AN- Hey guys, another chapter here. I had to think really hard on how to follow up the last chapter. So, I guess this is the product of my thoughts. Anyways, remember to review. Enjoy!

Strange Meetings

Pentos- Arya finds herself in a large tavern, sitting in a corner as to not attract attention. Barristan had left her there, saying he had to go speak to a friend. Arya notices a commotion coming from the other side of the bar. She stands and goes over to investigate. She finds two people, a woman, who had her face covered, and a man, with a pendent she could recognize anywhere.

"What are a Septa and Septon doing here?" She thought to herself. She saw the woman, and noticed that she was not much older than Robb. The man was also young, but was most likely a few years older. Arya walked closer to them, and notice the jeering coming room the local crowd.

"How about you go back to Westeros, you damn heretics!" One said, getting cheers of approval from the other locals. Arya quickly stepped up between the crowd and priest and priestess.

"How about we perform for them? You could sing a hymn." She says, trying to defuse the situation. The Septa nods and smiles.

"Good suggestion, I have a few instruments you can pick from." she says, grabbing a bag of musical instruments. Arya smiles and picks up a faded grey ocarina. Back in Winterfell, all the Stark children learned or would learn to play at least one instrument. For they boys it was to learn had eye coordination, and for the girls it was taught that it would please their husbands. It one of the few ladylike things Arya was good at or enjoyed.

"Now, what song should we play?" The Septon asked, picking up a small drum.

"Hmm, how about Gentle Mother?" Arya suggested, getting a nod from the septa. Arya prepared herself to play, as the Septon counted them in. The melodious voice of the Septa began to carry through the halls.

"Gentle Mother, font of mercy,

Save our sons from war, we pray. Stay the swords and stay the arrows, Let them know a better day. Gentle Mother, strength of women, Help our daughters through this fray. Soothe the wrath and tame the fury, Teach us all a kinder way. Gentle Mother, font of mercy, Save our sons from war, we pray. Stay the swords and stay the arrows, Let them know a better day."

As the Septa had been singing, the patrons of the tavern had turned to face her as they listened to her. Many also enjoyed the soft tune Arya was playing, as they had never heard an ocarina. As the song finished, the room was completely silent. Then one man, drunken to the point where he was barley conscious, clapped slowly for them. He took out a coin and flipped it to the Septa, who caught it. Many of the other customers did the same, clapping and tipping the ragtag band, before they went back to their drinks. The Septa turned and faced Arya with a smile.

"Thank you young one. You have helped me and my brother Clark quite a bit. Oh my name is Bella, by the way." She says. Arya smiles back at her.

"It was nothing, my name is Arry" Arya said. The Septa looked her up and down, and while her brother was busy collecting the coin they had made, she leaned in close to Arya.

"Ah, hiding that you are a girl. Smart." She says, surprising Arya. Before Arya could respond, Clark walked over.

"Here is your portion of the coin, Arry. And may I ask, where did you learn Gentle Mother?"Clark asked.

"It was my sister's favorite song. She sang it to me all the time when I was younger." Arya said, giving a sad smile at the memory of her big sister. She wished with all her heart that Sansa and the rest of her family were doing well.

"Well, keep some of the coin as payment. Oh, and also you can have the ocarina. Think of it as a gift." Bella says. Arya nods and puts the ocarina and money away.

"Where are you two heading anyways?" Arya asked. Clark gave Bella a nod before she spoke.

"Back to Westeros, where at least we are appreciated" Bella said. Arya's eyes widened, as she grabbed a letter from her pocket and quickly handed it to Bella.

"If you meet any lords from the Riverlands or the North, hand this to them." Arya said. Bella and Clark both looked at the letter, and their eyes widened as they saw the wax seal. It was a dire wolf!

"Arry this symbol is.." Clark went to say, but when he looked up, Arya was gone.

Riverlands- Ned Stark and his men were marching south, towards a small fort a few miles south. Ned planned to leave some of his men there as a garrison so they can reinforce the minor lords if needed. As they traveled, Ned noticed a large group of men approaching. As they became closer, Ned recognized that it was a group headed for the wall.

"Wait, could Yoren be leading them?" Ned thought to himself. He rode out in front of his men, and ordered the others to camp for the night, as it would be getting dark soon. As Ned rode, he saw exactly who he thought he would. Yoren, leading his group. Yoren saw Ned as well, and got off his horse and halted his group. The two men walked towards each other, never breaking eye contact.

"Yoren" Eddard says. Much to his surprise, Yoren kneels before him.

"Your grace, I am so sorry I couldn't protect your daughter. I know I have failed you." Yoren says. Ned shakes his head and pulls Yoren to his feet.

"I don't blame you, Yoren. The only people I blame are the Lannisters. They will pay for her murder." Ned says. Yoren nods, but then realizes something Ned said.

"Wait, only her murder?" Yoren says. Ned looks at him a bit angrily.

"What? Is my daughter's murder not enough to declare war?" Ned says accusingly. Yoren finally understands.

"No it's not that! It's just that I don't think you know what else happened to her." Yoren says. Ned feels his anger subside, and his morbid curiosity spike.

"What happened to her?" Ned asks. Yoren gulps before reciting the rumors surrounding Joffrey's crimes against Arya. Ned shakes with rage at the thought of his little girl being hurt like that. Before he can speak again, one of his men walked up to him.

"Your grace, a Lannister raven is here to receive your demands for the queen regent." He said. Ned nodded and followed his soldier back to the tent.

"Oh, I have some terms for her." Ned says as he walks.

King's Landing- Tyrion and the rest of the small council sat in the meeting room, listening to Cersei as she read the terms from the North.

"And along with the remains of my daughter being returned, You shall denounce all rule of the North. From this day until the end of time, we are a free and independent country of the North" Cersei reads, before ripping the letter up.

"You're becoming quite adept at ripping papers up, aren't you sister." Tyrion says, getting a glare from Cersei.

"Well, what do you recommend we do?" Cersei asks her brother. Tyrion thinks for a moment before speaking.

"Giving them the girl's bones would be a useful show of good faith, problem is we don't have them." Tyrion says. Varys picks up a small bundle of rags and puts it on the table.

"Perhaps not, but my little birds happened to find this." He says, unraveling it and revealing the two broken pieces of Needle,

"What is that?" Tyrion asks. Petyr Baelish answers for Varys.

"It is, or should I say was, young Arya's sword. It seems she must have fought hard before her death." He says. Varys nods and pulls out a letter, handing it to Tyrion.

"This is an unsent letter found in her room, read it if you would like, my lord." He says. Tyrion unfolds the letter and reads it, before passing it to Cersei, who reads it as well, before folding it back up.

"Giving these to the Starks could put us in their good favor" Cersei says, only to be interrupted by Joffrey barging in on the meaning. Cersei, knowing her son as well as she does, hides the letter quickly, but Joffrey spots Needle.

"What is that?" He asks, pointing at the sword.. Before anyone can think of a lie to tell him, Grand Maester Pycelle responds.

"This, your grace, is the sword that belonged to Arya Stark" The old man says, getting glares from all the others present except Joffrey, who smiles wickedly. He walks over and picks up the broken sword

"What a tiny blade, so weak and delicate it must have been to break like this. Fitting, since it is so much like that little wolf bitch" Joffrey says with a smug smile. Both Tyrion and Cersei look on in disgust at Joffrey's display of cruelty. As Joffrey plays with the sword, he manages to cut his finger. Tyrion bites his tongue to keep himself from laughing, but had a huge smile on his face.

"I believe this meeting is over. Pycelle, please treat our king's wounds." Tyrion says. As he and the other small council members stand up and begin to leave, Joffrey bundles Needle up, and carries it with him.

"I will be keeping this." He says as he leaves. Tyrion sighs, and looks over at Cersei, who pulls the letter out and hands it to Tyrion. As they leave, Tyrion walks over to his bodyguards Bronn.

"Bronn, if a sword were kept out near the sea for a few weeks, with no one to care for it, what would it be like?" Tyrion asks. Bronn thinks for a moment before answering.

"It would probably be dull and rusty. Why do you ask?" Bronn says. "Well, unless one of his little birds shined it up real nice, Varys is hiding something about that sword." Tyrion says.

Beyond the Wall, Early Morning- Jon Snow was sitting in front of the fire, camping with the ranging party. Grenn and Edd were next to him, also trying to keep warm. They hear a loud commotion coming from the other side of camp. Jon stands up and runs to the noise, followed by the others. They arrive and find a few of the other brothers on someone. The person is small, and guessing by the clothing a wildling Jon can clearly tell it is one of the Wights, and jumps on as well. The lord commander arrives soon after them.

"What's going on?" Jeor Mormant yells. Jon and the other men show him the Wight's face. He sees its blue, lifeless eyes, and nods in understanding. He grabs a torch and goes to light it on fire, but Jon stops him.

"Wait, we can use him." Jon says, pushing its face into the ground as it struggles. Jeor looks at him confused.

"And how is that?" The old commander asks.

"We can take him south and convince the lords to send us troops, we're going to need them." Jon says. Jeor thinks for a moment, before putting the torch down.

"Bind the deadman. You can take him to King's Landing Snow, bring a few men you trust to help. I'll write up a letter so that Thorne will let you through. Perhaps you'll have better luck than he did convincing those politicians." Jeor says, as the men bind the wight. Jon nods and walks over to Grenn and Edd.

"You two will come with me, its a better job than freezing to death out here" Jon says and both of them nod. He leads them back down south towards the wall, when Edd speaks up.

"Been a long time since I've been south, wonder how many people I new are dead." He deadpans. Jon's face shows his worry. The last thing he heard about his family was that his father was arrested. Grenn sees this in Jon's face. "Don't worry Jon. Your family is fine. Aren't all northernmen supposed to be tough as nails?"

Grenn jokes, hoping to lighten the mood. Jon smiles as the lead the wight around, making sure he can't attack them. "You're right, my father is fine. He has to be." Jon says the last sentence to himself, as he looks out into the distance, and can see the wall miles away.

AN- And another chapter done! I want to tell you guys about a poll I have on my profile about the story. It determines Arya's religion in this fic, so it is very important that I get votes. I have my own personal favorite, but I want to put it out there for you guys to vote. Anyways, remember to vote and also to leave a review, and I hope you enjoyed!