Syrio tells her: "Use your eyes to see and your ears to hear."
Elmar Frey is an arrogant and childish brat, just like his cantankerous father.
Walder Frey looks like an old weasel, with a bald head and loose skin. He can only sit in a chair all day, has a foul temper, and wheezes and drinks from dawn till dusk.
Robb and her father were away at war, and she could only stay in this dreary castle.
Lord Walder was furious because of her brother's breach of contract and called her "the Stark who broke the promise." The strange looks from the Freys made her uncomfortable.
Arya wore a velvet dress. The corset made her feel trapped. She thought of what her father had said to her: "One day you will marry a prince and rule his castle, and your sons will become knights, princes or lords, maybe even a high septon."
No, no, she would never do this.
She could become a water dancer, like Syrio.
But they wouldn't let her near the training yard, and they had confiscated her wooden sword.
She had only stayed at Winterfell for three days. Before they reached Winterfell, they had encountered Ser Rodrik's army, later joined by troops from the Dreadfort.
Theon did not resist and chose to surrender. He told them that the two boys he killed were not Bran and Rickon, but just farm boys. He begged to take the black and atone for his sins, but Rodrik believed the traitor should die.
She sipped the wine, preferring the bitter taste of ale to the rich sweetness of wine.
Empty Winterfell felt strange to her. There were no more quarrels between Rickon and Bran, no laughter between Cole and Robb, and even Sansa's voice was gone. Her mother and Rodrik remained in the castle after her father took her south.
After recapturing Moat Cailin from the Ironborn, she was sent to the Twins, where she would live until she came of age and married Elmar Frey, the youngest son of Lord Walder Frey.
Although home no longer felt familiar, Arya hated the castle she now stayed in even more.
Here she had seen enough of the rushing river and the constant noise in the castle. The relationship between Walder Frey's sons and daughters seemed even worse than hers and Sansa's.
She had never truly hated Sansa, and it made Arya sad to think of what had happened to her, hearing they had married her to the ugly Imp.
Idiot, your situation isn't much better.
Arya returned alone to her room, fastened the bolt on the door, and took her bow from the wardrobe, hiding her treasure under her skirts and linens.
They took away her wooden sword, but they didn't know she also had "Needle" hidden away.
She took out an old cloak and fastened Needle to her waist.
At this hour, the Freys were enjoying their lunch in the great hall, and Arya walked carefully along the wall.
Swift as a deer, quiet as a shadow. With her heart pounding, she crept through the castle hallways, pulled down her hood, and made her way to the stables outside the storeroom, where several wagons coming from outside the castle were parked.
Arya looked around several times, then climbed into the bed of a wagon and lay down among a pile of onions, covering herself with a tarp.
When the wagon began to move, she peeked out quietly. They were crossing an arch bridge with the rushing Green Fork below. The stone bridge was wide enough for two wagons to pass side by side.
The wagon emerged from the other side of the river, passed through the fortress's oak-plated iron gate and crossed the wooden bridge over the moat.
They traveled into the wilderness, and the driver suddenly spoke, "We're far enough from the Twins now. You can come out."
Arya's heart tightened, and she clutched the hilt of Needle.
The thin old man driving the wagon continued, "The onions back there aren't pleasant, child."
Arya stood up and asked, "Have you known about me all along?"
The driver patted the horse pulling the wagon, "He told me."
"Come sit up front and hold onto the rail. I won't hurt you," the driver said to her.
Arya hesitated for a moment, then crawled forward.
The driver glanced at her and said, "Little girl, where are you headed? It's dangerous for a child like you to be out alone."
"I'm going to Riverrun."
He looked surprised, then said: "There's a war going on."
"Where's the fighting now?"
The driver sighed, "On this cursed day, when will the gods let them finish fighting? This convoy isn't going to Riverrun, we're headed to Seagard. But there should be a convoy going to Riverrun over there."
"Can I go with you?" Arya asked.
The driver nodded.
"Did you say there was fighting at Riverrun?" Arya asked eagerly. That was where she wanted to go—to find Robb.
Everyone now called Robb the Young Wolf. He had won many victories in the Westerlands, and they said he had never lost a battle. But Elmar Frey claimed: "He was defeated by the Knight of Flowers in the Battle of the Whispering Wood."
Robb wasn't defeated. They had captured the Kingslayer.
Arya knew he had led an army from the west and was besieging Riverrun.
She didn't want to marry Elmar, and she wanted Robb to help her convince their father.
"The northern army is over there," the driver said. "I heard their leader is still the young wolf, Lord Stark. He has a direwolf. Some have seen it—they say it's as big as a cow."
Robb called his wolf Grey Wind, hers was Nymeria, and Cole's was Ghost.
"Did they win?" Arya asked him.
The driver shook his head, "They're still fighting. I advise you not to go there for now, child. There's nothing in Riverrun but soldiers and outlaws."
Not just Riverrun, but the entire Riverlands was like this now. The Mountain led his men burning, killing, and plundering everywhere. He and his men committed countless atrocities against both men and gods.
If any region had suffered most from the war, it was surely the Riverlands.
They met many refugees on the road. The war had destroyed their homes. These people could only flee north. Some hid in mountains and forests, but there were wild beasts there that could take their lives at any moment.
Arya had seen enough dead people. She'd even killed one herself with Needle.
This place was far from the Kingsroad, and all they could see were fields and hills. They first followed the river, then turned onto a path, passed through some woods and valleys, and gradually heard the sound of waves.
Seagard was located on the shore of Ironman's Bay, at Eagle Point. It was the ancestral castle of House Mallister, with a town nestled beneath its walls.