we carried on through drought and flood;

[wolfchild]

ᴡʜᴏ: Arya + you
ᴡʜᴀᴛ: Little girl misses mother.
ᴡʜᴇɴ: Morning + Evening
ᴡʜᴇʀᴇ: see below
ɴᴏᴛᴇs: Spoilers abound for ASOS

A. Gardens
[ Life does not stop. If the gods were just, they would make it all stop. Arya does not know if the gods are not here yet or mayhaps they are dead. But the direwolves need grooming and that task falls to her. She had loved it before. Arya would lead Nymeria and Grey Wind out with a brush in hand. Nymeria needed to be chased down; Grey Wind would sit obligingly and lick her face.

Today, both direwolves are energetic. Days spent in closed quarters and they have plenty of energy to burn. They play fight, snarls ripping through the air, tails up. But though they grab one another and tackle the other, there is no blood, no injury.

Arya has not played like that in a long time. Fights aren't games.

She screams at both and they break apart. Arya immediately feels bad. She crouches on the grass and holds an arm out to them. Grey Wind comes up to her first, always the less petulant of the two. He nuzzles her neck. Nymeria rolls on the grass. Arya glares at her over Grey Wind's head as she begins brushing his coat. ]


B. Stark rooms
[ A nearly full plate on the floor and Arya sits at the window to watch the outside. It's pretty. It's always pretty. She hates it.

Nymeria snuffles over and eats the meat portions. Robb will know. But Arya's not very hungry and Nymeria wants it. She strokes the direwolf's clean, warm fur. ]

At least one of us is happy.

[ Lucky Nymeria. She never misses her mother. ]

Comments

[wolfchild]

[ He said the magic word. Her head pulls up in interest. Arya holds her hand out for them. ]

I don't know how to make it.

[fantasies]

[He gives them to her. They're nothing fancy, just generic instant mix, but it gets the job done.]

That's okay, I can teach you. It's not hard, and that way you'll be able to have it whenever you want from now on.

[wolfchild]

[ Arya holds them as if they were gold dragons. Nymeria noses at them in curiosity. She turns away to walk to the kitchenette, expecting him to follow. On the floor of the solar, Grey Wind wakes. He wags his tail when he sees Henry. ]

[fantasies]

[Henry waves to him, mouthing a quick, 'Hey, boy!' before turning and following Arya.

He goes to the cabinets with easy familiarity.]

All we need is milk and something to warm it up in.

[wolfchild]

I've got those.

[ She retrieves both the milk and a little pot. She tosses a lit match onto the burner to get a fire going. ]

[fantasies]

[Henry gets two cups down and sets them on the counter while they wait for the milk to warm up. As an afterthought, he digs into his other pocket and pulls out a small bottle of cinnamon, which he sets on the counter beside them.

He steps back to survey them, making sure he thought of everything.]

Perfect. Now we just have to wait a couple minutes.

[wolfchild]

[ with a small nod she moves to a chair. she sits down and rubs at a scratch on the table. ]

[fantasies]

[He putters around a bit, pouring and mixing and sniffing, but eventually he comes over to the table. He puts a steaming mug in front of her.]

Sorry, I forgot to bring marshmallows. We can try it with those another time.

[wolfchild]

I don't care.

[ she nurses the cup in her hands, letting it warm her hands. ]

[fantasies]

You will once you have hot chocolate with marshmallows in it.

[He sits across from her, the cinnamon in his hand. He dumps a few shakes into it, and wiggles the cup around a little to mix it.]

[wolfchild]

I won't.

[ it's a pathetic attempt at an argument. she doesn't even care for this. she wants to sleep. ]

[fantasies]

[He's quiet for a while, drinking his drink.]

You know, um. I was adopted.

[wolfchild]

Like Spike?

[fantasies]

Maybe? How was Spike adopted?

[wolfchild]

I don't know. He was adopted by stupid ponies.

[fantasies]

[Ponies........]

I don't know about that, but I was adopted by a person.

[wolfchild]

Is Emma your real mother?

[fantasies]

Yeah. I didn't get to meet her until really recently. In my world, anyway. My adopted mom didn't want me to.

[wolfchild]

Why?

[fantasies]

[Matter of factly:]

Because she's evil, and my mom was the one who was supposed to defeat her. [He studies his mug.] So she tried to make sure to keep us apart.

[wolfchild]

Your other mother is evil? What did she do?

[fantasies]

She cursed everyone in her kingdom. She made them forget everything -- who they were, their whole lives -- and trapped them in another world. My world. She wanted to make sure none of them could ever be happy.

[He reports it all in the same straightforward tone. He's still in the mental place where he's convinced Regina doesn't love him and never did. To him, Regina is the villain, in every sense of the word.]

[wolfchild]

What about you?

[fantasies]

[He shrugs, the attempts at nonchalance getting poorer by the second.]

When I figured out who she really was, she did everything she could to keep me from helping my mom break the curse. She tried to get everyone to think I was crazy.

[And succeeded.]

She doesn't really love me. She says she does, but I know she's lying.

[wolfchild]

[ she examines him a long moment. arya's quiet as she thinks. there's a lot she cannot understand, starting with why emma would have given him up to start. but he's already unhappy so she doesn't ask. ]

You're our ward. [ she says finally. ] If she ever comes, she won't have you. We won't let her.

[ I'll take her head off myself if she tries, she thinks, but she doesn't say it. henry doesn't like talking about things like that. and even if he did kinslaying is the most awful sin someone can commit. that woman is his mother too so he cannot have a hand in it lest he be cursed in the eyes of gods and men. ]