aryaunderfoot | 1st Winter [Action]

[Early this morning, somewhere deep in the woods, there is a wolf howling.

It's a long, mournful howl, and the wolf doesn't seem to want to stop. Occasionally, she'll pause for breath, and then throw her head back again after a moment's rest. This place isn't right. Her cousins aren't here, the smaller ones of her pack. The air is too warm, too full of the smells of spring. And the more she searches, the more she howls, trying to get some sort of answer out of these unfamiliar trees.

Around mid-morning, the crumpled form of a small girl can be found on the path leading from the village to the Battle Dome. She's not hurt, just very much asleep (and scrunching up her face with each wolf howl) and very much covered in grime (and smelling faintly of fish cart). And there's also the fact that she's in a New Feather dress. As the howling reaches a higher pitch, she awakes with a start, freezes, and tries to figure out what this place is. There's a chill in the air, yes, but it isn't winter building up to full strength. It can't be the Summer Islands, and it most definitely isn't Braavos. This place...

...is less concerning than the fact that there is a journal right next to her with "Arya Stark" printed right on it. She gives it an incredulous look for a moment before deciding that this must be a test of some kind. The kindly man must be behind it. With a shake of the head, the girl stands, pushes the journal with a foot until it's tucked out of sight under a nearby bush, and then turns back to the task at hand.

And tries to ignore the mournful howling that is practically tugging her in its direction. That's not something she needs to worry about. That was Arya Stark. Not her. She's nobody.]

[With so many things glaringly wrong with this place, she figures it's time to try scoping it out. The girl very cautiously approaches the village, keeping to the trees for cover until she's sure there aren't any Lannister banners flying anywhere. When there aren't any, it isn't much consolation; the buildings are huge, and the architecture isn't anything she's ever seen before. This place may not be full of lions, but it's not exactly a safe zone, either. She's not even sure what it is.

Eventually, she finds her way into town, going around to see what exactly there is to see here. She doubts she'll spot any familiar faces, but she still makes her way through all the shops in the main square, trying to get some kind of sense of what kind of town this is. The smith shop is familiar, the fashions in the clothing shop completely outlandish, the foods in the indoor marketplace entirely alien.

And she is so, so very lost. As she makes her way through town, the old phrase starts repeating in the back of her mind: Fear cuts deeper than swords. She can do this. She has to do this.

Towards nightfall, after much exploration and poking around, the girl makes her way back to the stables she passed by at some point. The horses are horses. That much is familiar, at least. This much she can understand completely. And the familiar, earthy, horsey smells are something of a comfort when you're trying to wrap your head around what in the world happened to bring you to a place such as this.]

[[ooc: Feel free to run into her at any point!]]

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[This is a skeptical look. She doubts Harrenhal can be fixed. And she's heard things about Valyria.]

How? All the ones I know of can't be broken.

True love.

[It's instant and quick. He's seen that magic work before to break even the most darkest of curses.]

It's the most powerful magic of all.

[Her reaction is probably not as ladylike as may be expected; the girl lets out a loud groan and rolls her eyes.]

It is not. All that stuff is stupid and most of it's just made up for the songs.

[Songs that girls fall for all the time. She's above all that, thanks.]

[He will convert you non-believer. Like with those red priests and that one guy.]

Is so. I've seen it work and it saved me from a curse.

[Nope, not buying it. One Stark girl is not necessarily like another.]

I've never seen anything a princess or a knight in shining armor a could do that would defeat a curse. No kiss ever fixed the Smoking Sea.

Well, you could of need to be cursed first before you can break other ones. It's...really hard to explain.

[Why is this reminding her of arguments with Bran from lives long past? He was always so certain about nursery tales, too.]

If you say so. But I still don't think true love is any kind of way to fight a curse.

Well, yeah you can't just throw true love at a curse and hope it goes away. First you need to actually find people who have true love and one of them also has to be cursed.

But, intel is always needed.

[Henry pauses as he rocks on his heels.]

My name is Henry by the way.

[So matter-of-fact. Sansa would adore this boy and his insistence that true love is real. The girl fights down an urge to roll her eyes at him.]

Henry. [Gods be good that must be one of the first names today that she knows she won't have trouble remembering. Fairly normal.] I'm Cat. How do you know so much about magic anyway?

[Cat? That seemed like a strange name. But, then again, who's he to question a person's name? His grandma is named Snow White after all. At her questioning he shrugs a bit.]

My book told me about it. Plus, my town got it before I came here.

[He pauses for a moment.]

But, magic's also here too.

[She gives a nod at the second part. That much has been clear pretty much since she woke up. It's not the red priests' magic, but it's magic all the same.]

The maesters back home are always saying magic isn't real, but there's a lot they can't explain, either. They just always say that everything is just a story to scare children with.

[Her slight frown probably makes it clear that she knows they're wrong.]

Some worlds just don't have magic. So, maybe that's why some people in your world say it doesn't exist.

[After all, Storybrooke never had magic before.]

Some adults do that though. Try and make you think you're wrong if they know you're right.

[Or just the ones who did bad things.]

[She nods, still frowning.]

The maesters do that all the time. I think they're afraid of the dragons and Others still being around. It's stupid to just pretend like they don't exist.

[Slight tangent, whoops. She gives her head a small shake and glances back over at him.]

We had magic, once. In old Valyria. When it fell, so did magic, but some say that dragons are the real reason for magic. [At least, some people around the docks in Braavos do.]

Dragons? Your world had dragons?

[Tell him more.]

Wait, you mean to say magic just went away after that place went away?

[Could that really happen? Magic up and disappearing.]

[She shrugs. She's really not sure how the magic going away thing works exactly, but hey.]

Well, like I said, it might have been because the dragons died out. But they used to have all kinds of magic in Valyria. They even forged swords with it. But all that's gone now. The dragons, too.

[Since this boy seems to be keen on the magic stories, she decides to share.] But the sailors say there are three dragons that just hatched not that long ago living with some exiled princess in the slaver cities... but a lot of what the sailors say is just hot air.

1st Winter [Action]

Nightfall

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Nightfall; sorry this is late ive been trying to brain how to respond back

Nightfall; no worries!

Nightfall; no worries!

Nightfall