Dream Of Winter | C. Stark & H. Targaryen

Paths Of Destiny

Helaena POV

Helaena always felt at peace near the heart tree. In her youth she could feel some otherworldly but undoubtedly alluring presence just beneath the surface.

She glimpsed once into the past, by touching the tree bark. Her mother sat beneath the red leaves. Strangely enough, she seemed happy and at ease. Not carrying the world's burden on her shoulders.

What's even more unexplainable was her half-sister lying next to her. The Rhaenyra she knew doesn't so much as glance at her mother without her aura being clouded with hidden rage.

The visions were no longer so peaceful. Fire and blood permeated her thoughts, invaded her sleeping hours and waking days. Death and carnage haunted her family just as surely as a wolf stalked its prey.

Wolf. Her wolf. She'll meet him soon enough. She saw that clear enough.

Most of the times, the dreams came and left like an deserter fleeing the headsman. She drew pages and pages with charcoal to keep track of their meaning. Her ancestor Daenys left a book on signs and symbols to decipher her own prophecies. She had it memorized by age ten.

But the future was malleable and rigid. Perhaps even the past for a ghost has taken to speaking with her a few moons ago. Not a dead man, but one yet to be born. He called himself a greenseer. They were children with the same of gift. Doomed to witness yet unable to intervene.

She thought not. If she wished to avoid the dark misery that loomed ahead then she would. Her path was her own and she'll weave the threads of fate just as easily as she sews a black widow on her gown.

Her brother and her were tied in matrimony in a previous life. Grasping marauders and false claimants fogged her vision. So, she diverged from that path.

The North was the last bastion of the old faith. Her mother had raised her under the light of the seven as custom dictated. But her grandmother was born a Blackwood who kept both faiths. The Old Gods have power. They must for how else can their servants pushed pack the andals? Were they not faithful soldiers on a holy quest?

Her ghost also spoke of wargs and skinchangers. They were blessed or cursed ,some might say, with the power to enter others' minds. Animals at first but even people eventually. Horrified and fascinated, she asked for more. Were the dragons similarly bound to the ancient Freehold?

His answer was as good as hers.

Those gifted were still more present North of the Neck. So she must go even if just to understand herself. She pleaded with her mother to arrange a marriage with the Warden of the North. She'd visit her father the King if she thought he remembered who she was. No, milk of the puppy doesn't addle his mind to such an effect yet. It will soon enough, she knew. But for now, he's lucid enough to moan for her uncle and half-sister.

How he clings to those who've abandoned him yet ignores her dutiful mother who took care of him for years. Even magical knowledge can't explain his contradictions.

As she thought, her mother relented. Weeks of persuading and talking of political benefits moved her little. Political advancement had doomed her to an unworthy husband. She wouldn't force her daughter to suffer the same.

But when Helaena told her that she would find happiness there. That her visions showed her a good future. The Light of the South began to contemplate the decision.

Her brother Aemond protested as well. He's basically an oversensitive pup. At least when it comes to her and their mother. He carries so much pain and rage at the injustice committed at Driftmark. She would've given her eye for his if she could. But she can never tell for certain if her dreams will come to life the next day, or in a hundreds years from now, when they're all dead and buried.