paradisa | ❦ ʙɪɴᴅ ᴍʏ ʜᴀɪʀ ᴡɪᴛʜ ɢʀᴀss

robb;
[ not yet dawn and arya is already awake. bored of waiting for robb to wake, she pokes his cheek. ]

Robb. Robb. Can I wake up now? Robb, can I wake up? Ro-obb!

accidental dictation; action for the ballroom;
[ though she managed to escape robb's supervision, arya is not alone. a gray wolf pup with golden eyes darts constantly between her legs. robb told her the pup's name is nymeria and arya loves her already. grey wind follows both. he assigned himself as their guard, and has been growling in warning at anyone who might come close. ]

Stop it. You're being silly.

[ arya chastises him after one time too many. she has been trying to make winterfell out of pillows and blankets. all she needs to do is ask the air and she gets as many pillows as she may want. she has already got the double walls done, and is trying to figure out how to make the great hall stay up. but grey wind continues interrupting.

she puts her hands on her hips and narrows her eyes at the offending beast. he huffs and bumps her. not expecting it, she falls. nymeria yelps, barely getting out of the way. arya sits stunned on the floor before rounding on grey wind. ]

Grey Wind, you stupid! I almost fell on Nymeria! No, don't kiss me now. I don't want— Don't— [ the rest is lost in a fit of giggles. ]

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[He chuckles, entering the ballroom.]

I'm a sword for your brother. You look littler than I remember, piccina, but your voice is just as big.

I am not little. I am almost six.

[ she holds up six fingers to prove it. though she's still unsure of who he is, if he's one of her brother's banners, then that means he's good. ]

What is your House, ser?

[ arya can remember her courtesies when she must. ]

Ah, my apologies. You are almost a grown woman.

[He crouches down to her level, so he's not so big and intimidating.]

Auditore. Here. [He pulls a handkerchief out of his pocket, the Auditore crest embroidered on its corner.]

[ grey wind hoves without taking his eyes off ezio. he has enough approval points not to get snarled at, but the animal will not leave his charges unprotected.

arya takes the handkerchief from him, carefully keeping it out of nymeria's reach. shedoes not recognize it, but she does not know a lot of sigils. they're boring mostly. the only ones that matter her are the grey stark direwolf on its snow-white field and queen nymeria's red sun, featured prominently on house martell's banners.

tilting her head, she eyes his sword. ]

Have you been in many battles?

[He grins.]

Too many to even count. We're not supposed to think of war as pleasurable, but secretly, I think it is exciting.

[ arya does not need to be convinced. sansa always loved the romances and the fairy tales, songs where the valiant knight rescued the fair princess and they married and had a half-dozen children. arya delights in the tales of valor and conquest: like those of visenya and rhaenys targaryen, aegon the conqueror's sister-queens, who rode the dragons vhagar and meraxes into battle, and her favorite, queen nymeria of the rhoynar, who landed on the shores of dorne with ten thousand ships and conquered the land to make her people a new home.

eyes widening, she sits up, holding the handkerchief to her shoulder. nymeria manages to catch a corner. ]

Where did you fight last? Did you kill many men? Can I see the sword?

[With a chuckle, Ezio unbuckles the sheath from its belt and holds it out to her, blade snug inside of it.]

Be careful.

The last battle? It was with the Spanish soldiers stationed in Zaragoza. I was charged with taking them on alone, and over twenty fell by my blade before I took their leader. Do you think that impressive?

[ she puts nymeria on the floor after rescuing the handkerchief from her. grey wind pushes her back. he knows swords; he knows how well they cut. arya takes it carefully in both hands. it's heavy, but that's to be expected. she's had bigger. after trailing her fingers over the pommel, she slides it out enough to observe the blue sheen of the steel blade. ]

My brother has cut down more. [ loyalty to family forever. but she certainly looks awed. ]

Where is Thera-gosa? [ she tried. ]

That is only my most recent, not my best, you know.

[He watches her examine it. She seems so tiny.]

Zaragoza. It is in Spain, a county to the West of my homeland.

What's it like?

Well, it is part of the kingdom of Aragon. I am sure it is generally a beautiful city, but right now it is home to many tensions and concerns.

[ she cants her head. ]

Why?

Because men are often hungry for power, and that causes them to war with others.

Men are supposed to be loyal to their liege.

Unfortunately, they have a tendency to err.

Then they ought be sent to the Wall. Any man who betrays his lord is no true man.

[ she pushes the sword toward him. ]

Have you ever been in a melee?