Secret Flames (Sandor Clegane)

Chapter 24

When Tallulah had made Arya promise to run, she had no idea what she would do afterwards. She kept her promise though and ran away from.the slave cart until her legs would not carry her body anymore. It didn't seem like any of the slave sellers had followed her, or managed to keep up, so she hid in a back alley behind some old cartoons of rotting vegetables.

Panicked, her mind began to think up every possible terrible thing that could happen to her, until she was in a complete frenzy. As her breathing had become short and fast, the image of her father and then Syrio Forel. What do we say to the God of death? A voice asked in her head.

"Not today" she whispered to herself and pushed her hand into her pocket.

Inside the pocket, her fingers quickly found the coin Jaqen had once given her.

"valar morghulis" she whispered again to herself and finally knew what she had to do.

Just as Jaqen said, when she showed the coin to a fisherman he had quickly agreed to take her to the place she needed to be, she just wasnt sure exactly where that was. Still, she boarded his small row boat and allowed the man to row here across the waters until they came to a small island where a large temple with black and white doors stood alone.

For the next three days Arya waits outside the House, endlessly repeating the names of the people she wants to kill. On the third day, a elderly man opened the large doors behind her and looks down at her from the opening of his grey hood.

"I am looking for Jaqen" she calls up to him, sounding more like a terrified girl than she had wanted to portray.

The elderly man slowly pulled down his hood and then begins to pull at the back of his head. As by magic, his face is pulled off and reveals the face she knew.

"Jaqen" she smiled with relief.

"I am not jaqen. I am no one, and if a girl wishes to survive, she must also become no one".

The man she knows as Jaqen, then holds out his arm to allow her to enter. For the next week Arya cleaned the main sanctuary of the the House of Black and White and watched as the man who looks like Jaqen assist another man in drinking from the temple's well. The man then left to pray, and Arya walked over to Jaqen to tell him that she wants to learn.

"Valar Dohaeris. All men must serve, but a girl own wishes to serve herself".

Arya looks away from Jaqen, angered by her own confusion and turned to see the praying man had now died and two other men in grey cloaks were taking the body away.

"What are they doing?"

Jaqen does not answer her though and she is once again left to clean alone. Later that night, as she slept on a cold and stoney floor, the waif came to her.

"Who are you?" The strangee girl asked her.

"No one" arya replied, expecting her to want that answer.

Again and again, the waif asked her the same question and hit her with a large stick whenever she said 'no one'. After several hard blows, a temper had developed inside of Arya and she was just about to reach for her needle when Jaqen walked into the room and ordered the waif away.

"How can a girl be no one when she still has the belongs of Arya Stark?"

The next morning, Arya bundled up her belongings and walked to the waters front outside the temple.

"No one" she repeated as she threw her old clothes into the water.

Next was Needle, and as she looked down at her most presied possession, she felt a sting of sorrow. Jon had given her Needle, she could never give it away. Not truly. So instead of throwing it into the water, she hid in deep within the rock bed before returning to the temple and her cleaning duties.

Later that day she was sweeping the floors as usual when Jaqen reappeared once again. Without a single word, he then escorted her into the inner chamber where she was then instructed to help the Waif clean and strip the bodies.

"Why are we doing this? She asked once Jaqen had left, but the waif never responded.

Over the next few weeks, Jaqen entered her room at night to test her. Asking her over and over who she is. Arya begins to tell him a story, but he only hits her everytime, knowing when she is lying and not hiding his disappointment in her. Over time, the hits become less frequent and eventually one night, as she tells Jaqen the story of who she is, adding in her own lies, he finally dropped his beating stick and walked away, leaving Arya unharmed for the first night since she arrived.

The next morning, Jaqen escorted Arya to the Hall of Faces. When her eyes first set on all the faces in the sat within the walls  she notices some are from the corpses she had cleaned.

"Is a girl ready to become no one?" He asked her as she continued to take in the room.

"No, but I am ready to become someone else".

Over the next few days, Arya is giving several mission to kill those that the many face God requires. Each time she would do as Jaqen informed her, not wanting to disappoint him or be beaten again.

One night, as she returned with the body of her last victim, Jaqen informs her that tomorrow she is to go to the market and kill an actress. This did not bother her, its was just another mission and another death requested by her new God. Yet that night, something seemed to trouble her deeply. As she tried to find sleep, she could not stop her mind from travelling. At first she saw her father, and the axe man bringing down his sharp blade onto his neck, she then pictured her mother. She did not know where she was, but she was sobbing uncontrollably. Arya, in her dream and tried to walk over to her mother, but when she did her mother raised her head and she saw the blood over gash across her neck. The vision then changed, it was her sister riding on horseback in the snow, a single tear falling down her perfect cheek which then splashed to the ground. Arya seemed to fall through the teardrop and land in another place. Here, her brother Jon was lay flat on the ground, his skin whiter than snow and blood oozing out of his stomach. Arya, screamed out and tried to run to him, but tried and once again the vision changed. This time she was surrounded in darkness, but from it she could hear pained screams surrounding her. Terrified, she tried to call out in the darkness, and when she did, a blazing fire erupted in front of her, but from the flames the figure of Tallulah walked out. 'You can not stay where you are. Do not forget. Do not forgive'.

Suddenly, Arya awoke from her troubled dream and found morning had broke.

Who are you? A voice whispered inside her head.

"Arya of House Stark and I am going home".