The Kingsroad

When Eddard Stark leaves Winterfell to take up the post of Hand of the King, his daughters Sansa and Arya go south with him, toward King's Landing. Along the same road, but in the opposite direction, Jon Snow travels with his uncle Benjen toward the Wall. Tyrion Lannister joins them, wanting to see «the edge of the world» for himself.

Before each heads off toward their destination, Jon gives Arya a sword as a parting gift. It's the last time the siblings speak before their paths, quite literally, split.

The royal retinue stops to rest at an inn along the road. While they wait, Prince Joffrey and Sansa come across Arya practicing swordplay with a butcher's son. Joffrey draws his sword to «teach the boy a lesson» and ends up bitten on the arm by Nymeria, Arya's direwolf, after Arya herself strikes him.

Back with King Robert, Joffrey gives a different account of what happened. Cersei demands the wolf responsible be killed, and since Nymeria has fled, Sansa's wolf pays for it instead simply by being nearby. Eddard, to spare anyone else the task, decides to do it himself.