Nymeria's pack. Something has changed?

[a black swan]

Something has changed in the way Arya sees her pack. Before she considered them her brothers and sisters:

"The fight was short but bloody. The hairy man went down as he unslung his axe, the dark one died stringing an arrow, and the pale man from Lys tried to bolt. Her brothers and sisters ran him down, turning him again and again, coming at him from all sides, snapping at the legs of his horse and tearing the throat from the rider when he came crashing to the earth." - Arya, ASoS

~*~

"She was strong and swift and fierce, and her pack was all around her, her brothers and her sisters." - Arya, ASoS

~*~

"A great pack of wolves, with her at the head. She was bigger than any of them, stronger, swifter, faster. She could outrun horses and outfight lions. When she bared her teeth even men would run from her, her belly was never empty long, and her fur kept her warm even when the wind was blowing cold. And her brothers and sisters were with her, many and more of them, fierce and terrible and hers. They would never leave her." - Arya, ASoS

 

...and several more.

But in ADwD, she creates a distance and starts referring to them as her "grey cousins". Why the change?

 

In Dance:

"The night is dark and full of terrors. Not for me. Her nights were bathed in moonlight and filled with the songs of her pack, with the taste of red meat torn off the bone, with the warm familiar smells of her grey cousins. Only during the days was she alone and blind." - The Blind Girl, ADWD

~*~

"Game had become scarcer since the snows began to fall, but last night they had feasted. Lamb and dog and mutton and the flesh of man. Some of her little grey cousins were afraid of men, even dead men, but not her." - The Blind Girl, ADwD

It's weird because in Jon's chapter in his wolf dream, the samething occurs:

"In another place, his little sister lifted her head to sing to the moon, and a hundred small grey cousins broke off their hunt to sing with her." - Jon I, ADWD

[The Ned's Little Girl]

Your first two quotes are when Arya = The Blind Girl and the other is from Jon's perspective. Perhaps being not-Arya is what is different? And in the Jon vision, perhaps his using "cousins" is a hint to the true (biological) relation between him and Arya (although I would argue that they are brother and sister in every other way).

 

[Philokles]

A few possible answers:

Much like neeps, nuncles and niello, the term grey wolves gets stuck in GRRM's head when writing ADWD and he can't stop himself using at every opportunity - despite it largely being absent in previous books. Boring as this may be, it probably is the most likely. Grey Cousins is only used once in the four previous books, then four times in one across three POVs (Arya x2, Jon and Bran).

As Nymeria's pack grows her personal bond with each wolf diminishes. She does not have the time to get to know them all intimately like brothers, so they become more like cousins to her.

As Nymeria's pack grows by necessity she becomes firmer in her leadership style - less of a first among equals. There are simply too many grey cousins for her to avoid ordering them around on occasion. As such she retains great affection but her relationship becomes less familial.

[Free Northman Reborn]

It signifies how the juvenile Direwolves have continued to grow and mature until they clearly distinguish themselves, even internally, from the lesser, smaller, common wolves. They are little grey cousins of Direwolves, not their equals.

[Canon Claude]

4 minutes ago, Horse of Kent said:

A few possible answers:

Much like neeps, nuncles and niello, the term grey wolves gets stuck in GRRM's head when writing ADWD and he can't stop himself using at every opportunity - despite it largely being absent in previous books. Boring as this may be, it probably is the most likely. Grey Cousins is only used once in the four previous books, then four times in one across three POVs (Arya x2, Jon and Bran).

As Nymeria's pack grows her personal bond with each wolf diminishes. She does not have the time to get to know them all intimately like brothers, so they become more like cousins to her.

As Nymeria's pack grows by necessity she becomes firmer in her leadership style - less of a first among equals. There are simply too many grey cousins for her to avoid ordering them around on occasion. As such she retains great affection but her relationship becomes less familial.

Reminds me a bit of Jon’s own elevation to the Lord Commander position. He had his own circle of friends in the NW, but when he became the LC, his ‘pack’ grew to include everyone in the NW, some of which are most decidedly not his friends. But he calls them brothers all the same and assumes the mantle of leadership regardless of how it alienated him from his former circle.

[maudisdottir]

2 hours ago, Free Northman Reborn said:

It signifies how the juvenile Direwolves have continued to grow and mature until they clearly distinguish themselves, even internally, from the lesser, smaller, common wolves. They are little grey cousins of Direwolves, not their equals.

Yep that's how I read it too. When she was a pup she was the same size as her "brothers and sisters" but now that she's a huge direwolf and they're still regular wolf-size, they've become her little grey cousins.