed the dress to pool at her feet, there were few undergarments given its Braavosi origin. She kicked her small cloth off and stepped into the bath with a sigh, it was only after she sat the she noted her sister's mild amusement.
"What?" she asked as she dunked her head once, allowing her hair to get soaked.
"You remove your underthing's the exact same way you did when you were five! A lady does not kick her undergarments across a room." Sansa chuckled before pulling a stool over to sit at Arya's head a brush in her hand.
"I don't know what you imagine you're going to be doing here your highness but ripping my hair out is not on the list." Arya stated plainly.
"You're not at all uncomfortable being naked, are you?" Sansa asked, her voice ponderous and airy.
"Not around you no… why should I be? Have you gone all Lannister?" Arya snorted at her own crass joke as she slopped a linen cloth over her face in a bid to cleanse away the mass of humanity she'd been exposed to.
"You were like that as a child, always the first to strip down and jump in a river. Mother hated it." Sansa ignored her sister's grievances and picked up a piece of her hair and began un-braiding it gently.
"I wasn't mother's favourite" Arya responded a little sadly.
"Oh, nonsense you were everyone's favourite!" Sansa exhaled dramatically "It drove me insane, I was well behaved and sweet but somehow everyone loved my rascal sister more." She moved her hands more carefully when Arya winced.
"Mother liked you best though, you're just like her." Arya sighed "Like how you got me to wear a dress and behave myself. That was very like mother" she smiled a silly smile at her sister and almost felt five again, the bath for a moment felt like it may be capable of wiping away all her sin.
"Well given my present motherly role, I'd like to say something… Arya, I worry that you, even less than I, have been educated in… the ways of womanhood." Arya snorted and judging by Sansa's face, laughter had not been the response she had expected of this loaded statement.
"Sansa I know… about being a woman. I'm aware of how babies are made… and how they are not made. I'm even aware of several, how do I put this delicately, manoeuvres that are pleasing in the bed to all involved." Her queen, her sister did not look pleased.
"Arya, we haven't spoken of this because as ladies we are encouraged to bear our shame in silence but… In the times of war men can take…" Arya stopped her petrified sister with a suddenly raised hand.
"Sansa no man has forced himself upon me!" she assured her sister "Well they never succeeded."
"How do you know of these things then, are you still a maiden true?" Sansa was sounding more and more like her mother with every word.
"Yes." Arya said slowly, she wasn't proud of it though "Not because I have to be mind you, but because I haven't found anyone I've liked enough to let them…" she let the sentence hang in the air because vocalising her true fear was far too much of a share, even for her usual candid self. What she feared most of all was the idea of someone being 'inside' her, and it was more of an intellectual fear than a physical one. As a member of the many faced she'd, for all intents and purposes, inhabited several people, and one night an existential crisis about her own body being inhabited had befallen her and she'd never quite shaken it.
"Then how are you so confident in your knowledge of these things?" Sansa asked, attempting to sound light and sisterly. Arya gnawed her lip for a second, she had two options she could either lie and tell her sister that she had heard of bed play from the women in the mummers show or she could be honest, with a deep breath she chose honesty. She wanted a closeness with someone, and Sansa of late had opened up that opportunity for her. They could be the kind of sisters she'd always dreamed they could be, honest and caring "As an assassin I took a job in a brothel" Sansa gasped "as a sheet girl not a whore. I saw things and heard things, the man who ran the whore house wasn't a kind man and one night he made a grab for me so I poked his eyes out" Sansa gasped again "Men who hurt little girls don't deserve to see the world."
"I agree" Sansa said nodding adamantly.
"Anyway, I did the job I was sent to do and then left, my maidenhood intact… there's a joke in there somewhere." She tried to smile but found the effort too great.
"I'm so sorry that you had to walk that path, but I also know that it was necessary" Sansa sighed a sorry sigh and stroked her little sisters wet head "I'm so truly sorry… If I hadn't lied for… Joffrey, If I hadn't told her…" Sansa's voice caught in her throat as her eyes welled.
"Sansa, don't cry. You don't think they'd have still tried to kill us all? Of course they would, father was father and Cersei was a monster. You were a little girl who was doing exactly as she'd been taught, it's not your fault." Arya cooed gently, she believed every word she said, evil doesn't hinge on the actions of a child, evil will always make itself known. "What was it like?" Arya asked quickly in an attempt to change the subject, Sansa had said she wanted to talk to her sister about womanhood.
"what?" Sansa asked, bewildered by the sudden clumsy segue
"You said I wasn't educated on womanhood, well you were partially right… nobody has ever told me what it's actually like, being bedded, what is it like?" She asked, Sansa let out an almost affronted laugh.
"Uncomfortable at first but in the long run a very worthwhile endeavour. I know you say you don't want to be a wife but I believe now that there are up sides." Sansa grinned as she attempted to push back the overwhelming guilt which had suddenly sprung, no doubt as a result of a very emotional day.
