Valar Morghulis

Push and pull... push and pull... push and pull... push and pull... push and pull...

Arya watched the captain of the Titan's Daughter son, Yorko, row her to shore.

Ilyn Payne, Queen Cersei, The Mountain, The Hound, Polliver, Dunsen, Raff the Sweetling, Ser Maryn Trant, Theon Greyjoy, Jaime Lannister, Petyr Baelish and King Joffrey.

Customs was about to board the ship and she needed to be gone before they found her. Last thing she wanted to become was a slave.

She was going to become like Jaqen H'ghar.

The boy didn't speak the common tongue, everytime she asked him where to go he would ramble at her in Braavosi.

She sighed and said, "Valar Morghulis."

Yorko nearly dropped the oars, trembling, he met her gaze, "Valar Dohaeris."

He was terrified, they all were of her. She could guess as to why, they thought she was just like Jaqen H'ghar.

She wasn't yet but she would be.

The bay smelled just as bad as King's Landing did, ocean scum, bird shit and rotten fish.

Ilyn Payne, Queen Cersei, The Mountain, The Hound, Polliver, Dunsen, Raff the Sweetling, Ser Maryn Trant, Theon Greyjoy, Jaime Lannister, Petyr Baelish and King Joffrey. Her prayer list was the only thing that kept her sane.

He dropped her near shore and she had roll up her loose pants up past her knees and hold needle over her head.

She had given up on asking for direction, instead she shrugged and gave the boy her best confused face, "Valar Morghulis."

He pointed to a building of dark gray stone on a hill in the distance, "Valar Dohaeris."

She thanked him and waded to shore.

Ilyn Payne, Queen Cersei, The Mountain, The Hound, Polliver, Dunsen, Raff the Sweetling, Ser Maryn Trant, Theon Greyjoy, Jaime Lannister, Petyr Baelish and King Joffrey.

--

It was one thing to know the general direction you are going and take a straight path in that direction but it is another to weave in and out of busy streets.

Streets laden with vendors shouting in every other language but her own trying to push their wares.

Carts and carriages pulled by horses or mules.

Arya frantically dodged them and heart thudding she finally made it to the multi colored doors of the dark stone building.

It was only when she arrived that she realized it had it's own staircase leading to the docks.

Her bare feet scrambled around the building, examing every bit of the dark stone.

She looked for a window to peak into but there were none.

She returned to the wooden doors with her heart in her throat.

Ilyn Payne, Queen Cersei, The Mountain, The Hound, Polliver, Dunsen, Raff the Sweetling, Ser Maryn Trant, Theon Greyjoy, Jaime Lannister, Petyr Baelish and King Joffrey.

They were twelve feet high, the right door was carved out of some ebony wood and the left out of white weirwood. In the center of the doors was an ornate golden moon, it alone had to cost more than Winterfell itself.

She raised a shaking fist to the door, cursing her own fear.

She was already lost.

Fear was weak, Syrio would be so dissapointed in her.

She was a water dancer, she was supposed to know no fear.

Biting her lip until she could taste salty blood she knocked on the door.

Ilyn Payne, Queen Cersei, The Mountain, The Hound, Polliver, Dunsen, Raff the Sweetling, Ser Maryn Trant, Theon Greyjoy, Jaime Lannister, Petyr Baelish and King Joffrey.

A man in a robe that was half black and half white opened the door, "Hello, little cat."

"You speak the common tongue? Thank the old gods and the new," Arya sighed in relief.

His face was obscured but she already felt more safe than she had in a long time, "Can I help you, little cat?"

"Valar Morghulis," Arya responded.

He nodded his hooded head, "And Valar Doeharis."

"What does Valar doeharis mean?"

"All men must serve, cats too," He chuckled.

"I want to be one of you, faceless," Arya looked up, hoping to get a glimpse of him.

"Are you trying to get a look at me, little cat?" The man laughed harder now and directed her into the building.

She walked in and looked around. She could make out nothing, only a pitch black hall lay ahead.
"Do you want to see my face, little cat?"

Curiosity was her downfall, always had been.

Arya nodded up at him and he threw back his hood.

His face was an emaciated and yellowed skeleton, worms crawling through its sockets.

--

Ilyn Payne, Queen Cersei, The Mountain, The Hound, Polliver, Dunsen, Raff the Sweetling, Ser Maryn Trant, Theon Greyjoy, Jaime Lannister, Petyr Baelish and King Joffrey. Arya still had so much to accomplish, she wouldn't die here.

Instead of running or fainting, Arya had swung at the man.

He dodged her with ease.

He had applauded her and told her if she wanted to join she had to eat death.

Arya had been initially confused and kept sparring him.

She think she knew what he meant.

He was strong but she was fast, she grabbed one of the worms.

Shoving it in her mouth she swallowed it whole, feeling it wiggle down her throat.

It was if someone had turned the lights on.

The skeletal man now had the guise of a sweet elderly man and the entire building was lit with a bright light.

The floor was composed of shiny black tile, Arya was convinced it was made of dragon glass.

"Very good, little cat, come along," The old man grabbed her hand, it was cold as ice, soft and wrinkled. He had the hands of a noble, hands that had never seen hard work or distress.

They walked up four flight of stairs and came to another set of double doors identical to the set outside.

"What is your name? Who are you?" He asked her.

"Arya Stark of Winterfell, second daughter of Eddard Stark and Catelyn Tully," She replied.

He slapped her across the face so hard, she spit blood on the dragon glass floor, "No longer, you are the Cat."

He opened the ebony door and pushed her inside, "I'll ask you what your name is after you are done in there, you now know who you are."

Ilyn Payne, Queen Cersei, The Mountain, The Hound, Polliver, Dunsen, Raff the Sweetling, Ser Maryn Trant, Theon Greyjoy, Jaime Lannister, Petyr Baelish and King Joffrey.

--

Despite her new vision, the inside of the room was lit only by an eery and unnatural red light.
Statues of gods filled the room.

Weirwoods, the Seven and dozens of others gods Arya knew nothing about.

Not knowing what else to do she bowed her head to the Seven and then turned to the biggest Weirwood.

Despite not being a true and living tree any longer, the eyes of the Weirwood still bled red sap.

"Wha---" Arya began but a ghostly hand gripped her neck and lifted her off the ground.

"Arya Stark, you want to be Faceless and yet you bow to the gods of Westeros like a sheep!" It's voice was more animal than human.

It sent chills down her spine, she had never known terror like this before.

Arya gripped the specter's wrist, clawed at it but she was unable to draw blood.

"You are a fighter, you will be a welcome addition to the Guild but you know what you must do, there is only one god, one who wears the faces of all of these, denounce your Seven and your Weirwoods, denounce your Westeros and you can join the Guild."

The specter left the Weirwood and dropped her roughly to the floor.

Arya wanted to cry.

She didn't cry when Syrio told her to run. She didn't cry when Yoren shielded her from Ilyn Payne swinging Ice. She didn't cry when Hot Pie left she and Gendry. She didn't cry when she saw the whore kiss Gendry.

She seethed on the dragon glass floors, in the dim red light she could make out the sharp, angular line of her face, her gray eyes.

She was a wolf, not a cat.

They wanted her to denounce herself. Her family. Her heritage.

She wanted to join them to get strong, to go home and kill her enemies.

That was the only reason she was here.

Could she shed her formerself to be strong?

Could she forget her list and her family for this?

She had too.

--

She exited the Room of Gods and saw the elderly man waiting on the otherside.

He cocked his head to one side, "Valar Morghulis."

She nodded, "Valar Doeharis."

He smiled at her, his teeth an unnatural white, "What is your name?"

"I am the Cat," She smiled.

And so began her training.