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CHAPTER FOUR. ━━━━━━━━━ She wears strenght and darkness equally well, the girl has always been half goddess, half hell. ━━━━━━━━━
SHE REMEMBERS OBERYN MARTELL SAYING that tourneys are free of sin, that what occurs there need never leave the grounds, and so she tells herself that mayhaps she should've done it.
But then again, should she not know better? Astoria wishes for things to be as easy as they had once been, but that is a children's dream and she is older now. That dream had died when her eldest brother hadn't returned from his travels, ship sunk, having died somewhere in the sea, never to be seen again.
Before that, Astoria had believed the world to be good. She had thought herself to be blessed. Highborn and graced with a striking beauty and a clever wit simply has to mean that the Lord of Light looks upon her with kindness, she had been so sure of it.
She learnt her lesson with the death of a brother and the reminder of her mother that life is neither just nor fair. But still, the days had seemed easier back then. When they were naught but children, naive and innocent. Not being heavily burdened with marriage and a coming war yet, Elia and her had met as mere girls in the Water Gardens of Sunspear.
She remembers Sunspear, filled to the very sky with life. The old men playing cyvasse on the streets, the women arguing with the merchants peddling their wares, Myrish salesmen with thick accents and meters upon meters of gauzy lace, Lyseni women with flaxen hair and lips shaped like flowers.
She remembers the Dornish trees heavy with blood oranges shading the pools of the Martell palace, which are full of children of all ages. There is laughter and shouts, and Astoria immediately smiles at the memory, the merriment so different from somber King's Landing. Even before Elia had fallen ill a fortnight ago, there was little time for fun in the capitol.
She remembers looking around with curious eyes, trying to find the princess she is supposed to entertain, but there are so many girls, all splashing about in nothing but their skin, and there is no way to tell who is a noble and who is common.
It is because of their father's friendship that Astoria visits Westeros at ten, not even having flowered yet and already discovering a foreign continent. Elia and her would soon turn from strangers to friends to sisters in all but blood.
She remembers Oberyn being her first love as clear as day. At the sweet age of ten-and-five, she had thought that if she couldn't have him she wouldn't want anyone else to share her bed. Elia had prayed for them to marry so Astoria would finally be her sister in name as well, but fate and their parents had decided otherwise.
