"Go! Peggy! Go!" Arya said excitedly while holding on to the reins and trying to ride the horse through the sparse trees, not that she was doing much of the riding, in fact, she was doing the exact opposite of that with her wild moments, making the horse, the one who actually held the figurative reins, work even harder so that she doesn't fall off, "Let's go straight to Jon!" she shouted as if she had any idea about where he was.
The horse just rolled her eyes at the command and didn't pay it any mind as she knew that the little two-legged didn't completely comprehend what she was asking for, so Peggy decided that she would just indulge her for a while by taking her to the nearby clearing before bringing her back to her home.
It would also give Peggy some chance to enjoy some fresh air too as she had been too cooped up for quite some time inside the stables with those common horses which was almost insulting to her. And while she knew that something like this could get her punished by that mean old lady, she also knew that Jon was coming home so she thought that she wouldn't be here for much longer which meant that the mother of two-legged helpless wouldn't be able to do anything.
As for why she was here and not at Bear Island... well that had to do with Jon's consideration. Jon thought that, since he was at the sea most of the time over the past few months, Peggy would be lonely all on her own, so on his last visit to Winterfell he decided to leave her there so that his family could take care of her. Before he left, he half-jokingly told Arya that it was her responsibility to be Peggy's friend, and the young girl took this responsibility very seriously.
So from then on, whenever she could find time on her hands, Arya would run straight for the stables. She would try to feed her, water her, walk her and do everything that she could do, even if her Mother made her bathe every time she came back because she smelled of horses.
Plus, whenever something upset her or if her Mother made her really angry about something and Sansa wasn't nearby, Arya sought out Peggy as if she was her friend who would listen to her pour out all her grievances. The horse would even nod at all appropriate times as if she could understand the little girl's tirade and sympathise with her.
So, obviously, with time, the two became quite close with each other. And one day when Arya saw that no one was watching her, she decided to try something that she wanted to do for ages and hadn't been allowed to. She went near the horse and immediately jumped and tried to get on Peggy's back with all her might to ride her but alas she was far too short and couldn't reach it.
Peggy having gotten fond of the little critter finally decided to go along with it and lowered herself to help get on her back and then took her for a short ride around the stables. The small short ride was the happiest she'd been in ages. For the whole week, Arya couldn't wipe the wide grin from her face as she felt found the best hobby in the world.
So she would try and sneak into the stables every day so that she could ride Peggy to her heart's content at least until... her Mother caught her.
Obviously, there was a massive row that followed after that and from then on she was completely forbidden from the stables.
Alas, if it was so easy to control her daughter, then Lady Stark wouldn't have so many stress lines and grey hair at such a young age.
Sometimes in the early morning, sometimes while she was praying in the sept, and a few times even during the night, and the girl was very creative when it came to sneaking out to the stables giving Lady Stark and the stable master countless headaches.
No matter how many times she forbids it, her nimble daughter somehow finds a way to break Peggy out. So finally Lady Stark got fed up and threatened her that if she's caught one more time then she will free the horse into the wild and then she would never be able to see her ever again... which ultimately led to the situation today.
Peggy expertly navigated between the trees as she had been through this path many times when she used to live here with Jon so she was very familiar with this area and knew all the nooks and crannies and all the safe areas.
Not long after the trees gave away and they came out to a small beautiful clearing beside a slow-flowing river. Since it was summer the bedside was filled with all kinds of herbs and beautiful flowers making it a very good place to rest.
"Eh! Why are we stopping here, Peggy?" Arya asked with a confused look on her face as the horse came to a stop before the river and lowered herself so the young girl could get off, "Are you thirsty?" she asked while patting the pretty horse who nodded before ducking her head into the clear stream.
"Fine, then but don't take too long, alright, otherwise they'll catch up with us and find us and then we'll not be able to—" the girl suddenly screamed excitedly while jumping and pointing towards the fish, "A Fish! I saw a Fish!" and then without another thought, she lunged straight into the ice-cold water after the fish.
"HaHa... I got you—Eh? Where did it go?" she exclaimed when her hands came up empty.
Watching the little girl jump and splash in the cold water while searching for the elusive fish, Peggy sighed and shook her head tiredly at how stupid the young ones were. She knew that the lady would somehow find a way to blame her if the brat got sick so she immediately stepped into the water and gently bit Arya's nape to pull her out of the water.
"Hey! Stop it! You'll scare the fish away!" the brat screamed and flailed her arms but her struggles were futile as the horse easily lifted the child into the air and deposited her onto the shore unceremoniously, "Why did you do that? I was just about to catch that fish!" she shouted indignantly and tried to go back but Peggy blocked her way and didn't let her no matter how many times she tried.
"Fine then," Arya said while sitting on the soil and pouting, "But it would be your fault if we get hungry later because we could have been eating that fish and now we don't—" Arya abruptly stopped when the horse suddenly raised her head toward the bushes with a snarl while pushing the young girl behind her.
"W-What happened Peggy?" Arya whispered timidly, hiding behind the horse and peering at the shaking bushes with a worried expression. "Is someone there? Is it a wolf? Is it here to eat us?" she asked nervously.
The girl was scared for the first time since leaving Winterfell and now she was even rethinking her decision to leave home. She had heard all kinds of stories from her brothers over the years about all the real and mythical beasts that were said to reside in this forest and she didn't want to come across any of them, not unless she was with her Father or Jon or Robb or even Sansa.
"What are you doing? Let's run away! Quickly, get down!" Arya urged, trying to climb onto the horse, but the tension seemed to have suddenly left Peggy as she came out of her defensive position as if there was no more threat.
But the bushes hadn't stopped shaking instead the disturbance was approaching them even more quickly and then the next second a massive Shadowcat suddenly leapt out of there almost making the girl pee in her pants before she realised who it was, "Oh! It's just you, Tiger!" she said, relieved to see her brother's Shadowcat, instead of a wolf.
"Wait! No! Why are you here? Does that mean that your sister also knows," Arya rattled off, her relieved expression quickly turning to panic. "Oh! No! Peggy, We need to leave before Becca finds us," she anxiously said, rushing toward the horse. However, Peggy didn't seem to be paying attention; instead, she stared into the trees and then suddenly out of nowhere she dashed straight into the forest in the opposite direction of Winterfell.
"No! Don't leave me here," Arya screamed after the horse but Peggy didn't look back even once leaving the kid feeling betrayed, "Come Back!"
"Argh! Stupid Horse! What do I do now? How will I go to Jon now? Mother will kill me if she catches me!" she mumbled to herself frustratedly while pacing back and forth when her eyes caught something out of the corner of her eyes and almost immediately a bright candle lit up in her mind.
"Tiger! Oh, Tiger! I haven't seen you in a while, You've gotten so big," Arya said with a creepy smile as she slowly approached the Shadowcat, "You must be so fast now, huh? Can you help me, Tiger? Don't worry, it won't bother you too much."
Tiger watched with amused eyes as the girl approached him cautiously as if he was a street cat, "You just stay still and it'll be fine I won't hurt you, I am just going to—" and then she lunged straight for the beast's back but he wasn't a Shadowcat for nothing as he nimbly dodged the girl denying her the right to climb atop him and ride him.
"No! Come back!" Arya screamed and went at it again... and again... and again...
It seemed to have turned into a game of tag with the girl running and jumping all over the place trying to catch Tiger who always moved at the last moment as if taunting her. And if she got tired every once in a while, the playful Shadowcat approached her real close tempting her and starting all over... and the girl fell for his bait every single time.
And that is how Becca and Sansa, found her, rolling around in the mud wrestling with a Shadowcat in the middle of the forest with no care in the world. Arya's hair and her clothes were not only wet she also had mud and grass sticking all over her making her look like something straight out of Lady Stark's nightmare.
The girls exchanged helpless glances with each other as they could almost imagine all the shouting and screaming that would resound through the Winterfell tonight when they went back home.
Tiger's sister, the other Shadowcat, stood beside Becca and seemed eager to join in the fun game before Becca put a restraining hand on her while Sansa went towards her sister, "Arya! Stop!"
"Eh?" Arya turned her head and her eyes comically widened the moment she caught sight of her sister, "Oh! No! Why are you here?" she screamed and immediately tried to bolt but Sansa seemed to have been waiting for that and nimbly lunged and caught her in a death grip, "No! Leave me! I don't want to go back!"
It took quite a while and a whole lot of screaming and struggling before they managed to calm her down.
"Look at how dirty you've gotten, Arya," Sansa said while gently patting her sniffing sister all over her clothes and her face to try and remove as much dirt and mud as she could. She wanted Arya to at least look like a human so that her Mother didn't immediately have a heart attack, "You know how angry Mother will be when she finds out that you've ruined the pretty dress she brought for you,"
"I don't care! I hate her," Arya said, puffing up her cheeks and turning her head away in anger.
"You don't hate her," Sansa replied calmly, while gently pulling her cute sister's cheeks "You just don't like it when she makes you do stitches and wear dresses,"
"I'll just go find, Jon and then I'll go with him and then she won't be able to order me around,"
"Speaking of which, Where's Peggy?" Sansa said while looking around the clearing in confusion.
"That stupid horse betrayed me and ran away," Arya said with a huff, "I'll complain to Jon and have him punish her when he comes back, Humph!"
"Really? She left you here? All alone!" Sansa asked incredulously, while looking towards Becca who was similarly bewildered with the situation.
"I wasn't alone! Tiger was with me!" she said defensively.
"But that doesn't make sense! There's no way she would leave you here alone! How would she know—Unless!" Sansa eye's suddenly widened as she realised something and at that exact moment a very familiar voice came from the trees behind them.
"Well well well!" All three heads turned toward the source of the voice, where they saw the white horse emerging from the trees, carrying their most favourite person in the world. "Quite the welcome party, isn't it?"
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