7. Ugly Girl

The wolf wanted to to know why she didn't just take the metal sticks and leave. Then she could be with the pack all of the time.

"Well, for one, I eat people food, silly," said the girl, scratching the wolf behind the ears as they walked through the woods. It was late in the afternoon. The girl had to reach up to do so. Shoulder to shoulder, girl and wolf were about the same height; ears included, the wolf was clearly taller. "And you know the pack wouldn't like it if I lit a fire every night so I could cook their kill. Wolves don't like fire."

I like fire, the wolf thought.

"Well you're different. And you do not. You always left the room when Septa Morgane came to light one."

I don't like smoke.

"Hmph."

The wolf thought that the girl didn't want to leave because of the tall man, her mate. The girl blushed, and the wolf was confused again. She didn't understand why humans blushed; it made them smell like food, and that was dangerous.

"He's not my mate. I mean, humans don't mate the way wolves do, like for always."

The wolf thought she understood. She wanted a mate, but all of the male wolves around her were small and thin. She had met no other wolves like her, and that made her sad. Every time she was in heat, one or two of the males would come slinking towards her, but so far she had always growled until they went away. She didn't want weaklings for pups. But if there were nothing better, she had thought about letting one of the small wolves satisfy her while she was in heat. But the girl's mate was big and strong, bigger and stronger than almost any man she had seen. And she liked his smell. He was a good mate, she thought.

The girl blushed again, although she tried to pretend she hadn't. "It's not like that. He's hasn't even seen my face."

So what? thought the wolf. You still smell the same. Her master seemed to attach great importance to faces, but they didn't make much difference to wolves. There were big humans and small humans and stinky humans and nice-smelling humans. For the most part their faces all looked the same, although she could tell the one the girl was wearing today was different because it had scars the wolf didn't remember.

"And besides," the girl continued. "The swords will get to Winterfell just as fast if I stay with the humans as if I ride with the pack."

The wolf decided it wasn't worth arguing any more. She didn't really care about the metal sticks herself, of course. But she knew that the Kindly Man had told the girl to get them. The girl had told the wolf about the Kindly Man and the strange house across the sea that was dark and damp like a cave but with a strange, acrid smell, and the docks that reeked of brine and fish and rotting clams. The wolf had seen these places through her eyes, and smelled through her nose. And the wolf was afraid of the Kindly Man, because the Kindly Man smelled like death.

They were close to the village now and the girl told the wolf to leave, although the wolf to leave, although the wolf wanted to stay.

"You'll just get in the way," she whispered when they were within sight of a cottage. "Besides, I don't want anyone to see you."

When the wolf had gone, the ugly little girl crept up a small hill near edge of the woods and lay in the tall grass for sometime, watching the village. It was near dusk, and the farmers were coming back from their fields, still bringing in the last of the meager late harvest that the girl knew they had planted in desperation, after most of their crops had been burned or stolen by the soldiers. She saw them stop at a large cottage in the center of town and deposit a third of their haul in it's shed. At the doorway of the cottage stood a fat man, around middle age, leaning on a club like stick.

Was the wolf right? she thought. Her brow furrowed. The tall man was strong, but she didn't need a pack, not anymore. She was no one, and no one always worked best alone. Besides, if the tall man knew what she really was, he would hate her, just as much as she hated the names on her list. She never thought about why she hated them, anymore. Her hate was cold, The Kindly Man said. No longer dangerous. He had given her permission to kill them, these men whose deaths she had prayed for every day while she served at the House of White and Black, and another task, for the God. She had boarded a ship going west.

No, she wasn't staying because of the tall man. He was warm to sleep with at night, even if it did make it a little more difficult to see the wolf. Thankfully the man slept like a rock. She liked being Kyra; she liked to think that if Kyra had been alive, they would have been friends. And she liked the sex. The Stranger had no rules about sex. But if he slowed her down, or threatened her mission, she would leave.

She waited until the sun had set and the light was beginning to fade before descending to the village, taking the long way around to avoid being seen and emerging as close as possible to the fat man's door. She was wearing a dress that looked a size to big for her, and hung ungracefully off one shoulder. She arranged her expression and then timidly knocked.

After peering through the window to make sure there was no threat, the fat man opened the door, looking disdainfully down at the girl. "What do you want?" he barked. "Who are you"

"Please sir…" the girl began. Gods, she was ugly, thought the fat man. Several scars twisted across her face, and it looked like both her nose had been broken several times. One of her eyes was drooping thanks to a what looked a broken cheekbone. "Please sir, my family… the soldiers, they came and the took…" The fat man made to close the door on her, but she stuck her arm in and the fat man noticed her white shoulder.

"Please sir, I'll do anything…"

Anything, thought the fat man. His dick gave a little twitch. Truth be told, he was too cheap to pay for whores, and he had gotten too old and fat to catch the village girls when the ran from him. He'd had a wife, once, but he'd beat her until she looked not unlike this girl and then she'd run off, good riddance. Bitch ate too much. This girl looked like she'd take a fucking or two, and a beating while he was at it, without much trouble. Not like he had to keep her.

He opened the door. "Please sir," she said, "I know you are wealthy man. Just a copper or two for my family, and I'll make you feel alright.. I'll do whatever you—"

He hit her with the back of his hand, hard, opening up a shallow scratch on her cheek. "Work first, then we'll see if you get paid, girl," he said. Leering. he untied his breeches and let them drop, and then grabbed the girl by the hair, forced her to her knees as he sat down in his favorite chair. The girl whimpered and opened her mouth. Good, the man thought. She's been trained.

He closed his eyes and leaned back in the chair. He was in this position when the girl slit his throat, using the knife hidden in her boot. His eyes went wide with shock, and he let out one last gurgling scream as the girl cut off his member and dropped it in his open, blood filled mouth.

The girl stood up and calmly wiped off the single drop of blood that had fallen on her boot and spit on the fat man's face. Then, carefully avoiding the mess, she took the purse the man was wearing, grabbed several more from underneath the loose floorboard in the corner that she had seen the fat man's eyes flicker to when she mentioned his wealth, and climbed out the back window into the woods.

The wolf was waiting for her.You smell terrible, she said.

"Oh, I do?" said the girl, mock sniffing at her armpits. "I guess I'll just have to smell like you, then!" She said, and jumped on the wolf, who rolled her on the ground and then began to lick her all over.

"Nymeria stop it, stopp itt!" The girl giggled. "That tickles!"

Your face tastes like blood, thought Nymeria, panting, as the girl stood up.

"Oh right, I need to fix that" said the girl. She looked down for a second and when she came up she wore a different face. The wolf wagged her tail.

**NOTES

Ugly girl gets to be a casual badass! Plus wolf convos are very fun. A glimpse of the girl she used to be, although now she is a woman and knows how to use it.