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[Having been here a couple of weeks now, Arya looks very different from the first time she addressed the network. She's cleaned up considerably from when she arrived, covered in the mud and blood of Harrenhal, an urchin shivering in a forgotten gray alleyway. She has gained a few bruises since then, particularly on her arms and legs, most of them brown and fading now, but there's one purpling welt on her forearm that she can't help poking at. She doesn't seem too bothered by the bruises, though. While she's arranged her hair in a slightly more feminine way, she's still wearing boys clothes; looser, more comfortable, easier to fight and tumble around in.]

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[Those of you passing through the Thor district may chance upon Arya sometime in the morning, looking a little dissatisfied and disappointed in herself. Maya's set her a task, but she's finding it a very difficult one to complete.]

No good. Maybe I just haven't found the right place yet, but...

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[It's late afternoon when she addresses the network. Her face still looks troubled.]

What sort of place do you go to, when you need to be alone and think?

[A pause. She's not sure whether to say the next part or not. The truth is, there's a lot that's happened to her over the last few months, ever since they left Winterfell, really. And she's just had to keep going through it all. To have to stop and examine herself now, to meditate and find the inner Arya, would mean facing it all, rather than just adding names to a list of people she'll one day give their retribution. It would mean grieving for Ned, something she's not had the space to do yet. And the idea is scaring her. Maybe not being able to find a place to follow Maya's instruction to her successfully is just a front for that.

She takes a deep breath, but the words won't come. She's just eleven years old, after all, how does she even try and process all of this?]

Robb, can you come and see me, please? I...

[She feels herself blinking back tears and, embarrassed, quickly shuts off the feed.]

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I suppose they just don't trust us, and it's not like the feeling is not mutual... [ She's bitter at them for a large number of reasons. ]

[Arya hesitates for a second, voicing these worries for the first time since just after she arrived.] I'm not sure that I trust them, either.

Most people don't, I think. They'd plotted things against us that did very little to gain our trust for them, and the fact they keep hiding informations from us is unsettling.

[ She frowns deeper as she remembers the violence and forceful acting she had to witness and go through. ] I'm not sure everyone here will stand further to this. There might be consequences, someday.

When I arrived here, I was given a warning by someone. That we shouldn't trust them, that they'd force us to cooperate with them.

That's what they're doing. Whoever warned you was right.

[She can feel fear and distress rising up in her. She'd wanted to believe that Loki had got it wrong somehow, or was exaggerating. The gods hadn't done anything like that to her yet. They'd even brought her brother here; she'd hoped that meant that they were looking after her. But all she'd got was confirmation after confirmation: whatever the gods had planned, she was sure it was sinister, and she wanted no part of it.]

There's no way to stop them, is there?

[ Oh, if she heard of all the otrageous things the gods had done so far... Hanako sounds a lot more bitter now, almost defeated, when she speaks next. ]

They're gods, and we're just human. No way we can do anything other than protest.

But if we worked hard, if we used the powers they gave us to our advantage... [But she knows how helpless she sounds.]

Those are powers the gods themselves gave us, like you said. They'll know how to take them away from us...

Then it's true, we are nothing more than their puppets.

To them, we are. But one day we'll show them that they're wrong.

I hope so. I know that together we'll all be strong enough, even if I can't do much on my own.

If there is one positive thing I can say about this situation... it's that somehow it's making us grow as people. I feel like I have improved as a person, while being here.

Really? Maybe I haven't been here long enough to notice that about myself yet, then.

It should come with time. How long have you been here?

It's been a little over a month now.

It's not too short of a time. I had my first boost around that period.

Your first boost?

Yes. I felt... weird, like something was growing inside me. Figuratively speaking. And the next thing I knew, I could grow plants with less fatigue.

So, the powers that the gods here gave you got stronger? [That's the first time she'd heard about that, really.] That would be a good thing for me to aim for.

Indeed. Like I said, this place at least lets you improve as a person and... a fighter, too. [ Though she's really not interested with the fighting part. She only wants to protect her friends. ]

[Arya's voice sounds considerably brighter now. She'd been enjoying testing out her speed powers already, but the idea that they could be further improved was very exciting to her.] I'll become the fastest. The gods won't see what's coming.

I don't know what the top level Speed is like, but I'm sure it will be impressive.

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