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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2007 1:29:25 GMT -5
Aranya glanced at Callen, who was sitting with a cold, impassive face.
"When Callen washed up on Flea Bottom, he was broken and bleeding from a hundred places. I - I had help from a kinswoman and friends. I don't know what came over me. I just couldn't leave him there to die, especially after I realized who he was."
She stared at Skag, suddenly seeing something in his face, and the anger left her. "I should have told you something before I left. I never think things through properly. I - gods, did you think I was dead too?"
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Post by Lord Rhodri Arryn on Jul 18, 2007 1:35:19 GMT -5
"Aranya, what could kill you?" Snow paused. "I knew you had run off, that is all. Who had helped you? A kinswoman, you say? Lilith? She never said a word of where you'd gone. I asked her to her face a dozen times. Or was it Elane?"
"No matter. They are distant figures to me now. As must you be."
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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2007 1:51:44 GMT -5
Aranya smiled wryly. "I can fight as well as most men, but I was in danger of being killed many times. And as for who helped me - I don't know if I could say that." Seeing his face, she relented and said, "It was Auntie Lilith. I never spoke a word to Elane. Knowledge is dangerous, and if Maerys found out Elane knew where I was, and where Callen was, you can be sure she would be rotting in black cell by now. That's why I never spoke a word to any of you. Don't look so angry, Selwyn. The gods know I never meant to hurt any of you. Auntie kept the secret from all of you, for your own protection."
"And we don't have to be distant figures. We've always been friends, and we need each other now."
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Post by Lord Rhodri Arryn on Jul 18, 2007 1:58:22 GMT -5
"There are few things I need in my life now. I need my horse. I need wine. I need my shield, my sword and my men. I need this damn wound in my side to heal. Those are my needs. Nothing else." Snow's face has hardened once again.
His dusty, road stained cloak is dried brown and stiff with blood above his left hip.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2007 2:04:23 GMT -5
"Fine," Aranya said, her face going hard as well. "Callen, tell him how wonderful my nursing skills are. I'll see to that wound, Captain Snow."
Pushing him into an adjacent room, she added to Callen, "We'll talk later. I have a plan to send Mathis to Highgarden to learn what he can of the Tyrell's allegiance."
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Post by Lord Rhodri Arryn on Jul 18, 2007 2:07:54 GMT -5
"Nursing skills?" Skag snorts. "The only thing you know how to nurse is a bottle. Or are there ever more mysteries to you I never knew?"
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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2007 2:26:38 GMT -5
"Watch and see," Aranya's eyes glinted dangerously. "In Asshai, I learned how to disembowel dirty men with my hands." She kicked the door shut and, opening a chest in the corner, brought out bandages, scalpel and poultices. "Get out of that cloak and shirt. How the hell did you get those wounds?"
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Post by Lord Rhodri Arryn on Jul 18, 2007 2:30:36 GMT -5
"The fresh one? A bandit arrow. I do fight bandits for a living these days." Snow pulls of his leathers. While he was always thin, he is gaunt now -- clearly defined strength, but no fat and skin rougher than it once was. While the hair on his head is black, his chest hair is still red.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2007 2:37:07 GMT -5
Aranya averted her eyes, momentarily discomfited. "All those wildlings must have given you good practice," she said. "But it looks like you're an easy target. There are scars all over."
She studied the new arrow wound for a moment, and then gave it a poke it to see if fresh blood would come out.
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Post by Lord Rhodri Arryn on Jul 18, 2007 2:40:04 GMT -5
Fresh blood comes out. It had been cleaned and bandaged by a Maester, but Skag Snow didn't wait for it to heal before he took to his saddle again.
"So, tell me truthfully -- is this Callen now your lover?", Snow asks, while wincing from the fresh pain.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2007 2:43:35 GMT -5
"Er, sorry," Aranya said, mopping up the blood and clumsily dressing the wound with fresh bandages.
At his question, her hands went still. "Yes," she said carefully, without meeting his eye.
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Post by Lord Rhodri Arryn on Jul 18, 2007 2:47:57 GMT -5
"Did you lay with him the day you found him in Flea Bottom? Had you risen from my bed that morning and found his that evening?". His tone was tense.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2007 2:56:16 GMT -5
Aranya slapped him.
"What kind of stupid question is that? When I found Callen, the only thing on my mind was rescuing him. For fuck's sake, he was almost dead. I didn't sleep with him when we were in Braavos either. It only started once we were on Edmure's ship...and I don't have to explain myself to you, actually. You know I've bedded a dozen wildlings, knights, and squires since I was, what, thirteen? Fourteen? You've bedded hundreds of women besides me, and don't deny it. Have I started asking you how many frozen ice bitches you've had since you took the name Snow?"
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Post by Lord Rhodri Arryn on Jul 18, 2007 3:02:02 GMT -5
Snow forgot himself and laughed. It had been a while since Aranya had slapped him.
"Aye, who am I to lay claim to Aranya the Wildling." Snow paused. "But the answer to your question is none. Selwyn took plenty of women, it's true. But Skag Snow has not touched one."
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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2007 3:05:10 GMT -5
Aranya paused and looked at him for a long moment. "Not one?"
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Hope you all are well and happy.