Tower of the Hand

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 the night 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 Lantern 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 Brusco's 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 the harbor, and enjoys mingling with the sailors too. She often uses insulting words 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 makeup 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 hand by the Drunken 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 house 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. Surprisingly, 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 comes 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.