Turk
Turk watched as the Night Queen smiled, then shattered into a thousand icy shards. He felt as if a weight had been lifted from his heart, but he couldn't explain the anxiety that continued to fill him. He didn't understand why any of this was happening. He didn't understand why, after nearly two years of erasing humanity, the Night Queen had simply given up and allowed herself to die. There would be some survivors on the planet, he considered, aside from those at Castle Black and those on the Direwolf at sea, but not enough to last much longer against the onslaught of the dead. Why stop now, so close to total victory?
The child reached down and picked up the golden choker adorned with the brilliant red gemstone. He watched as she examined it, gently running her finger along the surface. She placed it on the mouth of the face in the tree, balancing it perfectly before stepping in front of the tree herself. Lisa dropped the obsidian blade onto the pile of ice. The child took her trembling hands.
"What will happen now?" Ebrose called out. The Raven looked beyond Lisa to him.
"She has taken the burden upon herself," the Raven called back. Turk took a step forward.
"Why?" he cried. "Why Lisa?" The Raven turned her head to him, locking the child's green eyes with his own. At that moment, he knew: Lisa would become the new Night Queen. Her skin would turn pale and frigid. Her eyes would slowly succumb to the hideous cerulean hue of death. The Raven had planned for it. He had planned all of them – controlling it from the very beginning of his existence. The only thing he couldn't have planned was his own existence to begin with, Turk guessed. He took a step back as the realization. He had. The infinity of time was a flat circle.
"I'm sorry," the Raven lamented. Turk found anger inside him.
"Why her?!" he cried, demanding answers. He fell to his knees. Ebrose grasped his shoulder. The Raven turned back to Lisa.
"For the same reason she was unable to see when she touched the tree," the Raven answered. "Almost everyone has some of this power inside them. Many of you are descended from kings, queens and other special beings. Not this one," the Raven grimaced. "This one was created specifically to have as little potential as possible. She has the most interesting lineage in the world in that regard," Lisa began to weep.
"How do you mean?" Turk challenged. "What potential?"
"There is power in blood," the Raven answered. "Everyone has some. Some have more than others. The previous Ravens chose me because of my potential in life: none would ever rival my power as the Raven. I had to become what I am. The same is true for my opposite," he went on, glancing at Lisa.
"The last Night Queen," Ebrose called. "She called you 'big brother.'"
"In life, she was the sister of Brandon Stark, who I was before I became the Raven," the child answered. "She was powerful – strong enough that, with some assistance, she could help me restore the balance." The red gemstone on the choker glowed slightly.
"What balance?" Turk demanded.
"The balance of life and death," the Raven answered. "For too long, the scales were unfairly balanced. I was always more powerful than they were," he explained. "I can see until the end of time. I can see from the very beginning. Death stood no chance against me."
"So many died!" Turk cried. Ebrose nodded in agreement.
"If this was preordained, why go through all this?" the maester demanded. "Why not find another way? A better way? Why not prevent all of this from the very beginning of time?"
"It had to," the Raven replied casually. "From the very beginning, our fate was already written. We had no say in the matter. As for you, this was the only way to get all of you here, right now, to do what must be done," the voice explained. "But there is still more we must do." Ebrose narrowed his eyes.
"What do you mean 'more?'" the maester demanded.
"There's only one way to end the cycle permanently," the Raven conceded. Turk rose to his feet.
"You're going to die," he guessed. "All of you. You are... how do you say... martyrs?"
The child looked at him and nodded. The dragon rose from the snow, glaring at the group. Lisa looked back at Turk and the maester, tears streaming down her face. Ebrose shook violently as Turk fought back tears of his own. The dragon beat its wings and reared up, facing the two female forms standing in front of the tree. The child looked at the dragon and nodded in approval.
"It's time for this to end," the Raven announced. The green woman turned to Turk and Ebrose. "Maester, you are the memory of Westeros. You will record this. Turk, you will assist the maester in returning safely to the Citadel. From this day forth, your responsibility to this world is to rebuild it without our meddling. To create without fate damning you at every turn. You will create the world that was meant to be: the one I cannot see," they explained. The Raven turned the green woman's eyes to all of them in turn before saying their final word: "Goodbye."
The dragon screamed, a plume of flame erupting with it, engulfing the tree, the child and Lisa Stone.