[Prologue] A Castaway

[skyman]

It was a bright and calm morning. A pleasant dew clung to the needles and leaves of the trees after the horrendous storm of the last two days. Irma had been glad to get outside, finally, after being trapped in the Nest with the sound of thunder outside. And she was glad to be with Tempest and Stormwind.

The eagle delighted in soaring above her, returning to perch on her shoulder or arm, and then rising once more. Now though, he made a strange cry. It was not the same one he made on seeing some delicious prey. It was... strained. She could sense the urgency in it.

She rode through the woods as he flew above her, returning when he got too far ahead only to fly on once more. Soon she could smell the saltwater of the nearby ocean. And then, as she broke through the treeline on her horse, Irma saw her; a crumpled little figure on the beach, amongst the shells and tidepools.

[Cosmichorror]

Irma gasped and rushed forward on her palfrey "Stormwind", leaping off clumsily but keeping her feet as she ran towards the figure.

"Tempest, go get help." She told her eagle, kneeling down by the figure. "Are you alright?" She asked quietly, touching the girl's shoulder gently.

[skyman]

The girl had shockingly pale hair, crusted with sand and salt. Her strange clothes, once of ornate silk, were torn and waterlogged, and small cuts and bruises were visible.

Clutched in one small hand was a sheathed knife, with an intricately decorated handle of some strange dark metal or wood.

Irma rolled her over, to see a pretty, delicate-featured young girl of ten or twelve years. Her eyes were closed. She had clearly drowned, or come close to it; Irma could not detect a pulse.

[Cosmichorror]

She looks so strange. Irma thought, bending over the girl opening her mouth. She must have been on a ship caught in the storm. She put her lips to the girl's and breathed hard, a technique her older brother had called the "Kiss of Life" and was used to save men who had nearly drowned. "And then the chest." She put her hands together and pushed on the girl's chest trying to get the water out of her lungs.

[skyman]

At first it seemed she had failed. Stormwind winnied nervously, and the girl remained still. But then her body heaved suddenly, and she rolled onto her side, coughing up salt water. She kept on holding the knife.

The girl finally looked back at Irma as her hacking subsided. She rubbed sand away from her face, and Irma was able to see her eyes. They were violet.

[Cosmichorror]

"Thank the Seven." Irma breathed, seeing the girl's eyes open when her breath caught in her throat. Violet eyes... She's Valyrian then? But how did she get here? She shook her head.

"You're going to be alright. Do you understand me? You're going to be fine." She said, lifting the girl, still barely consious, and walked over to Stormwind. I wish Ran were still here, he would be able to do this better. She thought of her older brother Ranulf who had fell trying to rescue her from the clutches of the Brentons.

"Up we go." It took a few tries, but she was eventually able to climb into her saddle with the strange girl in front of her and turned around to ride back to the castle. "You're going to be fine." She whispered to the girl as they rode. "You're going to be alright. We're going to a castle, we'll take care of you."

[skyman]

Irma rode as hard as she could without hurting the poor girl next to her. Now the dew on the leaves and the fallen branches on the ground, aftermath of the storm, did not look so innocent.

After half an hour of riding, she could see the castle spires rising above the trees. Soon, she heard the pounding of hooves approaching her. At first it recalled the approach of other riders, those Benton men that had taken her across their territory to Two Tree Hall. But then she heard an eagle cry, and saw Tempest above them, and knew they were friends

She slowed down Stormwind and called out. The riders halted, and then grew nearer. When they came out of the trees, she saw that it was Tom, a stablehand, and Gray Ned, an old guardsman who had served her father for years; he had been among the soldiers that brought her to safety after her rescue.

"Lady Irma! We'd thought you might be in danger, thank the Seven..." Ned trailed off. "Who the...? Why, come on, let's bring her back!"

They hurried on, Tom bringing the girl on his larger horse. As they passed through the town, inhabitants stared and called out for their friends to come and see. Finally, Irma and the others reached the gates of the Harpy's Nest. As they entered the courtyard, people began to filter out to catch a glimpse of this strange new arrival...

[sleepingdragon]

Ser Courtnay Calderron was uncomfortable. It wasn't because of the chair where he sat eating breakfast, though it was, in truth, a stiff, hard piece of furniture. Rather, he felt very exposed, for he was, in a rare moment for him, wearing no armour at all. While he was at sea and ate in the mess with his men, they tolerated his strange habit of wearing his mail almost everywhere, but here, back at the Nest, eating in the common hall, Lord Adam had finally browbeaten him into leaving his armour in his room at least until after he had eaten. It made the servants feel uncomfortable and unsafe, he said. And so they should, Ser Courtnay thought. If not for me the Brentons would have slit all their throats and raped every one of their miserable ugly daughters. Probably the sons too. And now they're rebuilding their strength, and we sit and do nothing...

There was some manner of commotion outside in the courtyard. Some servants squabbling, he dismissed the noise, continuing to eat. On his plate were fried bacon and cockles together with the fried seaweed called laverbread, mixed with oats. He hadn't touched much of it yet. Courtnay preferred to wait for his food to cool a bit first. His men had long grown used to waiting for him to finish.

The noise wasn't stopping. Sighing, Courtnay reached for his sword, which was propped up in its scabbard against one of the table legs. At least Adam let me keep that to hand, he thought. At length, he had, relenting before Courtnay's rage. Would you prefer that I break my fast stark naked, milord? he had roared in Adam's face. Perhaps it will calm the smallfolk to see my cock flapping in their faces. Courtnay would truly have preferred to break his fast alone in his room, but that would set the servants to gossiping. Calderron could not be seen to be so weak and divided, so Courtnay ground his teeth and put up with the foolish propriety. The things I endure for this House...

Courtnay strode away from the table and into the courtyard, with two of his most experienced men, Will and Arud, at his heels, their own blades to hand.

A gaggle of fools had come out to gawk at whatever was causing the noise. Courtnay shoved his way past a servant and looked around. The spot between his shoulder-blades itched with tension. No shield, no armour...a bit of Brenton gold and a brave man with a crossbow and this could be the end of me, he thought, but a quick look around the area saw no signs of any enemies.

Instead he saw his niece, the Lady Irma, returned from one of her haphazard jaunts to the to the cliffs. Tom the stablehand was with her, and an unfamiliar person...a child? A girl, yes.

Courtnay expended no more energy on the girl, instead striding up to Irma. "What's happened? You should be more careful, I went to enough effort to rescue you once. Keep going on these lonely rides and it's just a matter of time before the Brentons have you again, and they won't be so gentle this time."

[Cosmichorror]

Irma finished helping the girl down off the horse before turning on her uncle. "She washed up on the far shore. If I hadn't been off on one of my 'lonely rides', she would have died there. And Erik has been teaching me swordplay so I can defend myself now." She turned to Tom to make sure that he could take care of Stormwind and then turned back to Courtany. "Besides, not even the Brentons would be stupid enough to show their faces here so soon after we defeated them."

[sapphire]

Alysneri was jolted awake as the group arrived at this crude fort. Still very heavily disoriented from her drowning, she started to babble in her own language. "Quem seavous onde..."

She kept on muttering with hint of confusion along in the same line. As she thought about what happened to her so far so long time ago but her grasp on them are momentariness. Long journey from her home and now she is surrounded by these people. She is so confused by all this. Is this a dream? She wondered privately or what she can make of it from her most weary mind. She kept holding her dagger with her sheathed knife covered with her family symbol, a twin-tailed comet as if it offer her some comfort in this strange new world. The sounds of talks confused her as much as chattering of wildlife back home.

[sleepingdragon]

"Never underestimate the strength or the stupidity of the Brentons," Courtnay replied.

The girl was babbling something in a strange language. "What did you say? Can you speak Westerosi, girl?" Courtnay said, enunciating slowly as if speaking to a simpleton.

[sapphire]

Looking at this scary man holding the sword in his hand whose then start babbling at her in his weird language. She cannot understand what he is saying. Shaking her head in frustration and replied in her own language. She try to recall the location of her ship on wider scale but instead it only revoke the nasty memory of the ship attempting to survive among storm waves and winds which made her feel sad. The exhaustion of her ordeal was begin to affect her too much and her sadness begin to show.

[skyman]

"You're scaring the poor girl, Courtnay!" Ser Robert Calderron was clearly brother to Ser Courtnay, with the same fair hair and skin and the same modest height (though he had his mother's brown eyes), but nevertheless no one would mistake them for being similar. Robert had arms that looked stronger than the rest of his build, and stubble darker than his hair. His eyes looked bleary, and he walked gingerly, both from the hangover and his usual gentle nature.

He had hurried over from the tower that held his chambers.

Robert was staring at the confused child beside Irma. "So young..." His voice had gone from forceful to strained. They all knew why. His own daughter, Ella, had been eleven when she was lost at sea seven years ago, at the beginning of the previous summer. The storm that had taken her had been much like the one that had brought the Valyrian child here, sudden and powerful, then quickly gone.

"Where could she be from?"

[Cosmichorror]

Irma turned to Robert, thankful for the change of topic. She could stand up to her more abrasive uncle but never liked to, deep down she knew he was right. "The girl has violet eyes." She said cautiously, "I think Valyrians had white hair and violet eyes."

[sapphire]

She only glanced forth and back between the girl who seems to save her and new man who looked like a brother of scary man as they spoke in their language. Suddenly, one of the word seems to make sense and it refer to her departed home. Alysneri spoke few more phases but some words does sound similar but not exactly to the word 'Valyria' spoken by Irma. The memory flashed back with dire happening of her home and her eyes begun to tear up.