#finding trouble

The Stark's were coming to King's Landing. At least, three of them were and at first, Arya Stark had been ecstatic. She loved Winterfell; she loved everything about Winterfell, and she certainty didn't want to leave her mother and brothers behind, but she'd see them all again in December; the temptation of traveling somewhere new and different was too much for the sixteen year old to pass up. The city was huge - ten times bigger than Winterfell - with more places to see and explore. And she wanted to see everything. She had never traveled outside of Winterfell before, surprisingly enough, and this would be her first trip away from home.

It didn't take her very long to realize she was trapped more here than she was back home.  

Ned Stark made it very clear that neither of his girls would wander into the city. They were restricted to remain inside The Red Keep - the prestigious, aristocratic capital of the city. 

"There is no reason to go onto the city," he told them one night, but Arya had a feeling he was lecturing her more than Sansa. "It's quite dangerous and there's nothing there that you won't be able to find here." 

The Red Keep was a large, isolated community populated by King's Landing's very best. No one ever ventured beyond the gates because no one ever found any reason to. The capitol had plenty of private school's to choose from - all established and expensive. Skyscrapers stood tall and proud, anything involving politics and finance taking place within those buildings and not in the main city. The streets were lined with luxurious shops and restaurants selling the most sought after items with the biggest price tags.

Arya had to admit - the area was beautiful. The streets were clean and the people were happy, if not a bit conceited. They all carried around their cups of coffee and wore big, flashy, expensive sunglasses and each thought themselves better than everyone else. They were however easy to ignore. All Arya had to do was pop in her headphones and pretend they weren't there and no one ever bothered her. 

One thing she wasn't use to was the smoldering heat. Her closet was lined with long jeans and baggy sweaters she had stolen from Robb's closet and after a few days living in the area, it became clear the girl would need to get new clothing. But whenever Septa asked her if she'd like to go shopping, she'd groan and whine and refuse to go. She hated shopping. In the end, the teenager started cutting her own pants into shorts. Sansa was disgusted to call her sister and claimed she was an embarrassment to their name, but Arya could care less. Her clothes fit and were comfy and she didn't waste hundreds of their father's money on designer clothing. Sansa Stark had an easy time fitting into King's Landing. She would gush about the warm weather and the tan she was working on and when she wasn't talking about the shops, she was going on and on about Joffrey. But as the summer season ended, Arya found herself growing bored of the place. 

More than anything, she hated R.S Baratheon High. It was the most exalted school in the area, sponsored and pretty much owned by Robert Baratheon - the richest and most influential man in the world. And that meant that his son, Joffrey Baratheon had absolute control of the establishment. Her sister was dating the little bastard and her father was working for the drunk of a man. It was expected that the new CEO of Baratheon Incorporated would have his two daughters enrolled. Arya didn't care much for Robert but she hated Joffrey and his mother Cersei. And Joffrey made it very clear that he despised her as well. She had called him more names than she could remember - twat, prick, bastard, coward; she even had the audacity to hit him back when they were in Winterfell. The prick had hurt her friend and Arya made it very clear that she wouldn't stand for it. But no one touches a Lannister and she was punished for her misbehavior, but it was worth every second, listening to Joffrey cry over a bruised eye.

School was unbearable. Joffrey made sure to make her life miserable by spreading horrible rumors around. It made making friends, a task Arya was already lousy at, all the more difficult. Everyone who went to the school had parents who worked for Robert Baratheon which meant that every rule Joffrey made was followed without question. Arya was shunned and ostracized the moment she walked into that school, and she hated them all for being cowards. What was worse, Sansa never did anything. Arya and Sansa never got along particularly well, but they were still sisters and Arya was irritated when the girl did nothing to stop Joffrey from his cruel words. She refused to let them get under her skin. She texted Bran and Robb at University and as soon as class was dismissed, she put in her ear phones. But as the weeks went by, the rumors and stories got worse and worse, and she found herself unable to ignore them. Like a coward, she found herself running into the bathroom just to escape their words, sucking in deep breaths to keep her anger in check. She would never let any of them see her cry. Her father remained blissfully unaware. 

It wasn't until Arya got suspended for three days for fighting that her father noticed something was wrong. Some girl with blonde hair that reminded her of  Cersei had the nerve to bring up Jon one day when she passed, and Arya completely lost it. Before the girl could mutter another hateful word, Arya jumped on top of her, clawing at her face and ripping at her hair, demanding that she take back what she said. The blonde sat in the nurses office for an hour, having an episode while Arya was detained in the principals office. The parents were furious, questioning why a delinquent was attending the school. That's why we chose this school. To escape all that mess and violence. They even had the nerve to call her the bully!

"What's going on?" Ned asked her one night after getting off the phone with her mother. The girl hesitated for a moment, trying to swallow the anger, but she wanted to tell someone something. She wanted someone to know how much she hated it here. "I hate them! All of them. Joffrey, Sansa- I hate this place. I don't like it here." 

Ned blinked, surprised by her sudden outraged, and with a furrowed brow, he placed a calming hand on her shoulder, squeezing gently. "Hey, hey. Where did this come from? Did something happen? Did Joffrey do something?"

Arya watched as her father's eyes grew suspicious and serious. He was waiting for the confirmation from her, already suspected something was going on that he didn't know about. Arya loved her father more than anything and in that moment she wanted to wrap her arms around his shoulders and hug him until his chest rumbled with laughter. There was power and force in his eyes, a promise that if he learned the truth, he would put a stop to all the horrible, unfair things Joffrey was doing. He would go to Robert and demand his son be held responsible. He would confront the most powerful man in the world and possibly ruin their relationship and his position, all to set things right; all for his daughter. 

But Arya couldn't let him do that. Plus, she didn't want her father fighting her battles for her. 

So she lied and assured him everything was fine; that she was just having a bad day, and he let the issue go after Arya refused to talk more about it. There was a look in his eye that told her he didn't believe her, but she shook him off, reassuring him again.

When she returned to school, people avoided her, afraid she might actually explode again and kill someone, but that didn't stop their whispering. 

"She almost ripped Tammy's head off."

"She's fucking crazy." 

By lunch, she decided she didn't have enough willpower to keep her mouth shut, and so she skipped out to avoid causing any more trouble, and no one noticed. Aimlessly walking around, she wiped her brow as the sun beat down on her, remembering once more how much she missed the cold weather of the North. She missed the snowy mountains. She missed her home and her friends; she missed Robb and Bran and Jon. If her brother's knew what Joffrey was saying, they'd find him and shut his mouth, but they weren't here and Arya was alone. 

A bus pulled up next to her and for some reason, she decided to get on. The heat was getting to be too much and her feet were tired. The ugly black loafers were not meant for long distance walking and it was nice just to sit down and get away from the capital. Eventually she got off only to hop onto another bus, traveling further away from the Red Keep. She didn't know where she was going but as she sat there, she realized she wanted to go deeper into the city. Damn the rules. Her father would never find out. With new-found excitement replacing the misery, she transferred onto another bus and stared out the window as they entered the heart of King's Landing. 

It was dirty and crowded. Some of the buildings were abandoned, covered in graffiti with more broken windows than intact. The trashcans were overflowing, people were walking the streets occasionally yelling or arguing with one another., the cars and taxis zoomed passed, blaring their horns over and over. Arya stepped off the bus when she came across a popular shopping district. She walked down the strip, entering each of the shops and buying a few items here and there. There were a ton on the street, each selling unique items, but they were different from the shops in The Red Keep and much more affordable.

As she continued on her way, she stopped and stood on her toes to see over a crowd of people, watching a street dancer move to the rhythm of his music. Further down the street, she spent a few minutes watching a man use spray paint and trash to make beautiful pieces of art. When she reached the end of the street, she found herself entering a marketplace filled with a ton of people. Merchants were yelling at every single person as they passed by, eager to make deals. It was wild, loud, and out of control, busy and chaotic, but she loved it more than anything she had seen in the Red Keep. 

Once she reached the end of the strip, she turned down a corner but noticed that the area had nothing but trash bins and empty stalls. Turning back around, she planned on making her way back to the chocolate stand she passed a little while ago, but paused when she noticed a group of boys following her. There were four of them and they were all giving her the same dark smile. 

"Wha' the 'ell is a highborn doin' walkin' 'round Flea Bottom?"

She remembered what Joffrey had told Sansa. People living in the Red Keep called everyone else in King's Landing 'lowborns' and since the city found out, they had start calling the people who lived in the Red Keep 'highborns'. Both were meant to be sarcastic and insulting and Arya could hear the hate in the boy's tone when he used it. 

They were staring at her clothing and she glanced down at herself, suddenly uncomfortable. She realized she was still in her school uniform - a dark, gray skirt that reached just above the knee with a white button down shirt, cuffed at the elbows. A gold and black tie hung loosely from her neck indicating the school. Gold and black were Baratheon colors. She swallowed, and looked back up to the group, refusing to let these idiots intimidate her. 

"Go away," she ordered with a dark glare, but they simply laughed at her. 

"Don' work that way down 'ere, princess," said the one with greasy blonde hair. "Give us your bag." 

Arya tightened her grip around the backpack slung over her shoulder. There wasn't much in it. She had enough money to get home, her books, an iPod, her phone, and the few items she bought at the shops. But she refused to hand it over. 

"I said go away," she repeated, narrowing her eyes, but she took a step backwards, bumping lightly into a trash bin as they advanced on her. 

"I don't think so." A fat boy with pudgy cheeks and a red face proclaimed, ready to grab at her. "Give me that bag!" 

"You want it?" she asked, grabbing the tin lid from the top of the can behind her and throwing it at him with all her might. It hit the boy in the face with a loud clang and he went down for a brief second, huffing. The others were surprised and hesitated for a brief second, giving her enough time to side step the other three and make a run for it. 

"Go! Get her!" She heard one of them yell, but she was too busy running away to look back. She weaved in between the crowd, pushing through the masses of people in an attempt to lose her pursuers, but they knew the streets better than she did, and no one seemed all too concerned when they saw her running.

Panting, she sucked in a deep breath and risked a glance, turning her head over her shoulder, smiling when she noticed no one coming after her. She slowed down a bit and turned forward, almost letting out a scream when she realized she had just ran straight into one of them. He caught her and wrestled with her for a moment. She kicked and shoved at him, but he quickly overpowered her and tugged the bag off her back, shoving her into another alleyway, grinning at the curse words flying from her mouth. 

"Didn't know highborn's knew such filthy words." 

"Give me back my bag, you cunt!" 

She ran for him, furious and pissed, but he pushed her again with so much force that she fell down, landing on her hands and knees. There were little pieces of broken glass scattered all over the ground from the large dumpster in front of her, and when she fell down, she could feel the sharp pricking of them cutting into her skin. Hissing, she picked herself up, trying to shake the tiny shards out of her skin, and wiping the blood on her skirt. 

By the time she got back up and turned, the rest of them had caught up, even the fat one who practically collapsed on the ground when he made it. They grabbed onto her arms and roughly pushed her against the wall, subduing her as their leader began to unzip her bag. He grabbed the items she had just bought and threw them over his shoulder, and Arya glared as the fragil things broke into pieces. He found the money and pocketed it, but was left unsatisfied.

"That's it? That's all the money you got?"

His face turned into a glare, obvious mad that she didn't have more on her, but he grabbed her phone and iPod from the bag before dumping the school books onto the ground. 

"Let me go!" She yelled at them, struggling against their grip, but their hold was strong. She jutted her foot out and stomped on the fat boy's toe and he let out another yell, releasing his hold on her and giving her enough time to act. Ignoring the pain of her bleeding hand, she pulled back her fist and punched the other guy in the face, as hard as she could before running.

Toph had stormed off after a minor disagreement with everyone that she set foot, on her own to explore what the city of Ba Sing Se had to offer. The city was different from her own home in Gaoling. Ba Sing Se seemed dictated with rules and customs to follow and already implied to everyone that they needed to seek an audience with the Earth King immediately without so much as wasting more time being watched and looked at carefully by the Dai Li.