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"That’s enough" Her father’s voice was curt and hard "The septa is doing no ods know you have le for the poor woed her with the i you a lady"

"I don’t want to be a lady!" Arya flared

"I ought to snap this toy across my knee here and now, and put an end to this nonsense"

"Needle wouldn’t break," Arya said defiantly, but her voice betrayed her words

"It has a nahed "Ah, Arya You have a wildness in you, child ‘The wolf blood,’ my father used to call it Lyanna had a touch of it, and ht therave" Arya heard sadness in his voice; he did not often speak of his father, or of the brother and sister who had died before she was born "Lyanna ht have carried a sword, if my lord father had allowed it You remind me of her sometimes You even look like her"

"Lyanna was beautiful," Arya said, startled Everybody said so It was not a thing that was ever said of Arya

"She was," Eddard Stark agreed, "beautiful, and willful, and dead before her time" He lifted the sword, held it out between them "Arya, what did you think to do with thisNeedle? Who did you hope to skewer? Your sister? Septa Mordane? Do you know the first thing about sword fighting?"

All she could think of was the lesson Jon had given her "Stick them with the pointy end," she blurted out

Her father snorted back laughter "That is the essence of it, I suppose"

Arya desperately wanted to explain, toto learn, but" Her eyes filled with tears "I asked Mycah to practice with rief ca "I asked him," she cried "It was my fault, it was me"

Suddenly her father’s arently as she turned to hiainst his chest "No, sweet one," he murmured "Grieve for your friend, but never blame yourself You did not kill the butcher’s boy That murder lies at the Hound’s door, him and the cruel woman he serves"

"I hate the "The Hound and the queen and the king and Prince Joffrey I hate all of them Joffrey lied, it wasn’t the way he said I hate Sansa too She did remember, she just lied so Joffrey would like her"

"We all lie," her father said "Or did you truly think I’d believe that Nyuiltily "Jory promised not to tell"

"Jory kept his word," her father said with a ss I do not need to be told Even a blind ly"

"We had to throw rocks," she said o be free, that I didn’t want her anymore There were other wolves for her to play with, we heard thea, and finally we had to throw rocks I hit her twice She whined and looked at ht, wasn’t it? The queen would have killed her"

"It was right," her father said "And even the lie wasnot without honor" He’d put Needle aside when he went to Arya to eain and walked to the here he stood for aout across the courtyard When he turned back, his eyes were thoughtful He seated himself on theseat, Needle across his lap "Arya, sit down I need to try and explain sos to you"

She perched anxiously on the edge of her bed "You are too young to be burdened with all my cares," he told her, "but you are also a Stark of Winterfell You know our words"

"Winter is co," Arya whispered

"The hard cruel times," her father said "We tasted them on the Trident, child, and when Bran fell You were born in the long su else, but now the winter is truly coil of our House, Arya"

"The direwolf," she said, thinking of Nyainst her chest, suddenly afraid

"Letabout wolves, child When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives Summer is the time for squabbles In winter, we must protect one another, keep each other warths So if you must hate, Arya, hate those ould truly do us harood woman, and SansaSansa is your sister You may be as different as the sun and the h both your hearts You need her, as she needs youand I need both of you, gods help me"

He sounded so tired that it made Arya sad "I don’t hate Sansa," she told him "Not truly" It was only half a lie

"I do not hten you, but neither will I lie to you We have coerous place, child This is not Winterfell We have ene ourselves This willfulness of yours, the running off, the angry words, the disobedienceat hoames of a child Here and nointer soon upon us, that is a differentup"

"I will," Arya vowed She had never loved hi too I can be as strong as Robb"

He held Needle out to her, hilt first "Here"

She looked at the sonder in her eyes For a moment she was afraid to touch it, afraid that if she reached for it it would be snatched away again, but then her father said, "Go on, it’s yours," and she took it in her hand

"I can keep it?" she said "For true?"

"For true" He sstar hidden under your pilloithin the fortnight Try not to stab your sister, whatever the provocation"

"I won’t I prohtly to her chest as her father took his leave

The next ized to Septa Mordane and asked for her pardon The septa peered at her suspiciously, but Father nodded

Three days later, at midday, her father’s steward Vayon Poole sent Arya to the Small Hall The trestle tables had been disainst the walls The hall seemed empty, until an unfaht reat beak of a nose stepped out of the shadows, holding a pair of slender wooden swords "Tomorrow you will be here at midday" He had an accent, the lilt of the Free Cities, Braavos perhaps, or Myr

"Who are you?" Arya asked

"I a rabbed for it, missed, and heard it clatter to the floor "Tomorrow you will catch it Now pick it up"

It was not just a stick, but a true wooden sword couard and pommel Arya picked it up and clutched it nervously with both hands, holding it out in front of her It was heavier than it looked, much heavier than Needle

The bald ether "That is not the way, boy This is not a greatsword that is needing two hands to swing it You will take the blade in one hand"

"It’s too heavy," Arya said

"It is heavy as it needs to be toA hollow inside is filled with lead, just so One hand now is all that is needing"

Arya took her right hand off the grip and wiped her sweaty palm on her pants She held the sword in her left hand He seeood All is reversed, it willTurn your body sideface, yes, so You are skinny as the shaft of a spear, do you know That is good too, the target is srip Lether fingers apart, rearranging therip must be deft, delicate"

"What if I drop it?" Arya said

"The steel must be part of your arm," the bald man told her "Can you drop part of your arm? No Nine years Syrio Forel was first sword to the Sealord of Braavos, he knows these things Listen to him, boy"

It was the third tiirl," Arya objected

"Boy, girl," Syrio Forel said "You are a sword, that is all" He clicked his teeth together "Just so, that is the grip You are not holding a battle-axe, you are holding a--"

"--needle," Arya finished for hiin the dance Remember, child, this is not the iron dance of Westeros we are learning, the knight’s dance, hacking and ha, no This is the bravo’s dance, the water dance, swift and sudden All men are made of water, do you know this? When you pierce them, the water leaks out and they die" He took a step backward, raised his oooden blade "Now you will try to strike me"

Arya tried to strike him She tried for four hours, until every , while Syrio Forel clicked his teeth together and told her what to do

The next day their real work began