seadragon | oberyn martell

Twenty-Six

A Side Chapter

Bran slowly walked on the beach as the Old Raven stood aloof as he always did. The young Stark boy knew he was south from the warm breeze to the sound of seagulls in the ocean air.

"It is summer." He spoke.

"Aye." The Old Raven agreed.

Bran's eyes wandered to the endless ocean of green. A castle stood upon the hill, the remanence of another across the bay.

The warg was startled as two heads of silver white hair rushed him, their warm bodies running through his own made of feathers and shadow.

"I'll catch you!" The older boy laughed as the young girl giggled.

"You will never!"

Bran smiled watching them as they played. The girl was about the age of Arya the last time he had seen her. A sorrow enveloped him.

"Who are they?" He asked. The Raven answered stoically.

"My blood. Long distant."

Bran's eyes widened.

The children played knee deep in the tide. The boy liked to throw sand in the girls hair. She cried when stray grains found themselves within in her eyes, the boy used the fresh water from his canteen to flush them.

His hands held her face as he inspected her reddened eyes. Bran saw the care he held for the girl.

The Three Eyed Raven spoke to him.

"Upon the hill Bran."

The last Stark boy gazed up at the stone gates of the castle. A man of silver gold hair stood upon the wall. A long beard decorated with beads and braids caught Brans eyes. A pearl seahorse was embroidered upon his chest. The look in the man's eye sent a chill down his spine. He held a great ego to him, one that unsettled the teenager.

"Velaryon seahorse. He is the Lord of Dirftmark is he not? And these his children?"

The Three Eyed Raven said nothing as the Lord of Driftmark descended his high ground. The young boy and girl unaware of him.

"Aurane, Vaelerys!" His deep hearty sea voice echoed across the beach. 

The young girl became so still Bran thought she had died the moment her name was uttered from the mans lips. The elder boys hands tightened around his sisters forearms. Her pale skin (strange to Bran considering they lived upon a sunkissed island) turning red. 

Bran flinched as the Lord of Driftmark ran his hand across the cheek of the older boy so hard he fell to the sand at his feet. The girl wept as her father then turned to her. 

"I- i... i promise... i - i will never leave the keep again. P-please forgive me father. I was foolish." She managed to squeeze out between sobs. 

Bran did not turn to the raven as he spoke.

"This is their home. How come they can not enjoy their land? My father brought us everywhere in the North as children." 

"The boy may leave as he wishes. A bastard born second son. But the girl, she is chained to the pale stone walls like a good hunts trophy."

The Lord of Driftmark kicked his bastard son from below, blood poured from his mouth as he bit his tongue to fight back a sob. As stubborn as Jon, the thought crossed the young Starks mind.

The Velaryon patriarch turned to the girl. His large hand found itself in her thick white hair. The girls putrid scream rang out as he yanked her from the ground, her small feet dangling. Bran flinched as the girl wept in pain.

"You will be bound to your chambers till your tenth name day. Maybe then you will understand the consequences of disobeying your Lord Fathers orders. You will be feed twice a day by your Septa. And your filth of a half brother will rot out at sea where he belongs."

Bran turned away as the father let the girl fall to the ground. Handfuls of her silky hair torn out, blood staining her hair of fresh snow. 

"How long till her name day?" Bran asked, a quietness to his voice.

"11 moons and five days." The Raven spoke without a hint of emotion in his voice.

Bran walked towards the siblings. Their father preoccupied with telling his men the new orders for his children.

The boy silently grabbed the girls hand in his as they both bleed upon the yellow sand. Their bodies limp from the pain of the abuse.

He looked back to the Three Eyed Raven with disgust.

"Why are you showing me this?" He demanded. 

Would this have been his life if he had been born to any other lord than Eddard Stark? Was this the life of the lower houses? What was the meaning of this vision? Who was that girl?

 Bran felt something radiating from the girl. Something strange, something different. The boy he believed to be named Aurane felt like all the others he had been shown. He felt his presence but it was barely a whisper in his ear. But the girl, the girl he could feel all around him. A presence so strong it almost made him nauseous as he walked closer.

"It seems you already know." The Raven chirped.

"That doesnt answer my question." He smarted back.

"I feel her. So intensely. Like a fire surrounding me on every side. Its warm but its also... lethal. Yet she is nothing more than a lower lords daughter."

The Raven strode to Bran. His hand hovering above his shoulder as they stared at the girl.

"Todays lesson, Bran, do not believe what the eye may see."