Back To Winterfell || Arya Stark

A Piece of Sunlight

Arya woke up with the cold breeze blowing in her face. She blinked and sat up. She could hear the crackling of a fire and saw the dancing flames flicker before her eyes. She looked around and saw Jaek traipsing back with a bundle of firewood in his arms. He noticed she was awake and gave a nod in her direction.
"You made a fire." She said.
"Well spotted." He said jokingly as he set the wood down.
"Thank you." Arya said after a pause. It was strange to her to have someone helping her. She hadn't been in someone's company whilst traveling since—. She thought back. The Hound it must have been. She thought about her time traveling with The Hound. He was horrible, but had died fighting for her protection. Her thoughts were interrupted when Jaek asked her.
"So you say you're a good fighter?" She turned to look at him.
"Yes." She said blatantly.
"Who are you comparing yourself to?" He Asked. It was a good question, she thought. One she would not have expected to come from the mouth of a commoner.
"Syrio Forel, the first sword to the sea lord of Braavos."
"Was he good?" He asked with a smirk.
"The best." She replied, she was starting to get annoyed, "I've trained long and hard to get to where I am. You say you're good. How long have you trained for?" He had a thoughtful expression.
"Most of my life. I can't exactly remember."
"Who with?" She asked, trying to discover where about he came from.
"To start with, the Brotherhood without Banners." Arya clenched her jaw. He was with them?
"Why aren't you with them now?" She questioned, irritated. He looked sad. She wondered whether she shouldn't push it. She secretly enjoyed these conversations, even if she didn't show it.
"They left me." He said. He was quiet, looking at the ground. "I thought they were—" his words caught in his throat.
"Doesn't matter. They're not good people anyway." She said, although she was curious, she realised this was not a topic he was happy discussing. "Can I see your sword?" She asked, motioning to his sheathed blade. He looked up again, the sadness in his eyes fading.
"Of course." He said standing up and unsheathing the weapon. It was of a fairly standard shape, although it was quite small for his size. It was gold with a hilt of leather. The guard on it was iron, rectangular with curved edges, and a round pommel. But the way it glinted in the sunlight as Jaek rotated it made it look like a piece of sunlight itself had been cut out and put in his hand. He handed it to Arya. She took it gently and looked down from the hilt to the point. Jaek clearly took good care of it. There were markings too, swirls of fire and wave etchings covering the blade.
"It's beautiful." She said with a whisper.