A long line, straight up and down. Branching upward on each side from the middle of it were two smaller lines. It looked like a Y with a line extending up the middle, I thought. I knew the symbol that appeared to me had to be a rune. I had seen one like it on our house sigil, only it was upside down. Over the last few days, I found myself etching the rune on all my lessons, carving it in the dirt with sticks, even just tracing it on the back of my hand. It was a sign, I was sure. And it entranced me.

"Erylla." Robar's voice brought me back to the present. He sat across from me, watching me intently. We were in the castle study, where all our books and scrolls resided. I had hoped to find the meaning of the symbol in one of these rune ledgers. Focusing my eyes on something other than letters on a page made me realize how weary and worn they were. "What are you studying so keenly?" He asked with an amused expression.

I smiled and closed the book I had been staring at. "I was just hoping to learn a little about our castle history." My neck was sore from craning over the table. I rolled my head around to loosen it up and rubbed at the nape of my neck. "How is your day?"

"Surely you mean how was your day. It is night now, sister." He stood and offered his hand to me. "You were late to dinner; I came to look for you."

"Oh." My face turned hot and my sentence came out in a fluster. "I apologize. I did not mean for father to wait on me."

"I wouldn't worry. He has been very understanding of our mistakes recently." Robar stated as he led me out of the study. He did not need to state why. Father was generally very strict and unyielding. Since Waymar's disappearance- almost certain death, he had been quite lenient towards us. It was his own way to help us work through our own mourning and I was thankful for that. Now that it appeared my madness had left, I'm not sure how much longer he would tolerate my errors.

"I have some interesting news for you." Robar changed the subject brightly. Interested, I turned to look at him. He never really spoke so jovially. "The King is making his way up from King's Landing on his way towards Winterfell. He left just a week ago. I thought I might be able to persuade Father to meet the party on their way past the Trident."

The thought sparked my attention as well. I had never seen the royal family before and it would be an exciting adventure to finally leave Runestone and travel further than Gulltown. A lively breath escaped me and Robar grinned, "I haven't seen you so thrilled in years. You'll help me convince him, then?"

I could hardly conceal my smile as we entered Father's solar. His face perked in surprise, moved by my positivity. "Have you had a good day, Erylla?"

I took my seat and we were served by our few household servants. "Truth be told, Father, it's been quite a tedious day. Robar told me some interesting news from the capital, though! Is it true? The King is traveling North?"

Father nodded in affirmation. "Oh that sounds wonderful! Can you imagine all the feasts and parties?" Maybe I was overdoing it, but Robar smiled at me slyly. A wistful expression found itself on my face. "I suppose they wouldn't come out of their way for us though. Especially through the mountain pass."

"No, and they shouldn't. They are the royal family on royal business." Father's gruff voice was sensible and no-nonsense.

"Would it be too absurd to go meet the party on the Kingsroad?" Robar asked. "Just for the day or so that they'll be traveling through?"

Father's grey eyes narrowed at Robar, and then he turned his gaze towards me and my hopeful face. He let out an irritable sigh and we knew the facade was over. "Do you know why the King is traveling North?" The thought had never occurred to me. Of course the King must have had important business or else he would have just sent a raven, or perhaps a messenger. He was going to Winterfell, but for what reason? I knew that's where the noble House of Stark resided, but other than that, I didn't know what was so important up there for the King to visit. I glanced towards Robar; he looked about as clueless as I was.

"Our liege lord, and the King's Hand, Jon Arryn has died." I felt my face flush with embarrassment. Dreams of feasts and parties were sullied by the news of death. And of someone so notable. I had heard many tales of Jon Arryn, the father of the Vale. He was wise and loyal and everyone loved him. The rebellion may have been named for King Robert, but Jon Arryn is the one who raised his banners against the Mad King to defend him. Shame coiled in my chest like a vine. I felt foolish and stupid. "We will not be meeting the party as it travels North. King Robert is going to Winterfell to ask the Lord Stark to be the next Hand." Father continued. "We will remain here while Lady Lysa returns to the Vale. We will offer our aid in her time of need. We will also honor Lord Arryn in his time of passing."

I nodded solemnly, staring at the food before me. It had looked so delicious, but now I forgot how hungry I had been. Father let out another breath, softer than before. "When the King journeys South, we will be joining the party down to King's Landing." I glanced up, Robar looked relieved and Andar had a half smile, secretly pleased with the news. "There will be celebrations for the new Hand of the King. And I wouldn't have my children miss it."

"Thank you, Father." Andar said. "Thank you, Father." Robar and I echoed. Our prayers went to the late Jon Arryn, Lady Lysa and their young son that night.

-

Pink and orange hues streaked across the sky. The day was ending; the sun was setting. I had maybe an hour to myself before it would be dark outside. Somehow, the day never felt complete unless I relaxed in the garden for awhile. My fingers stroked the smooth stone in my hands as I walked from the dancing hall to the garden. I had gathered some sea stones from the beach earlier that morning with a thought to make my own runestones. I had thought myself to be clever, making something in honor of my home, but after I had etched the green symbol onto the rock, I realized that it wasn't as interesting as I thought it would be. Still, it was something to hold onto.

I grew tired of memorizing runes and their meanings, and never finding out what the symbol that appeared to me was. I instead started to read more about the history of Runestone. Since before the arrival of the Andals, the Royces have sat at Runestone. Back then, they were called the Bronze Kings, with the Runic Crown. The Andal Artys Arryn defeated the last Bronze King Robar Royce and then the family submitted to the Arryns. Father was always very proud of our family heritage. We were blood of the First Men, who grew to live peacefully with the magical creatures that lived here before us. The Starks were of the First Men, too, I remembered our dinner discussion from a few days ago when the Starks were mentioned. What other noble houses were associated with the First Men? I wondered. The Blackwoods, I think, and the Daynes. Pretty much every noble house of the North. I wondered if that's why Father seemed to know the Stark family so well, even though we were a house of the Vale.

Lost in thought, I suddenly realized I had arrived at the white stump in the garden. I learned more about that too. The First Men worshipped the old gods, and prayed under the pale weirwood trees with blood red leaves. That's what this must have been, I thought. It had looked decayed, but even the live weirwoods were white. From the picture in the book I read, they looked really creepy with their carved faces. Thinking about what the face in this tree must have looked like made me jittery. I shivered to shake the feeling off. Besides the creepy red faces, I thought the history of the old gods was pretty interesting. Most of it had been forgotten with time, but according to the Citadel's research, the trees were the faces of the gods, and there used to be thousands, maybe millions of them covering Westeros before the Andal invasion. While most people consider it to be a bit silly to pray to trees, I could understand the sentiment behind it. It makes sense to honor the land you live on. While the Seven seem to honor people in all walks of life. Wind blew through the garden, tousling my hair and sweeping my skirts. A couple green leaves fell to the warm ground.

I held the gray stone in the palm of my hand. It felt like it meant something. All of it. The cold, the wolf, the swamp, the wooden castle. My dreams. I was so sure. But time had passed and nothing had come of it. I read until my eyes blurred and my head throbbed. I studied what I thought might be important. I learned all these ancient runes that took up space in my empty mind. I became so obssessed with trying to discover what it all meant that I ignored my duties as a young lady. It hurt to admit that maybe they were just dreams. It was interesting to learn so much about the history of my house, but what was the point? I wasn't a maester, nor could I become one. And who needs a wife with such useless knowledge? Reading about how to saddle a horse or build a fire would be more useful, but then again, I would never need to do either of those things either. Tucking my runestone into my sash, I sat down and took my book from beneath my arm. This book was rather small in comparison to what I had been reading more recently. Titled "Before Man, The Children of Westeros", it was the only book I could find in our study that was about magic.

"This read will only be a disappointment to you, child." Maester Helliweg said when he retrieved it for me. "You should be of an age where you know magic does not exist."

"I'm only reading it for history purposes, maester." I responded. "I'm trying to find a symbol.. It wasn't explained in any of our other Runic texts."

"Perhaps I should have a look at it for you?" He offered. I agreed and wrote it down for him on a spare parchment. His eyebrows creased in thought and his eyes narrowed. "Where did you see this?"

"It was one of those books I had been reading last week. I don't recall which." It felt weird to lie to him, he was like a grandfather to me. But if I told him that it came to me in a dream, he would surely convince me that I had made it all up. And that was something I wasn't prepared to hear yet. Not until I exhausted all of my resources.

"And you're sure it wasn't upside down, like this?" He turned the symbol upside down.

"No, it was written this way. I suppose someone could have written it upside down, but that wouldn't make any sense." I scratched at my temple. If he knew what it meant, surely he would know by now.

"It could possibly be an inverted meaning for this rune.. which I believe is a character for purity. Not a good sign. Perhaps its best we don't know what it means." He smiled at me in a playful way.

"I believe you are right. There must be a reason it's impossible to find." I laughed as if we had a secret joke between us. He handed me the book and we continued our day, going separate ways.

I discovered that the Children of the Forest were the first beings that lived on Westeros. They worshipped the weirwood trees and had a lifestyle that was one with nature. The males and females hunted side by side. They had no written language, no recorded history, well there goes the hope of finding my rune. Little is known about them, besides what has been written by the First Men, and then translated by maesters. Eventually, a passage caught my attention.

"Some children had the greensight, a knowledge of prediction, in which the user claims they could dream the future; their own future, the future of friends, people they know, or people they have yet to meet. Even more uncommon was the ability to warg, entering the mind of other beings, sharing their thoughts and controlling their actions. Maesters believe that because of the children's lifestyle with nature, the animals they controlled were simply trained from birth to do their bidding. The wise-men of the children were known as Greenseers. They had the greensight, the ability to warg, and they could also see through the eyes of the weirwood trees."

A smile grew on my face. Greensight, dreaming the future. Could this be true? Could it be happening to me? The darkness was starting to creep across the garden, I noticed. I snapped the book shut and stood quickly, almost stumbling over rather ungracefully. Catching my balance by placing my hand on the stump, I walked towards the entrance of the garden. 'As soon as I get into the castle, I'll ask for some of that calming herbal tea and some lavendar oil for my bath. Maybe I can induce a visionary dream.' My fingers found their way to the stone in my sash, I gripped it in my palm tightly, with the widest smile I've ever had.

Then, a panicked yell erupted from a few buildings down, near the dog kennels. I turned to see the horse rip from the man who held him steady. Before I knew it, the horse was charging down the lantern lit street towards the open yard, right towards me. Without a second to think, I held my hands in front of me as the horse reared to trample me, with only a small book to shield myself. Suddenly, I felt like I was clenching hot steel, I screamed and dropped the stone from my fist. Glowing bright, it suspended in air and from the hot orb, a dark green wall appeared, separating me from the horse. It's hoofs hammered down on the wall. I fell over from the shock; the horse, startled from the sudden wall, ran away. The shield faded into shadow; the stone fell to my feet. The book lay open at my side; I was still scrawled on the ground. The castle servants came at once to aid me. A boy picked up my book, two women helped me to my feet. I knew they were asking me if I was okay, but I could barely hear them. Speechless, I could only stare at the stone. I managed to bend down and scoop it up before they escorted me back to the castle. It was normal again. No heat, no glow. As if it hadn't happened. And nobody else saw. "How did you manage to get away unscathed?" "I swear I saw it stomp down!" "Are you sure you are unhurt?"

"I'm perfectly fine. A little shaken, but the horse did not harm me." I was finally able to answer after clearing my throat. My silence had started to receive some concerned looks. "If I may ask, though, I do believe I need some calming tea... and perhaps you could ask Tira if she would bother Maester Helliweg for some lavendar essence?"

"Certainly, my lady." After returning my book to me, they left me in my candlelit bedchamber. I set the stone and book carefully down on my bedside table, and pulled out the drawer to retrieve another seastone, fresh and smooth. With the knife I had kept, I started scratching another rune into this stone. One I had read and memorized. With a long line, straight up and down and two branches extending to the right, downward from the top and middle. It read as "Ansu" and meant vision or insight. Softly, I blew away the scratched off peelings of the stone and then rubbed the enchantment with my fingers. There was a knock at my door, I dropped the knife in the drawer and shut it. Placing Ansu under my pillow, I called to the knocker. "Yes, come in."

Tira entered with my tea. "I heard you had quite an experience in the yard today." I reached for my drink and took a sip. Soft and sweet aroma drifted warmly around my face. "I was really scared.. but nothing happened. I just fell over and the horse ran away." She nodded, placed her hand on my head and slid her fingers through my hair once before saying. "I'll prepare you a bath. That will help relax you."

I sighed when she left. After I finished my tea, I reached for my first stone. Looking it over again, it was just as gray and round as when I first found it. But I made it into something special. The symbol must mean protection.. it shielded me from danger. And yet, I was the only one to see it work. That night, as I laid in bed, reviewing what had happened, and contemplating what it must mean, I began to smile again. Magic was real. I could use it. I wondered if there were others like me. I wondered if I was the only one. Regardless, something special was happening to me. The only thing I didn't wonder was why.