Ashara had discarded Lemore, the moment that she had stepped foot onto the ship. They were leaving behind the past, and the King was determined that from Valyria they would move onward. She still harboured doubts about this, but the King was determined and Ashara had learned early on that when the King set his mind to something, he would never be swayed from it.
He got that from both his parents.
Elia…thinking of Elia didn't hurt as much as it once had done. It was a dull ache now rather than raw pain. But still. Ashara hoped that her old friend didn't mind that she saw Aegon as her son now. She hoped….
Ashara shook her head and blinked. The fog had come on heavy now.
"Your Grace?" She called, when she realised that she couldn't see the King.
She looked around and realised that she couldn't see Arthur either. "Arthur?!" She called out. There was no reply.
Ashara started to feel panic rise within her. She tried to push it down, but it refused to go. She took a deep breath and then continued walking. She knew where they had to meet. She would go there and wait.
The fog was thick around her. How had that happened? She hadn't seen it descend. But now it was everywhere. Wherever she turned the fog was there, waiting.
Before she could call out, another voice spoke, a voice she hadn't heard in years.
"You were never scared of the dark before."
Ashara whirled around and found herself face to face with her oldest friend. "Your Highness!" She exclaimed. She curtseyed. "How?"
Elia, dressed in the red and black of House Targaryen, looked beautiful. She smiled sadly. "This place does odd things."
Ashara nodded. "I…do…you, do you want to see the King?"
Elia surprised her by shaking her head. "No, Ashara, I will see my son later. No, I am here for you."
"For me?" Ashara asked surprised.
"Yes." Elia said, her friend walked forward and Ashara sighed when she felt her friend's touch.
"You have been allowing guilt to eat away at you for too long." Elia said.
"I have?" Ashara whispered, it came out as a question, but it wasn't. She knew she had.
"You have." Elia confirmed, nodding her head. "You need not feel guilty that you survived whilst I died. I know that we promised one another when we were girls that it would not be like that, but, life does not always give us what we want."
Ashara snorted. Life had not given Elia anything of what she had wanted. Apart from her children.
"I am sorry." Ashara said then.
"What for?" Elia asked, frowning.
"I could not save Rhaenys." Ashara said. Rhaenys, the girl had been sweet and Ashara had loved her fiercely. She had had Elia's temperament and colouring and had been almost entirely Dornish apart from her eyes.
Elia exhaled. "Rhaenys was fated to die."
Ashara frowned. "What do you mean?"
Elia shook her head. "It does not matter, what matters is that you live in the present. Do you understand me? Live in the present, for your sake."
Ashara wondered what her friend had meant about Rhaenys being fated to die, but she nodded all the same. "I will, I promise."
"And another thing," Elia said then. "Do not trust Doran."
Ashara frowned. "Why?" Why should she not trust Doran, the man was Prince of Dorne and Aegon's uncle.
Elia sighed. "Because he is a man after our mother's heart and nothing more."
"What do you mean?" Ashara asked.
"Ashara?" A voice asked, Ashara turned and saw Arthur standing there. "Who were you speaking to?" Her brother asked.
"I…" Ashara turned around to let Arthur see Elia and found her gone. She frowned. Elia had been right there, hadn't she?
