Tower of the Hand ~ An Encyclopedia of Ice and Fire
 AFFC Cat Of The Canals

AFFC, Chapter 35.
Arya sells her clams for Brusco;at the end of the day, she kills Dareon as a deserter from the Night's Watch and then tells the Kindly Man about it;the Kindly Man gives her a glass of warm milk, and Arya wakes up blind the next day.


Page Numbers

UK HC
 Voyager (2005)
504
US HC
 Spectra (2005)
504
AFFC Page Table

Arya wakes up and gets out of the bed she shares with Brusco's daughters, Talea and Brea. The three of them get dressed and then pile onto Brusco's boat. As the boat wends its way to the fishmarket, Arya tries to recall her dream from th enight before. She thinks she had the wolf dream again, which still comes to her often. She also frequently dreams she is searching for her mother in a rainy wasteland, but a monster with a dog's head always prevents Arya from finding her. Once they arrive at the market, Brusco examines the morning catch and instructs the others on which ones to haul back to his boat. Once this is finished, they cast off again. Arya always keeps a lookout for new things she can learn, as she is commanded to return to the temple every night and tell the Kindly Man three new things she learned that day. For example, one evening she tells him she knows what Blind Beqqo puts in his hot sauce, that the mummers at the Blue Latern are performing The Lord of Woeful Countenance and the mummers at the Ship are answering with Seven Drunken Oarsmen, and that the bookseller Lotho Lornel sleeps in the house of Captain Moredo Prestayn when the captain is at sea. Afterwards, he always asks who she is. She answers "no one," but the Kindly Man knows she considers herself Cat of the canals. Three days of every thirty, she must serve at the temple, the rest of the time she works for Brusco.

When the boat returns to the house, Arya helps Bruscos sons and daughters unload the shellfish. Afterwards, Brusco divides them between Arya, Talea, and Brea, and tells them not to return until all the shellfish are sold. Brea sells hers at the Purple Harbor, Talea plies the Moon Pool area and the Isle of the Gods, and Arya sells hers at Ragman's harbor. Arya loves the sights, sounds, and smells of th eharbor, and enjoys mingling with the sailors too. She often uses insulting wors and phrases, which occasionally makes someone angry, but Red Roggo, a frequent patron of the Happy Port, once showed her how to use a knife and carry it up her sleeve. Other denizens of the docks have taught her other things as well. Gyloro Dothare taught her filthy songs, his brother Gyleno told her the best place to catch eels, the mummers of the Ship instructed her in acting and parts of speeches from plays such as The Song of the Rhoyne, The Conqueror's Two Wives, and The Merchant's Lusty Lady, and Cossomo the Conjuror taught her sleight of hand. Quill, the mskeup artist for the mummers of the Ship, wanted to instruct her in kissing, but Tagganaro quickly put a stop to that.

Arya sells her clams on five new ships that have just docked; a carrack called the Brazen Monkey, an Ibbanese whaler, two battered cogs from Pentos, and a galley from Volantis. The mate on the galley tells her that the ship captain had been killed when the pirate Salladhor Saan tried to board them near the Stepstones from Valyrian and Old Mother's Son. The Brazen Monkey is out of Gulltown, and Arya tells a sailor named Wat where to find the best whores. Many of the dockside whores in Braavos can be dangerous. S'vrone has robbed and killed at least a dozen men, the Drunken Daughter gets nasty when drunk, and Canker Jeyne is really a man. Meralyn runs the Happy Port and has a big heart, and her girls, Bethany, the Sailor's Wife, Yna, Lanna, and Assadora are all nice as well. Another lad asks about getting a courtesan, but only the highborn can afford them. They are beautiful women much sought after as lovers. They each have their own barge and keep an air of mystery about themselves. Some of the more famous courtesans include the Poetess, the Moonshadow, the Merling Queen, and the Veiled Lady, but the most famous and beautiful of them all is the Black Pearl. She is reputedly descended from Targaryen stock. The original Black Pearl, also named Bellegere like the current one, was reputedly a pirate queen that was taken as a lover by a Westerosi prince. Her daughter became the first Black Pearl courtesan, and each daughter has been the Black Pearl in turn until the present day. The sailors give Arya news from Gulltown, including Lysa's death. As Arya continues down the docks, she comes across Taggnaro with his seal, Casso. He asks her to come work for him, as he has been looking for a new cutpurse since Little Narbo got stabbed in the and by the Druken Daughter.

Arya ends at the Happy Port, where she sells to several mummers from the Ship, including Joss the Gloom and Myrmello. They are down two actors, as Quence caught Allaquo in bed with another member of the troop, Sloey, and both men left. When she enters the brothel, she is angered to see Dareon there, singing a love song to Merry, Yna, and Lanna. She is angry that he is in Braavos flirting with all the girls because he is a man of the Night's Watch who has forsworn his duty. The Sailor's Wife comes up and says he is fair to look upon, but Arya thinks he has a foul heart. The Sailor's Wife married him once, as she only takes those who "marry" her. There are often three or four weddings a night. Often, a drunk red priest named Ezzelyno performs the ceremony, or Eustace, who was once a septon before being defrocked. If neither are available, one of the mummers from the ship performs the service. Her real husband was lost at sea when she was but a teenager, and she prays constantly for his return. The sun is going down by the time she leaves. She walks for awhile with Dareon, who is going to play at another inn. As they enter a small back alley, she kills him. She returns to Brusco's hosue with the empty barrow and Dareon's boots. It is one of the nights she is to serve at the temple, so she takes her leave. After she arrives, she bathes, changes, and gets some food from Umma before going to help the waif. At one point as they work, the waif slaps her for biting her lip while thinking like Arya Stark and asks who she is. Arya replies she is no one and angrily asks who the waif is. Suprsingly, she tells her story. She was the only child of a noble and his first wife. When the woman died, her father remarried when he was six. When the second wife had a child, she tried to poison the waif so her child would inherit. The poison did not kill her, but left her in her deformed state. Her father offered her and two-thirds of his wealth to the Many-Faced God, and the Faceless Men killed his wife. The Kindly Man coems and asks her what she learned. She tells him about Narbo being stabbed, the fight between Quence and Alaquo, and how she killed Dareon. The Kindly Man has the waif bring Arya some warm milk, which Arya drinks despite the burnt and bitter aftertaste. When she wakes up the next morning, she is blind.

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CHARACTERS


POV: Arya Stark,   3rd in AFFC, 31st overall
Previous Arya Chapter   (Chapter 23)

ACTIVE CHARACTERS

Lanna - She has golden hair. She is fourteen.

LEGENDS

Bellonara Otherys - Bellonara is the mother of the current Black Pearl, Bellegere, and the Black Pearl before her.

LOCATIONS


Braavos - Braavos was founded by refugees from half a hundred lands fleeing the might of Valyria. The very existence of the city was kept secret for a century, and the location of the city remained hidden for three hundred years.

CHAPTER BY CHAPTER


1.  Prologue 17.  Jaime II 33.  Cersei VII
2.  The Prophet 18.  Cersei IV 34.  Jaime V
3.  The Captain Of Guards 19.  The Iron Captain 35.  Cat Of The Canals
4.  Cersei I 20.  The Drowned Man 36.  Samwell IV
5.  Brienne I 21.  Brienne IV 37.  Cersei VIII
6.  Samwell I 22.  The Queenmaker 38.  Brienne VII
7.  Arya I 23.  Arya II 39.  Jaime VI
8.  Cersei II 24.  Alayne I 40.  Cersei IX
9.  Jaime I 25.  Cersei V 41.  The Princess In The Tower
10.  Brienne II 26.  Brienne V 42.  Alayne II
11.  Sansa I 27.  Samwell III 43.  Brienne VIII
12.  The Kraken's Daughter 28.  Jaime III 44.  Cersei X
13.  Cersei III 29.  Cersei VI 45.  Jaime VII
14.  The Soiled Knight 30.  The Reaver 46.  Samwell V
15.  Brienne III 31.  Jaime IV
16.  Samwell II 32.  Brienne VI
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