A Time for Wolves

Arya

She had been traveling in that ship for nearly two months when they got to Eastwach by the Sea. It had taken her many hours to find one that would take her from Saltpans to the Wall, and when she did she had had to pay all the money she had, and she had not even been given a cabin.

"You don't have enough stags for this journey, boy" captain Rodrik had told her when she gave him what she had.

"I'll sleep in the deck if there are no empty cabins, I'll row with the men, I'll help in the kitchen and I'll do any chores you ask of me during the trip, but please, take me!" She had pleaded.

In the end, the captain had allowed her to travel in the ship. After some time he even let her sleep in a small empty cabin, and she was only asked to do the washing up. But of course, he had also wanted to know the name of that boy who was so desperate to get to the Wall. He had asked her what her story was. She knew that the truth would not do, so she made up a new one, using an identity she had already adopted before.

"My name is Arry", she had said. "I am an orphan boy from Saltpans. I never met my father, and my mother died a moon's turn ago. The only family I have is my older brother, who is in the Night's Watch. I want to join him, and be a man of the Night's Watch too. They say there's food in the Wall, and that there everybody has a job to do".

The captain seemed satisfied with Arya's answer, and he did not question her again. The men of Queen Alysanne's crew always called her Arry, without so much as suspecting that she was a girl. Doing the dishes was an easy task; she had had harder jobs at Harrenhal. The voyage was relatively calm, despite its duration.

Upon their arrival at the port they were received by three sworn brothers. The captain told them he had recruits for the Watch, he asked for some rooms in which he and his crew could stay for the night and he bid his farewell to her and other three men who would remain at the Wall too before following one of the guards who promised to guide them to some available rooms and offered to give them food and drink.

One of the men who stayed with her was a wandering crow, and the other ones were recruits. The recruiter led them inside the castle and called another man to see to them. He wished them good luck and then left them with the other brother of the Night's Watch.

"Welcome to Eastwatch by the Sea. I am Tygett Rivers, First Steward. What are your names?"

Arya let the other ones introduce themselves first. After that, she said she was called Arry, and she asked him to take her to Castle Black. Tygett frowned at her request.

"In Castle Black they already have more than twice the men we have here in Eastwach. Taking you there would be most inconvenient".

"But my brother is there! It's because of him that I decided to come here!" Arya complained.

"Tell me, Arry, who is this brother of yours? May be that I know him, for I come from there. It's been no more than three years since I moved to Eastwach by the Sea". Tygett seemed genuinely interested, but Arya could not tell him the truth.

"Then you surely don't know him, because he came to the Wall just two years ago", she replied. "Listen, I only came here to find my brother, the only family I have left. I spent all the money I had to come here. If you will deny me to see my brother and to live with him in Castle Black, I'll leave in the first ship that sails off to any city in Westeros."

"I'll speak with Lord Commander Pyke about this, but I can't do anything" Tygett promised, but Arya was not sure if she should believe him. "In the meanwhile, you'll stay here and start your training." Then he turned to speak to the other ones too. "Follow me; I'll give you new clothes (as you may know, only black is allowed here.)", he said, almost as if it was a joke.

Rivers gave each one of them clothing of their size and then took them to the armory so they could take a sword and a shield for training. Arya asked to use her own sword, Needle. Tygett regarded her with curiosity before asking her where she had gotten it.

"My father gave it to me" she lied. "He was a knight, and he hoped I would be one too."

"And your brother? Why isn't he a knight? Why did he choose to take the black, when he could have been a renowned warrior?"

"Because he's a bastard", she said. It was the truth, and also a good answer, because it did not give away too much information. Surely there were many bastards at the Wall.

"So you're a knight's trueborn son? What's your surname, Arry?"

Arya tried to think of a house of knights in the North, and the only one she could recall was house Cassel, so that was her answer. River's curiosity was satisfied, but he told Arya that she could not use her sword to train because it was a real one, and it could seriously wound or even kill the other recruits. The swords they used for training did not have cutting edges and were especially made for training and tourneys. After saying that, he proceeded to take Arya, Pate and Will, the other recruits, to the training yard.

Ser Glendon, the master-at-arms, was surprised by Arya's ability and style in sword-fighting, and he asked her who had taught her. She told him that her father had hired a braavosi warrior to teach her.

"You are still very small now, and probably not strong enough, but when you are a man grown you may be the best swordsman in the Wall" he told her. Arya smiled, wishing it could still be true with her being a woman grown, instead of a man.

She could defeat some of her opponents, but not without difficultly (even though she could fight better than them, she was still an 1eleven-namedays-old girl, and she was as tall as most of her adversaries' shoulders.) When the lesson finished they went to have dinner, and Arya noticed how few were the men living in that castle. Some of them might be ranging beyond the Wall, Arya supposed, or recruiting new men. Even so, Arya could not count more than one hundred people in the dining hall.

Each one of the newcomers was assigned a room, and then they were left free to spend the evening making themselves comfortable and exploring the castle. Arya strolled through Eastwatch, as she watched the black brothers of the order of the builders work to keep that incredibly large building that was the Wall. She saw also many other people performing different tasks: they were the stewards, who were in charge of keeping the castle, doing the cooking, washing the clothes and many other things. Arya thought that, if she could not become a ranger, she would be content with being a steward.

She also thought about Jon. She was determined to see him. She decided that if Tygettt did not take her, she would walk the distance between the two castles and get there by herself. Walking in a straight line and using the Wall as a guide, it was impossible to get lost. However, she could not reveal herself yet. Arya knew that every man could join the Night's Watch, but once you swore your vows there was no turning back. Arya decided to lie until she could swear her oath, and not until there was no way back would she reveal her identity. They could not turn her down after accepting her, she thought, because nobody could leave the Night's Watch while they lived.

With that idea in her mind she went to bed that night. She smiled hopefully before falling in a peaceful sleep, as she had never done since what had happened at the Twins.