Never send a whelp to do a man's job, Balon Greyjoy thought ruefully. "Get rid of it." He commanded, pointing at the corpse in front of his lord-seat. Everyone was quiet as they watched their lord's guards remove the offending body. "Bring me the girl." Balon snapped to one of the guards.
"Yes, my lord." The guard said as he all but ran out of the Sea Tower.
"You wish to see the whore, brother?" Balon's brother, Victarion, asked.
"She isn't a whore!" Yara growled out, taking offense by the title her uncle gave her young friend.
"Yara, she owns a brothel with her uncle, and she does work in it..."
"Even so, she isn't a whore, and I will not have you talking as if she is." Yara replied, fluttering her fingers around the hilt of her dagger.
Balon watched his daughter curiously. "I didn't know you are so fond of the girl."
"I respect her."
"It is wise to do so- she has a very good bloodline. A very good one, indeed..."
Yara knew all about the once powerful House Pardus and their castle Nightlight, now in ruins. "You think she will be able to rescue Theon?"
"There isn't a doubt in my mind, Yara." Balon said as he remembered the first time he'd seen the girl; she had been two years old and large for her age. Her mother, Lady Byrne Pardus, had come with what was left of her her family, seeking protection after the Boltons burned down her castle at the edge of the Wolfswood. Intrigued by the woman, her husband, and her younger brother, he let them stay in Pyke.
"My lord," A voice spoke breaking the Lord of Pyke from his thoughts. "Qounu has found the wh- girl."
"Bring her in!" Balon roared, annoyed With how long it was all taking.
The door to the Sea Tower swung open to reveal Qounu roughly pushing a tall, skinny, yet curvy girl into the large room. Balon wasn't surprised in the least to see the young woman throw a dirty look at Qounu, but he was slightly surprised to see her dirty look morph into a bright happy smile when she caught sight of Yara.
Returning the smile, Yara pushed away from the wooden table she was seated at and made her way towards the younger woman. "Alyx!" Yara yelled as she pulled her friend into a tight hug. "Where is Iron? I have never seen you two apart from one another."
As if on cue, a loud roar echoed from down the hall behind the closed doors of the Sea Tower.
"Iron is...how do I put it? Feasting," Alyx said as she put her thumb and index finger to her lips and let out a sharp whistle. Almost immediately, the Sea Tower's large doors burst open to reveal a very large, very beautiful, silvery animal with black spots and intelligent golden eyes. "Iron, to me!" Alyx commanded. Growling halfheartedly, the beast complied.
"A snow leopard?" Balon asked in awe.
"Yes, my lord. His name is Iron," Alyx replied as she ran her hand through Iron's silky fur.
"Your house's sigil is a snow leopard, is it not?"
"Well...yes, my lord, it was..." Alyx said, "And my house's banners had a snow leopard stalking in the snow under a dark sky..."
Balon had been examining the girl's facial expression since their conversation had started, so he didn't miss the look of sadness that crossed her face when she talked of her house's banners.
There was a cough from the Lord of Pyke's left. Balon turned to see his youngest brother, Aeron, looking at the girl and snow leopard as if he wanted to drown them both in the sea. "Yes, brother?" Lord Greyjoy asked.
"You know how I hate to rush things, but Ramsay Bolton's messenger boy, before you had him killed, said that you had two weeks to swear fealty to his lord before Ramsay would start shredding and burning Theon. If we're to save Theon, I highly suggest you get to the point with the whore; she needs to be on her way today." Aeron answered.
Nodding his head in agreement, Balon turned his attention back to the young woman in front of him. "My dear, my son...and heir has been captured by the Boltons. I believe you've encountered them before when you were a very young girl. They want me to swear fealty to them to receive my son. I will not and will never swear fealty to those bastards, but I do need my son back safely...to steal Theon away from the Bolton bastard's dungeons will take someone with stealth, agility, stamina, and exquisite fighting skills. Yara suggested you, and I couldn't agree more. Your house's reputation precedes you."
Speechless, Alyx stared unblinkingly at Balon.
"You are in possession of all those skills, are you not?" Balon asked impatiently.
"Yes, my lord." She managed to say.
"Good. Then I trust you can go in and out of the Harrenhal dungeons without any trouble?"
"I shall lend you one of my ships to sail to Seaguard." Yara said as she went to her friend.
"What of my sister and uncle?" Alyx asked, ignoring Yara.
The Lord of Pyke shrugged his shoulders. "What of them?"
"My sister is just a girl of six, my lord. My uncle will have to manage the brothel; he will not be able to look after her," Alyx looked pleadingly at the Lord of Pyke.
"I shall assign a guard to look after your sis-"
"No!" Yara shouted. "I will look after Nyla while Alyx is gone. Nyla and I get along quite well, and it would be best for me to distract her so she doesn't worry about Alyx."
Alyx nodded. "I have no objections to you looking after her...as long as you don't teach her to wield a sword or axe."
"What about archery?"
"If you so much as let her touch a sharp arrowhead, Yara...Drowned God so help me..."
Balon listened to the girls with some amusement. I have never heard Yara so...teasing and...friendly, he thought to himself.
"You will have to leave tonight." Aeron said to Alyx with a glare that failed to frighten the girl, but managed to enrage the snow leopard.
"I will give you Steel Curse to sail to Seaguard." Yara told Alyx with a mischievous twinkle in her eye.
"At least I won't be sent sailing in the Sea Bitch." Alyx muttered, making Yara grin from ear to ear.
"I would never even consider giving you the Sea Bitch!" Yara chuckled. "That ship is meant for my baby brother and my baby brother alone."
"You're terrible." Alyx laughed.
"I am not terrible! You should have seen how he was when he came here! If he's not a little sea bitch, I don't know what is!"
"Yara!" Aeron snapped.
"It's the fucking truth!" Yara replied defensively.
"Your brother is in Ramsay Bolton's very own hands and you jest with a whore!" Aeron all but roared at his niece.
"She is not a whore!" Yara snarled.
"Enough!" Balon snapped, glaring daggers at his daughter and brother. "Lady Alyx Pardus, go home and pack for your journey. A ship with men at your command will be waiting in the harbor for you within the hour."
"Thank you, my lord." Alyx curtsied quickly and left the Sea Tower without so much as a backward glance.
"Drowned God be with her..." Balon prayed.


A/N: Just so you all know, this is a Game of Thrones fanfic, so Yara/Asha are the same person. They just couldn't put Asha's real name in the TV show because it was too close to Osha and it might have really confused some people.

How do you all like the prologue so far? Drop a review please!