Seeing the human-like eyes of the crow outside the window, Sansa immediately understood that it was calling for her.
With that realization, her fear instead vanished.
Many things could make a Stark afraid. Skinchangers were the only exception.
"Rickon, is that you? Stop being naughty!" Sansa instinctively thought of her younger brother.
"I am not Rickon," the great crow said.
A silver gleam flashed through Sansa's eyes as she carefully sensed the fluctuations of the soul within the great crow. It felt somewhat familiar, yet it was indeed not Rickon.
The next moment, her expression changed drastically, and she cried out in delight, "Arya?"
"It's me." Even the great crow's voice carried a slight tremor.
"Brienne, go open the window," Sansa hurriedly instructed the "Cloakless Kingsguard" behind her.
After King Aegon's death, Brienne had once again become a Cloakless Kingsguard.
Come to think of it, this was already the second time.
The last time, she had served Renly as one of the Rainbow Guard.
"You truly are Miss Arya? Mother Above, I have finally fulfilled Lady Catelyn's request and found both you sisters," Brienne said, deeply moved.
The raven flapped its wings and flew into the bedroom. As it shook the snow from its feathers, it said coldly, "This is not your achievement. I found you, not the other way around."
"It's all the same." Brienne paid no mind to Arya's attitude and simply grinned foolishly. "I never wanted any credit. As long as you sisters are safe, Lady Catelyn can rest easy. Then I, too, can be at ease."
"Arya, where have you been all these years?" Sansa, her belly swollen, walked forward excitedly and embraced the great crow. Her eyes burned, and at once two streams of tears slid down her cheeks.
"I used to dislike you so much back then. But these past few years, you have no idea how much I've missed you. No matter how mischievous you are, I will never scold you again," she said through tears.
"I will not be mischievous anymore." Even the great crow's heart, clear as an ice crystal, rippled faintly.
After crying for a while and calming herself, Sansa placed the great crow on the small table by the fireplace and even peeled a few peanuts for it.
The great crow lowered its head to glance at the peanuts but did not eat them. It spoke directly, "Sansa, I came to find you this time because I hope you can use a wyvern to carry me back to Winterfell."
"Back to Winterfell?" Sansa's brows knit slightly. "Where are you now?"
"At the Inn at the Crossroads on the Trident, in a forest one hundred kilometers to the west."
"How did you end up there? Why didn't you come to me sooner?" Sansa asked, both puzzled and reproachful.
"Brienne, please step outside for a moment," the great crow said, turning its head toward the female knight behind her.
Before Brienne could react, Sansa said seriously, "Arya, Brienne is my sworn shield. She is entirely trustworthy."
Brienne's mouth moved awkwardly, like a cow chewing cud, as she stammered, "Miss Arya, I swear my loyalty to Lady Sansa. I will never break my oath."
"I believe in your loyalty, but not in your wisdom. Step outside for a while. Some secrets are not suitable for you to know," the great crow said bluntly.
Brienne's rough, round face flushed red, and without a word of protest, she hurried out of the sitting room.
"Arya, you should not have said that," Sansa said with a stern face.
"Was I wrong?" the great crow asked in return.
"You were not wrong, but you should not have humiliated Brienne. She is my Kingsguard."
"I did not mean to humiliate her. Forget it. After you hear what I am about to say, you will not think so anymore," the great crow said.
"Go on. I'm listening."
"I was on my way to Riverrun. It was only after seeing large numbers of commoners and minor nobles migrating toward the Crackclaw Peninsula that I learned the Wall had fallen, the Others had marched south, and Winterfell was in grave danger."
"If you weren't coming to me, why go to Riverrun? Uncle was long ago captured by the Lannisters and taken to Casterly Rock. His life and death are unknown. Haven't you heard?" Sansa frowned.
"I thought you would deal with the Freys, so I kept looking for an opportunity in King's Landing. In the end, you only completed half of it. Since that is the case, I will handle the rest."
The cold fluctuation of the soul in the great crow's voice made Sansa shiver.
"How will you handle it? What do you mean?"
"The way you dealt with the Freys at the Twins is how I will deal with the Freys at Riverrun."
"I…" Sansa's expression changed.
How had she dealt with the Freys at the Twins?
Everyone except the infants had been hanged.
"Do not be reckless. Riverrun is well-defended and heavily garrisoned. The power of a skinchanger is not omnipotent. You are still young. Be a proper little lady. I will avenge the Freys myself."
"A proper little lady…" For a brief instant, confusion flickered in the great crow's red eyes. "I will never become a lady in this lifetime. Not when I was little, and now I am even further from being a lady than returning to Winterfell five years ago."
"I know you have suffered greatly these past years. It is my fault. I was too naïve back then, I…" Sansa's eyes brimmed with regret and tender sorrow. "Do not worry. From today on, I will let you grow up happily like a princess. Perhaps one day, you may even marry a prince."
"The prince is no better than a sewing needle. At least a sewing needle isn't fake," the great crow cawed.
For some reason, when facing her family, even the incomparably powerful True Scripture of the Reaper could not restrain the surging emotions within her.
"What did you say?" Sansa's pretty face twisted.
In that instant, the familiar feeling carried her back many years, to the sewing room of Winterfell, to the days when the mischievous Arya teased her to tears.
"I don't want a prince, and I won't be a princess." The great crow did not continue rubbing salt into her sister's wound. "I have ways to deal with the Freys of Riverrun. I am a Faceless Man!"
"A Faceless Man?" Sansa burst into laughter. "Have you been watching too many plays? No wonder. In the past two years, the Citadel has produced many dramas about the Faceless Men.
"Recently Robin, which is Robert's nickname just as Eddard is called Ned, and Rickon have started playing at role-playing as Faceless Men.
"But whoever draws the shortest lot is the one who has to play the inhuman Faceless Man.
"The children prefer to play the heroes who defeat the Faceless Men, or the mutt who sees through a Faceless Man's disguise and rescues the princess and queen."
A cold glint flashed in the great crow's eyes.
What Sansa said was true. Nowadays, the reputation of the Faceless Men was as infamous as demons and ghosts. In both Westeros and Essos, their name had become commonplace in the worst way.
Arya did not dwell on it. She merely said calmly, "For the past few years I have been in Braavos, apprenticing at the House of Black and White. Now I am a qualified No One."
The smile on Sansa's face gradually froze. In a hoarse voice she said, "Arya, tell me you're joking."
"I'm not. I killed Tommen," the great crow said coldly.
Sansa stood stunned for a moment, then burst into tears, wailing loudly. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It's all my fault.
"I was bewitched back then. Father was clearly preparing to send us away quietly. The ship was ready. Yet just before leaving, I went to find Cersei. I was foolish, childish, stupid. I couldn't bear to part with the handsome Prince Joffrey, that devil. How could I have been so stupid?"
Shock filled the red eyes of the great crow.
She truly had not known there had been such hidden circumstances behind that tragedy.
If she had been the Arya of those days, she would have cursed loudly, even rushed forward to yank her sister's hair, slapped her hard, and butted her in the chest with her little iron head. But now…
Seeing her sister so heartbroken, the great crow only sighed with complicated feelings. "You were foolish. I told you long ago that Joffrey was a bastard."
"I regret it so much. You've become an emotionless killing demon because of me. It's all my fault. I've wronged you, wronged Mother." Sansa cried even harder.
"The maesters deserve to die. They've completely ruined the reputation of the Faceless Men."
If she had teeth, the great crow would have been grinding them.
Sansa was startled again and wailed, "Don't tell me you killed Dr. Vogreve too? Mother above, look at what you've done. You killed the greatest literary master in the world!"
"I did intend to kill that old man who specialized in smearing the Faceless Men. Unfortunately, I arrived too late. He seemed to have died in an internal struggle within the Citadel," the great crow said, shaking her head.
"What? Dr. Vogreve was murdered by the maesters? Why?" Sansa was shocked again.
"I don't know, and I don't care. Once the target dies, my mission is automatically complete," the great crow replied indifferently.
"Look at you. What have you become? Curse that House of Black and White. What did they do to you?" Sansa was shaken by her coldness and cried even more fiercely.
"Stop wailing. I'm fine. The House of Black and White is fine. They taught me the ability to control my fate."
Sansa did not stop crying. Instead, she became even more sorrowful. "You've been brainwashed, just like in the plays. You've become a killing tool that only obeys orders, manipulated by the rulers of Braavos."
"Caw, caw, caw." The Reaper's state of mind shattered completely. At that moment, Arya wanted to go mad.
"You're still as foolish as you were back then. If I had been brainwashed, would I be standing here talking to you now?
"Would I have killed Tommen and Qyburn? Would I be planning to cleanse the Freys of Riverrun?
"Would I have given up returning to the House of Black and White and instead planned to rescue Winterfell?"
Sansa was stunned. With so many plays about the Faceless Men, she already knew the rules of the House of Black and White: only the Kindly Man could decide who received the gift of mercy, and Faceless Men were not allowed to kill outside their missions.
"So you haven't been brainwashed? Or has the Citadel deliberately slandered the House of Black and White?" Her tear-streaked face blossomed into a hopeful smile.
The great crow pondered for a long while and sighed. "Dr. Vogreve was terrifying. Everything about the Faceless Men in his plays was true.
"The House of Black and White does brainwash its trainees, but I am different. I am a skinchanger.
"The small House of Black and White cannot bind me. I hunt in the forests of the riverlands. I wander the streets and alleys of Braavos. I soar across the skies. My heart has always been free."
Looking at her sister's body as the great crow, Sansa seemed to understand something.
"Even if you are a Faceless Man, there are so many Freys in Riverrun. You're alone. How can you kill them all? Leave it to me. Sooner or later, I will wipe them out."
"Aegon is dead. The True Dragon Alliance has disbanded. What can you still do?" the great crow said, shaking her head.
A sharp light flashed in Sansa's eyes as she said confidently, "Just wait and see. It's not over yet."
"I cannot wait. Walder Frey cannot wait. He's already over ninety. I must make him taste the greatest pain and regret in the world before he dies of old age," the great crow said calmly.
"Then what about you now…"
She sighed. "Compared to Walder Frey, I care more about Winterfell and… Jon. In the short term, Walder Frey won't escape. But whether Winterfell will be destroyed by the Others is a matter of these next few days."
(End of chapter)
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