Chapter 35 Chapter 35 The Cat by the Canal

She wakes before sunrise in the penthouse she shares with Brusco's daughters. The cat is always the first to wake up.It was warm and snug under the blankets with Taelia and Brea, and she could hear their soft breathing.She rolled over and sat up groping, Brea complained sleepily, then turned her back.The chill in the gray stone walls made the cat's skin crawl.She dressed quickly in the dark, and as she pulled on her coat, Taelia opened her eyes and called to her, "Cat, honey, bring me my clothes." She was a dull, skinny, whining girl. Say cold. Cat fetched her clothes, Taelia wriggled under the blankets, and together they pulled her big sister out of bed, Brea threatening them vaguely sleepily.

By the time the three of them climbed down the ladder that led to the attic, Brusco and his sons were in the boat in the little ditch behind the house.As every morning, Brusco yelled at the girls to hurry while his sons helped Taelia and Brea into the boat.The cat's job was to untie the rope from the post, throw it to Brea, and push the boat off the dock with one booted foot.Brusco's sons were trying to pole, and the distance between the pier and the deck gradually became farther, and the cat came running and jumped on the deck. For a long time after that she had nothing to do but sit and yawn as Brusco and his sons pushed the boat through the tangle of little canals in the pre-dawn darkness.Today looks like a rare good weather, fresh and bright.There are only three kinds of weather in Braavos: fog is bad, rain is worse, and freezing rain is the worst.But every once in a while there is a morning when the sky breaks pink and blue and the air smells pungent and salty.Cats like this weather the most.

They came to a wide waterway, the "Long Canal," and turned south to the fish market.The cat sat cross-legged, trying to resist the urge to yawn, carefully recalling the details of the dream.I dreamed that I was a wolf again.What she remembered most clearly were the smells: woods and earth, wolves' brethren, horses, stags, and men, all different, but the strong smell of fear remained the same.Some nights the wolf dreams were so vivid that even when she awoke she could still hear the howling of her brethren.On one occasion, Brea claimed she was groaning and fluttering under the covers in her sleep.She thought it was a stupid lie until Taelia said the same.

I shouldn't have wolf dreams, the girl told herself, I'm a cat, not a wolf.I am the cat by the canal.The Wolf Dream belongs to Arya of House Stark.But as hard as she tried, she couldn't escape Arya's shadow.Whether sleeping under a temple or sharing a penthouse with Brusco's daughters, wolf dreams haunted her...and sometimes nightmares. Wolf dreams are good.In the wolf dream, she is swift and strong, running after her prey, followed by her pack.She hated the other dream, the one where she had two feet instead of four; the one where she was always looking for her mother, stumbling through mudflats, blood and fire; It was raining all the time, and she could hear her mother screaming, but a dog-headed monster wouldn't let her go to save her mother; in that dream, she was always crying, like a terrified little girl.Cats don't cry, she told herself, like wolves.It was just a stupid dream.

Brusco's boat passed the long canal past the green copper vaults of the Palace of Truth, passed the tall square towers of the Prestan and Antalion, and then passed through the huge gray arches of the Sweet Canal to a town called Silt. urban area.The buildings here are smaller and less grand.Later in the day, the canal would be clogged with snake boats and barges, but in the pre-dawn darkness the boat had all but monopolized the waterway.Brusco likes to arrive at the fish market just as the Titans announce sunrise.The muffled sound crossed the lagoon, muffled by the distance, but enough to wake the sleeping city.

When Brusco and his sons moored the boat at the fish market, it was already full of people selling herring, cod, oysters, and clams, as well as stewards, cooks, housewives, and sailors who disembarked from the boat. Aquatic products in the morning, while loudly bargaining.Brusco paced between the boats, inspecting the various shellfish, now and then tapping on a barrel or a box with his stick. "This," he'd say. "Yes." Tap. "This." Tap. "No, it's not that. It's here." Tap.He was quiet, and Taelia said her father was as stingy with words as he was stingy with money.Oysters, clams, crabs, mussel shells, scallops, sometimes shrimp... Brusco buys them all, depending on what's available that day.They carried his hammered barrels and chests into the boat.Brusco had a bad back and couldn't hold objects heavier than a mug of yellow beer.

After it was done, the cat already smelled of sea water and fish.She's so used to it she can barely smell it.She doesn't mind working either, and her back hurts from carrying a heavy wooden barrel, which means she is getting stronger and stronger. Once all the barrels were loaded, Brusco himself pushed the boat off the shore, and his sons carried everyone home along the long canal.Brea and Taelia sat in the front of the boat and whispered.Cat knew they were talking about Brea's boyfriend, whom she had climbed on the roof for a date after her father fell asleep. "Learn three new things, and come back to us," the kindly man ordered the cat before sending her into town, and she always did.Sometimes it was just three new Braavosi words; sometimes she brought back stories of sailors, wondrous and uncanny, set in the wide world beyond the Braavos Isles: war, toad rain, dragon hatching; sometimes She learns three new jokes, or three new riddles, or the trick of various trades.From time to time she learns some secrets.

Braavos, nicknamed the "City of Secrets," is full of mists, masks, and whispers.The girl learns that the existence of the city itself has been a secret for a century, and its exact location has been hidden for three hundred years. "The nine Free Cities are the daughters of old Valyria," the kindly man taught her, "and Braavos is the bastard daughter who ran away from home. We are half-bloods, children of slaves and whores and thieves .Our ancestors flocked to this sanctuary from dozens of different lands to escape the Dragon King who enslaved them. Countless gods came with them, but all they had in common was one."

"God of a Thousand Faces." "The God of Many Faces has many names," said the Kind One. "In Qohor he was the 'Black Goat'; in Yidi he was the 'Night Lion'; in Westeros he was the 'Stranger. Worship the Seven or the Lord of Light, the Moon Mother or the Drowned God or the High Shepherd. Mankind belongs to him . . . unless someone can live forever. Do you know anyone who can live forever?" "No," she answered, "every man is mortal." Whenever the cat sneaks back to the temple on the hill in the dark of the moon, she always finds a kind person waiting for her. "What more have you learned since you left us?" he would always ask.

“I learned what the hot sauce was made of in the oysters sold by the blind man,” she said. "I learned that the Blue Lantern troupe was going to play The Lord of the Mourning Face, and that the Mummer Ship was going to respond with The Drunken Seven Oarsmen. I learned that whenever the respected merchant captain Moredo Pry Bookseller Lotto Ronell slept in Stan's house when he sailed, and moved out again when the Fox came home." "It's good to know these things. Who are you?" "The nameless one." "You lied. You're the cat on the canal. I know you well. Go to sleep, boy. Tomorrow you must serve."

"Mortals must serve." She serves the God of Many Faces three days out of every thirty.When the moon was dark, she became a nameless person, a servant of the God of Many Faces, dressed in black and white robes, walking beside the kind, carrying a lamp through the fragrant darkness.She scrubbed the dead, searched clothes, and counted coins.On some days she still cooks for Uma, chopping up large white mushrooms and deboning fish.This all happens when the moon is dark.The rest of the day she was an orphan, wearing battered boots that were too big for her feet, and the frayed edge of her brown cloak, yelling "Clam shells, scallops, clams" as she pushed her cart through the old clothes dealers' wharf. She knew the moon would be dark tonight because it was only a narrow strip last night. "Compared to when you left us, what have you learned?" the kind person will ask as soon as they meet.I learned that Brea met a boy on the roof while her father slept, she thought.Taelia said Brea let him touch himself, even though he was just a rat on the roof, and all rats on the roof are thieves.It's just one thing.The cat needs two more.She is not worried.Where there are ships, there are new things. When they got home, Cat helped Brusco's sons unload the cargo from the boat.Brusco and his daughters divide the shells into three carts and spread them on top of layers of seaweed. "Come back when sold out," Brusco told the girls every morning, and then they set out to sell.Brea pushes her cart to Purple Harbor, where sea-going ships are moored, and can be sold to Braavosi sailors; Taelia goes to the alleys near the Moonpool, or sells among the temples of the Isle of the Gods; Go to the Old Clothes Wharf first. Braavosians are allowed to use the Purple Harbor, from Flooded Town to Sea King's Hall; ships from other Free Cities and all over the world use the Old Clothes Wharf, which is rough, rough, and dirty compared to the Purple Harbor, and also Even more noisy, sailors and merchants from all over the world huddled between the docks and the streets, entertaining others and looking for prey.In all of Braavos, cats like it best.She liked the noise, the strange smells, the boats arriving at the evening tide, and the boats setting off.She liked the sailors, too: the boisterous Telos with loud voices and beards dyed in every shade; the blond Lithians who were calculating and trying to undercut her prices; And there were the Summer Islanders she fancied, with skin as black and smooth as teak, and in capes of red or green or yellow feathers, and their swan-ships were magnificent with tall masts and white sails. Oarsmen and crews of Westeros sometimes come across, some from the caravels of Oldtown, some from the galley merchant ships of Duskendale, King's Landing or Seagull Town, and some of the pot-bellied flats from the Arbor wine ship.Cat knew the Braavosi words for oyster, clam, and scallop, but she peddled along the Old Clothesder's Wharf in slang—the words of the wharves, shipyards, and sailor's taverns, mixed in a dozen different languages. profane language, accompanied by gestures, most of which are extremely insulting.Cat loves to talk slang, and most people who mess with her will see dirty gestures, or be described as a butt or a camel. "Maybe I haven't seen a camel," she told them, "but I can smell a camel." It occasionally irritates people that way, but she is not afraid because she has finger daggers.Not only does she keep her dagger sharp at all times, she also practices using it from time to time.Waiting for Lanna to be free at the Pleasure Pier one afternoon, Red Rogo taught her how to hide the dagger in her sleeve and draw it out quickly, and cut open the purse smoothly so her master wouldn't notice.It's good to know these things, even kind people agree; especially at night, when assassins and roof-rats are about. Cats made friends by the docks; porters and mummers, ropers and sailmen, tavernkeepers, brewers, bakers, beggars and whores.They buy clams and scallops from her, tell her the real Braavos, make up a false self, and laugh at her Braavosi words, but she never lets it bother herself, she fights back with dirty gestures , and called them Sao Camel, which made them laugh out loud.Giloro Dossell taught her to sing raunchy songs, his brother Gileno told her the best places to catch eels, and the mummers of the "Musker's Ship" taught her heroic stance and lines (those famous plays such as The Song of the Rhoyna, The Conqueror's Two Wives and The Merchant's Unsatisfied Wife).Little sad-eyed Quayle, who writes all the pulp comedy for "The Mummer Ship," offers to teach her women how to kiss, but Taganaro hits him with a cod and the subject is dropped.The magician Cosomo taught her to juggle.He can swallow mice and pull them out of her ears. "It's magic," he said. "No," said the cat, "the mouse has been up your sleeve. I see it moving." "Oysters, clams, scallops" was Cat's magic word, and like all magic words, it would take her almost anywhere.She boarded boats from Lys, Oldtown and Ibban, and sold oysters right on deck.Some days, she pushed her cart past the towers of powerful people, selling baked clams to the guards at the gates.Once she was hawking on the steps of the Palace of Truth and another peddler tried to drive her away, so she overturned the man's cart and sent his oysters rolling around on the cobblestones.Customs officers at Checkered Wharf would offer to buy from her, and boatmen going back and forth would look for her in flooded towns whose domes and towers dipped below the green waters of the lagoon.Once, when Brea was menstruating and bedridden, Cat pushed her cart to Purple Harbor to sell crabs and shrimp to the oarsmen on the Neptune yacht, which was covered bow to stern with smiling faces .Also by the Sweetwater River to the Moon Pool she sold. She sold to swaggering swagger in striped satin, and to keyers and judges in drab coats of gray and brown.But she always came back to the old clothes dealer's wharf. "Oysters, clams, scallops," the girl called, pushing the cart down the pier. "Oysters, clams, scallops." Attracted by her cry, a dirty orange cat followed her, and a second appeared, a dejected, muddy creature, The tail is only short.Cats love the smell of cats.Some days, before sunset, she will be followed by a dozen cats.The girl threw an oyster to them every now and then to see who could snatch it.She noticed that the biggest male cats rarely won, and that the trophies often went to the smaller, nimbler cats, who were lean, aggressive and hungry.Same as me, she told herself.Her favorite was a scrawny old cat with one ear bitten off, who reminded her of a cat she used to chase around the Red Keep.No, that's another girl, not me. The two ships that were parked here yesterday have left and five new ones have come in; including a small caravel called the Mangy Monkey, a giant Iban whaler that smells of pitch, blood and whale oil. Two battered barges of Pentos and a long green galley of old Volantis.Cats stopped at each tread to sell clams and oysters, first in slang, then in the Common Tongue of Westeros.A crew member on a whaler frightened her cats away by cursing her so loudly, while a Pentos oarsman asked her how much a clam between her legs cost.She had fared better on other ships, when the mate of the green galley swallowed five or six oysters and told her that they had been attacked by Lys pirates in the Stepstones and the captain had been killed. "That bastard Thane, with the Old Mother's Son and the great Valyrian. We shall, with luck, escape." The tiny Mangy Monkey hails from Gulltown, and its Westeros crew are happy to chat in the Common Tongue.One of them asked her how a little girl in King's Landing came to sell mussel shells by the Braavos docks.She had to tell the story again. "We're going to be here for four days and four nights," another told her. "Where can we have some fun?" "The troupe of the 'Actor's Ship' is performing 'The Drunken Seven Oarsman,'" the cat told them, "There are fighting eels in the 'Mud Cellar', which is at the gate of Flooded Town. If you want, you can also go to the Moon Pool, Assassin We duel there at night." "Oh, that's all very well," said another sailor, "but Walter wants women." "The best whores are at the Pleasure Wharf, next to where the 'Mummer Ship' is moored," she pointed.Some of the whores by the docks were so vicious that the new sailors couldn't tell the difference.Sephora is the worst.Everyone said that she had robbed more than a dozen men, and then turned the dead bodies into the ditch to feed the eels; "Drunk Daughter" may be cute when she is sober, but she can't do it when she drinks; "The Scourge" Jane is actually a man." Happy Merry.Marilyn was her real name, but everyone called her Happy Merry, and she was happy. "Every time Cat passed the brothel, Happy Merry bought a dozen oysters and gave them to her girls. She had a good heart, everyone agreed." Fosse's biggest boobs. "Happy Merry likes to brag. Her girls are kind, too; Bethany the Redface, the Sailor's Wife, the one-eyed Ina who can predict your future with a drop of blood, pretty little Lanna, and even the Iban woman Isa with the moustache Dora.They may not be beautiful, but they are good to her. "The porters go to the Happy Wharf," the Cat assured the men on the Mangy Monkey. "'Boys unload the boat,' said Merry Merry, 'and my girls unload the boy who steers it.'" "Where are those beautiful whores that the singers sing about?" asked the youngest Mangy Monkey, a freckled red-haired boy of sixteen at the most. "Are they really as beautiful as they are said to be? Where can I find one like this?" His shipmates looked at him and laughed. "In the Seven Hells, boy," said one of them, "maybe the captain can find a courtesan himself, if he sells the damned ship. That kind of chick is for gentlemen, not our kind." side." The courtesans of Braavos are famous the world over.Singers sang their praises, goldsmiths and jewelers scrambled to forge things for them, artisans begged for their patronage, magnates paid royal ransoms to hold their arms at ballrooms, banquets and theatrical performances, Assassins kill each other in their name.The cat pushes the cart along the canal, and sometimes catches a glimpse of a courtesan passing by on a boat to spend the night with her lover.Courtesans have their own cruise ships, and servants pole them to their appointments. The "Poetess" always holds a book in her hand, "Moon Shadow" only wears white and silver clothes, and the "Mermaid Queen" is inseparable from her mermaids—these are four young girls who hold up the skirts for her and long hair.The courtesans are more beautiful than each other, even the "masked lady", but only her approved lover can see her face. "I sold three scallops to a courtesan," Cat told the sailors, "and called me when she came out of the boat." Brusco had made it clear to her that she must never speak to a courtesan unless they spoke first.The woman smiled at her and paid her ten times the price of the scallops in silver coins. "Which one is it? Haha, 'Scallop Queen', right?" "It's the Black Pearl," she told them.Happy Meili said that "Black Pearl" is the most famous courtesan. "She has the blood of a real dragon," Mei Li told the cat, "the first 'Black Pearl' was a pirate queen, and later she was taken as a mistress by a certain Westeros prince, and gave birth to a daughter, who grew up to be a courtesan .And the daughter's daughter inherited the mother's business, from generation to generation, until now. What did she tell you, cat?" "She said, 'I'll get three scallops,' and asked, 'Do you have any hot sauce, little one?'" the girl replied. "What did you say?" "I said, 'No, ma'am,' and I said, 'Don't call me little guy. My name's Cat.' Should have hot sauce for me. Beko has hot sauce, and the oysters he sells are blues three times that of Ke." The cat also told the kind man about the "Black Pearl". "Her real name is Belleig Osiris." It was one of three things she learned. "Yes," the pastor said softly, "her mother is Bellonara, but the first 'Black Pearl' is also called Belleje." Knowing that the people on Mangy Monkey don't care about the courtesan mother's name, Cat turns to ask for news from the Seven Kingdoms and the state of the war. "War?" one of them laughed. "What war? There is no war." "Not in Gulltown," said another. "Not in the Vale. The Little Duke didn't get us into battle, like his mother." Just like his mother.The Lady of the Vale was her aunt. "Lady Lysa," she said, "is she...?" "...dead?" the freckled boy, who was full of courtesans, finished for her. "Yes, she was murdered by her own singer." "Oh." None of my business.The cat by the canal had no aunt.there has never been.The cat pushed the trolley away from the Mangy Monkey, bouncing along the cobblestones. "Oysters, clams, scallops," she yelled, "oysters, clams, scallops." Most of the clams were sold to porters unloading the Arbor barges, and the rest to a group of tinkering mills. The Merchant Marine, that ship was damaged in a storm. Continuing along the pier, she met Taganaro, who was sitting with his back against a pillar, and "Seal King" Caso was beside him.He bought some clamshells, and Caso let her hold its flippers with a growl. "Fuck me, pussy," Taganaro urged, sucking the meat out of the shell.Ever since "Drunk Daughter" stabbed a dagger through Jr. Nabo's hand, he's been looking for a new partner. "I give more than Bruce, and you won't smell like fish anymore." "Kaso likes my smell," she said.The King Seal roared, as if in agreement. "Nabo's hand isn't healed yet?" "Three fingers can't be bent," Taganaro complained between devouring shells. "What good is a thief who can't use his hands? Nabo is good at picking pockets to grope, not so much picking whores." "Happy Merry said so too." Cat was sad.She liked little Nabo, even though he was a thief. "What will he do in the future?" "He said go row. He thought two fingers would suffice, and the Sea King had been hiring rowers. I told him, 'No, Naboo, the sea is colder than a lady and crueler than a bitch. You might as well cut That hand, and go beg.' Caso knows I'm right. Don't you, Caso?" The seal roared, and the cat couldn't help smiling.She tossed him another scallop and left alone. When the cat arrived at the Happy Wharf, it was almost dark, and the "Actor Boat" was moored across the alley.A few mummers sat on the leaning boat, a bag of wine was passed to and fro, and when they saw the cat's cart, they came to buy oysters.She asked them how they were getting ready for The Drunken Seven Oarsman, and Joss, "Sorrowful," shook his head. "Quins finally bumps into Ellaco sleeping with Sloy, so they duel with prop swords, and both walk away huffed up. Only five drunk oarsmen left tonight." "The lack of oarsmen has to be made up for by the degree of drunkenness," declared Mirmelo, "for example, I can do it." "Little Nabo wants to be an oarsman," the Cat told them, "and with him you'll be six." "You go to Happy Merry," Joss urged her, "you know how bad-tempered she is without your oysters." But when Cat slipped into the brothel, she found Happy Merry sitting in the hall, eyes closed, listening to Dareon play the woodharp.Ina was there too, brushing Lanna's long blond hair.Another stupid love song.Lana loves to beg singers to perform silly love songs for her.She was the youngest prostitute, only fourteen years old.Cat knew that Merry Merry set her three times as much as the other girls, It made her angry to see Dareon sitting there brazenly, winking at Lanna as he fingered the harp.Whores called him the Black Singer, but there was hardly any black in him now.He used the money he earned from singing to transform himself from a crow into a peacock.Today he wears a plush purple cloak trimmed with squirrel fur, a white and lavender twill tunic, and the colorful trousers of an assassin. Red velvet cape.The only black on his body is his boots.Cat had heard him tell Lanna that he threw all his black clothes into the drain. "I have distanced myself from black," he announced. You are a member of the Night's Watch, she thought.Dareon was singing about some stupid lady jumping off some stupid tower because her stupid prince was dead.The lady should go and kill the man who killed the prince.And the singer should stay at the Great Wall.When Dareon first showed up at the Pleasure Pier, Arya was so impulsive to ask him if he would take her back to Eastwatch, only to hear him tell Bethany that he would never go back. "A hard bed, pickled cod, endless posts, that's the Great Wall," he said, "Besides, no one at East Sea Watch is half as beautiful as you. How can I have the heart to leave you?" Cat listened to him say to Lanna Said the same thing, and a whore to "The Cattery," and he even said it to "The Nightingale" on the evening when "The House of Seven Lights" performed. I wish I had been there the night the fat man beat him up.The whores of Happy Merry still joke about it.Yi-na says that the fat guy turned red like a beetroot when she touched him, but when he started causing trouble, Happy Merry dragged him out and threw him into the canal. Cat was thinking of the fat boy, remembering how she had rescued him from Tello and Umbereau, when the Sailor's Wife appeared beside her. "He sings so well," she murmured in the Common Tongue of Westeros. "The gods must have loved him, for giving him such a voice, and such a pretty face." He has a pretty face but a dirty heart, Arya thought, but didn't say it.Dareon was married once to the "Sailor's Wife," who only slept with people who married her.Happy Pier sometimes had three or four weddings a night.Usually it was led by Azerino, the red priest, reeking of wine and high spirits, or Eustace, a former septon of the Outland Sept.If the red-robed monks and monks were absent, a prostitute would go to the "operator boat" and bring back an actor.Pleasant Merry always said that mummers played monks better than real monks, and that Mirmelo was so good at it. The wedding was loud and joyful, and people drank a lot of wine.Every time the cat pushes the cart by chance, the "sailor's wife" insists that the new husband buy some oysters, saying that they will be stronger when they consummate the house.She did this out of kindness, and she usually laughs a lot, but Cat feels that there is a bit of sadness in her smile. According to the other whores, the Sailor's Wife visited the Isle of the Gods when her period came, and she knew all the gods there, even those the Braavos had forgotten.They said she went to pray for her first husband, her real husband, who disappeared at sea when she was about Lanna's age. "She thought that if she found the right god, maybe the god would manipulate the wind and blow her lover back," said the one-eyed Ina, who had known her the longest. "But I pray that this kind of thing will never happen. Her lover is dead. , I can taste it from her blood. If he really returns to her, it will be a corpse." Dareon's song finally ended.Lanna sighed as the last note faded into the air, and the singer put the harp aside and took her in his arms.He had just begun to touch her lightly when the Cat called out, "Oyster, anyone?" and suddenly Happy Merry opened her eyes. "Okay," said the woman, "bring it in, son. Ina, go get some bread and vinegar." A swollen red sun hangs in the sky behind a row of masts, and the cat leaves the happy docks with a bulging bag of money, the cart empty except for salt and seaweed.Dareon was leaving too, telling her as he walked that he had promised to sing at the Green Eel Inn tonight. "I earn silver coins every time I play at the Green Eel Inn," he boasted, "where there are captains and cargo owners." longer. "Soon I'll be performing at Purple Harbor, and then Neptune's Palace," Dareon continued.Cat's empty cart clattered on the cobblestones to a lilting movement. "Yesterday I was eating herring with whores, and within a year I'll be eating king crab with courtesans." "Where's your brother?" asked the Cat. "The fat man. Has he found the boat to Oldtown? He said he was going to sail with the Miss Usanora." "We're all going. That's Lord Snow's order. I told Sam to leave the old man behind, but the fat man wouldn't listen." The last ray of the setting sun glinted in his hairline. "Well, it's too late now." "That's it," said the cat, and they entered a winding alley, which was dark inside. By the time the cat got back to Brusco's house, the night mist had begun to gather over the little ditch.She put down the cart, found him in Brusco's tent, and slammed the purse onto the table in front of him, slammed down a pair of boots. Brusco patted the purse. "Fine. But what is it?" "boots." "Good boots are hard to find," Brusco said, "but these are too small for me." He lifted one and squinted it. "The moon is dark tonight," she reminded him. "Go back and pray." Brusco pushed away his boots, poured out the coins and counted them. "Valar dohaeris." Valar morghuns, she thought. As she walked through the streets of Braavos, the mist rose around her.When she pushed open the weirwood door and entered the House of Black and White, she trembled slightly.Few candles burn like dim stars tonight.In the dark, all gods are strangers. In the cellar, she undoes Cat's tattered cloak, pulls Cat's fishy brown coat over his head, kicks off Cat's salt-soaked boots, slips out of Cat's underwear, and Take a bath in lemonade to wash off the unique smell of cats by the canal.When she came out of the water, she was soaped clean, her brown hair stuck to her cheek, and the cat was gone.She changed into Yu Jing's gown and a pair of soft cloth slippers, and went to the kitchen to ask Uma for some food.The priest and acolyte had eaten, and the cook had left her a delicious piece of fried cod and some mashed yellow turnips.She wolfed it down, washed the dishes, and went to help the waif prepare the potion. Her job was to fetch things, climb ladders, and find herbs for waifs. "Sleeper is a slow poison," the waif told her, grinding it with a mallet and mortar. "A few pinches slow the heart, stop epileptic seizures, and calm and strengthen. A pinch ensures a dreamless night's sleep. Three pinches make for endless sleep. It's sweet, so it's best mixed into cakes, pies, and mead Here. Here, you can smell the sweetness." The Waif let her sniff, then sent her up the ladder to find a red glass bottle. "This poison is stronger. It can't be smelled or tasted. It's easier to hide. People call it 'Tears of Lys.' ’” Arya sniffed, but there was nothing.The Waif put the Tears of Lys aside and opened a squat stone jar. "This ointment contains the blood of stone lizards. It tastes delicious when applied to cooked meat, but after eating it, it makes people mad and violent. Humans and animals are alike. Rats infected with stone lizard poison will even bite lions." Arya bit her lip. "Does it work on dogs?" "It's effective for warm-blooded animals." The waif slapped her across the face. She covered her cheek with one hand, more surprised than hurt. "What are you doing?" "It's Arya of House Stark who bites her lip when she thinks. Are you Arya of House Stark?" "I'm nobody." She was angry. "Who are you?" She didn't expect the waif to answer, but he did. "I was born the only heir of an ancient family, heir of a noble line," replied the waif, "my mother died when I was very young, and I have no memory of her. My father remarried when I was six, and my stepmother treated me Well, until she gave birth to her own daughter. From then on, her wish was for me to die, so that her own flesh and blood could inherit the property. She should have sought the help of the God of Many Faces, but she couldn't afford the sacrifice he demanded , so she managed to poison me and turn me into what you see now. I didn't die though, and when the doctor at the Red Hands Institution told my father what she had done, my father came here and took all The estate was consecrated with me. The God of Many Faces heard his prayer, and I was brought to the temple to serve, and my father's wife received the gift." Arya eyed her warily. "is this real?" "There is truth in it." "There are also lies?" "One thing is not true, and one thing is exaggerated." Arya watched the waif's face as she told her story, but she didn't reveal anything. "The God of Many Faces took two-thirds of your father's property, not all of it." "That's it. That's the part I'm exaggerating." Arya grinned, but when she realized she was laughing, she quickly dropped it.Control your face, she told herself, the smile should be a servant, only there when you call. "Which part is a lie?" "No. I lied and said I was lying." "Really? Or are you lying now too?" 流浪儿不及回答，慈祥的人微笑着走进屋子。“你回到我们这儿来了。” “月亮黑了。” “是的。跟离开我们时相比，你多了解到哪三件事？” 我多了解到三十件事，她差点说出口。“小纳博的三根手指无法弯曲。他想当桨手。” “了解这件事有好处。有别的吗？” 她回想一天的经历。“昆斯和艾拉括发生争斗后离开了'戏子船'，但我认为他们会回来。” “你是认为，还是你知道？” “只是认为。”她不得不承认，尽管她很肯定，戏子跟其他人一样要吃饭，而昆斯和艾拉括的水平还不够去“蓝灯笼”。 “就是这样，”慈祥的人道，“第三件事呢？” 这次她没犹豫。“戴利恩死了，就是那位睡在快乐码头的黑衣歌手。他果真是守夜人的逃兵。他们割了他的喉咙，将他推进水渠，并拿走了他的靴子。” “好靴子很难找。” “就是这样。”她试图让自己的脸保持平静。 “我在想，谁会于这件事呢？” “史塔克家族的艾莉亚。”她注视着他的眼睛，注视着他的嘴巴，注视着他下巴的肌肉。 “那个女孩？我以为她早已离开布拉佛斯了。你是谁？” "The nameless one." “你撒谎。”他转向流浪儿。“我嗓子很干。请帮我拿一杯红酒，再给我们的朋友艾莉亚拿一杯热牛奶，她回来了让我们很意外。” 艾莉亚穿行于城中时一直在寻思，假如她告诉慈祥的人戴利恩的事，他会怎么说。或许他会生她的气，或许他会赞许她给予歌手千面之神的恩赐。这次对话在她头脑里演练了数十遍，好像戏子排戏一样。但她从没想到会喝热牛奶。 牛奶来了之后，艾莉亚将它喝下。有一点点烧焦，回味苦涩。“现在去睡吧，孩子，”慈祥的人说，“明天你必须侍奉。” 当晚，她又做梦了，但跟其他梦不同，这个梦里，没有狼群。她独自逡巡，在房顶跳跃，于运河边安静地行走，追逐迷雾中的阴影。 第二天早晨醒来时，她瞎了。