Salt

Chapter One

"My darling, Myriam. I can't believe you will soon be wed."

"My darling mother, I can't believe that I will soon be wed. Can you picture it?"

"Oh, but I can. You will be the most beautiful bride, Myriam. My little girl, you've grown up much too quickly."

"To be technical, mother, your 'little' girl is Valentina. I am your eldest."

"Val? Little boy, perhaps. A warrior, that girl is."

Valentina halted at the comment that her mother, Tatyana, had made about her and she removed her steel helmet, tightly concealed red curls bouncing down onto her shoulders. She tucked the helmet below her arm. "I am no boy, mother. I am a girl." She was donned head to toe in thick armor, her figure hidden, and she had a scratch on her cheek that wept small red tears.

Tatyana sighed, turning in her seat to face her youngest daughter. Myriam, who's septa tightened the ribbons on her wedding gown, did not even bother to look at her sister.

"Then be a girl, Valentina. Take off that metal and wear your silk gown. Supper is soon, you can't continue to look this way. It makes me seem like a bad mother." Tatyana stood, walking to her daughter and placing a hand on her cheek. "You are a good girl, Val...but you've chosen the wrong path for a woman. Look at you..." she wiped the blood from her daughter's face with her index finger. "Bathe yourself and meet us at the dinner table."

"Yes mother."

"I love you very much."

Valentina nodded, refusing to make eye contact with her mother before walking off to her bedroom, her armor clanging against itself as she did. The girl peeled the armor off of herself, revealing a strong but womanly figure; she was thick and curved, with small breasts and wide hips. Her skin was soft and tan, and natural patches of discoloration appeared on her shoulders and back.

After bathing, she adorned herself in a coral-colored silk dress with golden thread sewn in around her waist. The sleeves hung low, as did the collar that ended in a 'V' between her breasts. The girl really did clean up nicely, and if it weren't for the scratch on her cheek and raw knuckles, you'd never guess that she fought as much as she did.

"Oh! My beautiful daughter, Valentina!" Tatyana hollered at the sight of her youngest daughter, standing and walking to the girl who's face was deadpan except for the slight smile she gave to her mother. "I thought we would have to drag you out of that room by your teeth." She bellowed a laugh, causing the rest of the Castillon family to snicker to themselves. Valentina had never felt more ridiculed.

Valentina sat beside her sister Pietra, who was the second-youngest. Pietra was beautiful, but very mysterious, and she was the sister who Valentina believed understood her the most. The girl had thick brown hair that just barely touched her jaw in a short bob cut. She wore a modest red dress of thick material, so that her skin could not be seen.

"You look beautiful," Pietra said quietly, helping herself to three pieces of asparagus and a half of a potato only. "I could never wear a dress of such elegance. I was not put on this world to do so."

"Yes? Then what were you put here for? With your..long legs and flat stomach."

Pietra laughed to herself, as did Valentina, and the two girls simply pushed around the food on their plates. "I was put on this world for a reason I am not yet so sure of." Pietra answered simply, lifting up her sleeve to show Valentina a small marking that had been drawn on the top of her hand.

"What's this?"

"It's a sigil. I've found someone, Val, but he asks I keep his identity a secret. He is a beautiful man."

"Aye, Pietra. If you say so."

It wasn't long after the family began to eat their supper before King Castillon's hand, Ascot, bursted into the room. His white face had turned red, and he gasped out words that truthfully, hardly made any sense at all. "Ascot!" Olisstor Castillon gasped, standing up and rushing to his hand, trying to figure out exactly what had happened to frighten the plump, mousy looking man.

"Olisstor...who is..." Tatyana stood up from her seat, beginning to back away from the dinner table; six of her seven daughters did the same. Valentina stood planted in her seat, only staring at the tall man that entered the room. He had dark hair and eyes, and half of his face seemed to be horribly burnt; beside him was a short girl in boy's clothing.

Ascot panted, "I only answered the door, your grace! I swear it! He pushed his way in, I tell him that you could have his head on a spike, the man fears no form of death!"

"No fear of death?" Valentina stood up from her seat, thick brown eyebrows furrowing as she eyeballed the man and his young female companion. "I can make even the bravest man fear death."

"Valentina, stay out of this." Olisstor scolded.

"We mean no harm," the girl said, taking a few steps forward. "My name is Arya Stark, this is my...friend, Sandor Clegane. We've been traveling and we're very hungry. There's no other place for us to go. We were only wondering if you could house us for the night and let us have some food?"

"Do you have any idea who we are, girl? My name is Tatyana Castillon, these are my seven daughters: Myriam, Ylvia,  Triscela, Onyx, Ethelinda, Pietra, and Valentina. That is my husband, King Olisstor Castillon."

"I don't give a fuck who you all are, can we stay here or not?" Sandor growled. He almost seemed to have a dog-like snarl.

"Please don't mind my friend, your grace. He doesn't have the best of manners."

"Absolutely not. I want these oafs out of my temple." Tatyana said sternly; however, Olisstor shook his head.

"They will stay. I am the king, woman, and this child has not eaten in days. They will stay, eat, and sleep for as long as they must. The girl will get the guest dormitory, and the man...he will stay with Valentina. I suggest you don't try anything with her, Ser. She'll have a sword through your gut in the blink of an eye."  

Valentina and Sandor made eye contact with one another, and the awkward gesture seemed to move on even through dinner when he and Arya ate like savages. Pietra later escorted Arya to the guest dormitory for bed, and Valentina led Sandor to her own room.  The two were deafeningly silent, even whilst laying in the same bed together. They laid on their backs, staring at the ceiling with only two candles lit on either side of them.

"Do you speak at all, girl? Your silence is unsettling."

"I speak sometimes."

"Why couldn't your damned parents put me with one of your prettier sisters? I could'a fucked each and every one of them bloody."

"Because none of them could kill you if you got out of hand."

"What makes you think a lit'l thing like you could kill me?"

"I know I could kill you. Would you like to see me try it, Ser?" Valentina's voice raised into something fierce.

"I am no Ser."

"What do you mean you are no Ser? You walked into my temple clad in knight's gear. You served a king. Who did you serve, Westerosi? Joffrey Baratheon?" She huffed, turning onto her side to face Sandor. "I hate Joffrey Baratheon. I want to slice his belly and shove his intestine up his throat so that he chokes on it." Expecting the man to get angered, she braced herself to fight. Imagine her surprise when she heard him utter,

"Me too."