𝓡𝓞𝓢𝓔, 𝑔𝒶𝓂𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝓇𝑜𝓃𝑒𝓈 ¹

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐈𝐗𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫

"𝐈 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐍𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐌𝐔𝐂𝐇 𝐀 𝐃𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐑"

THE SECOND THAT SHE HEARD THE CLANGING OF SWORDS, Nyla had run in the direction she knew her sister would be. Nyla and her two sisters were supposed to be leaving to go back to Winterfell today, but Nyla knew Arya wouldn't leave without one final sword fighting lesson from Syrio Forel that she called 'dancing lessons'.

"Arya!" Nyla calls out once she makes it to the room her sister and dancing master should be practicing in. She lets out a breath she didn't know she was holding when she sees her sister and Syrio, though she feels a bit bad for the sudden entrance when she watches her sister fall to the ground due to Nyla distracting her. "Thank the Gods." Nyla breathes out as she rushes over to her sister, helping her up off the ground.

"You must not let yourself be distracted," Syrio informs Arya as Nyla pulls her up off the ground, and the older Stark girl pulls the younger into a quick hug, before Arya pulls herself away, unaware of the reason behind Nyla's sudden embrace.

"What's going on, Ny?" Arya furrows her brows and frowns, using the nickname the young girl had been calling her eldest sister since the day she could speak, quite literally as 'Ny' was Arya's first word.

"We have to go-" Nyla grabs her sister's hand in hers, about to pull her sister away to get out of the Red Keep as soon as possible when Nyla sees members of the Kingsguard approaching.

"Nyla and Arya Stark, come with us." One of the members, who Nyla is pretty sure is called Meryn Trant, demands. "Your father wants to see you."

"And why is it that Lord Eddard is sending Lannister men in place of his own?" Syrio moves to stand in front of the two Stark daughters. "I am wondering."

"Mind your place, dancing master." Meryn scoffs and takes a step forward. "This is no concern of yours." He brushes Syrio off.

"Our father wouldn't send you." Arya shakes her head, taking a small step away from Nyla to grab her wooden stick from the ground where it had fallen with her. "And I don't have to go with you if I don't want to." Arya steps back to the side of her older sister.

"Take them." Meryn gestures for the other men he brought with him to take the two girls by force since neither is cooperating.

"Are you men or snakes?" Syrio questions rhetorically. "That you would threaten two children?" Nyla wants to argue that she isn't a child, but she knows now is not the time for something so silly.

"Get out of my way, little man." Another Kingsguard steps up to Syrio, standing menacingly in front of the man.

"I am Syrio Fyrel." He doesn't make any move to back down, only seeming to become more on guard.

"Foreign bastard." The Kingsguard comments dismissively before he draws his sword. However, before the knight can make a move to strike Syrio down, the dancing master has hit him in the head with his own wooden stick, knocking the Kingsguard out immediately.

"And you will be speaking to me with more respect." Syrio points his sword out before him, gesturing around the room to the still-standing Kingsguard knights.

"Kill the Braavosi. Bring the girl." Meryn orders.

"Arya child, we are done with dancing for the day." Syrio turns to the girls behind him. "Run with your sister, find your father." The two girls take a few steps back, but Arya hesitates, and Nyla refuses to leave without her sister, and the two watch as Syrio knocks three Kingsguard men out with ease.

"Bloody oafs," Meryn comments gruffly, unsheathing his own sword.

"Be gone now, Arya." Syrio orders, seeming to sense the young girl's hesitance to leave.

"Come with us. Run." Arya pleads.

"The first sword of Braavos does not run." Syrio chuckles lightly and shakes his head, and Meryn takes this chance to strike, causing a duel between the two swordsmen. Meryn has the advantage as he has an actual sword while Syrio has a wooden one, and this becomes more obvious once Meryn cuts Syrio's wooden sword into pieces.

"What do we say to the God of death?" Syrio turns quickly to Arya, still somehow managing to fend off Meryn while doing so.

"Not today," Arya answers, her reluctance to leave still obvious in her voice and the way she's looking between Syrio and Nyla.

"Go." Syrio orders and Nyla is pulling Arya away from the scene before Arya can think to stay, dragging her down the hall with by her hand.

As the two sisters run, screams echo down the halls, and Nyla hears Arya repeatedly saying 'not today, not today, not today' under her breath as the two run.

★☆★

THE YOUNG STARK WOMAN recoils at the sight of the slaughtered stewards, but she continues leading her little sister away from the castle despite the reeking smell of the dead bodies around them.

Arya and Nyla see their belonging lying on the ground before them, and they rush to them to find something possibly useful. Arya does, at least, as she goes straight for her sword, Needle. Nyla, however, makes her first move to where she knows she packed the necklace from her bastard brother, Jon.

She rummages through the bag, which is closer to the front of the wagon their things were initially in until she grabs the familiar necklace by the small charm on the front of it, holding it in her hand in a fist as if it will disappear if she doesn't.

"Stay away!" Arya exclaims, and Nyla hurries away from the wagon to her little sister, making it there just in time to see her little sister sliding Needle through the boy's stomach.

"Arya?" Nyla furrows her eyebrows, but she doesn't care to wait for the explanation, grabbing her sister's free hand and dragging her away, the sword still in her other hand.

"I-I had to do it, Ny. I swear, I had to." Arya sounds pleading, as if afraid her sister will shun her away for what she did.

"I know, Arya. I know you did." Nyla doesn't care why she did it, she knows her little sister would only kill someone if she absolutely had to. "It's okay. We'll be okay." Nyla reassures her sister as the two run off even further away from the castle and into the city. "Everything will be okay."