3rd chapter :-) I'd love to hear feedback! Enjoy :)

Lilliane aswell as being the art teacher was the cook. She handed out buckets to boys, gave potato peelers to others and handed dishes to everyone. They were all expected to pull their weight. They cooked, they ate. Arya stood peeling at a stubborn brown potato. Her finger slipped and she cursed at the blood.

"Arya, look what you've done! Go clean that up" Lillian sighed snatching the potato peeler from her and pushing her out the door muttering. Arya scowled. She hated cooking, and painting, and meditating, and walking around blindfolded guessing which of the boys spoke to her. All she wanted to do was fight, and throw daggers, and shoot arrows. How else would she ever get her revenge? By painting Joffery to death?! She snorted. Suddenly two hands grabbed her and pushed her roughly against a stone wall. She growled and kicked at the intruder but stopped instantly when the feel of cold steel slid underneath her throat.

"A girl should be more careful" A voice purred like silk. Arya looked up to see Jaqen's blue eyes. She scowled.

"I was distracted"

"Does a killer care if a girl is distracted?" he asked. She sighed and pushed his hand away from her throat.

"No, I suppose not" His eyes suddenly caught her hand and he grabbed it.

"A girl is hurt"

Quickly but gently he turned her hand this way and that, observing the nick in her index finger. Red blood was slowly dripping out.

"It's fine" Arya snapped tugging her hand free. "It's only a cut" and with that she turned and walked away stubbornly, still annoyed she hadn't heard him sneaking up behind her. The words of Lillianne were still etched in her mind too. 'Instead of flirting with a certain Lorathi' Arya didn't want to give her the wrong idea by the chance of her seeing Jaqen holding her hand. No, she did not want that, she wondered if Jaqen ever thought she was flirting with him. She sincerely hoped not. Her cheeks coloured red at the thought. Jaqen watched her go. "Cuts can kill, lovely girl" he murmured before turning.

Arya took her place at the long dinner table. She sat down the end with the other boys, next to her sat those who had gone through the '1st red task'. Arya couldn't wait until her time to face the 1st task arose. It meant she was one step closer. Closer to becoming faceless. Closer to revenge. She looked up to the other end of the table. Thorin sat at the head and Jaqen was usually beside him. However his seat remained empty. Curious at his were abouts Arya observed the room, he wasn't re-filling his drink, he wasn't talking to Jeramina or Tib and he wasn't stalking in the shadows playing tricks in the light. She looked up once again to his vacant seat and suddenly her eyes caught those of emerald green. Her dark eyes widened as she realised Thorin was staring at her, no, staring through her. She had only spoken to him once, he seemed as if he already knew everything about her, what she was thinking, what she was feeling, what she wanted and what she dreaded. He lifted a finger up and beckoned her with it. She gulped and looked around. No-one had noticed, everyone was drinking and laughing and eating. She glanced back at Thorin who was still watching her. She slowly got up and walked past the 1st task trainees, past the 2nd task trainees, past the rangers, past the faceless men, and finally arrived to Jaqens empty seat. Don't be afraid, hes only a man. She told herself, she breathed in calmly and looked at him. He smiled but she wasn't so sure that it reached his eyes.

"Sit girl" he gestured to Jaqens seat. She hesitated. "I'm sure Jaqen won't mind" he said smiling again. She sat. Some of the selected few eyed her curiously but apart from that no-one seemed to have noticed.

"I've heard your quite good at a handling a sword" He said. She shrugged.

"My dancing master was good at handling a sword, he taught me a little of what he knew" she said.

"Yes Jaqen has mentioned this dancing master of yours….. he must have been a great swordsman"

"Syrio was the best swordsman" She said finally raising her dark eyes to look into his emerald ones.

"Would he have beaten Sir Baron in a fight?"

"Yes"

"Pickon?"

"Of course"

"Tid?"

"Absolutely"

"What about Jaqen?"

She paused at this considering.

"yes…yes he would beat Jaqen"

And would he beat me?"

This she had not expected. She thought it over in her mind. Would her water dancer be able to run a sword through those emerald green eyes? What do we say to the god of death? Not today.

"I've never seen you fight"

He smiled at her nodding in approval.

"Do you know why I took you into the house of white and black, Arya Stark?" he asked

"Because Jaqen asked you too"

"Yes, he asked but his word was not enough. I had to see you first, see what you were like…do you remember our little chat the first time we met Arya?"

"Yes" She would never be able to forget. She felt so on edge with him around. With those unblinking green eyes. Watching, seeing, understanding.

"I asked you why you wanted to train here…and you said-"

"for revenge" she finished for him. He nodded.

"I see that notion has not changed?" she shook her head. "I thought as much…I knew then that you had courage, you had bravery but you also had brains" Arya frowned. "You were smart because you came here to train, to become undefeatable, the best like your dancing master. You knew you had to be great- no exceptional to get your revenge. All these qualities we need in faceless men…and woman. But another, maybe perhaps the most important quality of all is that we forget our pasts too." He paused while Arya felt fear kindling in her heart.

"You must forget, forget about everything, everyone, forget about your revenge…do this and one day you shall sit up here at this very seat but with Jaqen opposite you and your selected brothers by your sides." Her dark eyes met his.

"I must forget?"

"Everything" and with that he turned away to engage in a conversation with a selected brother. She smiled at his bribe, as if she would give up everything to be a selected one. She was not even tempted. The sight of blood on needle was much sweeter than sitting next to a man with green snake eyes. She rose from the table and walked down past the selected, past the faceless men, past the rangers, past the 2nd task makers, past the first, past the messy haired, young boys and walked out of the room altogether. She looked up at the starry sky and smiled. Dunsen, Polliver, Raff the sweetling, Ser Meryn, Joffrey, Cersie.