valar dohaeris.
Arya had been officially fourteen (even if her actual age was still somewhat in question) for nineteen days, and if she felt different, it was mostly because of what had happened on her nameday.
She'd been thinking about it, on and off, every day since, in quiet moments. As much about the ways in which it hadn't felt different. The wraith, that had just been about surviving; she hadn't even thought about it much beyond regretting that its stunner had disappeared upon the stroke of midnight. It had been a useful weapon.
She had thought about the Reavers, a little, that she'd knocked out with said weapon and then quietly disposed of, whenever she saw them. That hadn't been survival so much as elimination of a problem. Those things couldn't be allowed to live, not even if she'd known they'd just vanish within hours. A girl should be bloody. This is her work.
Then there was Theon, who had died in front of her, as if she'd been meant to witness it, and maybe she had. People said there weren't any gods here, sometimes, but Arya didn't believe that. There was a heart tree; the old gods could still watch them. And people still died. Everyone came to the Many-Faced God eventually; even here he reached out, even if up until Halloween it had been but rarely. Halloween. Her nameday. Arya didn't think that was coincidence.
Every morning, when there was no one else but her in her room, she'd taken out the robe she'd arrived in, black on the left side and white on the right, and stared at it, run her hands over the fabric, and thought about Braavos, and the man with the kind face.
Then, on this particular day, she'd mounted her black and white horse named after a man who hadn't really existed... no, that was wrong, wasn't it? Jaqen H'ghar had been as real as Cat of the Canals had been. More so, even. She'd mounted her horse and just ridden, until she stopped, reined in and stared over the surface of the water, dappled gold by the sun, which was shining so brightly on the sand it was almost pure white.
She dismounted.
White, aside from the slight gleam of metal. Slight, because the metal was old, tarnished. It was rusted across the rim and when she picked it up she could see that one side had writing on it that she still could not read, and the other a man's face so worn he could have been anyone.
Who are you? she asked the face on the coin, but she knew the answer already. She turned it over and looked at the writing instead, and then again, rolling it over and over her fingers like a magic trick.
"I don't know what I'm meant to do," she said, aloud, watching the coin dance in her fingers, now showing the writing that said nothing, now the man with no face. I don't want to disappear. Not while they're still here.
She stopped the coin's dance all of a sudden, holding it between thumb and forefinger, writing side facing towards her. "Arya," she said, "of House Stark." She reversed it. "No one."
Then she settled it atop a closed fist, and with a flick of her thumb sent it spinning into the air, eyes fixed on the progress of the toss.
[Arya's just found her item and is in the middle of making an important coin toss. Interrupt her. XD]
She'd been thinking about it, on and off, every day since, in quiet moments. As much about the ways in which it hadn't felt different. The wraith, that had just been about surviving; she hadn't even thought about it much beyond regretting that its stunner had disappeared upon the stroke of midnight. It had been a useful weapon.
She had thought about the Reavers, a little, that she'd knocked out with said weapon and then quietly disposed of, whenever she saw them. That hadn't been survival so much as elimination of a problem. Those things couldn't be allowed to live, not even if she'd known they'd just vanish within hours. A girl should be bloody. This is her work.
Then there was Theon, who had died in front of her, as if she'd been meant to witness it, and maybe she had. People said there weren't any gods here, sometimes, but Arya didn't believe that. There was a heart tree; the old gods could still watch them. And people still died. Everyone came to the Many-Faced God eventually; even here he reached out, even if up until Halloween it had been but rarely. Halloween. Her nameday. Arya didn't think that was coincidence.
Every morning, when there was no one else but her in her room, she'd taken out the robe she'd arrived in, black on the left side and white on the right, and stared at it, run her hands over the fabric, and thought about Braavos, and the man with the kind face.
Then, on this particular day, she'd mounted her black and white horse named after a man who hadn't really existed... no, that was wrong, wasn't it? Jaqen H'ghar had been as real as Cat of the Canals had been. More so, even. She'd mounted her horse and just ridden, until she stopped, reined in and stared over the surface of the water, dappled gold by the sun, which was shining so brightly on the sand it was almost pure white.
She dismounted.
White, aside from the slight gleam of metal. Slight, because the metal was old, tarnished. It was rusted across the rim and when she picked it up she could see that one side had writing on it that she still could not read, and the other a man's face so worn he could have been anyone.
Who are you? she asked the face on the coin, but she knew the answer already. She turned it over and looked at the writing instead, and then again, rolling it over and over her fingers like a magic trick.
"I don't know what I'm meant to do," she said, aloud, watching the coin dance in her fingers, now showing the writing that said nothing, now the man with no face. I don't want to disappear. Not while they're still here.
She stopped the coin's dance all of a sudden, holding it between thumb and forefinger, writing side facing towards her. "Arya," she said, "of House Stark." She reversed it. "No one."
Then she settled it atop a closed fist, and with a flick of her thumb sent it spinning into the air, eyes fixed on the progress of the toss.
[Arya's just found her item and is in the middle of making an important coin toss. Interrupt her. XD]