Arya

Papa had dragged Arya on more boring patrols with more boring stories about men and their heroic deeds. The babe was blatantly uninterested in the plights of men, she wished to hear tales of valkyries and amazons. She wished to hear of the damsel crawling out of her own tower and riding off into the sunset with no prince charming at her side. Arya wanted to see brilliant women like her mother. She wanted to hear tales of clever and beautiful women that conquered the hearts of men. All she wanted was to hear a tale where the woman as not some object of a man’s charm. As her father finished the final chapter of another tale he shifted off into another mountain pass, simply telling the youth to not follow. As he left Odette remained at her side .There never was a time when she could wander on her own t seemed.

Arya walked at a slow trot her mind wandering in extravagant tales of battle and glory. She came to a stop as she spotted a most peculiar scene before her. The child gasped in horror as a strange stallion and dog brought down what had seemed nothing more than a harmless beast. The babe cantered forward toward the side of the beast as she felt tears in her eyes. So young she had never faced the cold reality of death. She had never faced the brutality of life. The Woman King remained oblivious to the curse that had befallen her upon birth, that this would be the first of countless deaths. The road she would walk was a lonely one, the road of an immortal. Her gaze flickered up to the stallion and for the first time she felt utter disgust and rage. This was because was a man. He didn’t comprehend the beauty of life and where it sprung from(Papa had once discussed the beauty of a woman’s womb, a weird and uncomfortable conversation at the time). As she eyed the other stallion’s horns her head cocked slightly as she realized the slight similarity between her own small crowns. Despite the fat tears that rolled down her face for but a moment longer she wound up giggling slightly.

“We match!” She declared, referring to their horns of course. “Papa only has one horn, and it’s red unlike mine which is blue. And I guess we don’t match completely since you broke your horn…. Did it hurt when it broke? I feel like that would hurt…” She briefly looked at the ground and frowned for but a moment. “Hey! What’s your name? I’m Arya! This is Odette, she’s my friend and Papa’s weird pet. Is that your pet? Do you live in the Basin to like Mama and Papa? I think it’s getting awfully cold to be honest. ”

As the child prattled on, Odette waddled over to the familiar face of Aramis and reached out to sniff her old acquaintance.

[ @[d'Artagnan] ]

If I look back, I am lost