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THE next day, Ygritte found herself in a place very dear to her heart. She had broken her fast earlier than intended and made a quick escape to visit her mother before anyone else could rise. She brushed her fingertips along the soft, lushish flowers that sprung up like weeds all around the bright green opening and, in the center of all the exquisite flowers, resided an equally exquisite statue that resembled the very woman whom gave Ygritte life.
The statue brought tears to her eyes as she rounded it and came to stand in front it. She looked up with a smile. "Hello amil," she whispered in her mother's native tongue. "Ni have missed le."
Ygritte moved away from the statue a few paces to pluck a beautiful flower by its stem. She turned and walked back to where she was standing before, only to kneel down and place the flower at her mother's feet. "I hope you can find it somewhere in your heart to forgive me. I know it has been quite some time since I've been home╶ I never intend to be away for so long. I suppose I'm not only just following your path, but father's as well. I remember how angry you'd become when he journeyed away from home for too long..."
Ygritte remained silent for a few moments, then her voice came out sounding just as broken as her heart, a ballad her mother would often sing to her falling from her tongue.
"Roads go ever ever on, over rock and under tree, by caves where never sun has shone, by streams that never find the sea; over snow by winter sown, and through the merry flowers of June," Ygritte paused for a moment to gather her bearings. She could hear her mother singing now, as if she were right next to her. As if it was years ago and there they stood, together, washing and drying dishes after supper.
"Over grass and over stone, and under mountains in the moon," a new voice sang, startling her. Ygritte gasped and turned to see whom had arrived, only to find her father standing a few feet behind her with a smile on his face. "Your mother, she quite liked that song. She'd╶ "
"She'd sing it all the time, humming it even, as she tended to the garden or was washing the dishes," Ygritte finished.
"Her voice never failed to waver in tune, even with the years that passed and when her youth began to wither," Gandalf stated as he stepped closer. While staring up at the intricately carved statue of his dearly beloved, he said to his daughter, with a smile on his lips, "you sing just as beautifully."
Ygritte smiled. "Thank you, father."
Gandalf only nodded, a smile on his face. He then left, continuing the ballad Melisandre loved so much as his back faced his daughter. "Roads go ever ever on, under cloud and under star, yet feet that wandering have gone turn at last to home afar."
Ygritte closed her eyes and listened to his voice fade away the further he got. "Eyes that fire and sword have seen, and horror in the halls of stone look at last on meadows green and trees and hills they long have known..."
