Long before they left for the raid, Calancy had been teaching Arya how to sing to Nymeria. It was far different from normal communication; it was more like that feeling you get when you know something is going to happen. Nymeria had been restless as preparation ramped up for the raid, so Arya sang to her. She sang about home and protecting those you love; she sang about having a safe place to return to after a journey. Nymeria didn't understand it all, but she had an idea what Arya was trying to mean. Arya was going to go away for a while, but the wolf was staying to protect Calancy and ensure their home was safe. Nymeria would not allow anything to harm Calancy.
When the wagons pulled out for the assault, Nymeria went to check on Calancy. She was with Beth at a table outside, studying as they did. Ned was sitting under the table, and he chided Nymeria that they must hunt. Hunting was something Nymeria understood well, so the two of them headed towards the closest source of danger. They found the source, 200 meters back in the trees, past the cleared edge of their territory. The danger was up in a tree, and for Nymeria, that meant waiting for what was in a tree to come down. But Ned didn't have to wait; he silently climbed right up the tree, and he dug his claws into danger. Danger shrieked and fell from the tree, snapping its neck with a crunch when it hit the ground.
Nymeria understood fear, the agony of being captured and caged lived inside her still, but not Ned. Ned had spent years being hunted by giant spiders, and he was truly fearless. Nymeria respected Ned for that...and that he could hunt things she couldn't reach. Nymeria grabbed danger by the collar and dragged it back to Calancy to show her it was safer now. Attendants came and took the body away to an unused building. Three more times, she and Ned hunted, found, and removed danger, the bodies piled up in that building.
The woods around her new domain were different from those she had known. But something deep inside her remembered them, a memory so old it was no longer awake, but it still slept in her racial memory. Her home in the wolf wood was thick with obstructions and brambles, and one had to know every pathway to get from place to place. Here, she could run straight through anywhere.
When the ships came home from the raid, Nymeria was waiting at the dock. She was startled to watch as Arya was carried down and taken to the infirmary. Nymeria hated the smells in that place, but she was at Arya's side to check her wounds. She growled deep when one creature shooed her away. Why didn't they just let her lick her pack members' wounds? She would heal them. She knew Arya would recover, but the thought that someone had harmed her when Nymeria couldn't crush their throat angered her. She carefully smelled the wound and caught a scent of an enemy. She bolted out of the room and tracked that smell down. He was chained in a cage, and Nymeria snarled at him when he opened his eyes and saw her. She sat guarding against that enemy for days.
When Ming Tao whispered to Arya, "In my duties as an intelligence officer to Zon, I was aware of four spies sent to watch your people." Arya nodded and took Ming to an outbuilding where the four lay dead. Ming studied the corpses, noticing bite marks on some. Then he saw Nymeria guarding the cage where the general was kept. Arya called to Nymeria, and she came over warily. Arya told her that this one could be watched but not hunted, because he was now a pack member. Nymeria sniffed and shouldered the new pack member, her golden eyes staring deeply into his. Ming said, "I see that I needn't have worried."
Later, Thomas said, "Arya, we are making you a glove for your hand, a very complex and powerful glove. I need very accurate measurements of the hand to ensure a proper fit. It's why I came into the infirmary with you this time." Her hand was having the wounds dressed again, so she had no bandages on. She looked at Thomas questioningly and then nodded, saying to herself, "This is what they have been up to." Thomas freehand drew her hand accurately, measuring the length above the knuckle that was left on her two maimed fingers. "How can you make me new fingers?" she finally said. Thomas answered, "Gendry and the master forgers are making the glove out of some strange light metal the stonekin have found. Gendry says it needs to be a tool, a shield, and a weapon all at once. I drew up sketches of how they could do it, but it is very complicated." He used a string to measure her wrist width and finger widths and marked them down on his drawing. "A weapon," she said? He told her she would have to wait and see how it turned out; she didn't have to use it, but Gendry was throwing his heart and soul into it to help her. She nodded solemnly and told Thomas to thank him for her. She hugged him with both hands, though lightly with the wounded one. He patted her on the back and told her to get well; there was still much to do.
The older Mangana, the younger Mangana, Gendry, and Yéye were having a heated argument over hydraulics and which fluid would best perform the needed function under all conditions.