Yin Tar
It was funny, really. After travelling thousands of miles, surviving dozens of battles, destroying an ancient weirwood and killing an ancient god in the heart of the Lengi jungle, she hadn't been quite sure what to expect upon their arrival. The west had always been an odd place, and that was when the eight millennia time gap wasn't even brought into consideration. A small part of her had thought that they might have been attacked on sight; an even smaller part had wondered whether they might be worshipped as deities. As such, the entire room silently staring slack-jawed seemed a decent compromise.
'Nissa Nissa?' One said incredulously, his violet eyes wide. 'From the songs, and the stories, and the…' He trailed off, clearly needing a moment to comprehend what he'd been told.
'The very same.' Nissa smiled. There is much that cannot be gained by force, that can easily be gained with kind words and a genuine smile, she'd told Yin once, advice that she clearly meant to adhere to herself. 'These are my companions Eldric, Yin Tar, and Hyrkoon.'
Yin nodded by way of greeting, not wanting to inadvertently insult their hosts within minutes of arrival.
'Incredible, absolutely fucking incredible,' said the man who'd spoken before. 'I, I read the stories as a child, but never thought them to be true.'
'Are those names meant to mean anything to me?' asked a massive man sat on the steps near an enormous chair.
'The stories of the long night spoke of a hero, Robert,' replied the man. 'He had a number of names—Eldric Shadowchaser, Yin Tar, Hyrkoon the Hero, Neferion—but was known most commonly as Azor Ahai. The Prince that was Promised. To think that they're all different people though—' He laughed. 'Incredible!'
'How do we know you're telling the truth?' another asked. 'For all we know, you're nothing but a bunch of charlatans seeking fame or fortune—why should we trust you?'
Nissa nodded. 'A valid concern, to be sure, but ultimately a trifling one. Then again, all concerns are trifling in comparison to the enemy we face. I trust you have seen them?'
The man nodded, wariness and fear entering his sorrowful grey eyes.
'I could speak of their skin,' Nissa continued, 'like white leather stretched over bone. I could speak of their eyes, glowing blue in the dark of night. I could speak of their skill with blades, or their near-impossibility to best in combat.' She sighed. 'But I shall merely mention their deathly aura: how when you see one, you feel as though you will never be warm again.'
By the Lion, it feels like a bloody age since I've heard Nissa make one of her famous speeches.
The room was silent for a moment before it was broken by a young redhead. 'Seven Hells. You really have seen them.'
'More than that,' Yin said, unable to resist. 'We've defeated them.' Her face split into a grin as all eyes fixed on her. 'And if we work together, we can do so again.'
Nissa
'I suspect that I know what you're all wanting to hear.' It was a simple statement, but it succeeded in bringing the gaze of everyone in the room straight to her.
Following the initial meeting, a servant had shown them to quarters, where they could wash, rest, and prepare for what would undoubtedly be a long evening. The queen had supplied her with clothes, and after so long travelling, Nissa had been able to close her eyes for a moment and pretend that she was still a princess in her father's palace. Any moment now, Azor will enter the room and we can dance throughout the night. Just like we used to. She'd had to shake herself out of her fantasy before meeting with the others as they made their way down to the hall.
The meal had initially passed without issue—small talk had been made, wine had been drunk, and Nissa believed herself to have made tangible progress in learning the never-ending list of names. But as the dishes were being cleared, she could see that the side-eyed stares that had been directed at her and her companions were becoming more frequent.
So there she was, ready to tell a story that had been lost to the world for thousands of years.
'I was born over eight-thousand years ago to Megor Medai, king of a large territory in Asshai. When I was eighteen, my father received a delegation from our eastern border—a local warlord who'd been raiding since before my birth had died, and his son wished to make peace, once and for all. This son was called Azor Ahai.'
Nissa could see the wheels turning in the heads of those surrounding her, as though a puzzle was slowly being finished before their eyes.
'He and my father got on remarkably well,' she continued, 'and within a few months he and I were betrothed. It was a marriage of political convenience, of course, but I wasn't aware of the extent until we entered the marriage bed. You see, he told me that I wasn't his first wife, but rather his third. The first had been a seafarer with whom he'd sailed for a few years before they eventually grew to hate each other; the second, a noblewoman that his father had arranged his marriage to. He rarely mentioned her—even to this day, I do not know her name, only that her family's crest had been a lion. She died soon after their union, and that, according to him, had been when the dreams had started.
'I would appear to him as he slept, beckoning him closer and warning him of the wars to come. His desire for peace with my father had been genuine, but upon seeing me in the flesh, he knew that there were greater plans for him to come. Soon after our marriage, I found myself with child.'
'Seven Hells!' The exclamation came from the man who'd introduced himself as Egg, who was now sat with a peculiar grin on his face, while the behemoth next to him gave him a sharp clout round the back of the head.
'Is something the matter?'
'Your story, I…I've realised something.'
'Yes?' By R'hllor, has he already guessed it?
'The old texts say that Azor Ahai tried to forge Lightbringer three times, tempering it first in water, then in the blood of the lion, and then finally succeeding when he pierced your heart with it.'
Yes, I think he may have figured it out.
'What are you saying, Egg?' the man who'd just hit him asked.
'Lightbringer isn't a sword—it's their child! The seafarer had been the water, the noblewoman was the lion, and Nissa was, well, Nissa.'
'That's correct. As I was saying, I was with child. A few moons before I was due to give birth, however, my father's territory came under attack from the north. We were not a rich nation, but my father knew that we alone would not survive the onslaught and so hired mercenaries to protect our land. That is how I met Yin Tar and Hyrkoon, with Eldric having been the captain of the palace guard.' Nissa paused for a moment, the sounds of clashing steel and pained screams coming unbidden to her mind. 'We lost, and rather badly at that—my father's head was put on a spike outside the city walls and the palace was burnt until it was naught but ashes. The five of us were able to escape, but knew that if we stayed where we were, we'd be killed.
'So we went west—that was what Azor's dreams had been telling him to do, and we had no better alternative. Our son was born, named for his father, and over the next fifteen years we saw the entire world, never stopping for long, always knowing that we had a specific destination in mind. Azor's dreams continued all the while. I'd often ask him why we didn't go straight there, and he'd always reply with the same answer—"We'll get there when we're supposed to." I think he truly believed that to his core.' She took a sip of wine and allowed everyone to process what she'd just said.
'We got there a week before the final battle would eventually begin, finding ourselves in the court of Brandon Stark at Winter's Hold. They'd not been idle—they knew the threat that the enemy posed and had prepared more than adequately. Every man, woman, and child had obsidian weapons and the training to use them; what had apparently once been a middling keep was now one of the most formidable fortresses in the known world; there were supply lines up and down the continent, and there was the largest alliance the world had ever seen: Westerners, Easterners, Southerners and Northerners, men, women, children, kings, peasants, clansmen, giants, children of the forest—all marching in lockstep, united against a common enemy.
'When the time to fight came, I had thought we all knew the plan—we would simply fight in the great army, sticking together and, if it came to it, dying together. But the night before, Azor had had a dream, and when it came time for the fight he was nowhere to be seen. Nor was Hyrkoon, nor our son.'
Nissa gave a slight nod to her quiet companion, who cleared his throat. She knew he felt no enjoyment in speaking in front of strangers but also knew that it had to be him to tell this part of the story.
'We set off at dawn, without waking the others. They meant to kill the leader and cut the puppet strings for the rest of the creatures. My role was clear—I was to wait until he signalled me before loosing any arrows, and not before. It was strange, but by then I'd learnt to trust his eccentricities with my life. We found the leader; that terrible beast with the crown of horns.' A shadow seemed to pass over his eyes and he took a breath before continuing. 'I was able to distract the creature long enough for the two of them to briefly gain the advantage, but it was all for nothing. It…it got Azor, plunging its blade through his belly. At that moment, I truly believed that we'd lost.' He chuckled mirthlessly. 'Then again, I shouldn't have underestimated Azor—he still lived, and with his last breath he drove his sword through the creature's knee and give a mighty shout—"one arrow," he bellowed, before falling for the last time.
'Azor's son took up his father's sword, and I let loose one arrow, just as I'd been ordered. The creature was quick enough to dodge, but that mattered not, for by the time he was able to continue the fight with Azor's son, he had a sword in his heart. The war was won.' Hyrkoon nodded to Nissa, who drained the last of her wine.
'With Azor gone we were aimless,' she said. 'For so long we'd followed him, and now that he was no longer there none of us had a clue what to do. Eldric and I returned to Asshai, where the shadow was beginning to settle. Yin went to Yi-Ti and Hyrkoon to Leng—it was too painful to stay in the west, and when we tried to live as we used to, it made his absence all the more noticeable. But my son…I tried to get him to come with us, but he said he had to stay where he was. He'd started to have dreams too, you see, and he said that his job was not over quite yet. There is a song that is yet to be written, mother. None shall hear it for eons, but its composition will begin with me. That's what he told me as my ship left for the east, and I never saw him again.' She wiped the tears from her eyes. 'I received a letter many years later with news that he'd married Brandon's daughter, and that she'd born him twins. At the bottom of the letter, below even his name, there was one more note. The song has begun.
'I had a dream that night of a dragon and a wolf dancing around a golden crown, and then…well, then I died. I awoke a few moons ago, and here I am.'
The room was silent for a moment before frenzied whispers began, everyone trying to gain some semblance of comprehension regarding what they'd just been told.
Everyone, save one.
The man who'd earlier asked if they could be trusted, who'd subsequently introduced himself as Eddard Stark, was sat silently, staring into space as though the hubbub around him was a thousand leagues away. Slowly, his gaze moved to her eyes, and when he spoke at last his voice was raspy and horror-filled.
'It's Jon…the song…by the gods, it's Jon.'
As he approached the gate of the Dreadfort, the man was filled with the kind of apprehension that had only plagued him a few times in his life—this was the first time that the cause for such anxiety had not been flame or steel.
The guard straightened his back upon seeing him approach, his axe grasped tightly in his hand as opposed to leaning against the wall as it had been a moment ago. 'State your business!' he shouted. It wasn't the accent he'd heard from local northerners—with the furs, and the shining blade of bone, it would appear that this man was one of those wildlings he'd heard about.
'Jon Snow.' His voice was gravelly from disuse, but he was certain the man had heard him.
'What?'
'Jon Snow.'
'Aye, what about him?' The guard asked.
'I must see him.'
The guard's brow furrowed. 'You can't just walk in here and see the leader immediately.'
'I'm happy to wait. But I beg of you, it is vital that I see Jon Snow. Send a messenger, or serving wench, or whatever, but I must see him.'
The guard scoffed, yellow teeth briefly visible behind his tangled beard. 'Not bloody likely.'
'He'll want to see me. Please, send a messenger. Tell him…tell him that I have valuable information regarding the enemy he faces.'
The guard's demeanour seemed to change, and he gave a slow nod. 'I…I'll do my best.' He called over to a servant and began to give orders.
Well, that certainly could've gone worse.
Azor Ahai could only hope that Jon Snow was a reasonable man.
After all, they had work to do.
A/N: Another chapter! I already get the vibe that people might hate this one, but oh well. Hope you enjoy it. Azor has finally arrived!
I wrote this with an absolutely lethal hangover, so apologies if the standard of the writing isn't quite up to scratch or whatever.
Cheers, and see you next time,
-Kinginthenorth1 xox
Force Smuggler: Oh dear indeed.
kingmanaena: Cheers!
hawk. : Thank you! Glad you're enjoying it
1962strat: Haha yeah it would be pretty sick
