A Son of Ice and Fire

Chapter 10: Family comes first

Astrid

'Come on brother. You promised. Scared of being beaten by a girl," I teased.

"I would love to, Astrid, but I have to go see Heather, apparently it's urgent." I saw Finn's eyes shifting uncomfortably. He tried to sidestep me, but I grabbed his arm and spun him to face me.

"Don't worry, she's fine. She told me it could wait until after training," His agitated demeanour eased a little, "And you did promise me you know."

"I know, I know, but…"

"But nothing, your lordship, you're not getting out of this one," I chuckled

"Are you sure Heather's fine?"

"She's in the courtyard waiting for us, guess she wanted to watch see you in action."

"I haven't trained as much since she's been here, at least go a bit easy on me. You don't want to show me up, now do you?"

"I'm not promising anything," I giggled.

Father wouldn't teach me how to fight, but Finn just passed on everything Father taught him onto me. It wasn't until Father caught us sneaking off to the creek to train that he first let me hold a weapon inside the castle. I was eleven the first time I was put into training with the others. The look on their faces when I walked in carrying my axe. Priceless. Only topped by the look they had after I beat them hands down. I trained with Finn almost every day for years and years after that. He was taller and stronger, but I was faster. It took time, and lots of training but as I grew older, I grew better, soon Finn couldn't even beat me. Even before Heather, Finn had grown distant, He needed this as much as I did, even if he would be the last person to admit that.

As we reached the courtyard, it seemed half the castle had decided to come and watch. Heather was stood smiling down at us next to father and mother, and she called to us as we approached,

"Good luck Astrid. Don't go easy on him," she teased playfully.

"Oh, I'm not planning on it," I chuckled back.

"Take her down Finn," she cheered, throwing her arm forward like throwing a punch. Finn picked up a sparring sword off of the rack,
"Oh no, you're not getting away that easily brother, drop it now."

"You're not serious, Ast."

"For old time's sake, bring it."

Throwing the blunt sword to the side, Finn unsheathed the longsword at his waist. I pulled the dual-edged axe off of my back and the cheering began.

We began circling each other, weapons outstretched. I made the first move, a lunge down to his left. He blocked it, flicking his sword over to the right and countering. Another clash of metal followed, as blades locked. I held him there, but his height and strength were slowly breaking the bond. As the force became too large, I span away, narrowly avoiding the blade as it slashed into the dirt. We circled each other again. He wiped his hair from his eyes and I saw the look of determination in his eyes. Two quick slashes hit first the blade, then the handle leaving a clear indent in the wood of my axe. I regained my balance, dodging to the side of two more of his lunges and hitting his blade with a strong blow, buckling the metal. Two more blows pushed Finn further back, knocking him to the floor. His sword now a jagged mess, not the fine curved blade it previously was. I was about to deal one final blow, sweeping the sword from his hands and rendering the fight over, but then I looked up to see Heather yelling to Finn to get back up. I can't do this. I stepped back, allowing him to get to his feet, his face now red and flustered. He slid to the side, picking up the sparring sword and twirling it in his wrist to grasp the weight of the blade. He came at me again, both swords swinging rhythmically. I brushed off two, three, four swipes, but the fifth knocked me off balance, nearly losing grip of the axe. The sixth blow wiped the weapon clean out my hands. I dropped to the floor, Finn's sword at my neck. His expression, locked in concentration, now relaxed and he dropped his blades to the ground. We were both sweating, both exhausted but he just looked at me and smiled. I grabbed his outstretched arm, pulling me to my feet. He pulled me in and hugged me, whispering in my ear as he pulled me in closer,

"Thank you."

I heard the cheering from the 'crowd' as we broke off and I collected my axe. Both our weapons are completely dull and battered but it was worth it. The applauding from mother and Heather, and the deep, weighty clap of father. Finn was lost in that brief moment, before I saw his eyes flick towards Heather. He picked up his sword, or what was left of it anyway, and we headed up the steps towards the gathering of people. As we reached the top, the crowd has dissipated until it was just our parents and Heather watching on.

"Magnificent. Magnificent." Father was just standing there smiling and clapping.

"You two scare me half to death, you do know that." Mother was also clapping but her face showed she was more relieved than anything. I couldn't blame her after all the cuts and scrapes we've had in the past.

"Unlucky Astrid, I thought you had him for a second," Heather added, running up and hugging Finn

"It was a close one, looks like I need to keep up with my training if I want to beat him next time.," I replied. I know Finn needed this one but losing just isn't something I do lightly, or by choice.

"Heather, you said it was urgent. Is everything okay?" Finn asked, "I heard you needed to speak to me."

"You don't need to look like that Finn," Heather chuckled, "No-one's died or anything, I actually have good news, mother's coming for a visit."

"Your mother?" Father exclaimed.

"I hope that's okay. That is okay isn't it?" Heather pleaded.

"Of course, dear, she is always welcome here. Do you know when she is coming?" Father smiled at her and I saw the glow in Heather's eyes.

"I don't really know. The letter was quite odd, unlike mother. It just read,

To my emerald,

His web is closing, but my ship has already set sail,

On stormy seas I will come, you will be back in my arms.

Love, your amethyst.

Do you have any idea what it means? All I can make out is that she's on her way here. Why has she written it so cryptically?"

I saw father look away nervously towards mother, and her place her hand on his back in support, "I have no idea, my dear, maybe she's just that excited to see you."

What is going on here? What do they know, and why won't they tell her?"

I could see that Heather wasn't buying into it either, but I had to speak to my parents alone to get to the bottom of this. "Finn, can you take Heather and prepare a room for her mother when she arrives? I'll come and join you in a moment." I asked calmly.

Heather shot a disapproving glance towards me, but reluctantly took Finn's hand and headed inside, closing the door behind them. I just stood there, staring at them. They must know I know that something is off here.

"Astrid." Father started.

"What's going on dad? Don't lie to me."

"Darling, I would never…" I couldn't break eye contact. Finally it must have been enough to make him crack.

"The truth father, please."

"The truth is I know exactly what that letter means, why it's written like that, and why she chose the words she did. I have known Heather's mother for many years, from before she moved to Volantis. She is in danger. She is scared. She has hidden for so long and know she is on the run again. I have no doubt, Varys is the one she is afraid of. The spider has hunted her for so many years, he must have finally found her. All I can hope is that she can get here safe, and soon, only then can we help her. And Heather, Astrid," place his hands on my shoulders and looked at me with sorrow in his eyes, "you can not tell her. You can't"

"She deserves to know."

"Heather is happy. This will do nothing but panic her. She will be no use to her mother or anyone if she packs up and leaves to find her. Promise me you'll keep her in the dark until her mother arrives."

"But father…"

"Astrid please."

"Okay I promise."

The day was nearly over, and I had retired to my quarters for the night and changed in my light blue bed clothes, it was always my colour. Only then did I hear the knock at the door. A soft gentle knock, who the hell could that be? I opened the door to find Heather. She was stood there in an all green night gown, perfectly matching her eyes.

"Heather, what's up?"

"I'm sorry, I just needed someone to talk to."

"Don't apologise, I'll always be here for you."

"Thank you for earlier, you didn't have to do that, but I couldn't be more grateful that you did."

"Did what?" I replied with a straight face. Only failing that halfway through and grinning instead, even I could tell that was not convincing in the slightest.

"I know you threw that duel Astrid. I've been watching you train for a month now. You are far better than Finn. I wish I had someone that would do that for me. I know you Astrid, I hope I can trust you, please tell me what's going on."

"Is this about that letter?"

"Mother's in trouble, isn't she Astrid?"

"Heather, I…"

"Please Astrid, I saw that look you had earlier. I know something is wrong. Please tell me the truth."

"Heather. You can trust me. You know that don't you?" I walked slowly up to her, grabbing her hand. She looked at me for a moment then nodded. "I know it has been tough you moving, but we really love having you here. My parents like you, my brother really likes you and I, well I need you here Heather. All I'm saying is, don't throw all this away and make a rash decision. Your mother wouldn't want that."

Heather grasped my hands tighter. "I know Astrid, I've been alone all of my life, always on the run. I never dreamed I would have found anything like this. You've all treated me so well and the last thing I want to do is hurt you. But without her, I wouldn't be here. Tell me what is happening. Please."

"I asked father, and he didn't tell me much. Just mentioned that the person your mother was afraid of was someone called Varys and that he had found her."

"WHY CAN'T HE JUST LEAVE US ALONE. WILL HE NEVER LET US BE?" She was physically shaking at this point. This woman who was always so strong, so calm and composed was breaking down. I just pulled her in to me and held her there. Her head tucked into my chest as she sobbed. I wrapped my arms around her telling her everything will be all be okay. She closed her eyes and collapsed to the floor as I held her. She just laid there in my arms. What has made her this afraid?

"Astrid, can you promise me something?" Heather whimpered

"Anything. Just name it."

"Promise me Astrid. Don't let the King kill my mother."