Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Disney/Dreamworks/Game of Thrones characters, locations, and/or terms. I am just a humble weaver unraveling cloths of stories to thread together and create a new pattern. If you would like to read the info and details of this fic, you may go to the Preface section. Thank you!

PROLOGUE

"A few more pieces, what say you, child?" Mama Odie lifted the spoon up to her mouth, smacking her lips after.

Tiana reached over Mama Odie's shoulder and tasted the stew herself. "Three more peppers and it will be perfect."

"Or one of those from Agrabah! Juju!" Mama Odie screamed, and the young boy sleeping in the corner of the cabin straightened up from his perch on a stool. He looked around, dazed, and stood up, swaying a bit. "Juju! Get that little jar with the tiny red peppers and give it to Tia."

The boy nodded and shuffled over to the shelf across the room, rummaging through it until he found what he needed. He handed the jar to Tiana with a wide sleepy smile and slumped back to the stool. Tiana laughed, pulling out one pepper and sniffing it. Just the smell was enough to make her sneeze.

"One Agraban pepper," Tia delicately placed it in Mama Odie's outstretched hand.

"Strong, isn't it?" Mama Odie said with a chuckle as she crushed the pepper and sprinkled it over the stew.

"Indeed…" Tia sat at the table and propped her elbows on it, her chin in her hands. Agrabah was about two weeks away from Atlantica: a five-day journey on board a ship to Porthaven, a three-day horseback ride to the edge of the desert, and the rest on camel. She sighed.

"Thinking about Agrabah, child?" Mama Odie's voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Can you tell me about it again?"

The old woman glanced over her shoulder and smiled before turning back to stirring the stew. "It's a very hot place. Mayhaps the hottest day here is the coldest in Agrabah. The Sultan, they call their lord. He lives in a castle, very unlike the Atlantican one. Large, it is, and white, with huge golden domes that end in peaks that point high up in the sky." Mama Odie raised her arm for emphasis. "You'd have to bend your neck so far back, but all you'll ever see are the gilded edges. When the sun sets it is perfectly aligned in between two towers, the light bouncing off the center dome and bathing the entire city in gold."

"How I wish I could go there," Tiana mused. "And then travel the whole Animare. It would be wonderful for them to taste my food." She stood up and sighed again. "But first I'd have to buy myself a ticket to Porthaven."

"Maybe there will be no need to."

Tiana looked at Mama Odie, but the woman's milky white eyes were staring intensely in the pot, the glow of the fire dancing on her wrinkled face. Tia shook her head and reached across the table for the knife and board. The sounds of the knife on the board, the boiling stew and the soft snores of the boy in the corner filled the little cabin.

"Mmm…This is good."

"Is it, Mama Odie?" Tia said, smiling as she chopped the onions. "What does it taste like?"

"Victory, defeat, gain and loss."

Tia laughed. "You can taste all that in the stew?"

When the woman didn't answer, Tiana turned to her and almost dropped the knife. Mama Odie's eyes had glossed over, but they were wide and twinkling and filled with fervor as if the stew held more answers than any man could ever hope to have.

"Mama-"

"Victory, defeat, gain and loss." She repeated. "The castle will rise again with frost."

Mama Odie looked at Tiana, the grin on her face showing gaps between teeth. "Bid your mother farewell, child. There is work to be done." She cackled, and the hairs on the back of Tiana's neck stood on end.

A/N: I shall be putting up the first chapter tomorrow and, depending on the reception, a chapter every week. I know my track record with multi-chap stories isn't exactly good (considering I haven't updated two of my multi-chaps in years which was why I stuck with one shots), but I promised myself that this big project is one I have to finish. I cannot promise that the updating schedule will be consistent, but hopefully this fanfic will have a chapter uploaded weekly, during the weekend. Thank you!