Hello everyone! Me again. Here's another chapter for you. We get to see Arya and Jaqen in their first session together, and we have the arrival of some Lannisters. It makes for some awkward situations all around. I think this chapter turned out pretty well. I hope you agree.

This story officially passed 200 views today, and I just wanted to say, how completely grateful and touched I am that so many people have looked at my story. I really hope that you all continue to enjoy it.

I own only the original plot points, none of the characters are mine. They will forever belong to Mr. Martin.

With that said, I present to you, Chapter six.

Please read and review!

xoxo

Chapter Six:

Arya woke the next morning and practically jumped out of bed. She was very excited to go to her first lesson at the House of Black and White. The only thing that put a damper on her otherwise splendid morning was that she would be training with Jaqen H'ghar. There was something about the strange, red haired man that made her nervous. She didn't understand why he could possibly make her nervous; she had only just met him. Regardless of how she felt about her trainer, she was excited for this new time in her life.

She decided to wear a pair of black and white yoga capris, laughing to herself at the irony, and a red tank top. She thought that this would be good, for her first day. She could barely reign in her excitement as she got dressed and practically ran out the door.

When she first arrived at the gym, she said hello to the handsome man behind the desk, and went straight to the women's locker room to leave her bag and helmet in the locker that she was provided with yesterday. After leaving the locker room, she filled her water bottle at the fountain and realized that she hadn't actually arranged a meeting place with her teacher. She looked amongst all of the equipment and people within the House and tried to find Jaqen.

Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder, and yelped at the sudden contact. She turned around to see who the hand belonged to, to find that it was Jaqen. She hadn't even heard him come up behind her.

"A girl has arrived for her first lesson. Is a girl ready?" he said to her. "Of course I'm ready! I'm here aren't I?" she told him. "Just so." he replied. As he guided her over to the large, matted training area, she suddenly blurted out, "Why do you talk like that?" She regretted it as soon as it left her lips. She thought it sounded like a horribly stupid question and she knew she shouldn't have asked.

"A man is from Lorath." he turned and said to her with a smile. She was slightly stunned by his casual response, she was sure that he would have been offended. She would have been, if someone asked her why she talked the way she did. It was a rude question. "Sorry. That was rude of me." she apologized. "A girl was curious. A man was not offended. A man is glad a girl wishes to learn more about her teacher, for that means that a girl wishes to learn." he told her. She was glad that this relationship seemed to be off to a good start.

When they arrived at the training area, he turned to her and spoke again, in a softer, quieter voice than he had originally been using. "A man is happy to see that Arya Stark is alright. A man was worried." he said to her, with a concerned look on his face. She was completely caught off guard. Why would this stranger care about if she was alright or not? Sure, he was the one who had rescued her, but he didn't even know her. Did this mean that he had been thinking about her? She shook the thought from her mind. She was very confused, and was unsure of how to respond. "Um…yea. Nothing was broken and the bruises are fading. So…I'm okay." she told him, managing a weak smile. Soon enough all of the physical reminders of that night would be gone. She knew that unfortunately the awful memories would remain.

"So, where did you want to get started?" she asked him, excited to learn what he was planning on teaching her today. "First a girl needs to stretch." he answered. "Fine." she replied, reluctantly.

Once he finished guiding her through her stretches, he spoke again; "A man wishes to learn where the girl stands physically." "Excuse me?" she said, wondering what that could possibly mean. He laughed at her. "Well that's mature." she muttered. "A man is sorry for laughing. A man only wished to learn how much a girl can handle." he told her. "Alright. Throw a punch! I'll show you what I got!" she replied, jumping into a fighting stance. He laughed again. "Stop laughing at me!" she yelled at him. "A man apologizes once more. A man should have been more clear. A man would like to see the distance and speed Arya Stark can run, and the weight she can lift." he replied. "I'm not even going to learn to fight?!" she remarked, clearly unhappy with the situation. "A girl must learn patience. The fighting will come."

He walked over to the row of treadmills and waited for her to follow. She sighed and stomped her way over to him. She could see Jaqen fighting back a smile. She rolled her eyes and hopped onto the treadmill in front of him. "Alright. Start me up." she told him. He turned the treadmill on and picked the settings for her, then pressed the start button. "A man will wait and watch." He said to her as he leaned against her machine. She restrained herself from rolling her eyes again, and started jogging on the treadmill.

After a half hour of running, Arya was covered in sweat and her legs had felt like they were buzzing. She was more than happy to get off the treadmill. She looked at him, panting. "Where…to…now?" she asked, in between breaths. "If a girl will follow me." he answered as he led her over to the weight rack. She grabbed a towel off of the stand on her way over, so that she could wipe her face and neck down. She had very quickly come to realize that she was more out of shape than she had originally thought. Once she stopped, she took a long drink from her water bottle.

Jaqen looked her over from head to toe. "What do you think you're doing?" she questioned. "A man is looking at a girl, trying to determine how much weight he believes she could lift. A man thinks 10 pounds would be sufficient to start." he stated. He grabbed two 10 pound dumbbells from the rack and handed them to her. "Does a girl know what a bicep curl is?" he asked. "Yes. I know what a bicep curl is. I'm not an idiot." she barked back. He let a laugh escape again. She scoffed. She was beginning to get very annoyed with her teacher. "A man did not assume that a girl was such. Please, begin." he replied, bowing ever so slightly. She began lifting the weights, alternating between each arm. She was impressed at how well she thought she was doing.

Twenty minutes later, she did not feel the same. She had managed 53 reps with each arm before she nearly dropped the weights.

"A man is impressed. A girl has surprised him." Jaqen said to her. "That is enough for today. A girl will return tomorrow to continue her training." "EXCUSE ME?!" she yelled at him. "I didn't even learn anything!" "Today was the day a man needed to learn. A girl will start tomorrow." he told her, with his signature smirk appearing on his face. He bowed one last time and walked away. She stood in the same spot, stunned. She was beginning to hate this man.

xxxxx

Sansa was busy working on one of the sketches for Sandor's appointment the next day, when Margery walked into her work room.

"So girl, we need to talk." Margery said, as she plopped onto Sansa's tattoo chair. Sansa put her pencil down and looked up from her sketch. "What about Marg?" Sansa asked. "Oh about nothing in particular. Maybe about that very tall, very angry looking man, that came in yesterday. What was that about?" Margery questioned. Sansa sighed. "He was simply a client that was looking to get a new tattoo. What more can I say?" she asked. "How could you bear to be in the same room as him? He was horrifying! Weren't you scared? He looked like he could have been in a biker gang or something!" Margery blurted out at a rapid pace. Sansa shook her head. "It was just someone looking for a tattoo! He was your average customer. Sure he was intimidating, I won't say that he wasn't, but, he was still just a customer." Sansa told her.

While he was intimidating at first, Sansa quickly learned that she had no reason to feel that way. He seemed to be more of an awkward, shy man. He didn't seem to feel comfortable around her. She wondered if it was because she was a woman or if there was another reason behind it. She supposed she would learn more about the stranger, no, Sandor, tomorrow. Margery spoke again, bringing Sansa back into the present.

"So…what was he like?" she asked, smirking. Sansa rolled her eyes. She couldn't understand why this was such a big deal. "He was quiet actually. He didn't have much to say. He kept it very professional. There was one thing though." she told Margery. "What's that?" she inquired. "He wanted me to call him Hound. Apparently that's his nickname or something. What kind of name is that? Who would willingly call themselves that? It's horrible!" Sansa said to her. Margery smiled. "So I take it that that's not what you'll be calling him?" she teased. "Of course not! You know me better than to do something awful like that." Sansa stated. "So then what will you call him?" Margery asked. "Sandor." Sansa said, "His name is Sandor, so that's what I'll call him." Margery was unsure of what to make of the name. She said it aloud a few times before the girls heard the bell to the shop door ring, and someone yell "Sansa!"

Sansa recognized the voice immediately; she'd know her brother's voice anywhere. Sansa got off her stool and Margery quickly followed Sansa out to the front desk of the shop. Margery hadn't had much interaction with Sansa's older brothers. She knew which twin was which and that they both had girlfriends, but that was it. Well, almost it. She knew that Robb was one of the most handsome men she had ever laid her eyes on, but he had a girlfriend, so that meant he was off limits.

Sansa greeted her brother and his best friend, and her mechanic, Tormund Giantsbane. "Hey boys. Now what could you two possibly be doing here, bothering us lovely people, today?" she inquired. "The boss let everyone off early today, said that he had family business to attend to. So Tormund and I have been going around and hanging posters for this weekend's show." Robb told her. Sansa rolled her eyes. She loved her brothers, she really did, hells, she even loved Tormund, but she always thought that their band was ridiculous. It's not that the band was bad, they were actually very good, but she just laughed and called them a "Boy Band" every chance that she got.

"I don't know what you're complaining about She Wolf, you love to hear us play." Tormund teased her. It was true, she went to every show the boys had. It made her happy to see the boys so comfortable in front of people. Especially Jon, since he was so shy. It really brought them out of their comfort zones and it was truly a thing to behold.

She smirked at Tormund. "Yes, yes, I know all about your show this weekend. What does it have to do with the shop?" she asked them both. "Well…uh…we were kinda wondering if we could put a poster up in here to tell people about it? If that's alright." Robb said. While he was speaking, the bell chimed, signaling someone coming in the shop. "If that's alright? Of course it's alright! Any family of Sansa's is a family of mine." the group heard Sansa's boss, Tyrion Lannister say. They looked to the shorter gentleman only to notice that he wasn't alone. To his side was a tall, handsome, blond man. Robb naturally knew who this man was immediately, considering he worked for Jaime Lannister's company. The girls both exchanged smiles; they each knew what the other was thinking. Jaime Lannister was the most handsome man that either of them knew, and it was a real treat when he visited his brother in the Lion's Den.

"I let you off early today young Stark, and this is what you do with your time? Harass these beautiful young women, and promote your band? I would have assumed that you would have done something a little more productive with your time." he teased Robb, while winking at the girls. It took all they had in them, not to swoon at the sight. Robb looked to the floor as a tinge of red stained his cheeks. Seeing how uncomfortable Sansa's brother was, Tyrion spoke up. "Oh Jaime, don't scare the man! What he wants to do with his spare time is completely up to him." he said, elbowing his older brother in the ribs. "But, we should leave all these nice people to their own lives and go to my office to discuss more important matters." Tyrion continued, before nodding to the group and heading to his office, with Jaime right behind him.

Margery took this moment to speak up. "Of course we'll hang the poster up! We'd love to help get more people to your show Robb." she said, with her sweetest smile. "Thank you Margery." Robb said, winking at Sansa's coworker. Sansa had to do a double take, for she was confused as to what had just transpired. She knew that her brother and his ex-girlfriend, Talisa, had broken up a couple of months ago, but really? He was going to make a move on her best friend? She looked from Margery to Robb, wondering what was going to become of this. She could only hope that neither of the people she loved most in this world would end up getting hurt.

xxxxx

Arya made it home later than she anticipated. She had to quickly shower, to get the pungent sweat smell off of her, before she headed in to work that evening. It was her first day back since the attack, and she had her reservations. She knew that Gendry wasn't working, it would be just her and Hot Pie, so that made her feel slightly better.

Once she climbed out of the shower, she dressed in a pair of jeans and her skeletal print, muscle shirt. She dried her hair and debated on applying some makeup to her face. She wasn't one for wearing makeup; she wasn't even sure why she owned it. She eventually decided that a little foundation couldn't hurt. The bruises on her wrists had faded completely, so she didn't need to worry about them. The bruise on her eye however, was a different story. It was still quite prominent so she covered it the best she could. She didn't look completely like herself, but it was an improvement.

She looked over herself once more, before grabbing her things and heading to The Harren Hall.

Nine hours later, the last customer had just walked out the door when she turned to Hot Pie and said, "That wasn't as bad as I expected." "You stopped jumping at the loud voices pretty quickly, and fell back into your routine soon after. I think you did very well." he told her, coming over to give her a hug. "Oiy! Get off me!" she yelled at him, feeling him laughing around her. "So, how was your first day at the House of Black and White? I know you mentioned earlier that you went, but then we got really busy and I didn't get to hear the rest." he said. "Gods. I didn't even get to learn anything! He just tortured me today. He made me run on a treadmill for half an hour, and then made me lift weights until I couldn't feel my arms! They're still fucking sore!" she commented. "Oh, so your trainer is a he?" Hot Pie asked. "Shit." she said. "I forgot to mention that. My trainer, is the guy that saved me in the alley. How fucking insane is that?" "Holy shit!" he replied. "That's quite the fucking coincidence." "No kidding." she said back.

They finished cleaning the tables, and while Hot Pie swept, Arya wiped down the bar top. Once they were finished cleaning, Hot Pie had grabbed the garbage and was about to walk out the door, when Arya stopped him.

"Pie…"she said, in almost a whisper. "Yea Arya?" he asked. "Would you…would you mind waiting, and maybe…be willing to walk me to my bike? I just…I just don't feel comfortable walking in the alley alone at night anymore." she told him, looking at the floor so he couldn't see the tears that had started to form in her eyes. "Oh Arya." he said, a look of sadness coming to his face, "Of course I will." "Thanks Pie." she said. She was glad that, even though she was moving on from what happened, she still had someone to turn to if she needed them.