Light the Way

CHAPTER 15. star of the sea

ALINA

The sunlight streamed through the narrow windows of the Hightower, casting a golden glow over the chamber. Alina sat at her vanity, her fingers running absently through the fine curls of her golden hair. The mirror reflected a face she barely recognised - paler than it had once been, thinner, the shadows of grief still clinging beneath her eyes. But there was something else now, a glimmer of the person she had been before everything had fallen apart. She was no longer broken, but she was not whole either.

Robb's death had torn her apart, shattered her world into pieces she thought she would never be able to gather. Yet, slowly, time had softened the edges of her pain, and though the wound still ached, it no longer bled with every thought of him.

She had learned to move forward.

As she sat lost in thought, the door to her chambers creaked open. Alina turned, expecting one of her handmaidens, but instead, it was Samira. Her younger sister stood in the doorway, her hands clasped in front of her, hesitant as always. But something was different about her - there was a quiet strength in her posture, a grace in the way she carried herself that had not been there before. Samira had grown up.

"Samira," Alina said softly, beckoning her in with a smile.

The girl stepped inside, closing the door behind her. "I... I thought we could talk," she said, her voice quiet but clear.

Alina hadn't spoken to her sister properly in years, not since she had returned to Oldtown. In the wake of Robb's death, she had withdrawn from everyone, even her own family. But now, as she looked at Samira, she realised how much time had passed. The girl who used to hide behind her mother's skirts was now a young woman. Her dark curls framed her face elegantly, and her large eyes - so like their mother's - were filled with quiet intelligence.

Alina gestured for Samira to sit beside her. "You've grown so much," she murmured, her tone filled with wonder. "I didn't even notice how much I've missed."

Samira smiled, a small, shy curve of her lips. "I've missed you too," she said, sitting down on the edge of Alina's bed. "I've wanted to talk to you for so long, but... I didn't know if you were ready."

Alina's chest tightened. "I'm sorry, Samira. For shutting you out. For not being there."

The younger girl shook her head. "You don't need to apologise. I understand why. It must have been hard... losing him."

Alina swallowed, her throat thick with the memory. "It was. It still is, sometimes." She sighed, glancing out the window where the sun hovered low in the sky. "But you're here now, and that's what matters."

Samira hesitated for a moment, then spoke, her voice quiet but firm. "I've been thinking a lot lately. About Dorne."

Alina looked at her sister, intrigued. "Dorne?"

Samira nodded. "I've always been fascinated by it. Ever since I was little, I'd read about its history, its culture, the way the people live. I want to see it for myself. I want to... explore."

A smile tugged at Alina's lips. "You've grown so much more adventurous than I gave you credit for."

Samira blushed but smiled back. "I just... I don't want to wait anymore. I don't want to look back one day and regret not living. Not seeing the world."

The words struck something deep within Alina. She understood that desire, the yearning to break free, to live before the weight of duty and obligation crushed all possibility of adventure. She had once felt the same way, before war, before loss.