Chapter 20 Arya's Disappearance

Torrhen sat in his father's solar. He had come to the Red Keep from his mansion the moment he heard that Arya had went missing. Cleyton had organized a search party for her outside the Red Keep, in case she went out through the gates into the City of King's Landing, and Owen had father's men looking for her within the Red Keep. Winter and Lady had gone with Cleyton and the Pack to see if they could track her down using the Direwolves' scent.

"I worry too much for her," his father said, after he drank a cup of wine. "She has the Wolf's blood just like you. Though she hasn't yet troubled me so much as you did, when you were a child."

Torrhen hid his face in the cup as he drank his wine. It was a bit embarrassing and awkward to have a conversation about his childhood with his father.

They were close before he had run away, he was an active child always making trouble, and following his father everywhere he went. Torrhen had looked up to his father more than the heros told in stories like the Sword of the Morning and Prince Aemon the Dragonknight. There was no one in this world dead or alive that could make Torrhen look up to, more than his father Ned Stark.

Then the nightmares started after Torrhen had killed the wildling raider. He thought his mother and father would protect him and help make it stop. Torrhen couldn't explain it to them as he was just a child then, and the nightmares were affecting him more, it had turned him to have fits of rage and anger at everyone that was close to him.

They tried everything to cure whatever was affecting him with the help of maester Luwin but none of it worked. Torrhen couldn't take it anymore then, the thoughts of hatred and rage at his family members had tormented him as two parts of his mind fought each other. One spew nothing but anger and hatred, the other weighed him down with the guilt of having such thoughts towards his family.

Once when the thought had passed his mind of killing Robb, his own twin brother, to make sure that Torrhen would be the one to inherit the North and Winterfell, he knew something was wrong with him. In fear that he might hurt his family, he had chosen to run away.

Since then he and his father had grown estranged. Though he could now talk with the rest of his family easily, his father's cold demeanor and Torrhen's awkwardness had not helped restore the closeness that they once had. Torrhen wanted to restore it so that they could talk with each other as a normal father and son.

"My baby girl playing with swords," Ned said. "A sword that my own smith had forged, arming my child without my knowledge. Did you give that sword to your sister, Torrhen?"

"No father," Torrhen replied. "I know that she has more interest with swords than needles, but it was not me." He thought for a moment. "Jon, he must have gifted it to her before he left for the wall. They are close with each other, must have done it to cheer her up considering that he was leaving Winterfell."

Torrhen noticed the change in his father's face at the mention of Jon. Ned poured another glass of wine and drank it. His father drank wine in moderation and seeing him drink so much wine, Torrhen knew that something was troubling him regarding Jon. "I had a Bravosi masquerade as a dance instructor so that he could train Arya with the sword she calls Needle."

"I heard it from Owen," Torrhen said.

"Did I make the right decision in letting my daughter learn how to use the sword?" his father asked.

"It was the right decision you made," Torrhen said. "It's best that she learns to defend herself, one never knows what might happen in the future. Maybe the training you provided to her might end up saving her life."

"I hope that she never even come into a situation where she has to lift a sword," Ned said.

Silence filled the room then. But the thing about Jon was bugging Torrhen so he asked him, "Why did you let Jon join the Night's Watch father?"

"He wanted to," Ned said, in a manner that made Torrhen think that he had thought of a reason to tell if anyone asked. "And serving in the Night's Watch might bring him honor and a station far greater than if he were to serve in Winterfell?"

"Jon's a naive fool, father," Torrhen said. "You are not. You know the state in which the Night's Watch is. They have been on the decline for almost the past three hundred years ever since the Targaryens united the Seven Kingdoms."

"There are men of honor among them," Ned said. "Lord Commander Mormont, your uncle Benjen, there are more men, and the North unlike the rest still considers serving in the Black as an honor."

"Still this is Jon we are talking about," Torrhen said. "He is still fifteen, he should have grown more before he was even given the right to choose the Black. What if he comes to resent you father? That you had sent your own son to the wall knowing the truth about it."

Ned's face turned cold. But Torrhen could see through the hurt and sadness behind the tough exterior. There was something that his father didn't want him to know about Jon. He was hiding something important related to Jon. "I do not care if he resents me. I let him go to the wall for his own sake, once he joins the Night's Watch and dons the Black Cloak then he will know. Enough talk about Jon."

His father had a way of dealing with his sadness. Some cried, but when his father was sad, he would set his face in a manner that was considered as cold. His father's face was most of the time Cold. This was the way that he dealt when he was reminded of his family that had died before Torrhen had born.

"Do you miss them?" Torrhen asked. "Grandfather Rickard, Uncle Brandon, and Aunt Lyanna?"

Ned's face showed a bit of surprise. "Yes," he said after some time. "I still do after all these years."

That awkward silence came back. After some excruciating time someone knocked on the door and entered the solar.

"My lord hand," Cleyton said to father before turning to Torrhen. "I found her."

"Where is she?" Ned asked and Torrhen rose up from his seat.

"She is waiting outside," Cleyton said. "There is another matter of importance." He came close to Torrhen and whispered to him. "I met with Yoren on the way, the black brother we shared a fire with, the one who recruits for the Nights Watch. He has ridden with haste and asked me to arrange a meeting with your father as soon as possible."

"We knew the news would break any day," Torrhen whispered to Cleyton. "Bring him in. Father needs to hear it."

"What is it?" his father asked as Cleyton went out the door.

"Yoren, a black brother, wants to speak to you as soon as possible," Torrhen said.

Ned put the glass down. "My door is always open to the Night's Watch."

Cleyton entered after Yoren closing the door behind him.

"My lord hand," Yoren said. He turned to Torrhen, "You have grown, Stark, since the last time I saw you."

Torrhen smiled. "I hope my brother and uncle are doing well, Yoren."

"No one knows what happened to Benjen after he went on a ranging across the Wall, but your brother is doing well enough the last time I saw him." He turned back to Ned. "For the sake of my black brother Benjen, and Jon, I have ridden to reach you before the others did. Even turned my horse lame."

"Why?" Ned said.

"It's best if I tell it to you without an audience my lord."

"It's fine," Torrhen said. "I will check up on Arya. Meet me afterwards, Yoren, I will buy you a drink and you can tell me about events at the Wall."

Yoren nodded.

"Thank you for finding my daughter, Ser Cleyton," Ned said. "Torrhen, take Arya to bed. I will speak with her tomorrow."

Torrhen and Cleyton nodded and left the room.

"You need to talk with your sister," Cleyton said as soon as they were out of the room. "She has quite the story to tell, though most of it is jumbled and does not make sense."

Torrhen nodded. "Double the guards on father and the Hand's tower. Hire some trusted men too for the mansion. Tell our men to stay alert from now onwards, things might turn into a fight. We need to prepare for it. I don't want the men to be surprised when an attack takes place. Until things cool down there is no other choice. Come meet me after you relay the instructions."

Cleyton left with a nod.

Torrhen found Arya with Owen and the Direwolves.

Arya's clothes and face were dirty. She looked more like a commoner than the Hand's daughter.

"Looks like you went on quite an adventure beyond the gates of the Castle, my dear sister," Torrhen said. "You could have asked me to take you with me, if you wanted to leave the castle to visit the city."

Arya slammed into him and hugged him. "I didn't go out the gates," she blurted. "Well, I didn't mean to. I was down in the dungeons, only they turned into this tunnel. It was all dark, and I didn't have a torch or a candle to see by, so I had to follow. I couldn't go back the way I came on account of the monsters. Torrhen, they were talking about killing father! Not the monsters, the two men. They didn't see me, I was being still as stone and quiet as a shadow, but I heard them. They said father had a book and a bastard and if one Hand could die, why not a second? Jon's the bastard, I bet."

"Killing father?" Torrhen said. "Did they mention Father's name Arya?"

"I can't remember," Arya said. "They talked about a Hand dying, and the new one dying too."

"Who said this?" Torrhen asked.

"They did," she told him. "There was a fat one with rings and a forked yellow beard, and another in mail and a steel cap, and the fat one said they had to delay but the other one told him he couldn't keep juggling and the wolf and the lion were going to eat each other and it was a mummer's farce. The fat one said the princess was with child. The one in the steel cap, he had the torch, he said that they had to hurry. I think he was a wizard."

Whoever Arya was speaking about, it looks like they knew about the way things stood between Lannisters and Starks. The Princess they were talking about must have been Daenerys Targaryen, he had received word from his information network that she was married to a Dothraki horse lord, Khal Drogo, in Essos. There was no way that she could survive among the Dothraki for too long, they were tough, and this Princess Daenerys was probably sheltered.

This men they had something to do with the previous hands and are planning to do something with Father."

"Where did you hear this, Arya?" he said.

"I told you, it was in the dungeons, by the place with the secret wall. I was chasing cats, and well …" She screwed up her face. "… I knocked over Prince Tommen."

Torrhen laughed. "And why did you do that?"

"Tommen and Myrcella came across me as I was catching cats. They thought I was some serving boy, and I didn't want Septa Mordane and Sansa know that I was chasing after cats, so I ran from there when a Septa with them asked the guards to catch me. I ran and then knocked into him. Then I went in this window. That's where I found the monsters."

"Well," he said. "Do not tell this to father."

"Is he angry with me?"

"He's worried and might get a bit angry," Torrhen said. "But don't worry I will talk to him. Can you show me the way you went through to get to the dungeons."

Torrhen had read about these tunnels in a book written by a maester. There was a King named Maegor who had ordered tunnels to be built during the construction of the red keep. After it was built, he had killed all the builder to keep it a secret. The tunnels she must have gone through must be the same tunnels that Maegor had built.

Torrhen followed her as she led the way. Owen was left behind with the direwolves so that they did not attract attention as Torrhen searched for the tunnels.