-read below-
THE WOODS HER ONLY HOME
Hot Pie was practising the bird calls Kurtz had taught him before, before he had left them too, the wound on his shoulder taking him in a fever.
- Shut it!- grunted Gendry, he had been helping Lommy walk since a lance had broken and pierced his leg.
- I’m a blackbird…- explained the boy trying to keep up
- Well, you just sound stupid!- said Arry, the little crying girl following him like a shadow.
Hot Pie bit his tongue and kept going, he didn’t want to fight with Gendry or Arry, they were the only ones that hadn’t left him or Lommy behind.
In those brief moments when they forgot about their quite tragic situation it was almost nice being together. If they had met before leaving Kingslanding they could have been friends, he would even have given some of his mother’s pies to them… he didn’t even remember how those tasted like… the only taste in his mouth the foul one of acorn paste…
A sound through the woods.
- That was a good one, Pie! Were you trying to be a thunder?- spoke Lommy, his dirty hair sticking to his pale forehead
Hot Pie blushed.
- It was his stomach, stupid…- explained Arry
- Well, I’m hungry! If only you listened to me… we will die if we keep walking circles in the woods, if we go on the road maybe…-
-No!- said together Gendry and Arry, sometimes it seemed they thought with the same one brain.
- But why? We did nothing wrong…- started Lommy - If only Yoren had yielded to the guards nothing bad would have happened! If we ask for help they will give us food or maybe…-
Gendry stopped for a moment and looked at his blonde deadweight
- Maybe they kill us - he said more tired than actually annoyed
- But my leg hurts and we are starving, there are wolves everywhere and we are probably lost!- continued the blonde boy
- We are not lost!- Arry turned around and looked straight at the others
- And if you are so hungry you could eat some bugs or worms, I could dig them up for you!-
Lommy made a disgusted noise, there was no way he would have eaten one of those disgusting little things.
- You can keep those for yourself wormbreath… we should look for an inn where they can make us real food! Ouch…-
Lommy now sat with his ass on the ground.
- Why did you do that, Bull?- cried the boy
-I’m tired and you are getting heavy…- spat Gendry
- Maybe we can stop for a while to rest…- tried Hot Pie ready to let his body fall to the ground, he saw Arry and Gendry look at each other, one of their silent conversations.
- Fine…- said Arry - But we’ll have to walk some more before nightfall…-
The sun was still high in the sky, its light piercing through the leaves turning the ground into a constellation of lights and shadows. Lommy had closed his eyes but kept complaining in his sleep, Hot Pie had placed a hand on his friend’s forehead, it was burning like an oven, that wasn’t good.
- Where are you going?- asked Gendry, his eyes on Arry
- I’ll be back in a second…- he explained with an annoyed tone
- What about the little girl…-
- Well she is not crying now… and she is distracted playing with that rock… she’ll survive a second without me!- said Arry hurrying away
- Where do you think he is going?- sked Hot Pie
Gendy had a weird expression on his face, he probably was thinking about something, he always made that face when he was thinking.
- Probably needs some quiet and peace before having to deal with you all again…- he said flatly
- But he is going to be back, right?-
Gendry scowled and rolled his blue eyes.
- Of course… Arry doesn’t leave anyone behind… but if you keep talking I will and you’ll have to help Lommy walk yourself!-
Hot Pied swallowed his next question and stretched himself on the ground for a moment, waiting for Arry to return.
Arya went back to the other as quickly as she could, a smile on her lips.
- Fucking finally!- grunted Gendry, he seemed a little distressed holding the little girl from the ground, Arya almost laughed, it was clear he had never been around babies much during his life.
- She was eating dirt again…- he explained holding the girl toward her direction as if to say that now that was Arya’s problem.
Arya smiled as softly as she could at the little one, she must have felt so confused and scared, so young without her mother…
Arya made the little girl spit on the ground what had been in her mouth, some dirt, a leaf, the rock she had been playing with before.
- Like that, little one…- she said, using her hand to clean the small face… The girl complained a little bit but in the end she left Arya clean her up.
- You are good at this…- Gendry was now looking at them
- I mean with babies and…- he continued his trail of thoughts out loud
- I’m good at a lot of things…- answered Arya meeting his gaze, the sounds of the woods the only thing around them for a moment.
- And you!- Arya went back to focus on the young girl - You can eat only what I give to you! No more dirt!- the baby just made a little shriek and hugged Arya as she often did.
- You are being so loud! I need to rest!- complained Lommy, his face so pale he hardly looked alive. Arya felt too sorry for the boy to talk back at him… she had no idea what she would have done if she had got hurt… wounded wolves rarely survived for long.
- I have good news if you care to hear it…- she said catching everyone’s attention
- Not much from here I found some trees… they had crabapples on them… if we go there we can have some…-
Hot Pie jumped on his feet, the weariness from the long walk forgotten.
- You sure it’s not dangerous? Could be part of a farm or something…- started Gendry
- I say we go!- stated Lommy
- I saw no one there and there wasn’t a wall around the trees… sometimes the seeds just travel in the wind… I think it’s safe. -
Gendry nodded, some food would have been good for them, it was worth the risk.
Arry had climbed barefoot on the tree making the green fruits fall to them, they were sour and in some they found some worms but for a moment they had felt like kings before a banquet.
Gendry had helped Arry down from the tree, not because the small boy needed his help but like, he did it just to do something nice. Arry finding some food had been the first good thing happening to them in a long time.
- What?- Arry’s voice woke Gendry from his thoughts, he had been looking at the small boy cutting a crabapple in smaller pieces to help the little girl eat.
Gendry looked at him confused.
- You were looking at me…- he said, his grey eyes waiting for an answer, not many people had grey eyes in KingsLanding
- And? Is it forbidden?- he joked taking a bite from his crabapple, sour but still good.
Arry just blinked and then shrugged.
- I just thought you wanted to ask me something, I don’t know…- the conversation died there.
Lommy knew a cool trick where he could catch a piece of fruit after he had thrown it into the air, Arya had tried to do the same but her crabapple had fallen on the ground instead… she had eaten it anyway and the little girl had laughed at it… it was nice… the sound of laughter…
- You think she had a name?- asked Arya after a while looking at her little friend jump around the roots of the tree
- Maybe…- said Hot Pie
- Her mum died without telling us tough…- continued the boy, some sadness in his small eyes
Arya sighed, she knew that look, she missed her mum too…
- We should give her a name…- proposed Arya thinking about the way Sansa had been so good at naming her dolls… Arya knew good names too… she had learned most of them from old Nan’s stories…
- Why?- asked Gendry
- Well, she is not crying anymore… we can’t keep calling her crying girl…- explained Arya as if it had been obvious
- To me, she looks like a little weasel, we should call her that…- said Lommy, his leg was now resting slightly raised on a stone
Arya frowned
- That’s unkind! She looks nothing like a weasel!-
- I can see it...-
- Shut up Hot Pie!- continued Arya, she wondered if the little girl understood what they were talking about, it had hurt being called Lumpyhead or Wormbreath by Lommy…
- Hey Weasel, come here! I can give you an apple!- continued Lommy catching the girls attention
- I think she likes it…- he said
-Am I right Weasel?- smiled Lommy giving her the crabapple, she started sucking on the peel all happy
Gendry noticed Arya’s pout, she had been biting her lip too
- Can you think of a better name?- he asked
Arya’s mind for a moment filled of names, names she had loved, names she missed, names she wanted to call again…
-Err…- she started
-Then Weasel it is…- Gendry ended the discussion and then moved a bit on his right to leave some place for Arya to sit with her back to the tree trunk.
- Fine…- she said sitting close to him, Weasel was better than “crying girl” anyway.
After a while Arya felt Gendry’s eyes on her again, she gave him a questioning look.
He sighed and then whispered under his breath
- I can’t keep carrying Lommy…- he seemed almost sorry about it.
- But, you are strong… you can! You are saying this just because he is annoying you!- whispered back Arya keeping an eye on Weasel walking toward them with some grass between her small fingers
-I’m not… at first he could at least walk a bit… carry his own weight… but now it’s getting worse…-
Arya looked at him for a long moment
- What are you saying? That we should leave him behind?- she scolded him
- If he keeps complaining maybe we should…- answered Gendry, he wasn’t serious, Arya was sure he was just tired.
- There has to be a way! We are not leaving him!-
Gendry sighed, of course Arry was being stubborn about it, whoever had called Gendry bullheaded had never met Arry.
- Why do you care? He called you mean names and he is never useful…- he said looking at Arry
- Please! It’s just the right thing to do… Yoren would have wanted us to stick together… It wouldn’t be right to leave someone behind, he needs our help… don’t you think I know I would reach my… I’d be faster on my own? But we have to stitch together!-
Gendry nodded at those words and looked at the trees around them
- We could make a stretcher with what we find around… carry him like that… - he finally said, it would have been easier with someone helping him
Arry smiled so nicely and for a second a weird thought crossed Gendry’s mind.
The idea of the stretcher had been a good one and the next day they carried Lommy in turns, always walking north, under the sun during the day listening to the wolves howl at night. Sometimes they fought and felt hopeless but sometimes things could be good and in those moments they could let themselves hope that there was a good ending to their journey: that Lommy wasn’t going to die as Yoren and Kurts and too many had died before, that Hot Pie was going to taste his mum’s pies again, that little Weasel was going to grow up safe and with people that cared for her…
But it didn’t last for long, and now Lommy lied dead, his blood staining the grass, Arya, Hot Pie, Gendry walked toward death, a hopeless march under banners painted with dogs… and little Weasel ran, ran and kept running, the woods her only home.
Some missing moments with the gang... I love so much the way Arya protects little Weasel in the books and I really hope she is still alive somewhere being the little feral dirt eater we all love so much<3<3
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