Somewhere at sea.
The Lord of the North stared down at her. Shining brighter than all the other constellations, as if trying to tell her that the events of her past were about to be revealed.
She sat on the deck of the ship alone. It was past midnight, and everyone but a few crew members were below deck sleeping. She was not able to sleep. To many memories of lives past were keeping her up.
All her life, she had always been able to identify the guardian of Terrasen in the night sky. It was an ever present reminder that no matter how far she ran, no matter how much time had passed, Terrasen would always own her. It was her one true home. It belonged to her as much as she belonged to it. Whenever an important point in her life had occurred, she would look up and see the stag, or catch a breath of cold air with the taste of pine, reminding her of Orynth, The City of Lights, and the Place of her birth.
Seeing the stag the day she entered Endovier had given her the strength to remember how to breathe. She was convinced that it was because she was so close to Terrasen that enabled her to survive longer than anyone else had in the salt mines without breaking.
And now, the same thing that saved her those hard months had become her new torture.
Chuckling at herself for ever thinking that she could hide from her past without it coming back to haunt her, the Lost Queen of Terrasen allowed herself to finally remember.
