❈ | 029 | Video

[fearcutsdeeperthanswords]

[When the video comes on, the view is skewed: if you look long enough, it may seem like you're looking at a small section of a blanket, possibly on a bed, and a fold of cloth to one sight. Up comes the camera after a moment and an in drawn breath, and the fold of cloth is one skinny leg, the blanket tucked on a bad. Only then does she turn the device around so she's visible.]

I'm-- [Arya Stark, she almost says, but she's afraid to. Last time there was Tyrion; last time there was Tywin. Better they should think she's dead. But there are people who she wants to know she's alive. She chews her lip a moment, and decides to forgo names all together.]

I'm looking for anyone from Westeros.

Comments

[catelynstark]

My daughter. [Her own voice trembles. She's alive. Arya is alive. Her hand hovers over the flames, and she can almost imagine that the warmth she feels is the physical presence of a child she hasn't seen in far too long.]

Where are you? Are you safe?

[fearcutsdeeperthanswords]

[She wants to reach through the comm, to pull her mother to where it's safe, where she can avoid the knife and the river and she can't, there's nothing more she can do than she could that night at the Twins.

Except talk to her. She can do that much.]

I'm-- [No, no, the answer is no, none of them are truly safe here, but--] I'm safe. [She wants to cry, and the words spill out instead.] I miss you!

[catelynstark]

[Tears fall, and she doesn't bother wiping them away. And oh, she knows all too well when her daughter is lying, and worry weighs heavily on her heart.]

I've missed you, too, sweetling. So, so much. [Not a day goes by where Arya's absence isn't felt keenly and painfully.

Despite everything, she can't help but notice Arya's too-slim limbs, the haggard look on her face.] Are you eating enough? Who's taking care of you, Arya?

[The thought that she can't take care of her own daughter is almost too much to bear.]

[fearcutsdeeperthanswords]

[Her mother can cry and she doesn't seem weak for it. That makes it easier for Arya to sniff, even though she still bites her lip, afraid to let it tremble.]

I can take care of myself. [It's not a good answer and she knows it, but how can she explain where she is, how can she tell her mother that she's hear because she's killed, she's killed so many people, and how can she do it and tell her at the end that she's not sorry, not at all?

She swallows it back.] I found Nymeria.

[catelynstark]

[Catelyn would absolve her from blame over and over; no thought of condemnation would even cross her mind. Who is she to judge, when she herself would wring the necks of ever traitor, every man and woman who had a hand in destroying a family that was once so beautiful and whole?]

That's good. [It comes out in a whisper.] That's good, your wolf will protect you.

[fearcutsdeeperthanswords]

[But she can't protect you, she thinks, and has to bite the inside of her cheek hard. She's already pierced skin once, she can already taste blood, but she doesn't care. It's taking everything not to react violently, not to scare her.]

She does. [Her voice is too high again, and she has to swallow hard.] Where - where are you?

[catelynstark]

Riverrun, with Robb. [She doesn't want to tell Arya about her father, about Bran and Rickon. She wants to spare her daughter the pain that presses against her chest during her every waking moment.

Little does she know that Arya has been through her own horrors.]

Your brother is a king now. [A hint of pride lifts the corner of her lips, even though the small smile is bittersweet.] And you, a princess.

[fearcutsdeeperthanswords]

[Riverrun. Can she be saved, still, can Arya warn her away? She swallows hard, and thinks of what they did to her brother the king. Her eyes sting, and she fights the feeling back.]

I don't want to be a princess, [she mumbles, because it feels normal - it feels like something she should say. In the back of her mind, she remembers the stupid Frey boy at Harrenhal, who thought he'd marry a princess. Who cried when he found out he wouldn't. Because they'd kill their king instead.

Sadness gives way to anger, and makes everything easier.]

You can't leave Riverrun.

[catelynstark]

I must, eventually. [Oh, if she could, Catelyn would spend her days by the warm, rushing waters of the river, or looking out at the mountains from the highest towers of the castle. But the war isn't over, her duty isn't done, and her remaining children are scattered throughout Westeros.]

We must go to you. Once I tell Robb, no army can stop us from getting you back.

[fearcutsdeeperthanswords]

No! [It comes out before she can stop it, and more follows. She knows the waif would shake her head at her, but she doesn't care, she doesn't care, she has to save her mother.]

You can't, you have to stay there, it's safe there!