Back To Winterfell || Arya Stark

The Boy Outside The Inn

"What happened to you, Arry?" Hotpie asked, putting the tray down and sitting next to her. Arya looked up, wiping her mouth with her hand. She never was going to be a lady. She thought about what Hotpie had said and about all the things that had happened to her since she last saw Hotpie all those years ago
"You got any ale?" She said quickly, not waiting for an answer and taking the ale. She did not want to talk about those things.
"Where you heading?" Hotpie asked.
"King's Landing." Arya replied bluntly looking up.
"Why?" Hotpie looked confused.
"Heard Cersei's queen now." She said, wondering how quite to deal with her best once she got there.
"Heard she blew up the Great Sept.
That must have been something to see." Hotpie leaned in. "Boom!" He said as if he was picturing it.
"Mm." Arya thought about it too. That massive monument towering over the city. When she was a girl she could quite well believe the gods lived in there. Gone.
"I can't believe someone would do that." Hotpie continued, dragging her away from the image.
"Cersei would do that." Her anger built inside of her, but she tried to keep it down.
"I thought you'd be heading for Winterfell." Hotpie questioned.
"Why would I go there? The Boltons have it." Arya was confused. She took another bite of the pie. Hotpie knew she was a Stark why would he say that ?
"No, the Boltons are dead."
"What?" Arya swallowed hard and wiped the crumbs off her face.
"Jon Snow came down from Castle Black with a wildling army and won the Battle of the Bastards." Hotpie paused and smiled. "He's King of the North now."
"You're lying." Arya said sharply, her heart was pumping. She didn't want to believe him, her heart had been broken too many times. First her father, then Robb and her mother. She stared at him wide eyed.
"Why would I lie about that? He's your brother, right?" Arya could no longer sit still.
"Thanks for the pie." She stood up and licked her fingers. She didn't care she hadn't finished. She got out her money anyway.
"Friends don't pay." Hotpie cut in, smiling again. "Can't believe I thought you were a boy." She glanced back up, "You're pretty." He said, still smiling.
"Thanks." Arya narrowed her eyebrows, she didn't quite understand where that had come from, "Take care of yourself, Hot Pie. Try not to get killed." She meant it too. He had been a good friend and for a while, a constant reminder that there were a few good people in life.
"Ah, I won't." He replied, standing up. "I'm like you, Arry." He said sniffing proudly, "I'm a survivor."

Arya stepped out of the inn. What was she to do. For the first time in years she felt lost. She had thought the only thing for her to do was to avenge her family but what Hotpie had just told her threw everything she had thought into disarray. She looked around her, hoping for some sort of guidance when she spotted a man staring at her. No, not a man, a boy, about her age. He was sitting on a log, motionless. He had golden hair that shone in the cold sunlight. A few locks were draped over the left hand side of his face veiling his piercing blue eyes. There was something about those eyes that unnerved her, so she strode over to him and stopped directly in front of him. She looked him over. What was it about him she didn't like?