AMINA

Amina sat in the maegi's tent, across from the dark-skinned woman. She prayed the gods would have answers for her. The thing she'd noticed first upon entering were the books, piles and piles of them. The second was the luxury, crystals and tapestries and scented candles. Some was surely taken from her former master's manse when the seer was freed. But the woman sat comfortably amongst it as if it were something she was used to.

"The green dreams come as they will, and often with symbols and sounds I can hardly explain," Kaeshai told her. "But I have studied the books of old Valyria, the blood magic of the maegis, the stories of the Undying, and with the spellsingers of Asshai. The Masters of Astapor may have been cruel, but they spared no expense to satiate their appetites."

"You speak the Common Tongue impeccably," Amina noted. Perhaps it came with training, surely one must speak many languages to be taught by so many people.

Kaeshai smiled softly. "My mother was from your lands. A village near Oldcastle, if I remember correctly." Amina recognized the seat of House Locke but had never been there herself. "She was a child when her father could not pay his debts, and she was sold to a slaver from the Three Sisters. My father bought her freedom in Tyrosh, but she died when I was a girl." She did not offer any explanation as to how she had found herself in chains, so Amina did not press.

"In the House of the Undying, I saw things I can't explain," Amina said to explain the reason for her visit. "But one such memory still haunts me. I saw my husband's death, and it was familiar. I need to know how it happens, I must to stop it."

Kaeshai shifted in her seat, her springy brown curls bouncing around her face as she did. "It's best I do not see his death in a green dream, for those are inevitable. The House of the Undying was made of magic, and magic has a mind of its own. Perhaps it only showed your fears, not your futures. But I cannot say for certain, nor can I tell your husband's fate. I cannot look into a man's future without a drop of his blood, and you cannot bring it to me in a dragon dream."

The girl held out a hand, and beckoned Amina forward. "But perhaps your future will give you some of the answers you seek." Amina placed her hand in Kaeshai's. The girl looked at her palm for a moment, before reaching for a needle. "I offered your sister this service, but she said no. Perhaps it is wise. Magic was not meant for mortal hands."

"I am not doing this for me, I am doing it for him," Amina said firmly. "I must know."

Kaeshai wasted no time in pressing the needle into Amina's finger. She watched the blood well up, one red drop. Then the seer swiped her own finger across it, swiped the blood across her forehead and closed her eyes. For a moment, nothing happened, then Kaeshai's eyes opened. Only they weren't brown, they were white and unseeing. Her head twitched and her eyes went back and forth. She was looking at something far outside the confines of the tent.

"Blood on grey," Kaeshai whispered. "The golden hand will push through the shadows." Her head turned unnaturally to the other side. "No, don't go into the caves." Amina stared, unsure whether or not to interrupt. "Beware the mummer's dragon." The seer's face contorted in pain. "White, and red, red, red." The blood on her forehead had dried, and tears were welling up in her unseeing eyes. "The light will save him." She pressed her fingers to her eyes and let out a cry. "The light."

Kaeshai collapsed, leaning back in the chair, head falling limp on one shoulder. It was several long minutes before she came back to herself. When Kaeshai looked at Amina, she seemed unsettled. "Your future moves like shifting sands, there and gone."

"Did you see my husband?" Amina asked, undeterred from her goal. "Did you see Robb?"

"I cannot say, nothing is right. There is a burning light, it blinds me." Kaeshai looked to her books, and Amina knew the look in her eye. She had learned something, but it wasn't a way to save Robb. Unless...

"You said the light would save him. Save who? What light?"

"Not Robb, no, another. I can't explain, the light was blinding. You must go, be with your sister, you need her. I will rest." Amina had never seen the girl like this. When she brought green dreams to Daenerys, she was calm and collected, offering up interpretations and theories. This Kaeshai was frenetic, and Amina wasn't sure if the girl was frightened or ecstatic.

But Amina did as she was told and left the woman's tent with far more questions than answers.


She hovered at the tent flaps, looking out over the camp. It was so familiar; all she'd seen this past year was one war camp after another. Yet at the same time, it was so different, so foreign. There were no banners, and she could only understand the languages spoken half the time. Even the smells were strange, though Amina had come to enjoy some of the foods that made them.

"You look sad," Daenerys said. Amina glanced toward her sister, who patted the empty space beside her on the bed. When Amina sat, Dany began to braid her hair. "Irri taught me this style, it will look good on you, especially with your gift."

Amina tried to resist her curiosity, but ultimately it got the better of her. "My gift?"

"When you fought in battle with the Northmen, you borrowed armor, correct?" Dany asked. Amina attempted to nod, but her sister tugged softly on her hair to keep her head in place. "Armor made for men, for squires. Mismatched pieces, yes?"

Amina recalled the suit she'd fashioned for herself with Dacey Mormont's help. The woman was a head taller than Amina but had known all the best people to ask for spare armament. Dacey had even hid the finished product among her own things for future battles. "It was a bit of a patchwork," she admitted.

"I thought you might like to have armor of your own. One of the men we freed in Astapor is a smith; he was elated to craft a suit of your own. Arstan oversaw it, to make sure it looked right and would keep you safe."

Amina imagined what she might look like in a suit of armor crafted for a queen. Silver and shining with a dragon on the breastplate. "Thank you, that sounds beautiful."

"But you don't want it?" Daenerys finished, sounding disappointed. They had both tried so hard to carve a place in each other's lives; neither knew exactly how to have a sister. Dany was not Arya or Sansa, and Amina was not Irri or Jhiqui. Still, Daenerys was trying, and under normal circumstances Amina would have loved it.

She turned to face her sister, hand going instinctively to her stomach. Amina hadn't told anyone, not even Robb. But Daenerys was her sister. "I've been ill for days, and my moon blood hasn't come."

Daenerys eyes grew wide and then she grinned. She tackled Amina into the pillows. "Oh, Mina, that's wonderful news. It's a boy, I'm sure it's a boy." Dany lay her head on Amina's shoulder and played with her hair. "Will you have to name him some terrible Northern name?" She teased.

"Eddard if it's a boy," Amina said quietly. "Robb would like that."

Daenerys sat up and hovered over her sister, she was frowning, and it made her look older than her years. "You love him, don't you?" Amina bit her lip and nodded. "Then why do you look as if your heart is breaking?"

She was quiet for a long time, not sure if she trusted herself to speak. "There was a door in the house of the Undying," she said finally. "Behind it a man with a wolf's head sewn onto his shoulders. Do you remember?"

"The feast of corpses," Dany recalled. In her horror, Amina had forgotten the others. Rows and rows of bodies and tables of rotten food and spilled wine. It felt as if she had remembered another important detail, and still she was no closer to an answer.

"That man was Robb, and every night since, I've dreamt of his death a hundred ways. It's why I went to the seer, I hoped she could tell me how to save him, but Kaeshai left me with more questions than answers."

Rhaegal landed on the pillow beside Amina's head, and picked up her braid as if it were a fish. She rolled over to get away and he nipped at her neck instead. Despite herself, Amina smiled. "They know our feelings," Daenerys said, "and they offer comfort in their own way." Dany held out a hand to scratch Rhaegal's forehead. "The Gods have tested us, and they will continue to work their will. We may curse them, but in the end, we will be stronger for it."

The silver-haired queen leaned down to press a kiss to Amina's forehead. "I'll call for Arstan, and he'll tell us stories. For tonight we can imagine a world in which we are not the ones they write songs about, but the ones who sing them."

Amina gave a smile she hoped was convincing, and Daenerys stepped outside. Amina dropped her head against the pillow and let out a tiny sigh. If only they were the singers with no cares to weigh them down. But they were not, and the weight on Amina's shoulders felt as if it might drown her.


The Karstark men had fled in search of the Kingslayer at the behest of their lord. Lord Rickard himself had not waited for justice in the form of Jaime Lannister. He had avenged the deaths of his sons his own way. The murdered bodies of Tion Frey and Willem Lannister were proof of that. They'd been boys, not much older than Bran and Rickon. But the worst was that Lord Karstark had betrayed Robb for his vengeance. He had lost his head for that.

Now there were even less men in their camp, and another enemy made in the new Lord Karstark. There had been no other choice, and still it was another dagger to the heart. Another league between themselves and Winterfell. They were oh so far from home.

Amina was leaning against the heart tree when Robb found her. He sat beside her and took her hand. She smiled softly but knew it didn't reach her eyes. "I thought I might find you here."

"I'm with child," she said, quietly and without fanfare. Robb's eyes lit up, his hand went to her stomach and he looked at her as if she were glowing. For a moment Amina felt that love, and it filled every dark corner of her soul. Then she recalled why she had come to the Godswood instead of Robb, and her happiness was gone once more. "It's good it happened so fast. A king needs an heir."

Robb was worried about her; she could see it in his eyes. But since their wedding night he'd given her space to breath. For once, she wished he would smother her. "I want you to be happy," he said. "About this, about us. Tell me what you need."

She shook her head. "When this first began, I was fearless. Even when Ned died, it did not seem real. We were going to avenge him; we were going to win. But then Renly was killed by his own brother...I've never been as terrified as I was in those days at Bitterbridge. All I could think was what if you were next?"

"I wish that I..." She trailed off. What was the point in wishing for the impossible? You could not fall out of love with someone, and you could not force them to fall out of love with you. She had tried to do both, and never once succeeded. Amina put her hand on Robb's cheek. "I love you, Robb. No matter what happens, know that."

Robb took her hand and kissed her palm. "When I dreamed of you saying those words, you always had a smile on your face."

"You make me happy; I swear it. It is the rest of the world that's drowning me." It's the fear of losing you that's holding me down. She laid her head on his shoulder and intertwined her fingers with his.

"My sister will be marching to Pentos soon with an army, a pity we have no ships to bring her to us," she said with a sigh. "She tells me the Free Cities are beautiful, I'd like to see them. I suppose I will soon. I wish you could go with me. We'd live in a home by the sea and raise our sons and never dream of crowns or thrones again."

"You once told me a ruler's place is among his people," Robb said. "Even if we throw our crowns into the sea, it will not change who we are. You will always be a dragon and I will always be a wolf, and we made our choice."

"Robb, I saw you die," Amina said bluntly. He was silent. "I don't know when, and I don't know how. But I have the terrible feeling it will come sooner than either of us are prepared for." She turned toward him. "If I lose you..."

"You will still be a queen," he reminded her. "You are Amina Stark and the blood of a dynasty flows through your veins, and you do not need me to be great."

Daenerys had said the same, and still those words made no difference. "But I want you. And I don't want to find out what I am without you. Promise me that if we live, we live together, and if we die it's the same."

Robb looked at her for a long time before he nodded. "Then we will have to live."