She woke up screaming again.
She'd woken herself up screaming for the past few weeks. Screaming and thrashing wildly. Not every night, but too often.
This night, she dreamed Moondancer was chasing her through the woods - not the Moondancer she'd known, but angry, bitter, filled with vengeance and loathing and desperate to inflict on her mistress what Cate herself hadn't been able to stop.
Cate couldn't outrun the direwolf, and she was pinned to the forest floor as Moondancer began ripping her throat into ribbons.
It wasn't always Moondancer. Sometimes she dreamed it was Joffrey, or Cersei, or the Kingslayer, or all three dragging her as she tried to flee through the Trident. One night, she'd even dreamed of the Mad King, and of the night he burned her uncle - only this time it was her in the suit, strung up and boiled alive in her own armor.
And all she could do, every time, was scream.
Well, except now. Now, she was wide awake. At least nothing could harm her while she was awake.
Cate stared up from her bed at the sky. The windows were blown wide open, and salt air drifted through on a warm breeze. She closed her eyes and inhaled, and then made up her mind.
She grabbed a robe, a lit candle, and slipped barefoot out the door.
She'd memorized the path to the garden already. The few guards patrolling the halls ignored her as she pattered past them, and soon she stood before the gates.
A single push was all it took to slide them open. The paved roads felt cool under her feet, and the distant crashing of waves on the cliff side below beat a steady rhythm that she followed to the wall.
Cate just stood there, staring out at the sea. Tonight it was midnight black, and the moon was an even half. Somewhere to her left, a sliver of the city jutted out against the horizon.
She didn't budge, not even when she heard slippered footsteps on the walkway approaching her.
Cate was aware, of course. She stood by the wall, eyes fixed on the moon as she focused on breathing steady. In. Out. In. Out.
The woman who'd approached her - must be a woman, judging by the light footfall, Cate decided - stood five paces away, silent and observing her. Even with the distance, Cate could feel the other's eyes on her back. The stare could burn a hole through her nightclothes.
"It's lovely out tonight," Myrcella finally spoke.
Cate exhaled slowly, nodding up at the sky.
The princess closed the space between them in the five paces Cate had guessed. The two stared out over the wall.
"I couldn't sleep," Cate admitted in a voice hoarse from screaming.
"Me neither," Myrcella confided. "I don't think I've had a good night's sleep since I was ten."
"I used to open my windows back home when I couldn't sleep," Cate said, smiling a bit at the memory. "My chambers overlooked the glass gardens. I'd throw open the shutters and look at the winter roses."
"Wasn't it cold?"
"Winterfell's actually so warm it gets stuffy. I liked the cold, and the snow rushing in through my windows."
Myrcella grimaced playfully. "You must hate the heat here."
Cate considered for a moment. "I don't hate it. It's just … it's different. Not like I'm used to."
Something in Myrcella's face shifted, and for a moment in the dim moonlight Cate thought she looked sad. Neither said anything. High above them, the King's Crown, the Crone's Lantern, and the Ice Dragon painted the night sky.
"I should go back inside," Cate said softly. Myrcella didn't respond, but Cate saw her nod from her peripheral vision. And as she walked away, she could've sworn she felt Myrcella's gaze on her.
I'd like to thank all of you who care about Cate enough to yell at me via the comments on her behalf! No need to worry though - I'm always five chapters ahead of the reader, and I've got some big plans for our girl ;).
