History Has It's Eyes On Us ~ Gendrya

7

The day was new and the air was fresh; carrying whispering winds that caressed their ears delicately. The ride ahead of them would be a long one, but not without purpose. Should anyone else have gone, they would discover that Walder Frey had been dead two months past. She had told one of his younger daughters, a servant girl, that he would be retiring to a place of his own where nobody was to disturb him any longer. She took his word for truth and told everyone else. Arya placed the best man she could find in charge in the time of his absence. Someone she knew would do what he thought best for the people. However, she didn't think to place someone who had sworn allegiance to the Starks in charge- it was barely possible. She may have been wearing Walder Frey's face, but the sights were seen by her eyes. The room where her brother and his babe, too young to even suck upon it's mother's breast, had been slaughtered like animals... and her mother. Her beloved mother, relieved of watching her children grow. She imagined she would disapprove of what Arya had become, but there was no way to be certain so she didn't dwell on the thought for too long. She remembered the wooden prison that tortured Greywind as his master was... The image of her brother with the head of his direwolf was forever burned into her mind; never to be forgotten. 

"What's troubling you?" Gendry asked, with a reassuring smile. 

"Nothing... just thinking," she said, making no effort to smile or hide the way she was feeling. She wasn't one for bullshit. He would find out sooner or later. 

"About?" he asked, slightly more concerned than before.

"My-" she sighed, "My family. They're all gone. My mother, my Father, my aunt Lysa, Robb, Rickon. All dead. Bran is barely a person, Jon is a different man and Sansa... nobody's seen Sansa for months. I have no one," she felt herself getting emotional and took a deep breath. It was true. A girl was no one, and she was all she had. Gendry was quiet while he carefully thought on how to respond.

"I can be your family," he said, quietly, and she looked at him, almost hurt.

"It's a bit late for that, don't you think?"

"No. It's never too late. You said it yourself, there's nobody else you trust. We've called eachother family before," he said, doubtful, "Can we not go back to what we were?"

She gave him no response, and instead concentrated on her horse. But, it was hard. The last time she had seen her baby brother, Rickon, he was only four years grown... Robb was barely even a man. He was approaching his seventeenth name day when they slaughtered him and paraded his corpse through the streets. She had been thankful for Sandor that day. If it weren't for him, she would have acted on impulse and followed her oldest brother to the grave.

"The Dothraki believe that, when we die, we join our ancestors in the shadow lands-"

"They weren't granted the curtousy of a funeral. Father's bones were the only to be returned to us to join his brothers in the cripts. There was nothing left of Rickon's body after the battle of the Bastards... Mother and Robb were shamed. Their bodies acted as a centrepiece as the Freys looked on in amusement. My Aunt was nothing but mulch after being pushed through the moon door."

"The gods looked on them with mercy," he reassured her.

"There is only one god. His name is death. And there is only one thing we say to the god of death," she paused, the emotions starting to overwhelm her.

"What?" Gendry asked, feeling his heart hurt for her.

"Not today,"

It wasn't often Gemdry felt pity for someone. But, Arya truly broke his heart. She had faced too much hardship for someone of so few years. Most would call her a child of summer- but she was far from it. There had been so much pain, it shocked him that she could even feel.

"Arya-"

"We should camp here. There are few hours of daylight left," she said, jumping from her white stallion. It was obvious she wasn't ready to speak on the matter much longer.

"Should I hunt, before it gets dark?"

"No. I'll go myself after sunset."

"But, how will you see?" he asked, confused.

"I've come a long way since we last saw eachother. When you travel as far as I have, you learn a few tricks," she said, starting a fire.

"And who exactly tought you how to hunt in the night hours?"

She looked at him for a moment, "no one," she said before returning to the fire.

He doubted he would get anything more out of her about it, so instead started tending to the horses.

"Is it not dangerous to start a fire? It attracts a lot of attention,"

"Not for us. Believe me, we'll be allright. Nobody can hurt us," she said, almost as if to reassure herself rather than him as she looked at needle fondly.

There was silence for a quater hour, while the pair each tended to their own needs. They knew this would be an uncomfortable ride, but they never imagined it would be this bad. When the sun had fully set, Arya set off into the woods, being careful not to stray too far in case someone threatening crossed paths with them. Gendry was a brilliant smith, but he was no fighter. Against tribesmen or goldcloaks, he would stand no chance. Not too long after, Arya returned with three rabbits, enough to feed the both of them full tonight and to break their fast on the morrow. They ate in silence, both of them clearly engrossed in deep thought until she finally broke the atmosphere.

"They took my eyes," he looked at her, confused and slightly shocked, "I sailed to Bravos with the coin Jaqhan gave me. They trained me there but, I broke the rules. So, as a punishment, they took my eyes. Every day, I would fight one of the other girls, and she would beat me till my back was blue with bruises and my lips were red with blood. I learned how to trust my instincts. That's why I hunt in the dark," she said, returning to the thigh of her catch.

"So... he blinded you. For how long?"

"Long enough." There was another awkward silence.

"What was it like?"

"Cold at first. Lonely. But, over time it came more as a relief. Before, I saw the world through just my eyes. Now, I see much more. I see the world the way it truly is. I see the trees blowing in the wind. I see the spiders, making their webs in the rain. I see the clouds, fighting the light above our heads. I see the traitors for the traitors and the noble for the noble. I see the hate people have for eachother... and the love," she had been intently staring at the ground as she was lost in thought, and only realised now that his gaze was fixed on her and only her.

"How did he do it?" He asked, with curiosity apparent in his voice.

"Bravos is a place of many mysteries. It's best not to question them,"

They finished their meat and lay, trying to sleep. It was cold, but niether dared get close enough to the other that their natural warmth would be shared. Gendry knew now that Arya didn't truly trust him. It was obvious. He didn't blame her- if he were in her shoes, he would find it a struggle to trust anyone again. Especially him. She had given him her unconditional trust, and he had betrayed her, like so many others.