Arya Stark - Game of Thrones - Barways

[mm_dyna]

Winter is Coming.

Those are the words of her House.

Not until now has she realized how important those words really are. There's the oncoming danger and enemies wishing them ill, like her father said. And the need to protect each other.

Even Sansa.

Even if her big sister was horrible sometimes.

Still, it's nothing to get too worried about.

Comments

[jane_becomes]

Jane notices her enter and says, "You look lost."

Perhaps giving the welcoming speech will keep her thoughts from straying too much.

[likeaneedle]

"I'm not lost," Arya immediately finds herself saying, a little more defiant than she means to be.

Hesitantly: "At least ... I don't think so.

"Who are you?"

[jane_becomes]

"My name is Jane Austen and this is Milliways. Have you been here before?"

Her defiance makes Jane smile, no one wishes to be caught not knowing.

[likeaneedle]

"No," Arya replies. "I've never heard of Milliways before. This should be the Small Hall, in the Tower of the Hand."

And clearly it isn't.

"Are you one of the Queen's ladies?"

[smallestopener]

Ingress wears her grays and her sword as she sits on the barstool. Her legs dangle down much farther than this time last year. She's twelve now, and she's grown again.

Her sword's not a wooden one; it's the real thing. She's visiting London Below for part of the summer, and then she'll be back to Haven. She'll be a Herald in a few years.

"Hi," she says to the girl. It looks like she just walked in for the first time.

[likeaneedle]

Oh.

Arya's eyes go straight to the sword on her person. Another girl with a sword, she thinks excitedly.

And she looks about her age, too.

"Hello," she says politely. "Are you another one of Syrio's students?"

[smallestopener]

"No, I'm not," Ingress says with a big smile. "We're probably not from the same place. I train in Haven."

[likeaneedle]

"Haven? And where's that?"

Arya's studied maps, and things.

She would have heard of it, she's sure.

[almosthonorable]

The cowboy at a nearby table is settled in with a cup of coffee, his dog-eared sketchbook open before him.

When the Front Door admits a new arrival, his pencil stills, and he glances up from the page.

"Watch yourself, half-pint," he says, his graveled voice more pragmatic than unkind. "Don't get yourself run over when that thing opens again."

[likeaneedle]

Arya blinks, then turns to glance over her shoulder at the door.

She steps to the side.

"You're not Syrio," she states, because - well, he's the first person to speak to her. "And this isn't the Small Hall."

[almosthonorable]

"Right on both counts, miss."

He tips his head in her direction, and touches two fingertips to the brim of his black hat.

"Ben Wade," he says, and offers a brief half-smile. "I might be a poor substitute for who you were lookin' for, but I'll do my best not to disappoint."

[likeaneedle]

"He's my fencing -

"Dancing master," Arya says, hastily correcting herself at the last second. "I was supposed to be having a lesson."

She glances at Ben's hat, tilting her head slightly to the side.

"That's an interesting helm, Ser Wade."

[likeaneedle]

Arya knows that voice.

She's about to blurt out, 'You're the Imp!', but it seems her septa's lessons in manners have finally paid off - at least when it counts.

Mostly.

Instead, she stares at him and says, "I thought you were supposed to be in the North."

She remembers him not being one of the party traveling to King's Landing.

[likeaneedle]

"You're helping Bran?"

She can't help but feel at least some warmth towards the Queen's brother for doing something like that.

"And - and how is Jon?"

[in_the_pages]

Even outside his work life, Fynn can't escape children.

Of course, when you're tall enough that you almost walk into one because you don't see her, that's going to catch attention anyway.

"Hello there lass. Beg pardon, I didna see y'down there."

[likeaneedle]

Arya blinks up at the man and instinctively takes a step back.

"Sorry," she mumbles.

[in_the_pages]

"Not ta worry, should have been watchin me feet. Can't go around running over everyone just because I can."

People who spend their lives taking care of children develop instincts. Usually it's something like "because I'm your mother," but Fynn doesn't quite have that gracious point of explanation. He squints at her, just a moment.

"Are you alright there, little one?"

[likeaneedle]

"Yes," Arya starts to say, before she slowly shakes her head. "Actually - no.

"Where am I, ser? This isn't the Small Hall; everything's different."

Really different.