"We are being followed," Cyberdyne said. He drew his sword, ready to defend Jon from whoever it was.

Jon peered into the woods in the direction that Cyberdyne was looking. There was nothing but brown tree trunks and green leaves. There hadn't bee a single sign of other living people since they'd parted ways with Yoren last night. "Where?"

Cyberdyne pointed with his free hand. "One hundred and twenty four meters north-northwest, crouched behind the trunk of that medium-sized beech tree. The person appears to be female, approximately 70 pounds. The figure matches the size of..."

"Yeah, I know," Jon cut Cyberdyne off. "AR...!" he started to shout her name before remembering that she was traveling under a false identity and that someone could possibly hear him through the woods. "ARRY!" Except for a few birds alighting, the woods were still. "Come out, Arry. There's no point in hiding."

Still nothing.

"She is now attempting to crawl to the roots of the large maple tree there." His finger shifted slightly to the left. He paused for a moment, then continued: "She has heard me speaking. Now she has changed direction and is moving toward the upturned log one meter away from her current position."

"It's no use, Arry!" Jon houted to the wilderness. "You can't hide behind that log either."

Arya's pouting face popped up in a clump of bushes right where Cyberdyne had pointed. "That's not fair!" she shouted back before tramping through the leaves and underbrush back over to where Jon and Cyberdyne were standing. "I thought I was hidden well."

"You were," Jon said. "I couldn't see you, at least."

"Well how did you know I was there?"

Jon laughed. "Cyberdyne?"

"My optical sensors include several different modes, including a deep thermal scan. It would be difficult to disguise your heat signature from me without an extremely well-insulating material."

Arya frowned and looked back to Jon. "What does that mean? What's wrong with him?"

"He... well, it's a lot to explain. He calls himself a 'cybernetic organism,' whatever that means. We first met whe..." Jon shook his head suddenly and crossed his arms. "No! I don't need to explain this to you. What are you doing here? Why are you following us? You should be with Yoren on your way up to Winterfell."

Arya stood up as tall as she could, which wasn't very tall next to the hulking figure of Cyberdyne. "I'm coming with you," she announced. "To King's Landing." Her defiant face twisted into a snarl. "I'm going to kill King Joffrey for what he did to Father!"

"Arya, you can't be this foolish! The Gold Cloaks are hunting you! Or have you forgotten last night's incident?"

"Of course I know that they're still after me, Jon. You don't have to treat me like a child. But that's why I'm coming with you!" She smiled, as if that was supposed to be a good thing.

"You are NOT coming with us!" Jon said. He strode forward and grabbed her by the wrist. "We are going to catch up to Yoren and he will take you to Winterfell, even if I have to chain you to that wagon."

"Well I'll break out!" Arya said. "I will get away. You know I will." Jon had to admit that that was probably the case. She had earned a reputation in Winterfell for being somewhat of an escape artist, and Father had completely given up on trying to confine her to her room as punishment. "And when I do, then I'm just going to go to King's Landing all on my own. And I'm still going to try to kill Joffrey, and I'll probably get caught. And I don't even care."

"Arya, be smart about this. I know that you're mad at Joffrey, but this whole situation is bigger than both of us. You need to survive first and foremost. Let Robb wage war on Joffrey and bring him to justice. We can count on him. Go back home to Winterfell with your mother."

She scrunched up her face in disgust. "You think that I'll just let all the boys do all the fighting while I go home and sew with Mother?" Jon had to laugh just a bit. No, that wasn't something Arya could ever agree to. "If you let me come with you, you can keep an eye on me! You can keep me safe, or at least you could order this big lug," she jerked a thumb at Cyberdyne, who stood over them like a silent statute, "keep me safe."

Jon didn't want to admit that she had a point there. Cyberdyne could probably single-handedly defeat all seven members of the King's Guard if he had to. Good swordsmen were hardly a match for his brute strength and indestructibility. And if he did try to bring her back to Yoren, he'd lose days of valuable time, and she probably would make good on her threat to just escape and go back to King's Landing on her own. Traveling with him and Cyberdyne probably was the safest option. But this was his sister . "Arya, please. Please. If you don't care about your own life, then do this as a favor to me. Go home to Winterfell."

"Well as a favor to me, let me come to King's Landing with you," Arya shot back. She turned to Cyberdyne. "You want me to come, don't you?" He just stared back down at her with that emotionless sphinx expression.

Jon took a seat on a nearby stump and thought about it. All of the many, many reasons to send Arya away were at the forefront of his mind. It was dangerous, sure. She was trying to kill the very person that he was going to King's Landing to negotiate with, sure. And most importantly, this was another dangerously-close line to violating his oath as a member of the Night's Watch. She was no longer a member of his family any more, and he had a mission to do.

But none of that mattered; he'd already made the decision in his heart. "All right, you can come," Jon said. "But you will do nothing to Joffrey, you will stay out of the way and hidden from anyone who might recognize you, and you will return to King's Landing when I go back to the Wall. Agreed?"

"Agreed," Arya said, beaming a smile with absolute zero intention of doing any of that.