the fates, the gods, many faced men, whoever, had brought her back here. she knew it. the list of people she had lost had only grown and yet here he stood. she would allow herself to believe it, if only for a few moments. back leans against wooden table, relaxing a little. arya had nothing to fear from him, never had and never would. the list of people she would allow herself to loosen up around was slim to none, jon was at the top, followed by sansa then bran. then she supposed gendry. when she was younger, she did not have many [ any? she thinks to herself. ] friends. her father and jon did not count. sansa always had jeyne poole, arya’s childhood was ripped away from her far too soon to ever delight in finding a best friend. syrio forel had been the first person to truly extend a branch to her and he was long dead now. she had never much liked the ladies at court, all they wanted to talk about were the lords and their dresses — it seemed frivolous to her then, even more so now. there was a pained thought then, the years she had spent calling sansa stupid, spent her time loathing her. it wasn’t until she thought her whole family dead that it dawned upon her how much she loved them so.
❛ i didn’t pay too much attention to my schooling, much to my mothers displeasure. ❜ strange was it was, she wished her mother would scold her now, even only to hear her voice again, she had begun to forget what it sounded like. when she had found sansa, she saw parts of her mother then. her hair, her posture. joy was something she was sure she would never feel again. the last time she had felt it was the day she had gotten nymeria, only to cruelly have to send her away. seeing her family, those emotions and parts of herself she thought she had buried, thought would never return to the surface, they had bubbled over and her heart had thawed ever so slightly. it’s what she feels here, stood in front of gendry. her heart thrumming against her chest. some newer emotions she had never felt before, had difficulty placing them. ❛ you’ve always been nicer to me than any high born lord. ❜ a strange complement, she thinks. there are so many other things she wishes she would say if her tongue would only allow.
quirk of her brow and roll of her eyes. it did not seem to matter how many times she told him not to, he would call her lady forever, if not to do anything but irk her. when she was younger, she would indeed have thrown a tantrum. huffed and stalked away whilst calling him names under her breath. then they’d share some bread over the fire and all would be good again. ❛ just arya is fine, you know. ❜ her sister was lady stark. she was quite content in just being arya stark of winterfell, mind the lady. perhaps she just wanted to hear her name on his lips. now he was older, gruffer, her no longer pretending to be arry. being a lady did not matter to her, not because of the same superficial reasons as from when she was younger, but because, winter was coming. there was a chance their days were numbered, that they could not fight their way out of this. there’s a twinge in her chest as her eyes find his again, a strong urge to reach out and touch him, hug him, anything, her fingers even twitch for a moment before she thinks to herself, maybe he does not want that.
❛ oh that is a very long story, gendry the blacksmith. ❜ her eyes drift to his hands then. a small smile tips on lips, she liked the look of them like that. him doing something he was expertly skilled that. he had always been caught up on the distance between their class, had mentioned it when she told him she could be his family. it had never mattered to her. not for a one moment. mattered even less now. ❛ i escaped the hound and got on a boat. i was no one for a while, killed, drank, spied. worked, scrubbed some floors, even went blind until i had truly learnt the meaning of being no one, not to take from the many faced god. got stabbed, killed the freys. ❜ insane, is probably what he is thinking of her right now. though, all of it happened and she knew not many would believe her. ❛ jon filled me in on his adventures beyond the wall, might have mentioned something about you being there. ❜ a pause, jon had told her a lot. but if gendry wanted to tell her himself, she’d let him, wouldn’t impose. ❛ you saw them? the dead. ❜ she straightens up and takes a small step towards him. ❛ i thought…. i thought you were dead. ❜ her voice drops off at the end of her sentence, a small crack. ❛ i’m truly glad you are not. ❜