The Mountain of Ice and Fire

Three names lingered on Arya's tongue.

The first was Arjie, who had claimed in front of Notebook that she was the Arry the gold cloaks were looking for; Arya had denied it. Abba followed up, proving that what Arjie said was true, that the little boy had been called Arry by the Night's Watchman Euron from the first day he left King's Landing.

Arya retorted that her real name was Ardo, and that Euron had just called her that randomly. But he was the superior, and the little boy was powerless to change it. Now that Euron was dead, Arya decided to go back to using her real name: Ardo.

Notebook asked why the gold cloaks were looking for a boy named Arry.

Arjie said that the gold cloaks weren't looking for a boy, but a girl. She was the daughter of the former Hand, Eddard Stark, a young lady from a great noble house.

Notebook waved his hand and decided that Arya should henceforth be called by her real name, Ardo, and need not be called Arry any longer. Since the gold cloaks were looking for a noble girl, it had nothing to do with the little boy Ardo.

Arya had escaped a disaster.

But from then on, Arjie and Abba looked at Arya with a slightly different gaze. One night, Arya was awakened from her sleep by someone trying to pry open her door. Arya put Needle at her hand and pretended to be sound asleep. The person pried the door open, felt his way to Arya's bedside, and was about to touch Arya when Needle pressed against his throat.

That person was Arjie!

Should she say Arjie's name?

Or Abba's!

After being subdued by Arya, Arjie became somewhat more restrained. But he incited Abba to investigate whether Arya was a boy or a girl. Abba peeked at Arya bathing several times, and became more honest after Arya scalded his eyes with hot water.

Both of them had suffered at Arya's hands, but they both suspected whether Arya was a boy or a girl. They wanted to take off Arya's pants themselves, but due to Arya's cleverness and the trust she had gained from Notebook, the two had never succeeded. But this was always a hidden danger. Arya was thinking about whether to kill these two people. She couldn't kill people silently and dispose of the bodies, which was also why she didn't dare to kill Arjie and Abba.

That night, after Notebook saved Arya, they rested in the deserted village. The next day, they marched along the Gods Eye, and in a cornfield that had not been set on fire by Amory, they found Jaqen, Rorge, and Biter, who were roasting corn and two rabbits over a fire. With them was also a little fat boy: Hot Pie.

So, Notebook also took these four people into the team. Hot Pie could bake bread, and was assigned to the kitchen after being brought to Harrenhal. Notebook said he liked prisoners. If Ardo and Hot Pie, Jaqen, Rorge, and Biter were not prisoners, but locals, Notebook would not want them.

Notebook didn't like the locals, and the locals didn't like the Clegane soldiers.

Whether to kill the northern traitor Ellin, Harwin, or the persistent Arjie and Abba, Arya finally decided on a name: "Ellin!"

"Ellin, boy for sure?"

"Sure, Ellin."

"Good, now that the name has been spoken, someone is sure to die," Jaqen said.

Arya had thrown the prison cart keys into Jaqen's hands, saving the lives of Jaqen and his two companions. Later, Jaqen found Arya and thanked her for saving him and his two companions from the hands of the god of death, because the boy had taken three lives from the hands of the god of death, so the boy could say the names of three other people, a life for a life, in order to achieve a balance between life and death.

"The boy owes me three names," Jaqen had said. "We must give an explanation to the god of death."

Arya thought this sounded strange and didn't understand, but she unthinkingly said the first person's name: Joffrey Baratheon. But Jaqen wanted Arya to take back this name and change to another name. Because in Harrenhal, Jaqen could not kill Joffrey.

"Boy, killing a king may take two months, maybe a year, or three years. Jaqen offers his life to the god of death, without alarming anyone else. They appear to die naturally, so it takes a lot of time to prepare. Now it is not appropriate for the boy to ask me to kill a king in a heavily guarded palace. Please change the name, boy," Jaqen said.

So Arya changed a name: Cersei Lannister.

But she was also rejected by Jaqen. Jaqen wanted her to change another person's name, and promised that as long as Arya thought of a name, she could tell him, but the boy must not say some names that were too far away and obviously not suitable for the current situation. To make a person appear to die naturally, it takes time and opportunity, not just stabbing a sword into a person's throat.

Arya never thought that killing a person would be so troublesome. This Jaqen was not straightforward at all.

Arya said the name Ellin!

Ellin was Eddard Stark's former captain of the guard, a highly skilled martial artist, a veteran of Winterfell, and Eddard's most trusted assistant. He became a traitor and betrayed his lord, which was a capital crime.

*

Night, Harrenhal.

Arya was brought by Notebook into the room where the Mountain lived in the Tower of Dread.

Harrenhal was very large inside. The space of a restaurant was as wide as the main castle of Winterfell. The rooms inside the Tower of Dread were very high, and even true giants could easily live in them.

The Mountain was busy with something.

Notebook brought Arya in, went out, and closed the door.

Only the Mountain and Arya were in the room.

The ground was piled with many bottles and jars, all the same size. Arya saw a row of buckets, with water in them. There were also bags of snow-white things on the ground. Arya recognized this as snow salt, which everyone in the Westerlands was proud of. Arya had eaten snow salt. In the Red Keep in King's Landing, the Mountain had brought snow salt to her father. Before that, Arya had never seen snow salt. The taste of snow salt was delicious, and it had once fascinated Arya and Sansa.

But in Harrenhal, Notebook told Arya that only centurions, captains, and guards could enjoy snow salt. Because of the war, the supply of snow salt had decreased.

"Arya!" The Mountain didn't even look up, he was busy with something. Arya also saw some iron wires, some white metal sheets, and some brass sheets on the ground. Arya knew brass.

Arya was already very vigilant. As soon as the Mountain called her name, she nervously pressed her hand on the hilt of Needle.

"You still owe me a favor, Arya, what? Do you want to kill me with Needle?" The Mountain was drilling holes in the lids of the bottles and jars, one on the left and one on the right.

Arya froze.

"Come and help me," the Mountain said.

"You recognized me from the beginning?" Arya said in a complicated tone.

"You are half a friend of mine, have you forgotten? I saved your friend Mycah's life in the town of Harroway."

"Yes, but, he still died," Arya said, her voice trembling slightly.

Not only Mycah, but also the stable master Hullen, the steward Vayon Poole, Septa Mordane, including the horses in the stables, Sansa's wolf, guards and servants, apprentices and old women, were all killed.

The Mountain stopped what he was doing and looked up at Arya: "Arya, do you remember the day I went to the Tower of the Hand to deliver snow salt? You were practicing handstands in the corridor, Sansa was teasing the direwolf Lady in the yard, and Septa Mordane was looking down from the narrow window upstairs."

"...Remember...!" Arya's eyes were red.

"It was on that day that I warned your father, Lord Eddard, that his stupidity would cause his guards and servants to be buried with him. He didn't believe me. I tried my best, but it was your father who made the decision."

"My father is not stupid," Arya almost shouted, then lowered her voice, "How did you know what would happen later?"

"I just know some things, Arya! For example, your friend Jaqen H'ghar is not an ordinary person, I can see it. Some omens and feelings, like the flames of the Red Priest."

"............"

The Mountain stared at Arya's expression: "Did you say the name?"

A trace of panic and horror flashed in Arya's eyes, but she quickly calmed down, as still as water, as quiet as a shadow. She told herself that these words taught to her by her teachers always had magical power, and could help her quickly recover her composure when her emotions were out of control.

"Do you trust me?" The Mountain decided to change the subject first. He looked into Arya's eyes, "Now the Queen Mother and the King are both capturing you, and the North and the Westerlands are at war. If we catch you, we can threaten your brother Robb Stark. It would be a great achievement for me to hand you over to the Queen Mother."

"Are you going to hand me over?" Arya said in a suspicious tone.

The Mountain smiled, which meant that Arya still had a certain degree of trust in him, otherwise she would not have had a suspicious tone and look in her eyes. This showed that the previous efforts had not been in vain. Good words and deeds of helping others were planted like seeds, and the seeds of kindness sprouted and grew, invisible and intangible, in people's hearts, invisible and intangible, but truly existing.

"If I wanted to hand you over, I wouldn't have asked Notebook to bring you in. When we were in the hall of the Earl of Harroway, I saved Mycah. We are already half friends. After today, I hope we are true friends."

"My true friends wouldn't massacre our Northerners, let alone let Ellin be a traitor."

"This is war, Arya. If I didn't participate in the war, I wouldn't be here talking to you now. My head would have been cut off and stuck on a spear by Lord Tywin, and then let the crows peck at my head and body. Do you want to see me like this?"

"............"

"The war is to blame, not me. I didn't start this war either, your father..."

"My father did nothing wrong!" Arya said decisively.

The Mountain closed his mouth, looked at Arya's small face for a while, and said: "Can you please help me? I can't do it alone."

"What are you going to do?" Arya's eyes were rolling around.

The water, bottles, salt, iron wires, and metal sheets on the ground aroused her curiosity, which she couldn't hide.

"Make magic boxes," the Mountain said.

"Magic boxes?" Arya frowned and squatted down, "What do you want me to do?"

"Here, make holes, first make holes in all the bottles and jars."

The Mountain threw the knife at Arya's feet.

"I have a dagger!" Arya drew a dagger from her lower back. She picked up a bottle and stabbed two flat holes in the lid with the knife.

The Mountain connected the iron wires.

"Arya, does anyone suspect you are a girl?"

"Arjie and Abba."

"What did they do?"

"When I was taking a bath, Abba came to peek; when I was sleeping, Arjie wanted to take off my pants."

"Do you need me to kill them?" The Mountain stopped what he was doing.

Arya paused for a moment and shook her head: "Forget it, they are not particularly bad, and I have already taught them a lesson and threatened them."

"But there will still be hidden dangers."

"What are you going to do with me? Ellin and Harwin both know me, as well as the northern guards, they all know me. I didn't even dare to sit at the middle table when we ate tonight."

"The restaurant is so big, with thousands of people, they won't see you if you just blend in."

"But they will see me eventually. When Notebook brought me in tonight, I was afraid of seeing Ellin and Harwin."

"I've already asked them to leave early."

Arya had finished making the small holes: "What else do you want me to do?"

"Drill another small hole in the middle near the edge."

Arya did as she was told!

"Do you know that your father has disappeared from the dungeons of the Red Keep?"

"Uncle Euron told me."

"He is safe now."

Arya stared at the Mountain with wide eyes.

"Swear to me that you won't tell anyone," the Mountain said seriously. He liked to see Arya's surprised expression. The little girl had a natural wildness, just like the direwolf had a natural killing intent.

"I swear!" Arya solemnly raised her small hand, facing the Mountain, her eyes serious.

The Mountain began to skillfully bend the two metal sheets and insert them into the small holes in the bottle. These were the positive and negative poles of the saltwater battery. The third hole in the lid was used to pour saltwater into.

In a salt solution, the electrode materials all have a tendency to break free into the solution. Copper and aluminum (or zinc) have different abilities to attract electrons, and the tendency is also different. Aluminum is more likely to lose electrons and enter the solution, so the aluminum becomes the negative electrode of the saltwater battery. Electrons enter the copper, which has a strong ability to attract electrons, through the saltwater as a medium, so the copper becomes the positive electrode of the saltwater battery, thus generating current.

The strength of the current has nothing to do with the concentration of salt in the saltwater. The saltwater only acts as an electrolyte solution and does not participate in the reaction. The electrolyte solution can also be an acid or alkaline solution.

As a university engineering dog, making saltwater batteries is really a very simple thing, in this world, similar to the ability of wizards to summon magical creatures from flames. It's just that this is science, and has nothing to do with magic.

The voltage of a saltwater battery is limited, two will be a little stronger, what about three, four, five? It will become stronger. With electricity, and then find metal wires, it seems that it can emit light, although it cannot provide long-term lighting, but it can blind these guys' dog eyes, just like the extraordinary ability occasionally shown by the witch.

The Mountain stared at Arya: "Do you want to know who entered the Red Keep and rescued Lord Eddard?"

"Who is it?"

"One of them is named Ellin!"