Flying
As Lia looked up and watched the sun set over the ocean she wished with all her heart that she could simply be a bird, one of the free little ocean gulls that swooped above her in the gentle breeze.
To have freedom and wings was a greater treasure than all the gold in Casterly Rock to her; she envied those birds with an ache in her heart that topped any pain Lia had ever felt before.
But to become an ocean gull was as impossible as changing her name from Hill to Lannister, and Lia felt at that moment that freedom was all she wanted. There was only one single freedom left to the child in her mind- the freedom of life, of her life; it was the only thing she had control of.
With every word and look, everything her father had said, and every opposite message given to her by those judging lord and ladies, every giggle and every smirk tore through her young heart.
And Lia Hill stood on shaky legs and walked down the slope through the waving golden grass.
She reached the edge and looked out at the bay without fear, Lia saw the ocean gulls diving down for fish and soaring back up so high into the clear sapphire sky that she feared they would be swallowed by the sun. The girl watched them fly on wings of white, like the foam that created the waves that pounded the shore below.
So far below.
Lia's sky-blue eyes followed one bird as it suddenly plummeted down and down so speedily that she felt dizzy, it skimmed the water's surface and rose back up, but the girl's eyes remained below.
She looked around at the rocks down there, at the sharp and deadly crags and the hard beach, she watched as the mighty waves pounded against the base of the mighty Rock.
Lia saw that despite Casterly Rock's size and how it's shadow left the bay in darkness, eventually the waves would wear it away until only sand and pebbles remained.
Lia realised that that would not occur until centuries after she was gone and forgotten, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.
The child felt a warm wind tussle her golden curls, and as she closed her eyes and let her skirts flap around her, Lia felt like she was flying- free at last.
She curled her toes around the cliff edge; the waves that beat so violently were muffled in their hungry roar as the girl let her arms stand out like wings.
Lia smiled and felt the sun against her eyelids and the wind against her face.
She felt freedom at long last as she leapt forwards off the cliff and into the cool air.
Everything was silent apart from the cry of the ocean gulls.
Lia flew, and she was happy, she was free... and then she fell.