Leia was nearly ready for bed. She had combed her hair and set everything out for the journey. Her finest dresses, her jewellery, and even a tiara. She was very afraid of the road ahead, though part of her was also a little excited. She thought she ought to feel what the books described — that this was every princess's dream. Leia did not feel it.
A soft knock came at her door.
"Come in."
It was her uncle. He came in with a gentle smile, a dress laid over his arm. For a man of his size, he could be surprisingly delicate when he chose.
"I thought I'd give you a small gift before the journey," he said.
Leia stared at the dress in wonder. She had never seen anything so beautiful. Gold-embroidered velvet with white trim. The crowned golden stag of House Baratheon graced it at several points.
"This is mine?" she said.
"Yes," Steffon answered. "Wear it tomorrow, for the voyage."
Leia shared her uncle's smile. It really was a magnificent thing.
Steffon took her hand in his. Leia's hand was lost in it. His expression grew serious.
"Don't worry. We will reclaim your throne and your kingdom… Whatever it takes."
Leia pressed a smile onto her face and tried to look as though her uncle's words pleased her.
What if… She did not finish the thought.
"Uncle."
"Yes?"
His blue eyes studied her, and he drew a hand once along his beard. At the last moment Leia changed what she had been about to ask.
"Will I be a good wife?"
Her uncle smiled.
"I am certain of it." He kissed her forehead. "Now rest."
"Uncle."
Steffon turned.
"Yes?"
"Ser Jasper is at the door, isn't he?"
"Of course he is. Now truly — go to sleep!"
Leia had never been able to sleep without Ser Jasper at her door. They had tried it once, after Ser Jasper had got her out of King's Landing and brought her back to Storm's End. She had screamed until they put him back at the door. Storm's End was full of fine soldiers, but Ser Jasper had watched over her since she was a small girl.
The commander of the royal guard, after all. She thought.
Leia dozed off. She found herself in King's Landing, in the tower room of the Red Keep. She was startled. She had not seen that room since Ser Jasper took her away. Everything was exactly as it had been on that night. She did not understand how she could be dreaming it — she no longer remembered that room clearly.
If this is my own mind's work, how can it be so accurate? I've nearly forgotten everything.
She could see the small dressing table where she used to sit and brush her hair. The brush with the gilded stags was still there. A strange feeling came over her. She knew she was dreaming, and yet it felt far too real for a dream. The lights in the room flickered just as she remembered. A square table stood in the middle of the room with a silver jug of water on it. The silver jug reminded her of something — but what? Through the window she could see the magnificent view of the city below.
I wonder… is Father here too? She thought.
All at once, sounds of commotion and shouting filtered through the door. Leia did not dare go near the ornate dark-wood door. Ser Jasper came rushing in, his brow gleaming with sweat, in the fine armour of the royal guard.
"My lady! We must go!"
Leia began to flicker in and out, Ser Jasper's voice echoing in her head: We must go! She could barely see, but already light was coming in at her window. A soft knock came, and she heard Septa Malenne's voice.
"My lady, begin getting ready! You are awake, aren't you?"
"Of course, Septa!"
The great hall surprised her with its warmth at dinner — though on reflection it might only have been a forced warmth. Either way, it was a comfort to spend this last meal at Storm's End in something like peace.
"Uncle, how long is the voyage?"
"At least twenty days. Less with a good wind," her uncle said, popping a piece of carrot from his fork.
After dinner Leia decided to say goodbye to Storm's End. She would go to the highest point of the tower, then the lowest. She would say goodbye to the stables and the horses — the place she had gone so often when she needed solitude and the quiet of the animals.
As she stepped out through the great throne room door, the sea wind of Storm's End struck her face. It swept her wavy dark brown, almost black hair back like a banner.
Many people thought she ought to wait for departure — Jocelyn Fell, her closest friend, among them, who had never understood why Leia could not be glad about what other girls would have called a dream. She was the only person with whom Leia had ever truly laughed. Now, finally, her life was beginning. Her real life. But those words brought nothing but a bitter, unwelcome feeling.
So the last day has come.
Leia had asked herself many times whether she would ever see Storm's End again. It was her home — or at least the home she remembered, since so little of the Red Keep remained to her now, only the ornate dark-wood door that still gave her nightmares.
The yard of Storm's End grew still as Leia Baratheon stepped out through the throne room door. No swords rang. No arrows flew.
"My lady!" Ser Jasper called over to her. "Would you like me to walk with you?"
"Thank you, Ser Jasper, but I think I shall manage on my own."
Ser Jasper bowed and stepped back among the men whose training he was overseeing. Leia made her way up to the castle walls to take one last look at the sea — as if she were not about to spend the next twenty days on it. The sea lapped at the shore.
How far can you see from the windows of the Eyrie? She wondered. Can you even see the ground from there?
She closed her eyes. She could see the Vale before her. The wind lapped softly at her face and moved through her hair. There was the Giant's Lance — she marvelled at it. Then the legend of the Weeping Water came to her, and a chill ran down her spine. The story, which Leia had heard from Septa Malenne, told of Alyssa Arryn, who had watched her husband, her brothers, and her children die brutal deaths without shedding a single tear. The gods punished her for it: Alyssa would never stop weeping until her tears reached the floor of the Vale.
Six thousand years, and they've more than reached it… But still they fall.
She turned toward the stables. When she arrived she found her horse — the one her uncle had given her on her eighth nameday — being groomed. The beautiful, spirited mare. Tears came to Leia's eyes. She would have liked nothing more than to cry then and there, but she did not want the stable boys to see. She thought of all the memories she had with the horse, whose name had taken her weeks to settle on: Night, a name that perfectly matched the colour of her coat.
The first time she had ever left the castle, she had been terrified. She could not have said of what. The best soldiers of the Stormlands were with her, and Ser Jasper too — and yet a steady dread had followed her the whole way. They had gone to the household of a nearby lord, for what might have been a wedding.
Leia made up her mind. She would not leave Night behind in Storm's End.
Wherever I go, she comes with me.
She decided she would ask — or rather, tell — her uncle to bring Night along for the voyage. She was the lawful ruler of the Six Kingdoms, after all, and Steffon was one of her vassals.
As she drew closer, her resolve began to drain away. She started looking for reasons not to go.
He's probably busy. I don't want to bother him…
But she steeled herself and decided that this time she would not let fear take over. She loved her uncle deeply and thought of him as a father — and yet whenever she had to speak to him about something, a tightness came over her. On the way she rehearsed what she would say:
Uncle, would it be possible… No, better: I would like to ask you… No, that's not right either. I am the Lady and Protector of the Six Kingdoms. She reminded herself of who she was. What I want is… Yes. That's it.
She climbed the steps to her uncle's chambers with purpose. She reached the top and started down the corridor. But before she reached the door, voices were coming through it. There was never a guard outside Steffon's door when he was having a private conversation.
Walls have ears — she recalled the saying her uncle liked to repeat.
"Is everything clear?" asked a hard voice. She was not sure whose it was — the thick door had distorted it too much.
"Clear as day," answered a slyer voice, from which she could plainly tell the speaker was smiling.
She heard footsteps inside the room. She suddenly ran — though she could not have said why, since she had done nothing wrong. Then she walked slowly back to stand before the door, as if nothing had happened.
"…nothing can go wrong, do you understand?" the harder voice went on. "If you bungle this, we're finished."
A third voice, one she had not heard before, broke into a laugh.
"You mean you're finished?"
"You think we're idiots?" the sly voice went on, and this time an accent came through.
Before Leia could hear the harder voice's reply, she heard the clash of armour and a sword-hilt against its scabbard.
"Lady Leia!" the soldier said.
"Ser Jolann," she replied, with the grace and composure expected of a lady.
"Are you looking for the lord?"
"Yes — is he in?" Leia played the innocent. In truth she could not be certain she had heard Steffon — the thick door had distorted everything too much. But who else would be in the Lord of Storm's End's chambers, if not the Lord of Storm's End?
"He has asked not to be disturbed. I'll let him know you were looking for him, my lady," Ser Jolann said pleasantly.
"Thank you." She turned and started away.
At that moment the heavy door opened behind her. Leia turned. Two strange figures and Steffon came out. She had never seen the two men before, but she would have wagered they were from one of the Free Cities. One was short and bald. The other was taller, with close-cropped hair. The shorter man had a patch over his right eye, on which a reclining woman was drawn. When he winked at Leia, it was as if the woman on the patch were spreading her legs.
"My lady," the patched man greeted her, winking before he said it.
"Leia, were you looking for me?" Steffon smiled when he saw her.
The question she had been rehearsing all the way here fled her mind entirely. She could not find any words — and in her confusion, the first thing that came out was:
"Who are these men?"
"Oh, don't mind them," Steffon said easily. "They are here in the interest of our safety."
Leia produced an expression of understanding, with a polite smile.
"Ser Jolann will see your things taken down," Steffon said, changing the subject.
"There's no need — Ser Jasper has already seen to it."
"Wonderful, Leia. Then go — I'm sure there's somewhere else you still need to say goodbye to."
Just then Cayne Fell, the steward of Storm's End, appeared beside her. He bowed, paying his respects to Leia and to her uncle. He was a short-haired, lean man with barely visible stubble. For as long as Leia could remember, he had been the steward of Storm's End — even in the days when Leia's father, Richard Baratheon, had been its lord.
"My lord, all is ready for departure," he began. "The provision casks are full, the sail is in excellent condition, and the men are fit for the road. However…" He did not finish.
Steffon looked up sharply.
"However?"
"However, the captain says the weather is not ideal," he continued.
The faint smile left Steffon's face. He put on the look of a cold man — the kind whose eyes say the words before his mouth does.
"No doubt the captain is simply being over-cautious…"
Cayne bowed and was gone.
Leia turned toward her chambers. That was no trouble, in any case — she had not yet said goodbye to her room.
Leia Baratheon did not know what to make of what she had heard outside that door.
"Were they talking about the voyage?" she asked herself quietly, her head down as she climbed the stairs, walking on without looking where she was going. Something told her that her uncle had not told the truth — perhaps for the first time in her life. Or perhaps she was only noticing it for the first time.