Finally, after a time of fading in and out of sleep, Lana was able to open her eyes and keep them that way, rubbing them with her free hand.

She looked around for a long while before saying, "Thanks. That helped." Like his usual manner, he didn't respond.

It wasn't until she straightened her back to adjust her position that she realized how much she was still leaning into him. She looked ahead with the faintest smile at this revelation. She knew him enough by now to know that when they first met, he would have told her to stop leaning in the second she awoke. Hell, he probably would have left her at this point, or made her trade horses with Arya.

She didn't get much time to really consider the small gesture, as they saw smoke in the distance. "Should we go to it?" Arya asked.

"Could be a house or an inn. Worth scouting," Clegane said.

"I could use some food," Arya said.

"This one could use a bed," Clegane said, and Lana pressed her lips together to prevent a laugh.

"I could use both a bed and some food," Lana said.

They rode up to the Inn that had a sign painted The Sleeping Pig. Lana thought that the Westerosi were always so entertaining with their names. Clegane got off of Stranger, and without a word, he helped her down. For such an irritable man he was much more helpful than he ever led on. They walked in, Lana doing her best to cover her limp, and they were greeted with the smell of bacon, smoke, and some kind of drink. A large hearth was burning at the end with a rowdy group of men sitting by it, a young woman in one of the men's laps.

Lana went to what must have been the Innkeeper's wife and handed her some coppers for some ale and beds, which were just stuffed sacks filled with hay in a shared cellar. "Don't see many women on the road," the woman said with a smile, her teeth comparably clean. In fact, Lana noticed she was mostly clean all over.

"It's a beautiful country, but it's not very forgiving," Lana said with a smile.

"You look like you could use a bath, dear," she said, tucking her graying hair behind her ear, her green eyes warm.

"Even if you offered one, I don't think I'd bathe in one that other men have used," Lana said with a slight grimace.

"Nonsense, for a few extra coppers I'll let you use the bath in my private house. It's always cleaned after every use."

Lana furrowed her brow. "Really?"

"We got a flowing river right by the house. Collecting water is easy. Like I said, for a few extra coppers. I only offer 'cause you like you could use it. Like to help the women that pass by," she said with dignity.

"Have you offered it before?"

"Only to those who really needed it. I take great pride in our hospitality, even if the sleeping arrangement isn't ideal."

Lana grinned, shrugging her shoulders. "Sure, why not."

"I'll even throw in a bit of lavender to make it smell better," she said like a chef who was throwing in an extra serving. Lana didn't know if she found that endearing or concerning.

"That's very kind," Lana said, still not sure if she should trust the woman.

"Of course," the woman said, smiling. "Now here are the mugs for your ale. Be at the house around sundown? I will be having a fire going for dinner, so it will be easy to boil water."

"I really appreciate it."

Lana walked over to where Arya and Clegane were, placing three empty mugs on the wooden table. She sat next to Clegane, preferring to face the rowdy men. They got served a large meal of chicken, pig, and potatoes with some ale. "I'll never take food for granted again," Arya said with her mouth full of potatoes.

"Maybe all lord and ladies should live a year of hardship to teach them a lesson or two," Clegane said as he ate. Lana had to slow herself, as she was starting to feel sick from inhaling her food.

"Sansa wouldn't last a day out here," Arya said, drinking her stew.

Clegane snickered with a piece of bread in his hand. "She's the kind of person I had in mind when mentioning that. Although the girl is going to endure more hardships, just in a different way."

Arya paused. "Do you think they'll kill her?" she asked Clegane.

"Doubt it, but then again, the Lannisters never fail to surprise me."

"I wonder what happened to her since Joffrey is dead," Arya asked, slowing down in her consumption.

"Hell if I know. Highgarden is supposed to live with them now. Maybe she'll get to marry the knight of flowers. It's just up to her alley."

Lana was too busy stuffing her face to join in on the conversation, downing her ale. She leaned back when she realized she had too much, noticing that the sun was already beginning to set. The ale seemed to go straight to her head. "I paid for a bath at the main house. I am going to go help boil the water," she said, wanting just to slip out and enjoy a nice, warm bath rather than have a conversation. Her body still ached, and the thought of a bath was more distracting than she realized.

"A bath?" Clegane asked, and Arya watched on.

"I could really use the warm water, and to clean myself. Might help with the aches. Do you want one Arya? I'll pay for it," Lana asked.

"No, thanks. I'll just use the river," Arya said, wiping her mouth.

"I'll be back, then," Lana said, standing, feeling completely fat now. Although she was alright with that. She needed all the fat she could get with this journey, lest they went with a few more days of no food.

Clegane slammed his mug down, gutturally trilling from draining his drink. "You're not going alone to anywhere private. It's not safe. Especially while taking a fucking bath," he said, his eyes condescending.

"What about Arya?"

"I'll stay right here. Nobody will touch me in here."

"Well, no, she needs someone to look after her," Lana implored, the laughing men at the hearth concerning her. They might be innocuous, but she generally didn't trust men gathering, especially once they had been drinking.

"I am fine, Lana. There's plenty of people here," Arya said. Lana looked around to a few men that dined alone, two women working to bring ale and food. Arya had proven herself so far.

"Well, now, I feel bad. I didn't want you to stop drinking to go watch guard," she said to Clegane.

"You're always yammering away about me becoming your guard. The fuck do you think someone does when they are a guard? Make signs that says there's a naked woman in a bath in yonder direction, ready for a nice rape? Water's warm, lads."

She stared at his hard brown eyes, then finally broke into a small chuckle. "Fine. When you put it so eloquently."

He sniggered and rose from the table. "Yell if you need something, we aren't far," he said to Arya. "Always go for the heart, balls, or neck."

Arya nodded, a devious smile on her face. Lana was surprised by the girl. She was shaping up to be quite the killer.

They exited the Inn, and she took in a deep breath of the crisp air, the home no more than a stone's throw away. She nearly shivered from joy, as it was a perfect night for a bath. She entered the private home as the Inn Keeper's wife was making a stew and helped bring the boiling water to the bath while Clegane drank more ale. Lana was certain this was a trap, as she was not used to genuine strangers. Although when the wife didn't object to Clegane, and with each bucket poured into the wooden tub, Lana thought that maybe she had just gotten lucky.

The Innkeeper's wife finally brought in a large bundle of lavender and put it in the water. Lana thought that maybe they were poison, but the wife said, "Don't worry your pretty little face off. It's fine."

"You seem to understand my concern," Lana said, eyeing the steamy water.

"Everyone is when they take one," she said, walking to the door that Clegane sat outside of.

"Then why offer it?"

"I am fond of baths myself, and I know how hard those roads can be on someone," she said, looking over her shoulder.

"Well, if there truly is nothing nefarious here, then I thank you."

"I thank your purse that gave me the coppers. Figured it's an easy way to lake an extra income."

And with that, Lana was left alone in the bathing room. She quickly stripped herself of her clothes and climbed in, her bones nearly melting as the warm water enveloped her. It was amazing on her ankle. She dunked her head in and nearly cried from how wonderful it felt. Well, if this were a trap and she was to die, then at least it was probably the best death she could have asked for. But time eventually passed, and the water grew cold, and the smell of lavender was everywhere. She had scrubbed her hair with some soap that also smelled of lavender and thought it was funny that the Innkeeper's wife was so fond of the fragrance. Lana preferred vanilla but knew that was a spice of Essos.

She dried off and put on her dirty clothes again. It might seem counter-intuitive, but it felt good to have clean hair and skin. She walked out of the small room.

"Well, was it worth it?" Clegane asked, looking her up and down before standing.

"Oh, yes. I am very fond of warm baths," she said, nearly glowing with joy.

"Sounds spoiled to me," he said and followed her out the home. The sun was already set, and Arya was outside practicing her swordsmanship with Needle glinting in the moonlight.

"What is life without a bit of spoiling?" Lana asked, the crisp night air chilling as her hair was still wet. She missed her warm bath already.

"It's called honest work," he said, and they walked towards Arya.

"Learn to indulge Clegane. As we have learned, all it takes is a flea bite," she said, to which he snorted.

Before settling in, they all paid for a little extra hygiene to brush their teeth with bristles tied to a stick and got a cloth to wipe their armor with. The Sleeping Pig really seemed to understand how to upsell what they offered, and the Innkeeper's wife unquestionably valued hygiene. It now made sense why she had white teeth and clean clothes.

All three settled in early for the night down in the cellar which had twenty giant bags of hay, and Clegane had to take three. They didn't pay for the extra, as only ten people were sleeping in there that night. They chose the area by the wall in the very back so Arya would sleep against it, then Lana, then Clegane. It was a rather spacious cellar, with a few small holes cut out at the top for windows, where the roof breached the ground.

In the middle of the night, Lana woke up with that annoying need to make water. She decided to indulge in her bladder rather than deal with it for the rest of the night. She carefully stepped over the sleeping Clegane, avoiding the other men the best that she could in the dark. She went into the woods, the moon still high and bright in the sky, undid her pants and squatted.

She pulled her pants back up once she was finished, twigs and leaves cracking underfoot, her ears keen on whoever was following her. She figured it was one of the men staying or stopping for the night. Then she felt the air behind her grow dull like the sound was taken up by a body. She drew out a dagger, ducked and took a deep step back.

"You're crafty," a voice said in the dark. It was a dirty man, taller than her, and surprisingly well built. She couldn't see his face all that well in the darkness. "You're not," she replied, too tired for this. "Leave me be. I don't want trouble," she said. She took a few steps back and walked back towards the cellar. She really didn't want to deal with this, nor shed blood on the property of that sweet woman who drew her a bath.

Lana heard him follow, and she rolled her eyes. Then she heard him move with speed, and she turned around, ready to gut the fucker, but someone else had grabbed his neck like he was nothing more than a hare being caught by a wolf. She smiled and felt an immense sense of relief and safety when she saw him, for it was no wolf, but a hound.

Clegane pulled him to his face while the man clawed at Clegane's armored arm. "Tell your little friends that if any of you decide to stalk either of the two women accompanying me, for the rest of the night, or in the morning, I will rip out your balls and rape the new hole while it's still warm and wet." He dropped the man, and he ran off, nearly falling over as he coughed and grabbed his neck.

"I nearly had him," Lana said jokingly.

"Aye, but it's like you say, you're not very threatening," he said, and his tone had entirely no play in it. He took a step toward her, nearly double the size of the man that stalked Lana. "And you're small. And you're better looking than any of the whores they've been with. Next time you wander off for a midnight piss, you wake me first."

She had to prevent herself from smiling. "Is it fair to say you want to take up my offer to be my guard?"

He sighed. "Might be considering it. And only if you don't make it hard on me. No more of this shit, with sneaking off in the night."

"Deal," she said, warming her tone.

They walked back to their beds that was encased in stone. Lana lied there, so close to Sandor, and a devious part of her wished he'd just reach out in the night to put his hands on her. She started to wonder if he was the kind of man to hold his woman at night, to caress her softly, or use gentle hands reserved only for her. It seemed so odd to picture him doing any of those things, and yet she was desperate to find out.

As she pondered on the man lying next to her, sleep eventually found her, and it was a good, hard sleep, not worried in the least that someone would hurt her or Arya. Not with Clegane between them and the others.

When she woke, she was more startled than rested, although it quickly faded. She was not used to a prickly hay bed or a rock ceiling above her. She had nearly forgotten about her bath, but the smell of her clean, wavy hair reminded her of everything that had happened.

The small window above Arya revealed the softest sunlight. It's still early. Lana tried to go back to bed, but she felt utterly refreshed and realized she would not sleep until the sun set again. She sat up and saw that Clegane was still in a deep sleep, along with the wolf girl who was gently snoring, facing the wall. It would be a few hours before either woke, and she didn't want just to lie there. Lana decided that at the very least, she could sit by the door where there was fresh air.

he only downfall to the cellar was the stench from the men inside.

She flipped over to her knees and took a step over Clegane, trying her best not to wake him. She must have last time she snuck out.

In an attempt to extra careful and quiet, she took a significant step over him but forgot about her bum ankle, and she put weight on it in just the wrong way. Her other knee buckled in response to alleviate the weight, touching the ground next to Sandor along with her hand, parts of her inner thigh grazing him as she fell. His eyes shot open, and his arms reached out, gripping her hip and shoulder, ready to toss her. She grimaced from how hard he gripped her.

But when he saw her, he froze, his grip loosening. She was essentially straddling him without touching him. His gaze had gone from anger to shock, then to complete judgment.

"What did we just talk about?"

"I was only going to the door to sit in the fresh air. Smells like body odor in here," she whispered, her hair starting to fall to the side of his face.

"Well, go on, and get your hair out of my face."

"Now, I worked hard to wash it. It smells good, like lavender," she said quietly.

A dark look came over his eyes. "That's the problem," he warned, and their eyes locked as she realized he could smell the softness of the sweet herb, and of course, it probably got his blood flowing south. She didn't break the gaze, and instead, slowly raised a brow, lost in her own desire. He scowled. "Fucking quit with that look. Now get the fuck off of me," he warned.

There it was again. The warm rush of everything electrifying and Lana's body seemed to react on its own. Lana's muscles relaxed, her hips gently falling, her body leaning into his grasp as she didn't want to get off.

He looked down where her groin was nearly touching his body, and his eyes were overcome with a controlling, insatiable look. If they were alone, based on that grip, his girth, and that look, he'd completely ravish the shit out of her here and now. She knew she needed to pull away, but with Arya snoring and facing the wall, and the other's snoring as well, she felt alone with him. She breathed heavier, unable to peel herself away.

Then he shocked her by rising into a sitting position. He didn't let go of her, which forced her weight into his lap, her legs straddling him as they stared at each other. He didn't say anything, his eyes trailing her face. Warm vibrations rippled through her, and common sense was thrown out the window. She couldn't help it. To see him fight off his desire, and to see him losing that fight...it made her lose in her own as well.

And fuck did she want him. She moved her head in and placed her lips on his, pressing hard into his face.

In moments like those, time moved incredibly slow, and it was enough that she worried he might completely reject her as she kissed him. Then he pulled her hips closer, scooting her, so that was utterly no space between her groin and his, her breasts touching his chest, kissing harder into her. His hand gripped the small of her back, pulling her even closer into him as her nose dug into his stubbled cheek. He was quick, and passionate, and hungry.

He growled into the kiss, and the sound seemed to unsettle him as he pulled away, rising himself as he quietly grumbled, "Get off."

She eyed him, panting. All worry was assuaged when she saw the look in his eyes. He didn't push her off because he didn't want it, that was certain. Someone stirred behind them, and she was reminded that they were not alone in here.

She threw Clegaene a look that she had used before to entice other men, although this time it came from a genuine place in her, Clegane having earned it. She turned around, slowly stepping around the others, favoring her bad ankle. She sat in the doorway, still panting, her back to him as she couldn't dare to look at him now. The air was fresh, and the morning was full of a mist that put dew on everything it touched. She breathed deeply, still feeling his hands on her, the way there was almost no space between their bodies. She had actually kissed him.

She heard something move. She thought it was another man, but she knew it was Clegane based on the clinking of armor. As he walked out of the door, she quietly asked, "Where you going?"

"Need to gut someone, or something. Fuck you for that," he said and walked away.

"I was hoping you would," she said, unable to stop herself, enjoying the shit of indulging in him. He paused, slowly turned to glower at her. He looked like he was about to say something, but curtly turned around and walked off towards the Inn. She quietly said to herself, mocking him, "Don't toy with me, woman."

She smiled, enjoying that she got to him, as he most definitely got to her.

After a time, she saw him walk to the stables to ready the horses while Lana remained to let Arya sleep. Lana would have to continue riding on Stranger for now, as they had none for sale here.

Then she realized - she'd have to ride on Stranger, after kissing Clegane.

And her hair smelled like lavender.

She swallowed thickly, rubbing her lips together as she watched him water the horses.

She had nearly forgotten that at some point they'd reach the Eyrie, and he would be off to give Arya to her aunt. Lana knew she couldn't join them for that, as she heard too many rumors about Lysa, and she didn't trust her in the slightest.

And yet, Lana didn't want to leave Clegane either. At least she'd have to think about what to do with him.