Gendrya

Close

Arya woke up before everyone else. Arya slickly slid under Gendry's arm and stood up. She stretched for a moment and then went off into the woods. She sat by a stream and listened to the sounds of nature. Leaves rattled around Arya as she breathed in the cold, crisp air. Today, she thought, I will be with mother and Robb. She smiled and looked down at her clothes. She was wearing a dirty tunic and dirty pants. There seemed to have been a lack of women's clothing in the pile they brought. She smelled her armpits. They don't want me like this. Arya removed her clothes and slowly stepped into the stream. She used her shirt to wash under her arms and between her legs. Arya scrubbed her face and head until she felt clean. She stepped out of the water and wrung her hair out. She used a large shirt from the clothing pile to dry off.

She put her clothes back on and went to the group. Gendry was waking Hot Pie up. She sat down beside them.

"Where did you go?" He asked.

"There's a stream down there." She pointed the opposite direction of Yoren and the rest.

Yoren called for everyone to start packing, so they did.

The group began walking. Arya walked beside Hot Pie, as usual, and Gendry walked on the other side of her. They didn't speak to each other, only Hot Pie.

"Hot Pie?" Arya asked.

"Yes?" He answered.

"Will you be staying at the Twins?"

"Of course I am! I could cook your dinner, and serve your family."

Arya glanced at Gendry, but spoke to Hot Pie, "You wouldn't be my servant; you'd be my friend. Like you are now."

Hot Pie laughed. "I can teach you both to cook. Maybe you lot will teach me how to fight."

Arya's face turned sour. "Gendry's not staying." The hot air disagreed with her, it made her sharper; more prickly than a usual.

Hot Pie asked him why, "There's so much the Starks need you for. Where else would you go?"

Gendry pondered the question while the three of them walked in silence. Arya wondered where he would go, if not the Twins. Perhaps he wants to get as far away from her as possible, or he has someone else, a girl, waiting for him. She's probably a whore, Arya thought. He's giving up a life of safety and family up for a whore.

"Is it for a girl? A girl waiting for you up North?" Hot Pie asked, and Arya was annoyed at him for being so forward.

Gendry answered, "No", almost angrily. Arya smiled a bit. "And you don't know that I'm not staying."

Arya looked at him, but he didn't look back. "What?" She asked.

He shrugged, "My home is south, and I can't go back there. Hot Pie said it, where else would I go? Who else do I have?" He looked at Arya. She lifted her chin and took a breath.

Hot Pie ran to Gendry's side and slapped his back. "You've got us." The boys smiled and Hot Pie looked at Arya; she smiled too.

After three hours, Arya saw the Twins sitting across a large lake. They were taking a break, and the triad passed around a flagon of water. Arya didn't take her eyes off the Twins.

"They aren't going anywhere." Said Gendry. Arya looked at him, then back to the Twins. He almost understood how she was feeling, she was so close to having her life back. Gendry rubbed her back, and Arya put her head down.

The deadly sun was beginning to set, and Yoren called for the group to keep moving. Arya picked her head up and turned to Gendry and Hot Pie.

Hot Pie had a huge smile on his face. "We'll be there before nightfall, you know?"

Arya and Gendry couldn't help but smile too. They stood, and started walking.