"Ask For Merry. Meralyn Is Her True Name, But Everyone Calls Her Merry, And She Is." Merry Bought A Dozen

"Ask for Merry. Meralyn is her true name, but everyone calls her Merry, and she is." Merry bought a dozen oysters every time Cat came by the brothel and shared them with her girls. She had a good heart, everyone agreed. "That, and the biggest pair of teats in all of Braavos," Merry herself was fond of boasting.

Cat Of The Canals, A Feast for Crows

Shivering, she sat up in bed and ran a hand across her scalp. Stubble bristled against her palm. I need to shave before Izembaro sees. Mercy, I’m Mercy, and tonight I’ll be raped and murdered. Her true name was Mercedene, but Mercy was all anyone ever called her… Except in dreams. She took a breath to quiet the howling in her heart, trying to remember more of what she’d dreamt, but most of it had gone already.

Mercy, The Winds of Winter sample chapter

Nice little parallel here, I'd never picked up on it untill now.

Ever stopped to think this might be the author waving at us telling us Arya is indeed merciful in nature (same as Meralyn is indeed a merry person)?

A Game of Thrones, Jon III

He missed his true brothers;

Little Rickon, bright eyes shining as he begged for a sweet;

Robb, his rival and best friend and constant companion;

Bran, stubborn and curious, always wanting to follow and join in whatever Jon and Robb were doing.

He missed the girls too, even Sansa, who never called him anything but “my half brother” since she was old enough to understand what bastard meant.

And Arya…he missed her even more than Robb, skinny little thing that she was, all scraped knees and tangled hair and torn clothes, so fierce and willful.

Arya never seemed to fit, no more than he had…yet she could always make Jon smile.

He would give anything to be with her now, to muss up her hair once more and watch her make a face, to hear her finish a sentence with him.

Not sure what 'catch feelings' means for you but I have no doubt she admired him from the start. She observed him closely and payed attention to what he said and did. He shouted "behind you!" when Hot Pie tried to throw a rock, helping her unprompted. The connection was there from the get go.

[...] Catelyn replied, watching the sword as he stroked it. She could see the rippling deep within the steel, where the metal had been folded back on itself a hundred times in the forging. Catelyn had no love for swords, but she could not deny that Ice had its own beauty. (Catelyn, AGOT) Then he'd go off to polish his helm. It was a beautiful helm, rounded and curved, with a slit visor and two great metal bull's horns. Arya would watch him polish the metal with an oilcloth, shining it so bright you could see the flames of the cookfire reflected in the steel. Yet he never actually put it on his head. (Arya, ACOK)

honestly, this really validates my thinking that arya was starting to catch feelings for gendry at this point lol

WORLDBUILDING FOR EARTH

People who think this planet was created for humans to be ours are so wild to me

arya is probably the only person who has kissed and held balerion since his rhaenys died. you ever think of that