Smell

It is morning and Bran is back to archery practice with Robb. Catelyn has advices for her youngest son to rest, considering the event that occurred at the previous night. But his son is persistent. Robb promises his mother that he will keep watch of Bran, so that she will not worry too much.

"What would you like to eat for lunch today? Bunny, moose?" Amethyst asks Bran.

"Are you going into the woods again?" he asks, a frown on his face.

"Are you worrying about me? Awe, that is so sweet," she ruffles his head. "Don't worry, I'm bring my axe."

"You have an axe?" Sansa, who happens to be passing by, asks. Besides her, Joffrey glares at Amethyst.

"I do."

"Where do you keep it? How come no one ever seen it?"

"I know she has an axe," Arya yells from the bridge above, causing them to lift up their heads to see her leaning against the railing. "She keeps it in there room."

Folding her arms under her chest, Sansa questions cynically, "And how do you know about that?"

"I saw her one night. After a hunt." Which Amethyst acknowledge of has happened, but did not bother covering it up. Hunting is what normal humans do, after all. And in this area, it is not uncommon for women to participate in it as well.

"What is your answer?" Amethyst asks Bran again.

"Moose."

Weather in the outside is colder, but she remains unaffected as she strides into the forest while carrying an axe in one hand. She has left her boots in the house. Her dress is long enough to cover the oddities of her manner in dressing. The sharpness of its blade is undoubtful. She can very well she her own reflection, if she wishes to.

Going deep into the forest, Amethyst seeks for that solitude from mortal eyes. Though she has her own fun spending time with the children, raising them, she must admit that it is not a bad idea to release her blood thirsty needs for once in a while.

Following the scents, she catches the musky scent of meat, combined with fur and mud. There is a scent of decay in the air. Blood, too. Following her other senses, Amethyst can hear the sound of water raining by the fountain at West. It is dim and subdued, but she can hear the sounds of cubs wailing. Further North, a herd of four-legged creatures.

Got you.

She lets it slip by her concentration, but she does it on purpose. A murder aura, a killing intent of a monster. The herd senses it. And as how animals rely on their instinct, they flee.

At least, most of them. The leader of the herd is still there, trying to defend the territory to protect its family as they all scatter away for their lives.

Good for her. Bad for it.

In a split second, Amethyst flies pass kilometers of perimeter. She finds herself leaping towards the moose. It has lost one of its set of horns. She twists the axe in midair, circling it past her head before bringing it back forward.

The poor creature does not even realize it as she chops off its head. Blood splatters everywhere; to the ground and to her dress. Amethyst lands on her feet, bare and now wet with blood.

She does not mind as the warm make its way to her skin. It feel relaxing, even. To take a life as you know it best and enjoy the gift of life soaking through you.

On her way back, one hand is dragging the dead moose by one of its legs while the other holds the axe. Up a hill, Amethyst spots a body of a dead wolf. Approaching closely, it is the source from the smell of decay she has caught on earlier.

Its body is bloody. On its head a horn in nesting through it. She bets it must be off the moose.

Dropping the moose's leg, Amethyst climbs up to the hill where the dead wolf lies. She takes a closer look to notice that it is not just any wolf, but a direwolf. Its babies are crawling around their dead mother, wailing softly wishing for her never returning life.

Poor creatures.

Instead of the need of blood lust she feels, Amethyst actually feels sorry for them. Such young and innocent things. They will not survive without their mother. They will be starving to death, if wild animals from this forest does not get to them first.

Five white cubs. She can take care of them, she concludes.