(Untitled)

[lonewolflives]

It had been two days, and they still hadn't found Nymeria.

Arya had stood in the clearing Jon had suggested, closed her eyes and strained with all her senses to spot the direction where something - anything - was... off. Anything that would suggest thatr here was a wolf on an island where no wolf should be.

Eventually, she'd thought she'd heard a

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[handandahalf]

Jon did not think it boasting to say he was a good tracker-- one of the best in the Watch, now, after all his experience beyond the Wall. But he knew-- had known for just over a day, now-- that Nymeria was better at covering her tracks than he was at uncovering them. He did not know why the wolf was avoiding them so diligently, but he knew they would never force her to show herself. She has to want to come to us, he thought as they crested a hill and looked down on a little valley below.

A flock of birds was startled into flight a distance away, and Jon looked at Arya while he caught his breath. He'd been impressed with her diligence and her intuition, and thought more and more as the time went by that there was something more to his sister than met the eye. But she, too, will have to want to tell me what it is.

[lonewolflives]

Arya watched the birds take to the sky and wheel about, and tried to remember if birds fled at the approach of wolves. It wasn't as if wolves hunted birds, but they'd been startled by something.

"There," she said, even though she knew Jon had already noted the movement. It gave her something to say, anyway, something to take her mind off the look Jon was giving her, the one that said I know you have secrets, little sister. "Down in the valley. We should try there."

[handandahalf]

"As you say," he agreed, straightening and stretching his arms up over his head. "Lead the way." As he followed her down into the forest, he took a swig from the larger water gourd he carried, holding it out to her in case she was thirsty. "Will you teach me to curse in Braavosi?" he asked suddenly, grinning. "It will pass the time, if nothing else."

[lonewolflives]

Arya laughed as they headed down into the valley. "All right, although I don't see the point in being able to swear in a language no one here understands." She scrambled over a fallen log, eyes scanning to see if there were any more birds taking flight even as she spoke, saying the Braavosi words for camel's cunt slowly and distinctly.

"That's the best one, that means 'camel's cunt,'" she told him.