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AT AROUND MIDDAY, THE TEMPERATURE SEEMED TO INCREASE DRAMATICALLY, AND ALIA QUICKLY BEGAN TO FEEL SUFFOCATED BY HER OWN SKIN. The air was thick and humid, and breathing in felt like a draining, tiring chore. Alia would have given up all together if it weren't for a particular memory that sprang to mind as she lay on top of her bed, fanning herself.
Some time ago, Alia had stumbled upon a lake nearby to the camp; it wasn't too large, and didn't look to be all that dangerous. A nice, cooling dip would do her well, she decided, so in a hurry she leapt up off her bed and untied her horse from its post next to her tent.
If she were really lucky, Alia though that maybe she could shoot a duck or two for dinner – Daenerys had always been fond of duck, and a nice catch-up over dinner would do them both a world of good. If not, there may even be fish she could catch. Alia had quickly grown tired of eating goat and lean bits of rabbit, and something high in fat made her mouth water. The weight had been dropping off her so much so, she began to look rather like a scrawny sparrow.
Going to the lake also offered up the opportunity for a bathe away from the company of the Dothraki horde, and at present Alia could think of nothing better. The company of the Khalasar had quickly begun to make Alia feel suffocated – even surrounded by people, she'd never felt lonelier in her life.
Before long, Alia reached the lake and breathed a sigh of relief; it hadn't been a cruel daydream after all...
"Finally," she whispered to herself as she slid off her stallion and tied the reigns around a spindly tree by the water's edge. The lake was nothing special, but to Alia in that moment, it looked like a gift from the Seven.
The water was by no means clear but looked perfectly still, like a pane of cool, inviting glass. There were reeds and colourful flowers blooming at the edge of the lake, and the occasional lily pad floated on its pristine surface. The blistering heat emanating from the burning sun created a wavy haze off in the distance, and crickets chorused from somewhere among the fronds.
Alia let out a blissful, elongated sigh as she slipped off her dress (a cool shade of blue, very much like the cloudless sky above) and left it – like a puddle – on the grassy bank. Goosebumps erupted across her skin as she stepped into the water, which wasn't overly cold but not quite warm enough to be unpleasant. It was at a perfect temperature that lifted a heavy weight off Alia's shoulders, and suddenly she found she was without a care in the world.
Alia submerged herself beneath the water and interrupted its previous stillness and tranquillity, but she couldn't bring herself to worry about disturbing the serenity. A relieving sense of cold washed over her entire body as if covering her in a blanket of contentment.
For a few moments as she settled beneath the lake surface, Alia forgot about everything going wrong in her life. She forgot about Illyrio and his betrayal; about Daenerys and her marital concerns; about Viserys and his fever and the fear he elicited in her... Alia forgot about it all, and for the first time in what felt like centuries, she allowed herself to forget.
