Prologue

"You'll never catch me!" Nalia, who had just past her tenth name day, screamed as she glanced back at the boy sprinting after her. Dander grinned and tried to run even faster but that only caused him to slip and plant face first into the muddy street. Nalia skidded to a halt and seeing Dander, with his face covered in mud, began laughing hysterically.

The boy frowned, "I think I might've swallowed something," This only made Nalia double over in another fit of laughter.

Getting up, Dander wiped the mud off his face and glared at his friend, "Stop laughing!" Nodding, Nalia covered her mouth, turned around and tried calming down, but hearing Dander's cursing behind her as he tried getting as much mud off himself as possible only made it harder.

She was about to turn back around when Dander gave her a hard push sending her to the ground, but she had fast reflexes and quickly caught herself. Cursing, Dander spun on his heel and began running in the opposite direction towards his house. Nalia grinned and bolted after him. Dander had barely passed the blacksmith's shop when Nalia caught up to him and tackled the boy to the ground.

As Dander landed on his back, all the air was driven out of his lungs and taking this chance Nalia climbed on top of him. The boy's eyes widened as he saw his friend pick up a handful of mud.

"What do you think you're doing?" Nalia instantly looked up, and her eyes widened in shock. Above them stood Varn, a massive bearded man with the temper of a baby. He was still wearing the leather apron he needed while working, and in his left hand, he held a pair of tongs, blackened by fire. Nalia quickly moved off Dander and grabbing the boy's hand, began pulling him away from the beady-eyed blacksmith.

"I best not catch you messing around in front of my store again." Varn spat out and with one final glare, he reentered his forge.

Turning the next corner, Nalia let out a sigh of relief, "I thought I was done for." This made Dander chuckle, "He might still tell on you, and even if he doesn't, just look at yourself." Nalia looked down, and cursed, "By the seven, how am I going to tell mother about this."

"Tell mother about what?" Whirling around, the small girl gasped, as she came face to face with her older sister, Milah. The young woman grinned cheekily, a hand holding the basket filled to the brim with vegetables. This caused Nalia to smile, as they rarely ate that much. "Is mother making stew again," she asked, excitedly grabbing onto her sister's long linen dress.

Milah giggled and ruffled her younger sister's already messy Ash Blonde hair. "Of course, and she might even add some meat if father doesn't come back empty-handed." Nalia's smile brightened and she jumped into her sister's arm, nearly throwing her to the floor. Looking past her younger sister, Milah gave Dander a small grin, "How about joining us for dinner?" she asked kindly, but Dander shook his head. "I'd really like to, but mother said that we're having guests over this evening."

Letting go of her older sister, Nalia spun to face Dander, "Who?" The boy sighed and rolled his eyes, "I don't know, probably Shale or Ronas."

Nalia giggled, "Have fun." That caused the boy to scowl, "I definitely won't, just the thought makes me gag." He seemed to want to say more but Nalia stopped him with a raised hand. As Dander fell silent, Nalia, who seemed to be staring off into the distance, smiled, "Someone's here." and bolted off down the street. "Nalia wait!" Milah shouted after her, but her sister didn't seem to hear and just carried on running.

Reaching the end of the street Nalia skidded to a halt as she saw what had been drawing the villagers to the main road. A small procession of knights and red cloaks, the flag of house Lannister hanging above their heads, was riding past their village. She stared wide-eyed at the gleaming armour some of the knights wore. Her eyes were drawn to the blades hanging from their hip, the grips of which were beautifully crafted. A frown formed on her face as the crowd began muttering, and curious she turned to see what they were talking about. There atop a rather small white stallion sat a boy barely past his eleventh name day, he wore clothes of silk and velvet and on his hip, he carried a shortsword with a golden lion as the pommel. The boy shifted in his saddle and gazing down at the small crowd smiled.

Nalia's heart fluttered as the boy's bright green eyes landed on her, her face contorting in a smile she was sure looked terrible, and then his eyes moved away from her and onto the next person. She sighed and with slightly less enthusiasm watched the parade depart.

It was just after the crowd had begun to disperse that Milah found her, still gazing at the dust cloud in the distance, reminiscing over the boy she had seen.

"Come on, let's go home." her sister had whispered in her ear, before taking her hand and leading her back down the street.

Reaching their small house, Milah, who was still holding her sister's hand, began reaching for the door but before she could, someone flung it open.

Nalia's eyes widened as she saw the tall imposing figure of her father, Chass, standing in the doorway. She stumbled back, seeing him rush forward, but just as she was about to run away, Chass caught her. She screamed and kicked but it was to no avail as he began tickling her mercilessly. "N-no stop, stop." she gasped out through the giggles.

Her father laughed, and placed her back on the ground, only to be smacked over the back of the head by his wife, Aranna. "What do you think you're doing!" Chass's eyes widened and he quickly spun around, to meet the wolfish eyes of his wife. He tried to speak but Aranna interuperd him, with a hard glare, "Get inside, and start cutting that venison into pieces."

Nalia gulped as her mother's eyes landed on her dirty trousers, "What happened?" She looked away, her face turning red in embarrassment, "I fell over." For a few moments her mother didn't speak a word but then, "Alright, tell me, are you hurt anywhere?" Nalia shook her head, "No, I'm fine." Her mother sighed in exasperation, "Nalia, you need to be more careful, if something were to happen to you…" she trailed off, but Nalia knew what her mother wanted to say. She would most likely die if she broke a bone or worse, received a terrible wound.

Nalia was brought out of her thoughts by her sister who grabbed her by her shoulders and began leading her into their smoke-filled abode. She could see her father at the far most side of the room cutting up a long piece of meat. She smiled and wrenched herself free of Milah's grasp. "Father, can I help?" she asked excitedly as she ran up to him. He smiled and scratched his thick black beard, "Alright, but be careful, the knife's sharp."

She nodded and stepping onto the chair her father had been sitting on began randomly cutting the meat. "Stop." her father said calmly. He then reached out and with his callused hands began guiding Nalia's movements. Soon the venison had been cut into small bite-sized portions and looking over the two saw that Aranna was waiting for them to bring it over. Quickly doing so Nalia watched as her mother began cooking stirring the cauldron filled to the brim with water vegetables and meat.

That night they ate to their heart content stuffing themselves till they could eat no more. In the end, they all looked like boulders sitting at the single table in the room their bellies bulging out. Nalia was the first to fall asleep and she did so right there at the dinner table her head resting on Milah's shoulder.