Is Arya still with the FM (Mercy Sample Chapter)

[The Dames do Moan]

After reading the sample chapter "Mercy", is there any reference in there to Arya still being with the FM? Granted I only read it once so I could be missing it.

I ask because with the cost to hire the FM so high, it does not seem likely that a character would venture to them and pay to kill 'Raff the Sweetling'. If the FM did send her to kill him specifically then is there any ideas on who would have hired them?

Seems to me that it is more someone that Arya of House Stark would kill and not a FM?

[DrunkSister]

We see her going back to the play to finish acting and she cannot take off Mercy's face by herself yet, so I assume she will be going back to the house of black and white once the day is done.

As for Raff, Arya killed him for her own reasons, the thing that we don't know is if she is going to hush the extra murder up, or confess to FM, and there is something strange going on with the whole situation with the envoy from KL, which makes me suspicious if 'Mercy' didn't have an assignment from FM to do something to sabotage him and then fake her own death (or maybe fake her death and set up somebody from KL). :dunno:

Great name btw

[The Winter Maid]

It's definitely Arya that does this killing... If you notice, throughout the entire chapter she's Mercy, until Raff's dying.

“You’ll need to carry me.”

See? thought Mercy. You know your line, and so do I.

“Think so?” asked Arya, sweetly.

Raff the Sweetling looked up sharply as the long thin blade came sliding from her sleeve.

She also does this with Dareon in the Cat of the Canals chapter in FFC; although she's less accomplished at being Cat than she is at being Mercy, there is still a definite shift in from Cat to Arya. It's clearer in Mercy's case in one respect because she has so wholly become that persona (I can only count four mistakes, as it were, and they're barely noticeable, especially in comparison to Cat), but missable because Arya of House Stark is such a small part of the chapter.

And yes, I think she's still with the FM, but it's more implied.

She would miss her, and she would miss Daena and the Snapper and the rest, even Izembaro and Bobono.

Again, this echoes the Cat chapter. I read it as: she'll be unable to carry on as Mercy and will be given a new face and, given how long the kindly man said it took to become accomplished, I don't think she can have been there long enough to learn how to do the magic herself, so she's probably going back to the House of Black and White.

[Ghost of Groat]

FM moved up her blindness training several months as a sort of punishment for killing Dareon. I wonder if the FM will eject her or simply push on with her training once the KM hears of this killing.

[thoughtless711]

I like to think of this as a "test" for "no one"- if you will. Perhaps I'm just hopeful. They knew her "names"- and her "name" from the start. "She" is by no means "no one", and well...that's a problem for the FM.

[thoughtless711]

It's definitely Arya that does this killing... If you notice, throughout the entire chapter she's Mercy, until Raff's dying.

She also does this with Dareon in the Cat of the Canals chapter in FFC; although she's less accomplished at being Cat than she is at being Mercy, there is still a definite shift in from Cat to Arya. It's clearer in Mercy's case in one respect because she has so wholly become that persona (I can only count four mistakes, as it were, and they're barely noticeable, especially in comparison to Cat), but missable because Arya of House Stark is such a small part of the chapter.

And yes, I think she's still with the FM, but it's more implied.

Again, this echoes the Cat chapter. I read it as: she'll be unable to carry on as Mercy and will be given a new face and, given how long the kindly man said it took to become accomplished, I don't think she can have been there long enough to learn how to do the magic herself, so she's probably going back to the House of Black and White.

[thoughtless711]

Sorry- kids- new to this. I absolutely DISAGREE with the above post...but, hey! Misunderstanding is what makes the seven kingdoms go round!

[Darksnider05]

I like to think of this as a "test" for "no one"- if you will. Perhaps I'm just hopeful. They knew her "names"- and her "name" from the start. "She" is by no means "no one", and well...that's a problem for the FM.

Being no one is just short hand for showing no tells of Arya Stark it's not really that big of a deal.

[As The Crow Flies]

I thought fm couldn't kill anyone that they know. IMO this was not a fm mission. Only arya knocking a name off the list and hushing it up.

[Mourneblade]

She is sent to the mummers in her last ADWD POV. So she is there as part of her training. As to how THOBW will deal with this off mission kill, is a whole nother ball of wax.

They could punish/promote her again, give her a mission, they could banish her, she could lie and not be caught, or she be sentenced to death. There is really no clear idea how the kindly man will deal with this lol.

Just makes me want that book published more than ever lol.

[Formerly Tetrarch42]

She is sent to the mummers in her last ADWD POV. So she is there as part of her training. As to how THOBW will deal with this off mission kill, is a whole nother ball of wax.

They could punish/promote her again, give her a mission, they could banish her, she could lie and not be caught, or she be sentenced to death. There is really no clear idea how the kindly man will deal with this lol.

Just makes me want that book published more than ever lol.

The Kindly Man has his hands full with Arya, Catelyn could relate.

[Archmaester_Aemma]

Sorry- kids- new to this. I absolutely DISAGREE with the above post...but, hey! Misunderstanding is what makes the seven kingdoms go round!

How come? Just as a point of interest.

[Jack's Smirking Revenge]

FM moved up her blindness training several months as a sort of punishment for killing Dareon. I wonder if the FM will eject her or simply push on with her training once the KM hears of this killing.

Were they really punishing Arya? Why would you punish someone by speeding up their training schedule? If anything it makes it appear like they were rewarding her and that they believed she was ready to begin the next phase of their training.

I suppose they could have believed that making Arya blind would force her to learn more self control but allowing someone to move forward in their training doesn't seem like a great punishment.

[Winnief]

She was still with the FM during "Mercy" and her time with the Mummers was part of her training-but now that she's killed Rafe, I'm thinking she's going to be leaving the FM, very very soon.

[RWHamel]

I loved reading this chapter. But as entertaining as it is, it really doesn't advance the story very much. It does show she still has her agenda, which probably means a break with the FM soon. I did like the fact she used a thin blade to nick an artery instead of poison. Poison is so uncertain.

[Ghost of Groat]

Were they really punishing Arya? <snip>

KM said it was a punishment. His saying that could be part of the training strategy like rewarding a platoon with extra pushups since they did their first set of the morning so quickly. "Hell, you ladies almost looked like Marines. I'm so impressed I'm going to let you give me another 20"

[Talking Hodor]

FM moved up her blindness training several months as a sort of punishment for killing Dareon. I wonder if the FM will eject her or simply push on with her training once the KM hears of this killing.

She might be so good at not telegraphing by this point that they never find out.

[WierWood Wolf]

She might be so good at not telegraphing by this point that they never find out.

Nope she is seen by at least the other guard going of with Raff. She will be called on the murder same as with Deron. What the punishment is we can only speculate.

[YouKnowNothingJonSnow]

Nope she is seen by at least the other guard going of with Raff. She will be called on the murder same as with Deron. What the punishment is we can only speculate.

Braavos is a dangerous city. I think she could come up with a plausible story of deniability.

However, considering it is Arya, and the expertise of the people she'd be lying too, and the risks if found lying, I think she'll go for the truth.

Also, it's is worth remembering Jaquen didn't seem to have any issues with giving the gift a few more times, including, potentially, kills that could have had far reaching consequences. Though he's a proven operator, and Arya an acolyte.

[Daenor]

Well in the case of Jaqen his first two kills where justified by the FM beliefs(although i'm curious whether he would have made the same offer if Arya have saved some other individuals and not him).The multi-killing with the infamous weasel soup was caused by a smart blackmail on behalf of Arya.But this also proves that FM are still human beings.Jaqen chose to act like a common assassin in order to save his ass.The point is anyway that this chapter serves its purpose as a teaser.Arya seemingly did something forbidden by the FM so this opens up a whole lot of possibilities about what's coming next.I'd like her to stay some more time with the FM though.So far she's acquired quite a few skills that make her a competent spy/infiltrator/assassin combined with the bonus her warging abilities give her.But she's still far from the real thing so a little more training before she goes back to Westeros to kick ass would be nice.