Garment after garment dropped besides her feet as Cat peeled them off her body with sore arms until she was standing naked before the mirror. She took in the sight of the bruises that ran along her legs, torso and arms with pride and smiled. Every hurt is a lesson, and every lesson made her better.
They ranged in size and colour; going from fading green to sickly yellow to angry blue. New bruises bloomed daily. Cat knew the origin of almost every bruise.
Her fingertips traced the thin, protruding scars that snaked around her wrists. They radiated anger. The flesh had scarred into a slick pink and Cat knew they would mark her wrists for years, if not for the rest of her life.
Her fingertips found the bruises under her breasts next. They were a lively purple rimmed with pink. Cat pressed down on one. The skin was still sensitive. She had no memory of how or when she got the scars around her wrists or the bruises along either side of her rib cage. All thanks to the memory loss. The mystery behind them fascinated her. She made up several stories in her head as to how she had come upon the injuries behind the scars and bruises. They were all silly, eccentric stories... but they were all she had.
Cat turned the shower on and steam quickly filled the large room. This last "exercise", as Jaqen liked to call them, had been the most difficult. Cat slipped into the steamy shower, sliding the door closed behind her as she stepped under the water. Her eyes closed involuntarily and she felt the muscles on her back ripple free of the exhaustion. This was her first shower in three days.
"What's in there?" Cat asked Jaqen with a curious cock of her head towards the large metal cage on the back of the truck. Jaqen smiled at her.
"It is your next exercise."
This was the third time they'd moved in less than a week. They were in vast desert now. A private property Jaqen claimed to own. The drive alone had taken them two days. The hike to the shack another.
Jaqen and the truck driver opened the cage carefully and a large wild cat padded out and jumped off the truck. Cat smiled. It was beautiful. It had long, pointy ears, angular fur under its chin and a spotted, sandy coloured coat that was a warm contrast to the white of the snow that surrounded them. After feeling its way around the snow a while, the wild cat set off towards a hill.
"She is an Iberian lynx. Precious... and endangered."
Cat's eyes furrowed. "Then why let her go?"
"So you can bring her back to me. Safe. Unharmed. There is a perimeter, but the area is large. She is used to much warmer weathe so you must be haste."
"How will I even...?" Cat shook her head at the absurdity of the task. Jaqen shrugged. "Figure it out."
Cat sighed, her eyes searching for the lynx. She was gone. Cat bit her lip. "Alright." she said, and started jogging towards the hill, where she'd last seen the animal. She began making a mental checklist of everything she had in the slim pack she carried across her back when a gunshot rang in the air. Cat flinched at the sound, ducking her head briefly before turning to Jaqen. He was loading a heavy rifle.
"What the hell are you doing?" she growled at him.
"There's . . . a twist."
"There is always a twist with you."
"You chase her, I chase you... with this." Jaqen cocked his rifle. Cat's limbs fluttered with panic. Part of her wanted to make a run for it, the other wanted to talk some sense into Jaqen, and another part wanted to take the rifle from him and blow some holes in his stupid skull. "You have a 30 second head start." he called in her direction, making up her mind for her. " Better run. Now."
And she did.
Cat pressed her forehead against the shower tile, breathing through her slightly parted lips as water washed down her face and bare back, weighing down her eyelashes.
There were moments she feared Jaqen. He was all she had. All she knew, and yet she didn't know him at all. She had no idea who he was. Her eyes snapped open. The revelation chilled her, even under the hot water.
She stood there, in the shower, for nearly an hour, letting the warmth soak into her again, before she turned off the water.
As she stepped out and wrapped a towel around her naked body, she crossed in front of the mirror and caught a glimpse of her reflection in the steamy glass. She had grown tired of her reflection. The short girl with cropped hair and large eyes was a stranger to her, and something behind her gaze accused Cat.
She dried off quickly and slipped into her silk pajamas, shrugging on a night robe before leaving her room. She found Jaqen sitting in front of the fireplace. The flames could be seen dancing in his reading glasses and they lit his face aglow. He looked up from the folder he was reading and greeted her with a smile.
"Exhausted?" he asked, closing the file. He set it on a table and picked up an empty wine glass. He filled it halfway and turned to Cat with a beckoning smile, holding the glass up for her. "You did really well."
Cat took the seat besides him on the large sofa, tucking her feet under her. "I don't like the taste." she blinked down at the glass.
"Yes you do," he smiled one of his dark, charming smiles. "You just need to grow used to it."
Cat took it and sipped courteously. He was wrong. She definitely didn't like the taste. She drank it anyway, enjoying the woody burning sensation that ran down her arms every time she took a sip.
They sat in silence for a long moment, listening to nothing but the crackling of the firewood. Cat never enjoyed these moments of silence with Jaqen. Perhaps because there were too many of them, and they usually resulted in thought after though, filling her head with questions, and more questions. Questions she had no answers to. She turned to Jaqen, smiling at the unguarded expression on his face. He was very handsome.
"What are you thinking about?" her voice clearly startled him and she almost laughed at his flinch.
"Nothing important, lovely Cat. It would bore you." he took a sip from his own glass and Cat felt her body tense. She shifted her weight on the sofa until she was facing him.
"I don't care if it's boring, or pointless. I want to know. I want to know what you are always thinking about. What goes on inside your head. Why you are always so quiet, and why you look far off and away all of the time."
Jaqen smiled a sweet, almost pained smile. "It really is boring. I am not as mysterious or complicated as you may think."
Cat scoffed, turning away from him. A charred log hissed before spitting in the fireplace, echoing Cat's frustration.
"My answer upsets you?"
"No. What upsets me is that we are friends. We live together. You are... all I know. I trust you. But I feel like you know more about me than I know about you. In fact, I know nothing about you. I know nothing about anything," her head snapped to him. "Who are you? I obviously can't remember anything I might have known about you before my accident. So tell me. Who is Jaqen H'ghar?"
Jaqen said nothing for a very long moment. Time passed them slowly, and Cat's words hung in the air, spinning around them in the large room. After several minutes passed in silence, she realized Jaqen was not going to tell her anything, and wished she could reach out and snatch her words back inside her.
She had been very stupid.
Jaqen was a quiet, closed man. She should know that by now, even with her memory loss. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
She set her glass down, about to rise, when Jaqen's voice made her freeze where she sat.
"Who is Jaqen H'ghar?" he whispered, with a bitter smile. "Not even I know the answer to that question." he reached for the bottle and refilled both their glasses. "All I know about him, is that he died when I was eight years old." He took sip. "I killed him."
Cat's eye brows furrowed a small fraction. "I don't understand."
"I don't either." he surpirsed her by caressing her face with the back of two fingers. He resting them on her jawline and Cat allowed it. "I don't remember why, or how, or whether I knew him before, or had just met him that day... I just remember, that I killed him. In the middle of the day." he whispered darkly. "It was a Sunday, because I remember hearing the church bells echoe through the trees and off the hills. I can't remember blood. Just dead eyes, staring up at me. I killed him, and I became him after that. I took his name. I left Dohna as Jaqen H'ghar, and I have been Jaqen H'ghar ever since."
When his fingers left her face and Cat found herself longing for them. Her eyes followed his hand to the wine bottle and remained fixated on it as he refilled his glass. Her gaze fell to her glass. It was empty too.
"Your family." she uttered hoarsely. "They never tried looking for you?" she held her glass out for him to fill.
Jaqen shrugged. "Perhaps," his eyes met hers. "I'll never know."
"Is this what you think about? Jaqen H'ghar, the man you killed?"
A corner of Jaqen's lip curved upwards. "No. I haven't thought about that man in years."
"Then you didn't answer my question."
Jaqen's crooked smile turned into a toothy grin. A very rare, and very beautiful sight. "Who is Jaqen H'ghar? she asked."
"I also asked what you were thinking."
Jaqen emptied out his glass into his mouth, setting it down on the table. "You are too curious. And far too clever for your own good, Cat. I've told you this before." he pushed himself off the sofa with a groan, and began collecting his folders into one pile.
Cat felt her hand tighten around the glass, blinking away from the infuriating man. Lovely Cat. Curious Cat. Clever Cat. He speaks to me as if I were a child.
"That's not my name, is it? Cat. That is not really what I'm called."
Jaqen's back stiffened. "No." he turned to her. "It's not."
"No. I didn't think so. Did I kill someone too? Take their name?"
"No."
Cat stood, crossing to Jaqen. "Something happened to me." her thumb brushed against the scar on her right wrist. "Something terrible. Something I wanted to forget."
Jaqen nodded. "Is that how I got these?" she turned her wrist in the dim light of the fireplace.
"I found you in a basement, hanging from a rope by your wrists. There were men torturing you."
"There was no hiking accident then. It's all me. In here. In my head. Like you, when you were a child. You don't remember because you don't want to."
"Like I said. Clever."
"Will I ever remember? Any of it?"
"You have. Once. This is not the first time you have tried to forget. You will remember again, if you try to. If you want to. Only you can make the memories come back. Only you can make them stay in the dark."
Cat sighed. It all made sense now. So many questions... answered.
"Wait here." he whispered, walking out of the room. When he returned he had a large grey envelope.
"Everything I know about you, the real you, is in here. Everything you need to know to find answers to those questions I am sure you ask yourself daily, is in here." he placed the envelope in her hands. Cat's eyes rose from the parcel to meet his. There was nothing in them. No visible emotion. She dropped her gaze to the envelope once more and lifted the flap. Jaqen took a few steps back, giving her some privacy. She heard the bottled slosh as he and picked up the bottle from the table.
Cat slid her hand inside the folder, feeling a thrill pulse through her. Her fingertips found the edge of something. She felt her way around it. It was a passport. She snatched her hand out. "Twice? You said I've tried forgetting twice." she shook her head, crossing to the fireplace. The proximity warmed her face and arms. Her hands gripped the envelope tightly. "There was a reason I wanted to forget. Right?" she turned to Jaqen for confirmation. He was staring at her from across the room with surprise. "Twice. Twice I've tried to forget."
"Twice you've remember." Jaqen corrected her. "There was a reason it didn't work the first time. You didn't want to let go. I told you this when you asked me to help you forget a second time. I warned you, that it would not work if you weren't willing to forget completely."
Cat turned to the fireplace and tossed the envelope into the fire. "I don't know what her name was. But it is Cat now." she faced Jaqen. "Whatever was in that folder will turn to ashes, and so will the memory of her. Please don't mention any of this gain. Not the folder, or her. She's gone." Cat turned to leave, but only made it as far as her bedroom door, her hand around the knob. "You're wrong, you know. You said twice I've remembered. I only remembered her that once. I don't remember her now." her hand turned the knob, pushing her bedroom door open.
"There was one thing..." Jaqen said behind her. "You asked me to tell you, when your training was done, why it is you are training in the first place."
"Is my training done?"
"No."
"Then good night, Jaqen." she said before closing the door behind her.
That night she didn't dream of anything, and when she woke, she felt like there was a hole inside her chest. Her thoughts went back to that folder she'd burned. Perhaps it had not been the right thing to do, but it was too late to go back now.
She changed out of her pajamas and climbed upstairs, where Jaqen was fixing breakfast. She reached over the table to snatch a toast from the tray and took two ravenous bites.
"I won't be training today." she announced, mouth full of toast as she poured herself a glass of milk. "I'm taking a personal day. Driving down to town."
Jaqen glanced at her from the stove, looking as if he was about to argue against it. After a long moment, he merely nodded. "Do you want some company?"
Cat shook her head, forcing a smile and Jaqen nodded again. They ate their breakfast in a tense silence and Cat was on her way.
The road to town was nice. She enjoyed the snowy landscape, and Jaqen's taste in music was superb. It helped to stifle her thoughts and was a perfect soundtrack for the long drive.
She drove around the small village a while, not sure why'd she'd come down here in the first place. Perhaps it was just to get away from Jaqen. This was her first time away from him since as far as she could remember, which was about a week. It was the first time she wanted to be away from him.
The neon lights on a small business across a street drew her eyes in that direction and she realized she'd known all along why she wanted to come to town. She pulled into the space besides the only other car in the car park of the shop and tightedned her scarf before stepping out of the car. A bell rang as she pushed the door and walked into the small parlour. There was bassy alternative music playing overhead and no one behind the small glass counter. She unbuttoned her coat and took a few steps forwards before a male voice called from another room in some form of Spanish before a guy a few years older than her stepped out through a curtain of black and yellow bead curtain.
"Hola." he smiled. He had a mop of blonde hair and dark blue eyes. The beginnings of a tattoo could be seen on the right side of his neck and more tattoos snaked around his exposed arms.
"Hola." Cat forced herself to smile back.
"You're English?" the guy asked in a thick Spanish accent . Cat nodded crossing to a wall to stare at the displays.
"How may I help?"
"Well... a tattoo? Since this is a tattoo parlor." Cat heard the guy chuckle behind her.
"Do you know what you want, or you want to look around first?"
She turned to him. "I know what I want." she pulled back the sleeves of her coat to expose the scars around her wrists. "I want two bands around my wrists. About this thick." she held her thumb and forefinger about an inch apart.
The guy crossed to a table to turn on a lamp and called Cat over, pulling on the glasses that hung from a chain around his neck and inspecting her scars under the light with cold fingers. "Fully healed." he noted turning her wrist and running the pad of his thumb along the pink flesh. "Did you do this to yourself?" he dropped her wrist and met her eyes.
"No."
"How did you get them?"
Cat shrugged. "I don't remember."
The guy considered her answer for a moment. "Did someone do this?"
"Do you question all your clients this way?" Cat snapped at him. It made him smile and he turned the table into a seat.
"Sit." he rose and stepped though the beaded curtain.
Cat pulled her coat and scarf off and climbed up on the leather seat. She could hear running water from the other room. "You want to hide the scars?" the guy called out to her.
"Yes." Cat yelled loud enough for him to hear. The guy returned moments later, wearing black latex gloves.
"You want a design? Celtic. Elvish. Thorns. Vines. I can follow the pattern of the scars and then just add flowers and shit."
Cat shook her head. "Just solid black bands all around."
"It's going to hurt." he warned her pulling open a small package and rubbing her wrists with an alcohol pad. Suddenly, he chuckled out of nowhere and shook his head to himself. "Was it shackles?" he chuckled out. "Did you and your boyfriend get a little carried away?"
Cat grimaced. The guy was beginning to get on her nerves. "You talk too much, you know that? You're a little too nosy. And I know it's going to hurt, its a damn tattoo. And I don't have a boyfriend." She sighed with frustration, surprised she mentioned that fact that she was single. Why did she do that?
The guy looked up apologetically through pale lashes. "I don't normally question clients. If some fat man walks in here and asks me to tattoo the face of Bob Hope on his left ass cheek, I won't even ask. Nothing very intriguing behind that I suspect." he grinned a sily, toothy smile. "I will shut up now. Promise."he turned on the swivel chair to prep the pen.
"There is nothing intriguing about this either. I can't even remember how I got the scars. More than hide them, I want something to help me to never forget."
A humming buzz filled the room when the guy turned on the machine and turned in his chair to face her. "You don't want to forget something you can't remember." he laughed. "Nice."
Cat worried her lip against her teeth to keep from smiling down at him.
"When I said it would hurt, I meant it would hurt. Wrist tattoos are very painful." he warned.
Cat nodded.
"Alright!" he took her wrist in his gloved hand and turned it under the light. He paused before the tattoo pen could touch her skin met her eyes. "I'm Edric by the way. But you can call me Ned."
For a moment, she was not sure what name to give him. Her thoughts trailed back to the envelope she'd held in her hand the night before. It was nothing but ashes now. Like that girl she once was. That's not me anymore. "Cat." she offered.
The guy nodded with a smile and began the tattoo. Edric was right. It hurt like hell.
He didn't keep his promise to shut up. It didn't take long before he started talking again. At first he muttered softly to himself here and there, but then he just didn't seem to care anymore and he started telling tales, chatting on and on in his broken English. He didn't ask her a lot of questions and Cat was thankful for it. Before long, she came to the conclusion that she liked him. He was funny and awkwardly nice, and she found she didn't mind his abrassive manner, or the way he stared boldly at her face whenever he got a chance to.
"This is my card." he placed a card in her palm before helping her into her coat, careful of her bandaged wrists. "Call me if you have any more questions or if you notice an infection, or you can just drive over and I'll have a look at it."
"Thanks." Cat looked down at the card in her cupped palm. His full name was Edric Dayne. There was phone two numbers, an email and a twitter address below his name.
"Of course you don't need to have an infection to call or visit. If you ever want to hang out I'm here."
Cat didn't need to see his face to know he was smiling one of the cocky smiles he'd flashed at her earlier. When she did look up at him, the smile was there, plastered on his face, same as it had been earlier.
"I'd like that." she admitted. "But I'm not sure how long I'll be in town. I'm sort of never too long in one place."
Edric shrugged cooly. "Shame. If you ever are in town again though, you know where to find me."
Cat snorted sarcastically. "Thanks again. Bye."
"Bye Cat." he smiled, a more casual smile, and Cat walked out into the cold.
The drive back to Jaqen's didn't take as long as the drive to town had. Her wrists were beginning to throb, and the pain was slowly spreading to her arms. Edric had warned her about that. He explained care instructions and warned her about that pain she would feel for several days.
It was beginning to snow by the time she turned into Jaqen's hidden, private driveway. When she walked into the large house, Jaqen was nowhere to be seen. There was a long black dress on her bed and a note that read Studio. She changed into more comfortable clothing and made her way upstairs to the studio. She'd been in this house less than 24 hours, but it was not difficult to figure out where the studio was. All of Jaqen's homes were the same.
She found a bare chested Jaqen doing pull ups at the end of the room to a very intense Puccini song. Cat was not sure how she knew it was Puccini. When Jaqen saw her, he jumped off the bar and turned the music off.
"I thought I said no training." Cat reminded him, lazily holding up the dress by its hanger. "What is this for?"
"A practice dress." Jaqen wiped his face in a small towel and handed Cat an envelope.
It was an invitation to a banquet. "What's in Finland?" she asked, skimming through the fancy curled font.
"The Finns, I would guess." he said taking one of her arms in his hand and raising her bandaged to have a closer look."What happened?" he met her eyes. Cat groaned softly at the touch, pulling free from his grasp.
"This event is in three days." she said, ignoring his question.
"Yes. That is how long we have to tidy up your dancing skills. If you have any. How was town?"
"It was fine." she placed the dress in his hands. "I don't dance."
"You will in three days."
"I don't see how it matters whether I dance or not. It's just some stupid banquet." this was the first time she tried opposing to Jaqen's plans. Cat assumed it had something to do with the conversation they'd had the night before.
"It matters to me." he took the invitation from her hand and placing the dress in it's place with a sweet smile. "It is a crucial night for me. You will be presentable. You can find a room to change in through that door there."
Cat sighed, ready to argue, but the patient look on Jaqen's face made any argument seem childish and pointless.
The dress fit her like a glove but felt too revealing on her. When she walked out into the studio, Jaqen smiled. "You look lovely." he bowed his head slightly and offered her a hand. Cat took it awkwardly.
"Breathe." he said, and they simultaneously took in a deep breath. "This is just another exercise. Prove to yourself that you can overcome any challenge, no matter what it is."
Cat relaxed. She did love a good challenge.
Jaqen's free hand found the curve of her waist, and Cat felt his thumb caressing the area. She noticeably tensed, and Jaqen seemed pleased at his effect on her.
"Don't we need music?" Cat pointed out. Jaqen smiled down at her, parting his lips to speak, but was interrupted by a knock on the door. Harwin walked in, nodding at Cat before turning to Jaqen. "We found him. He's downstairs."
Jaqen nodded, releasing Cat. "Take him to the basement." he told Harwin. "Take the girl too. I'll be down in a moment."
Harwin nodded turning to Cat. She followed him down the stair and wondered if he knew about her. The old her. The fact that she'd made herself forget. She wondered if the others knew too.
All of Jaqen's men were already waiting in basement. All except Anguy. They all regarded her with curious eyes for a few seconds before looking away. They know. She could tell by the way they avoided her eyes. As if they feared their eyes would betray something she did not know. . . they see her. The girl she once was. She cleared her throat.
"I know the truth." eight pairs of eyes were on her.
"Truth?" Of course it would be Harwin who would speak up. He was Jaqen's second. "We don't understand."
"Yes you do." Cat told him. "Jaqen told me about it last night. He said I've tried forgetting twice already."
"You remember? Again?" this time it was Lem who spoke out. Harwin glared at him, but he seemed to not notice.
"No. And I don't want to. Which is why I want to ask you all for one favour. I'm me. Cat. Not her. I don't remember anything, I simply know the truth now. So whatever you remember about her... just know she's gone. I'm only me."
No one said a thing at first. Finally, Harwin cleared his throat and licked his lips. "You're right." he said through clenched teeth, a sad look glazing his eyes. "You're not her. Not anymore."
Cat was not prepared to hear that. Those words were like a fist to the gut. For a flicker of a second, she wished she still was her. She bit her lip, looking away from the old man. She considered leaving. She was tired, and it was about time to remove her bandages. She could just deal with Jaqen later. But at that moment, Jaqen walked in; freshly changed out of his workout clothes. He nodded once at Lem and once at Tom, and they dragged the one called Jack from the crowd and sat him on a chair in the middle of the room. Jaqen stood in front of the man massaging his hands. For a moment, Cat thought he was going to hit him.
"I could take your other eye." Jaqen said in a bored tone.
The man sprung from the chair, but Lem was quick to catch his shoulder and push him back down.
"Or I could kill you."
Jaqen was standing in the way of Cat, so she only heard Jack's sharp in take of air.
"Jaqen..." Jack tried to speak, but a fist across the face shut him up.
Cat's eyes grew wide. This is wrong. This is all wrong.
With a snap of Jaqen's fingers, Greenbeard fetched a few litres of opaque liquid and a towel.
"No! No! No!" Jack began to cry out, but then his pleas were muffled by the towel. Tom held it down in place tilting the man's head back while Jaqen uncapped one of the bottles. Cat could see everything now. She could feel her pulse on her fingertips, and her limbs stiff with fear as the bottle's content was poured over the towel pressed tightly over Jack's face. His wet chokes made the hairs on her arms stand and her stomach turned with terror.
When Tom pulled the towel off, Jack turned his head to his side and began coughing out the liquid. As soon as he caught his breath, he began pleading in Catalan. Or maybe it was Spanish. Cat could not tell over the stifled sobs.
Harwin was besides her by then, and he called to Jaqen. "Jaqen. The girl."
"She stays." Jaqen voice was stern. By then the scent had betrayed the bottle's content. It was petrol. Tom placed the towel over Jack's face again and Jaqen uncapped another bottle.
"Stop!" Cat crossed to Jaqen. "Whatever he did, just stop. I won't let you do this." she tried to snatch the bottle from Jaqen's hand, but he snatched it out of her reach, spilling a bit of it by his feet.
"Step away, Cat." his voice was calm, but cold and steel-like.
Cat shook her head. "No."
"Perhaps... let her leave." Harwin suggested.
"She stays." Jaqen barked out. "Harwin. Take her." Jaqen called, and before she could argue any further, Harwin had taken a hold of her arms.
"I'm sorry." he whispered as he pulled her back. For a moment Cat considered making a run for the door. Leaving all this behind. Whatever terrible thing happened to her that she so desperately wanted to forget and leave behind, she was sure she had not meant to trade for this. But the sound of Jack's wet, strained gasps for air drowned out her thoughts and Cat didn't run. She just stood there, her feet like lead, keeping her in place, unable to move.
Harwin's hand slipped into hers, giving it a tight squeeze, and Cat's eyes met and held his until Jack'sdesperate, wet gasps were ended with the silenced ring of a gun shot. Her eye lids finally fell shut.
A wet thump followed, and Cat finally turned to see Jack's body sprawled lifeless on floor.
"Get rid of him." Jaqen ordered his men. "Clean up the mess."
Lem nodded dutifully and took the dead man's feet from the irridescent puddle of blood and petrol and dragged him towards one of the exits. The rest of the men scattered until only Cat remained, her eyes fixed on the streak of brown and red the dragged body left behind.
Jaqen came up besides him but she would not meet his eyes. She was angry. At him. At herself.
"That is what happens to those who betray me, lovely girl." his voice was as sweet and hypnotic as it usually was, but the warning was clear in every word.
What he was really saying was, "that is what will happen to you if you betray me."
AN
Hello lovely readers. Here is the Arya chapter. I had fun with this one. I really like the way it turned out.
We are introduced to Edric Dayne, Arya gets a tattoo, Jaqen is beginning to freak her out, she does not remember who she is and this time, it seems Jaqen's methods worked :(
Just to make things clear, in case they are confusing. Jaqen found Arya the same afternoon she abandoned Gendry and Sandor in Bordeaux. A few days after that, she does the "forgetting" process (i really need to find a name for it) which is witnessed by Anguy. It doesn't last long since she dreams of her father's death and a fight she had with Gendry in her dreams, which trigger some, not all memories. She asks Jaqen to do the process again, and he does it. A week-ish later, and we are here.
Hope that helps :)
Thanks for all the reviews. They keep my motor running, just knowing all the things you love about this story.
Next chapter, no Arya, but there will be Gendry/Anguy, a bit of Tyrion/Sansa, Dany/Jorah, some Brienne/Sandor, and some Gendry/Dany and Gendry/Sandor/Brienne. Maybe some Cersei. We haven't seen her in a while. I hope to fit her in with the flow of the next chapter. But yes, BIG chapter for Gendry coming up.
Thanks again! And don't forget to review!