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AFTER handing out the afternoon portions, Maia made her way outside and into the courtyard. She was beginning to get used to the never-ending cold, and sometimes she needed the natural air to calm herself when she was in the kitchens too long. She had brought out the dress she'd been working on for a week, sitting down on a mound of hay under the cover of the castle's awning.
She had been trying to find a replica of the tree from her vacation for too long. There was nothing around Castle Black that came close to it, leaving her to believe that she had to venture outside the Wall. She figured that maybe – just maybe – if she became close with one of the men around her, they would help her. But on the other hand, many of them did loathe her.
Maia pricked her finger on the needle as she was sewing, watching the small amount of blood seep out of the wound. She brought the digit up to mouth and waited for it to heal. She began to watch the brothers practice with each other, the group becoming larger as the minutes commenced. Her eyes found Jon Snow, who was helping out a little boy that she came to know as Olly. The act of helping him was sweet to her.
"Good afternoon, Miss Sanders," a gruff voice said from above.
Maia looked up to see Alliser Thorne's terminally aged face, a frown plastered on it. She smiled softly in his direction.
"You might want to hold back a little on the salt next time you cook a roast for the Watch. It could upset some stomachs."
She immediately frowned, realizing a compliment would never fall from his mouth. "Well, Ser Alliser, I'll remember to care about your needs over others when I cook with Hobb this evening. I'm sure your brothers will love that your thinking of yourself over them."
Alliser released a scoff before walking away.
•••
"You're very beautiful."
Maia glanced up to see Shireen Baratheon smiling at her. She joined the child and Gilly in the castle's library to help teach the Widling how to read. She had met Shireen only a couple times before, but thought the girl to be better than her father. She never dared to ask about her face condition, because she remembered Derek speaking about her once or twice and explaining her "greyscale."
She grinned at the compliment. "Thank you, that's probably the best compliment I've received since I got here."
Maia continued her stare back to the book in front of her. She had found a particular book on nature, which she planned on researching the types of trees around the North in it. So far, she was ending up with nothing, and she barely had the patience to look through it.
Shireen was trying her best to help Gilly spell out a certain word when the elder girl spat out, "Why does this book seem like it's made for children?"
