“a few days ago she had been wandering around with a swatch of black silk tied over her eyes. Syrio was teaching her to see with her ears and her nose and her skin, she told him. Before that, he had her doing spinds and back flips. "Arya, are you certain you want to persist in this?"She nodded. "Tomorrow we're going to catch cats.""Cats." Ned sighed.”

“The Lady Amalthea beckoned, and the cat wriggled all over, like a dog, but he would not come near... She was offering her open palm to the crook-eared cat, but he stayed where he was, shivering with the desire to go to her"...[later, Molly asked the cat] "Why were you afraid to let her touch you? I saw you. You were afraid of her.""If she had touched me," he said very softly, "I would have been hers and not my own, not ever again. I wanted her to touch me but I could not let her. No cat will... The price is more than a cat can pay.”

“She had time to make room for him in her closet. The cat had time to get used to him. They had all the time they needed, because he'd told her he was hers, and he was a man of his word. "I've got all I need," she told him.He leaned down and kissed her again, then stroked a finger over her temple, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "I want you to know," he said. "That you're the best choice I ever made.""No regrets?""No regrets.”

“Yukiko rolled over.That plain, that simple.Her body was small in its moving.And her hair followed, dreaming her as she moved.A cat, her cat, in bed with her was awakened by her moving, and watched her turn slowly over in bed. When she stopped moving, the cat went back to sleep.It was a black cat and could have been a suburb of her hair.”

“Arya, What are you doing?""Syrio says a water dancer can stand on one toe for hours." Her hands flailed at the air to steady herself.Ned had to smile. "Which toe?" he teased."ANY toe," Arya said, exasperated with the question. She hopped from her right leg to her left, swaying dangerously before she regained her balance."Must you do your standing here?" he asked. "It's a long hard fall down these steps.""Syrio says a water dancer NEVER falls.”

“Who are you?" she inquired, as the cat passed by.I'm the cat that looked at a king," he replied.And I," she remarked with a toss of her head, "am the cow that jumped over the moon."Is that so?" said the cat. "Whatever for?"The cow stared. She had never been asked that question before. And suddenly it occured to her that there might something else to do than jumping over moons.”