Arya I

Three days have passed since the great family of the North came down to Riverrun on the behest of Lord Tully. Robert Baratheon had, on a whim, authorized yet another tourney for his personal entertainment and this time it would take place in the Riverlands, thus Hoster Tully, Lord Paramount of the Riverlands was now in charge of the preparations.

Ned Stark had duties to attend to in the North, he also wasn't very fond of the South, so in which case his wife Lady Catelyn Stark chose to attend on his behalf and brought along with her three of her children to spend some time with their grandfather and acquire more knowledge on how to be proper nobles. Of course not everyone was in accordance with long standing family traditions. While others were content with playing the roles they were relegated to since before their births, some chose to break away and upset the status quo.

XxXxX

"Arya, you will make mother mad if she catches you being your usual feral self, even more so within the halls of her ancestral home." Arya very much huffes at her older sister's scolding, always annoyed by her highly pompous nature of being.

"Don't you have better things to do, perhaps doll making with the old women?" Arya fires back, never allowing Sansa to have the final word in their childish squabbles.

All she was doing was sprinting as fast as she could across the many halls of the fortified castle, taking in the new environment surrounding her. It was a rare chance for her to leave The North and every new place she came upon was always an adventure beckoning her to partake in. Thus, here she was hoseing about much to her mother and sister's constant annoyance. She had better things to do than just waste precious time with her studies and lectures of nobility, wandering aimlessly about was a much better outlet in her mind.

Ignoring Sansa, Arya walked away from her and headed out to the main courtyard to get some fresh air. Reaching the courtyard, Arya was greeted by the sight of her brother assisting the castle's staff with various mundane tasks.

"Hey Robb." Arya walked towards the heir of House Stark who smiled back at her, "Not very Lordish of you, getting your hands dirty?"

"Father always lends his hands when the people require assistance, no matter their status or heritage. It's what all good men should do. It's what our House will always do."

Looking around them the preparations for the upcoming tourney were already underway. Lord Tully was already hard at work alongside his daughter and their mother Catelyn with signing many letters to the surrounding Houses for donations and participation. It was quite a busy day for everyone in Riverrun and she was already bored of it all. All her life, Arya has lived in Winterfell, never having even explored the entire kingdom that her House governed over, so being so far away was a special treat and she'd be damned if she allowed herself to be restrained against her will.

"Go on now, don't want mother to catch you away from your studies do you?" Robb patted her on the head, ruffling her short hair.

"I'd rather leave it to chance." She dared to say, a glimmer of rebellious mischief on her.

"I'd rather you'd not."

Sudden commotion around the courtyard came about as the Captain of the Guard, Ser Prestan Fisher marched alongside four knights towards the entrance of the keep. Sensing trouble Robb and Arya tallied along to learn of the situation in hand. "Is there trouble Ser Fisher?" The experienced captain, already reaching the prime age of fifty, continued to march on, but did acknowledge the young Stark's inquiry.

"Some men who wield no banner have appeared on the main entrance of Riverrun, my young lord, among them is Walder Frey's oldest." Both siblings looked at one another, they may not know House Frey personally, but for the heir of a House to be traveling with such a small host is strange on its own, even more with by the sound of it, sellswords, "They desire an audience with Lord Tully, with the Frey acting as mediator of sorts. This sounds alarming as it is."

"Are they seriously demanding a ransom upfront?" Robb incredulously spoke as Arya followed behind. It appears that this day had vanquished the dullness and brought forth a new quest for her to follow.

XxXxX

Barred from being anywhere near the great hall, Arya and Sansa were ordered back to their rooms for the evening. It appears that these men were not exactly bannermen of any House and Ser Stevron Frey was more their prisoner than liege. The men were taken to meet with her grandfather and mother, Robb had also chosen to partake and learn more about these strangers as well gain knowledge for his lordship.

"Are you mad?" Sansa hissed at her ws Arya headed out the door, "If they catch you, Mother will be beyond furious with you."

"I'm just curious." Arya simply stated and slipped out of the room.

Sansa scoffed at her younger sister's childish demeanor and went back to reading her book, "Not my problem then."

Sneaking amongst the shadows and hugging the stone walls of Riverrun, the young Stark girl made her way over to the great hall where her curiosity was mainly present. The main entrance was guarded so there was no possibility of anyone getting in or out for that matter, the guards stood still, one hand steadily on the hilts of their swords ready to draw blood in the defense of their lord and House.

Inside she could hear the muffled voices of the 'guests' speaking with her grandfather. Searching for an alternative she immediately got an idea and quietly backed away from the hallway. She may not be as agile as her brother Bran, but she had her fair share of rock climbing capabilities and she knew of a good spot to not only eavesdrop on the meeting but watch with her own two eyes.

It took a while, but she managed to climb on the side of the outside wall and reach one of the open windows high up in the great hall. Once grasping a firm grip and ensuring she wouldn't fall down and injure herself she peeked over and gazed inside the large chamber.

It was just two of them; a man with a black hair and goatee and the other with dirty blonde hair and a growing beard. Both men were dressed strangely, no armor, no chainmail or any form of leathered uniform that indicated their status as sellswords. They were dressed funny, bright colors of red, white, blue and dried brown leather on them.

"Now please, I understand that my associates and I got on the wrong foot with the previous lord a little further up the river…but I can assure you that we meant no serious harm and had no foul, malicious intent when the fighting broke out." The man with the fanciery clothing spoke before the gathering in the great hall.

"You attacked and killed many men loyal to House Frey and furthermore kidnapped Walder Frey's oldest son and dared to use him to gain an audience with House Tully!" The Captain of the Guard raised his voice as Catelyn and Robb Stark stood guard near Lord Hoster who was looking worse for wear as the years went by.

"Self defense, you prick." The other man muttered, but it was still loud enough for even Arya to hear from high in her hidden spot.

"What my friend here means is that we…we were left with no other choice." The man spoke with confidence, in fact he radiated full of it, "We come from a far away land and our customs are far different from the local ones in this fair and beautiful land of yours. We didn't mean to harm anyone or even claim the lives of those soldiers, but my friends who are also my family and myself are in uncharted territory and survival is key."

"So many words being said…nothing but excuses in my ears." Catelyn sharply replied. "You had the audacity to kidnap the son of a Lord and ransom him back to us and all would be forgiven?"

Arya wasn't surprised at her mother's rebuttal, she was always stern and suspicious of outsiders, sellswords were not a welcoming sight either. She wondered if these two men would be able to sweet talk their way into her family's good graces, but she somewhat doubted it.

"We have entertained these men long enough. Ser Fisher, detain them at once!" Catelyn commanded.

As the guards approached the duo, the man with the red and white garns raised a single hand, letting out a chuckle as his partner took a defensive stand - hands gripping on to something dangling from his waist.

"Please now, my lady, my lord, let us not be quick to cast unnecessary judgment shall we. I...on behalf of my men who are my greatest responsibility, who I have raised as my own flesh and blood and mentored throughout the years, am deeply sorry for this terrible transition that we have conjured up. I do hope that bygones can become bygones and that…we can all move forward not as foes, but as a partnership built on trust and integrity. Grant us the opportunity to seek atonement for our sins against this land of yours my Lord. If we fail then I will strip off my own name and walk the path of death for my name is Dutch Van Der Linde and I am…a man of my word." The man she now knew as Dutch went on a wide speech, it sounded overly elaborated, but the man could talk that was for sure.

As the conversation carried on Arya looked over at the other man and her heart dropped as she saw him staring directly at her. Arya simply froze, unsure if he was indeed looking at her direction or not she could not tell. Her question was answered by the man's subtleness as he tipped his hat at her, acknowledging her existence. Arya ducked from the window but on doing so lost some balance on the already slick stonewall and slipped down.

Landing hard on her back, Arya groaned in pain as she slowly got back to her feet. "This is going to hurt."

Limping away she prayed to the Old Gods that the sellsword wouldn't inform her family of her intrusion on a private matter. Life out here was indeed dull. How she wished to explore the known world and not be tied down to tradition.

XxXxX

The following day Arya and Sansa had just finished having breakfast and were heading for their studies, well Arya was meant to go study but she had other plans already in motion. Exiting the keep with a 'borrowed' horse from the stable she made her way down to the campgrounds where the preparations for the upcoming Tourney would be held. Coincidentally, the same men from before were also there.

A small crowd was gathered around them, most of them were loyal bannermen of House Tully and a few other representatives from the other neighboring Houses were also present. It appears that a demonstration was underway and these Sellswords were the primary attraction.

"What exactly are we going to witness? What can these Sellswords have to offer?" A Bannerman spoke.

"Strange weapons they carry, but why is Lord Tully humoring them so much?" Another said as well.

Arya snuck past them all intending to get as close as possible while still hidden. She made it around the workers' tents and was as close as possible by an earshot from the men. There were two other men with them this time around, the first one wore a white hat and a black leather coat with red undershirt, he held a wicked smile as he scanned the crowd around them as for the other one he was much younger, probably the youngest of them all with black hair and a nasty scar on his face, it almost appeared like a wild beast had mauled him. Both the men were clearly alert and focused on their leader, this so-called, Dutch Van Der Linde who was speaking with the other man that accompanied him yesterday.

"I'm not so sure about this Dutch. You may be pushing our luck right now." The handsome man spoke with worry to Dutch.

"We already stirred up some unnecessary shit the other day. Best be in their good graces until we can fully understand our dilemma with wider eyes. Arthur, don't start doubting me now my son. I already have Hosea occupying that position and he is very good at it." Dutch patted Arthur on the shoulder, he sounded assured of himself.

The soldiers had placed a set of targets, straw dummies and many empty bottles all sitting in a row upon a table many yards away. Was this the demonstration? We're these men gonna prove their worth and skills to House Tully, that's how Arya believed so.

Arthur sighed and walked forward to the stationary targets as the other three stood by. Reaching for his weapons, Arya was confused at the short metallic club he held. What purpose could that small thing do other than club a man to death? Her question was immediately answered as the small object spit fire alongside a thunderous crack that pierced her ears with a sharp stab.

"What the bloody hell?" The young Northern girl grimaced as she covered up both ears, the noise being one she could only associate with thunder, but thunder that had struck right in front of her.

More of those thunderous strikes of sound repeated themselves as Arthur aimed at the targets and to the shock of all present, minus the rest of the gang exploded all the well placed, well distanced bottles with keen accuracy. Once done Arthur spun the weapon in his hand before sheathing it away. He looked back at the audience and gave a polite nod with the tip of his hat.

Arya was stunned, amazed and above all curious. She wanted to learn more about these strange men and their foreign weaponry, perhaps she could get much closer. But that would need to be much later, the house maidens must be searching for her troublesome child that she was.

XxXxX

The men had been granted a campsite just outside Riverrun with multiple sentries overlooking them in a circular position. Night was fast approaching and with the clouds hiding the moonlight, Arya had the perfect cover. She just hoped that all went well. Sneaking past the sentries was an easy task, they were easy to distract, all it took was a single rock thrown against a tree to gain their attention.

The campsite only had two tents each one for two of the sellswords. On the main campfire Dutch who was flanked by the man with the white hat and long mustache was speaking to Lord Stevron Frey but that was not her main concern.

"I do hope your father can be understanding of the unfortunate set of events that have led to this moment here. I do not wish to cause a dispute between two families, Lord knows that would be a terrible thing to manifest upon us all." Dutch spoke.

"My father can be…quite unpleasant, but if you can prove yourselves by tomorrow morning then perhaps House Tully will indeed have you and your men under good graces." Stevron responded back.

Ignoring the rest of the conversation Arya snuck inside one of the tents and before she could enter entirely a man called out to her, "You know this is called trespassing, what you are doing right now miss."

The man called Arthur was sitting on a stool on the far end of the tent, he had a rag on his hat which he was cleaning, a serious look on him, but not as serious as her mother's. Having been caught, Arya rolled her eyes and entered the tent, time to be given a stern lecture as usual was her case.

"Gonna tell me?" She asked the man.

"Well, that depends. Were you going to steal anything?" He looked her in the eyes, and Arya held her ground and eyes him back.

"Just wanted to see them much closer. Those things, are they magic?" She asked, the excitement hard to miss.

Arthur chuckled to that inquiry, "The only magic they have is the ability to kill things without one getting close. Nah…they're just pieces of molten metal that any blacksmith can create. Human technology…one too dangerous to be given away like free money."

"Mind if you show me one?" Arya asked.

"These are not toys. I will not be so careless as to give one to a child." Arthur replied back, putting down his favored hat onto the bed roll next to him, "Shouldn't you be more focused in school? Instead of sneaking around private property and climbing walls to eavesdrop on others?"

So he did recognize her after all.

"I hate being treated as a lady and refuse to ever be one, my sister can play that role but not me!" Arya huffed, always hating the expectations that her family and tradition as a whole demanded from her.

"Heh, Sadie would love you kid." Arthur smirked.

"So what did Lord Tully decide your fates shall be anyhow? The Riverlands don't condone mindless violence and the kidnapping of a noble is a serious offense that could get you all executed." Arya pondered to the man before her.

"Well, my good friend Dutch has a way with words and after that little demonstration, Tully has agreed to spare our lives. We'll be on loan to them, mercenaries or that other word that everyone here keeps using…sword seller or something like that." Arthur placed a cigarette in mouth and lit a match. "Rest of the gang will be brought over tomorrow, me and the boys got ourselves our very first assignment in the morning."

"Where are you from?"

Arthur stayed silent for a bit, unsure how to respond to such a simple question. "A place far, far away. It's probably not in any of your maps I'm afraid."

Arthur looked at her examining her even, Arya felt defensive all of a sudden. It finally dawned on her mind that she was all alone with a stranger who was most likely a trained killer, subtly she took a single step back, ready to flee from the tent if the man sitting in front of her lunged at her. Arthur seemed to have caught her train of thought and let out a deep sigh.

"I'm not going to hurt you kid. I'm a dangerous man, but I'm not a bad man. I'd rather much kill myself than ever bring harm to an innocent child." He spoke those words with a strong hint of pain and bitterness.

"I guess I'll be on my way then. See you around Arthur." Arthur cocked an eyebrow as a puff of smoke exiting his mouth.

"I was listening to a private conversation, remember?" Arya reminded the outlaw how nodded in agreement as his memory recollected.

"What's your name kid?"

"Arya Stark of House Stark. Winter is Coming."

So sorry for the long wait. This chapter feels lacking and not my strongest, but I really owed you all at least one chapter after going AWOL for so long.