Escaping the Twins for Arya Stark was easy. The hard part was to come next.
“A girl is Arya Stark, and she is heading for Winterfell.”
Arya Stark could not forget her purpose. She wanted to go back to Winterfell, as she remembered telling Jaqen H’ghar in the Hall of Many Faces. But she knew the Faceless Men would not let her leave that easily. Arya Stark remembered Jaqen’s words: “A girl cannot leave for Winterfell yet. A girl is needed. She is expected to give gifts to the Many-Faced God… and only she can give these particular gifts.”
At the time, the girl named Arya Stark remembered asking, “Who is it? Who expects me to give these gifts?”
“No one,” Jaqen had said simply.
Arya Stark knew the names of the people she was told to kill. She had killed some of them already. She remembered slicing the throat of Lord Walder Frey, after she had cooked his children in the pie. Three names for the Many-Faced God. But that’s not all.
A girl could not kill more people than she was told to, but that did not stop the girl named Arya to free Ser Edmure. It was justice, she knew, justice for the Red Wedding, justice for her mother, justice for Robb. The little girl in Arya Stark wanted to kill the queen, kill Ser Ilyn, kill all of them and head back to Winterfell… but she couldn’t. A girl had gifts to give, and only after that would she be free.
Arya Stark headed west.
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