Arya

Arya kept her gaze to the floor. 'Had he really just said that?' Slowly his words sank in. He had joined the Brotherhood. He would not stay with her in Riverrun. After what seemed like a long time, she felt him look at her. It was only then that her sense of loss and loneliness, brought on by his abandonment, boiled into a rage inside her. She could feel it building with each passing second he looked at her, waiting for her to... 'to what' she thought. 'Does he want my congratulations, shall we drink to his new position and be merry in fact that he will leave me in a week or less to join men who want to sell me back to my brother?'

She slowly began to stand. She knew she would not hold her temper if their eyes met. As much as she wanted to strike him, she did not want him or the others to know how much his decision affected her. As she walked out of the door she clenched her fists and dug her nails into her palms to stop from screaming. None of the men tried to stop her. That was unusual. After she had tried to escape by riding off a few weeks past, she was never allowed to wander on her own, except of course when they were staying at an Inn with women and were in cups. The men must have known that she needed to be alone. That confronting her would only lead to a fight.

She walked towards the trees, picking up a stick along the way. When she was out of sight she whipped the closest tree as hard as she could. Each time the stick hit the bark, she let out one of the muffled yells she had been fighting so hard to keep in. Over and over she struck the tree until the frenzy was so powerful she had not realised that she was shouting 'stupid', 'bull-headed' and 'turncloak' with each strike. She continued even though the stick had broken many times and was reducing in size with almost every hit. She did not hear him approach her. He called her name, 'Arry, Arry stop, please, talk to me'. It was not until he grabbed her arm and restrained her that she knew he had been watching. 'Let me go you stupid bastard boy... now!' But he did not listen. He squeezed her wrist until she dropped what was left of the stick and held her other arm begging her to calm down.

'Please Arry look... look at your hand'.

There was a welt forming on the palm of her hand. The force and violence of each strike had left is mark. Gendry's eyes were fixed on her, but she would not look at him.

'I just want to better myself, I thought you would understand.'

'I understand' she spat, looking up to glare at him, 'I understand that you want to leave, like Hot Pie. 'Arry can be my friend, and break me from Harrenhall, and help me stay alive and navigate through the woods, but when another opportunity comes, I will abandon her, and join another pack. I will leave her on her own', she mimicked in a man's voice.

Gendry eyes widened. 'I am not going to abandon you; I will be there until you are reunited with your mother and brother. You will be safe, protected. I would never leave you on your own.'

'You said you would come to Riverrun and smith for Robb, and then you join the Brotherhood, without even telling me.' She looked at the ground. 'I wish I never asked you to stay in Riverrun with me. I thought we were friends, but I was wrong. To the seven hells with you Gendry!' she screamed as she pulled from his grip and ran towards the Inn without looking back. She did not yet feel the pain in her hand. And she did not acknowledge Gendry's presence again that night.

Gendry

'Seven hells', he thought. 'Why did I not think to discuss this with her before I spoke?' But he knew the answer. He did not know himself, until that moment, that he would join. They had a week at most before they reached Riverrun and Arry would be reunited with her family. What would become of him then? Arry would be a real Lady. Her brother was King in the North. Her family would not be happy that she spent her time with a smithy, practicing swords in men's clothing. No, he would be the one left alone. He would know no one in Riverrun. But at least he knew Lem, Tom and the others. He could fix their swords and travel with them. Then he would not be alone, and when he returned to Arry, he would be a knight and her family might allow them to be friends.

He could tell she was upset so he followed her. He heard her curses and walked over to find her whipping the tree. He tried to call out to her, but she was like a wildling, crazed. She heard nothing. 'Her hand will be bloodied', he thought. He grabbed her and tried to calm her, but she said things he could not imagine. He had never seen her so angry. She looked at him like he disgusted her, repulsed her. He had never felt so sad. She looked at him with such hate. 'How can she think I am abandoning her? Does she not know anything of how the world works? We will not be allowed to be friends in Riverrun, she must know that.' He stood staring at her as she ran back to the Inn. His mind raced with the things she had said. She had misinterpreted everything. 'How could she get it so wrong'? But then he remembered. 'She is only two and ten. How could she really understand how the world works?' He realised that even thought Arry had seen things no one should, she was still a child in many ways. After a short while he returned to the Inn. He need to think of how best to explain his decision to Arry and give her time to calm down so that she would not hurt herself again accidently while in a temper. When he entered, the men looked at him but said nothing as he walked up the stairs to the room they all shared.

Arry was in bed with her back facing the door. Gendry sat on the bed and sighed. 'We would never be allowed to be friends in Riverrun. You are a sister of the King in the North and I am a smithy. I am not leaving you alone Arry, but in Riverrun, I would be alone. In the Brotherhood I would have friends and a purpose. I can help people. I can be of use. Please understand that. I would never leave you on your own. You are my friend.' He could hear her trying to hide the sound of weeping. It was a rare occurrence, Arry crying, so he did not know how to react at first. After a few minutes with no response from her, he gave up waiting for one. He knew he need to comfort her in some way, but Arry was not the type of girl who allowed you to see her in need. He stripped off his clothes, down to his breaches as usual, and got into bed beside her. He moved towards her back slowly and just as he was as close to her as he could get without actually touching her, he stopped and sighed again. 'I am here if you want me Arry, goodnight', he whispered and tried to find sleep.

Arya

She could hear his footsteps as he climbed the stairs. It was bad enough that the men had seen her reddened eyes, but now Gendry would see her cry too. She turned her back to the door and pulled the blanket over her face to hide her tears. He came into the room, sat down on the bed and sighed. After he had said his piece, he waited for a few minutes and got into bed. She froze as he moved closer and closer to her. He stopped before he reached her and told her he was there if she needed him. His kindness made her weep even more. 'Why do I care so much? I am going to be with my family. I will be safe. I will have a good bed and food and comfort again. I will have everything I have longed for this past year.' And then she realised that she was weeping because she would not have Gendry. It made her ache. He was right behind her, almost touching her, but she could not reach out to him. She could not tell him the truth. That she wept because she was so hurt he could part with her so easily. She never could have left him like that. It was proof again that she had more feelings for Gendry than he had for her.

He would always look at her like a child, a little sister. But she had started to see him differently lately. She would wake from a bad dream, usually of Harrenhall, and turn to him. He would put an arm around her in a protective way. Arya would inhale his scent and feel his arm around her and start to be thankful of the bad dreams, because they had allowed her into Gendry's arms without awkwardness and questions. Every night the feeling in her stomach got more intense. It was all new to her. She had never wanted a man's touch before. She did not understand the men and women in the Inns they stayed at. She would never walk up to a man and sit on his knee and kiss him. It did not seem enjoyable to her. But when she saw Gendry bare-chested two weeks earlier, something had stirred in her. She found herself looking at his arms and the way his muscles moved. For the first time she was embarrassed to look at him. It was silly because she had seen him without clothes numerous times, but now it was different. She couldn't help but pay attention. Goosebumps rose up her arms and legs and she tried to avert her eyes before he would see her, but she wanted to feel this. It was new and wonderful and embarrassing and forbidden, and she wanted to feel this confused because it felt good. 'He does not feel the same Arya.' She told herself, 'He does not feel like that when he looks at you'.

When she woke the next morning she was ashamed. Her eyes were red. They would all know she was crying because of Gendry. They would know she was in love with him. Her skin turned as red as her eyes with embarrassment. She decided she was not hungry and so after she went downstairs she went straight out to her horse, avoiding eye contact with everyone. As she watered her horse she heard his footsteps behind her.' Here it comes' she thought. 'He will see my face and know that I love him and cry over him'.

'Good morning'

'Is it?' she replied without thinking. 'Gods, why can I not cover my anger and hurt? Why can I not lie like everyone else?' she thought.

'I am sorry I did not' he began to say, but Arya cut him off.

'Please don't go on Ser Gendry.' She turned to him with a smile as she said 'ser'. 'What you do is none of my concern. What do I care if you want to become an outlaw and get yourself killed? Let your new friends worry for you'.

'Gods Arry you are spoilt and selfish' Gendry shouted. 'some of us were not born in castles and some of us do not a family waiting for us. We have to make our own way. Besides, you did not care much for our pack when you took off on your horse. You left me first. You are only with me now because you were caught and forced back.'

She was taken aback. Arya had never thought of her failed escape attempt in that way before. She felt ashamed. Gendry was right to be mad. But she was still hurt that he did not want her. That he did not look at her the way she looked at him, so she pretended to be angry. If they were shouting at each other, there was no chance she would tell him her true feelings.

'I should have left you at Harrenhall, or in the woods when your bad riding skills were holding me up. I would be in Riverrun now and you and Hot Pie would still be riding around in circles!'

'Why didn't you then, if we were such an inconvenience to you? And why did you not yell and scream at Hot Pie when he left?'

She had no answer to that which would not reveal her true feeling for him, so she gave him none and walked away.

Gendry

He didn't expect her to say much the next day, but he was angry that she didn't even look at him. Tom had been teasing him all morning about a 'lover's quarrel' and Lem had said twice that he would geld him if he touched her.

'I have never laid a hand on her', he said.

'But why did you join us, boy, instead of staying in Riverrun with her? Tom asked.

'What does it matter if he stays near her or not? She is a highborn lady, it will not be allowed to happen', Lem said.

'I don't want her' Gendry said. Tom sniggered and rolled his eyes. Lem said, 'That's good boy, cos' you will never have her'.

Anger was beginning to build in him. 'I know I am only a Bastard, I don't need reminding' he thought. 'I spend all night trying not to touch her. I only care for her when she wakes from a bad dream, and still I get shouted at and threatened with gelding'. Just then Arya walked past without looking at him. He bit his tongue and clenched his fists.

'You had best go make sure the 'little wolf' is okay', Tom said.

Without saying anything he walked out. As he got closer to her, his anger began to subside. He watched her pat her horse. Her hair was getting longer. It was still not near as long as a Lady's should be, but it framed her face beautifully, he thought. It had started to fall almost to her shoulders. Her face still looked quite young, though not childlike. But recently, when she was in her small clothes, Gendry could see that her shape was changing. Her hips were widening and he could detect two small bumps forming on her chest. He tried his best not to notice, but it was getting harder to pretend he wasn't aware of her in that way.

A few days past he had called her 'milady' and she had pushed him off a tree stump he was sitting on. She laughed so hard when he fell and called him 'stupid'. He grabbed her and pulled her down to the ground with him. She fought as usual and he held her down moving on top of her. It was then, when his hand moved to her side to pin her that he realised she felt different beneath him. There was a slight curve on her side and he could feel her hip. Something stirred in him and he backed away from her before she could feel him harden.

She looked at him confused. That was typical of Arry. She had no idea what men thought about. It thought it funny, he thought, that she so wanted to be like a man but did not really understand what was in their minds.

When he was near her he said good morning. She was still annoyed and this woke his earlier anger. He shouted at her about her escape attempt. He had sworn to himself that he would never bring that up. If he did she would know that he was hurt that she could just leave him. She kept calling him Ser. 'She is mocking me, because I am not a real knight. Not like the one at her castle,' he thought. After she walked off he wondered why Arry didn't get mad at Hot Pie when he left. He always had such trouble understanding Arry at times. He wanted to believe that she loved him. Tom joked about them being in love and Lem always eyed them in the morning when he woke up with his arm around her. But it didn't matter. Like Lem said. 'I can never have her'.