When Two Starks Walk into Braavos

[kingofthenorth]

In all of Westeros, it was known that the King in the North was dead and Winterfell had fallen into ruin. No one knew of the Stark family, as it was presumed they were all dead, wiped out over the last two years due to the war sparked by the fall of Robert Baratheon and Eddard Stark's 'treason'.

Robb should've been dead, as he took a fatal blow to his abdomen, but for some reason Walder Frey took pity on Catelyn's pleas and bothered to send him to the healers, yet still sending the ravens of the notification of his demise. That was the deal: Robb was to leave the north, if he survived, and to never return. It was some Stark soldier killed that was paraded around in Robb's clothes, decapitated with Grey Wind's head attached. Frey only had so much mercy to provide, you see.

Septicemia set in Robb from his wounds, and he ran a fever that was known to kill the young, old, and weak, but in the wee hours of the night four days later was when he broke it. His mutterings and delusions ceased and he started waking up. When Robb was able to barely raise a spoon to his mouth, that was when Frey's hospitality ran out and he kicked him out with the specific instructions of how he was to leave Westeros. They shaved him clean and sheered his curls, hoping no one would recognize him as he was set off to the Narrow Sea to board a boat and sail to Essos, leaving everything behind.

He had never been on a ship before, and the sea sickness nearly devastated his already weakened state. The pain in his abdomen muscles burned and ached as he vomited nothing from his stomach. Every night he prayed to the Gods, asking why he had lived and what purpose did he serve now. Talisa was dead, his son along with; his brothers were presumably dead, his sisters most likely were as well. His mother... Her wounds were too devastating, he had heard, and she too perished on the floor of the great hall in the Twins.

By the time Robb landed in Braavos, a beard was already growing back into his face, and his hair was just beginning to show the curls again, although still very short. He stumbled onto the ground from the ship, looking equally parts lost and in wonder of the new city. It was here he had to determine what to do next, as he knew no one in the city.

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[kingofthenorth]

Robb's eyes were going over the limited skyline of his current view, mentally going over the learnings when he was a child. "The 'Bastard Son of Valyria'..." He muttered to himself, remembering being scolded by Maester Luwin when he told him of that name once.

And it was then that his eyes caught a curious girl watching the ship and their eyes met. Almost instantly the connections clicked and he was all too aware he was seeing his youngest sister before him.

"Ary--" She was much faster than he remembered as she threw herself upon him, arms tightly around his neck. Robb's body screamed out in pain, as his wounds were still healing, but he only allowed a surprised grunt give it away as he pushed through the pain and held her equally as tight.

After a moment, he pulls back, cupping her face in his hands, "How are you here?!" They both had changed so much. The evidence was there she was starting to become a woman, her face had thinned out and there were hints of hips under her clothes. He too must've appeared so differently to her, certainly taller, and far weaker in this current state.

[catchallthecats]

He was real. Truth be told she'd almost expected to put her arms around him and have him vanish. But he was real and he was here, and it was all she could do not to burst into tears right there.

"I'm Cat here." Taking control of the situation, not wanting anyone to overhear the names 'Arya' and 'Robb' in a reunion and making the connection, especially to her or Robb. It simply was safer that way. A way to keep it together at least for now, where curious eyes might see. She had to get him somewhere safe, somewhere quiet.

"Let's... let's get you somewhere you can sit," Already she was releasing him, but one hand went instantly to grab him by his, leading the way from the docks. There were a few places near here she'd made connections, inns where she did tasks in exchange for a meal during her day. Maybe they'd be willing to put Robb up at least while he looked so weakened. "Should get you something to eat too."

Practical concerns first, before she dissolved into a sobbing wreck in the middle of the street.

[kingofthenorth]

Normally, there would be no way Robb would let her take lead of such a situation, but he still didn't have his thoughts straight and didn't know much about Braavos until now.

Following her, they finally manage to have themselves settled at an inn where some leftover stew was given to Robb and he graciously ate it as Arya finally settled in the chair next to him. The room was very simple, which didn't bother Robb in the slightest. After the last few months he had, he was just lucky to be alive at this point. He could tell she had so much to say and much was on her mind.

"How did you escape King's Landing?" He figured they should start there.

[catchallthecats]

She'd done enough work for the inkeeper that they were willing to let Robb stay while he healed, taking payment after in coin, or in further work from either Arya herself or him, depending on what he was planning to do, what resources they managed to glean for him. She was almost grateful for his question, something to focus on while she tried to wrestle her emotions back under control.

"...Syrio. He... held off the Lannister's men long enough for me to escape into the city. I hid in Flea Bottom, pretended to be one of the urchins, was waiting for the searches at the gates to die down, until Yoren found me in the square when..." A small grimace a shake of her head as something cold and hard flickered in her expression before fleeing again. "He smuggled me out with a batch of Night's Watch recruits, pretended I was one of them."

[kingofthenorth]

Robb catches her words and the pause in her phrases in the square when... and looked away. She had been there at father's murder, and so many emotions nearly drowned out all hearing of the rest of her tale. Anger, sadness, despair, and confusion all reared their emotions in Robb's chest, making his wounds throb under the bindings.

"You didn't make it to Winterfell, so how did you come here of all places?" Which seemed almost a ridiculous question given his sorry state of being here as well. "I had an escort to the ships to assure I'd leave Westeros, you didn't."

[catchallthecats]

"Goldcloaks. They attacked the group, and Yoren was slain. I... I saved some of the prisoners when I fled, tossed them an axe so they could free themselves before the fire reached them. One of them was in Harrenhal when I wound up there. He..." She shook her head, realizing just how insane it all sounded, "He was a Faceless Man. He helped me to free some imprisoned northmen, and gave me a coin that would give me safe passage here on any Braavosi ship. I didn't know if I wanted to go. I still thought I could get to Winterfell... while I was travelling, the Hound found me. He intended to bring me to the Twins, ransom me back to you and mother, but by the time we got there and I slipped away from him to go and try to find you myself..."

She trailed off, staring at the rough-hewn planks of the floor, trying to will back the sudden, hot tears that were threatening to spill.

"If he hadn't caught me again I'dve gotten inside. I'd probably be dead... He tried to ransom me to our Aunt at the Eyerie, and then was headed to Riverrun when we were unable to reach her. But there was a fight on the way and the Hound was injured, fell from his horse not long after." The longer she spoke the more she could put off the tears that she knew were waiting for her after she stopped the ones she'd been fighting against for what seemed like forever now. "I took the chance and ran. There was a Braavosi ship in Saltpan, so I used the coin there."

[kingofthenorth]

Cutting her off, "You have been very brave and clever, Arya. There were rumors that your whereabouts were unknown to the Lannisters, and clearly they were true." It was probably for the better than she had been such a tomboy and learning all of Bran's lessons beyond her own.

Finally meeting her eyes, his features are serious, falling back under his stoic veil, though underneath he was close to crumbling himself as he did before his mother at the news of father's death.

"I need you to stay strong. Winterfell is in ruin, our bannermen are limited, our family..." He didn't want to stay it, "is naught but you and me." Bran an Rickon were burned thanks to traitorous Theon, and Sansa was lost to the Lannisters as far as he was aware.

"Mother died at the Twins where I should've died too..." He had passed out before her murder, but had learned the gruesome details far later. And then there was Talisa with his own heir inside her taken away from him too, causing him to look away, resisting his own tears threatening to fall.

[catchallthecats]

Was she brave? She ran, she abandoned Sansa, abandoned her to the Lannisters and the hell that was King's Landing for any Stark anymore. She might not get along with her but they were sisters, family. It was hard to feel very brave, or clever when she'd been unable to rescue her sister when she fled. Logically she knew that there wasn't anything she could have done, that she'd be a prisoner too if she'd tried to go back for her.

Her eyes were bright with unshed tears when Robb spoke, the facade of being so in control turning almost brittle as he detailed the sad state of their family, the news of Bran and Rickon being murdered by Theon just salt in an aching wound. She wanted so badly suddenly, to simply crawl into his lap like she would have when she was small with their father, sling arms around his waist and cry. But she had to be strong. They both did. Neither of them could afford it, had the luxury of falling to bits, not here and not now.

"Don't talk like that." Said in a rushed tone, almost as if she could avoid a hitch or sniffle in there if she hurried. "You can't say things like that. There's no should have. If you were meant to die there you would have but you didn't and you're here now." She'd seen plenty of people ready to die, those who took the gift in the House; she couldn't bear the idea of Robb being in such a dark place that he felt like that.

[kingofthenorth]

He scrubs at his face with a sigh, trying very hard not to appear weak in her presence. She's always knew him as the brave, serious, older brother, as it had been a long, long time otherwise. "I don't know why the Gods spared me." He muttered, muffed behind his hands before fixing his posture and sitting up straight.

"I've... lost my way, but having been alone enough, I think I know what I need to do." He needed to gain his strength back, and figure out how to bring them back to Westeros without the others interfering. He didn't want the iron throne, never had, but the Starks belong in Winterfell.

[catchallthecats]

He had always in some ways reminded her of Father. Here and now, with so many concerns weighing him, the similarity was even more striking.

"The Gods don't spare anyone. It wasn't your time so you survived." Had her views always been so starkly pragmatic? There was always a streak of it, but there had been an optimism there before, burned away by sorrow, terror, and in the end the cold sort of anger that could swallow a person whole. Revenge was a funny thing that way.

"Just... rest for now. You have this room for as long as you need, and they'll at least feed you in the evening. Nothing fancy like back home, but it'll be warm." A thin sort of smile; compared to the other noble houses, the Starks had always tended to be very simple in their tastes as far as food went, both from a preference to be more mindful, as well as a rationality to try and avoid excesses where they weren't needed.

"I'll have to go back to the House in the evenings, but I can visit you before I go to the fishmongers in the morning and after I finish selling." She had to keep this a secret. As well as she could anyways, it was harder to hide a brother than it was a sword after all. "If anyone asks, I did this favor because I wanted to hear about things going on in Westeros."

It wasn't hard for those around them to know she wasn't a native Braavosi girl, and the idea of her being homesick was certainly not outside of the realm of possibility. She knew that she'd been seen with him, that the inkeeper would probably gossip, but it was a risk she was willing to take. She wanted nothing more than to spend her time with him, just bask in the relief that someone in their shattered little family was still alive that she wasn't alone in the world, but she couldn't risk her position either.

[kingofthenorth]

Nodding, he understood that of course she was risking herself being here. It wasn't safe at all, and it certainly was obvious that at least through their accents they were from a far away land.

"Bring me warm water and some rags before you leave." His wounds were healing, but there was still risk of infection. He was no longer running fevers, but he was doing everything he could to prevent illness returning. He had some bandages left from the kind sailors, though he'd have to find a healer or Maester at some point for more.

When she returns with the supplies and places the bowl down on a table, Robb stands and thanks her, "Go, before questions are raised. I'll see you in the morning." When he thinks she's at the door and leaving, he removes his shirt and began working at the bandages, covering just below his sternum and binding his middle. There was another thick bandage around his left shoulder, wrapped around his chest and back where the arrows had struck. Those wounds were healing faster and better than his abdomen, which was to be expected. It still would be a while before he could do any physical labor, but given his situation, he'd have to make due and bear the pain.