The Riverlands slowly disappeared behind me.
Fields gave way to rolling hills.
Hills became forests.
Forests became open plains.
Every mile carried me farther from the life of Ser Talion Rivers.
Every mile made returning home a little harder.
Not because I couldn't.
Because I shouldn't.
As long as the realm believed I was dead...
Mother and Father would be safer.
The man who had murdered me would stop searching.
That alone made the pain worthwhile.
Nearly two weeks passed before Maidenpool came into view.
Its pink stone walls rose above the Bay of Crabs, gleaming beneath the afternoon sun.
Dozens of merchant vessels crowded the harbor.
Fishing boats bobbed alongside great cogs from Braavos, Pentos and Lys.
For the first time since my death...
I smelled the sea.
Celebrimbor stood beside me atop the hill overlooking the city.
"Your first destination."
I nodded.
"Maidenpool."
"And after?"
"The Narrow Sea."
He looked toward the distant horizon.
"Another continent."
"Essos."
"The larger of the two."
"Older too."
We entered the city just before sunset.
Nobody looked twice at another hedge knight.
Good.
That was exactly what I wanted.
I sold several of the bandits' spare weapons.
The spears.
The axes.
The damaged mail shirt.
Nothing that could be traced back to anyone important.
The merchant counted the coins carefully.
"Twelve silver stags."
I nodded.
"Fair."
By the time I left...
My purse held enough silver to pay for passage.
Barely.
Finding a captain willing to take Nymeria proved considerably more difficult.
The first laughed.
The second swore.
The third crossed himself and shut the conversation down immediately.
"A wolf?"
"A direwolf."
The old sailor paled.
"No."
"Absolutely not."
"She'll eat the crew."
Nymeria yawned.
I sighed.
"I told you."
She looked almost offended.
Celebrimbor chuckled.
"He is correct."
It took another day.
Eventually I found a grizzled Pentoshi captain who had seen stranger things.
"You swear it obeys you?"
"No."
The captain blinked.
"No?"
"She chooses to travel with me."
"...That's somehow worse."
"It is."
He rubbed his beard.
Then looked at the enormous wolf sitting patiently beside me.
Finally...
"I'll charge double."
"Done."
Three days later...
The Sea Maiden left Maidenpool with the morning tide.
The voyage wasn't long.
Barely five days with favorable winds.
Still...
Watching Westeros disappear beneath the horizon felt strange.
I'd died there.
My family believed I lay beneath an empty grave.
Damon believed he had failed me.
Arya probably wondered whether the kind knight she'd met upon the Kingsroad had truly vanished forever.
I tightened my grip on the railing.
"I'm sorry."
Celebrimbor heard.
"For leaving?"
"For not saying goodbye."
The sea stretched endlessly around us.
I considered continuing my training.
Only once.
Then I looked around the deck.
Thirty sailors.
A captain.
Two merchants.
Several passengers.
Too many eyes.
Magic was feared in Westeros.
It wasn't much different in Essos.
The last thing I needed was stories spreading from port to port about a dead knight who summoned glowing weapons from thin air.
I had worked too hard to disappear.
I wasn't about to undo it because I wanted another day of practice.
Celebrimbor seemed to read my thoughts.
"You choose caution."
"I choose anonymity."
He nodded approvingly.
"A wise choice."
Instead of training...
We talked.
Hour after hour as the Sea Maiden crossed the Narrow Sea.
Celebrimbor asked about the Free Cities.
About the Faith of the Seven.
About the Old Gods.
About Valyria.
In return...
He spoke of Eregion.
Of Khazad-dûm before its fall.
Of the craft of the Elven-smiths.
Of forests older than kingdoms.
Of stars that had shone before the first sunrise.
I listened more than I spoke.
Some stories sounded like legends.
Others...
Like memories too painful to forget.
On the fifth night, we stood together at the bow as the wind carried us east.
Celebrimbor looked toward the horizon.
"Once we make landfall..."
"...your training begins again."
I smiled.
"I wouldn't expect anything less."
"Good."
His voice carried the certainty of a master addressing his apprentice.
"Because what I have shown you thus far..."
"...is merely the foundation."
Five days later...
Land appeared.
Pentos.
White walls.
Marble towers.
Brightly painted villas overlooking the sea.
Nothing like King's Landing.
Nothing like Riverrun.
Nothing like any city I'd ever seen.
"It looks..."
I searched for the right word.
"Rich."
Celebrimbor looked over the harbor.
"Prosperous."
The city assaulted every sense.
Perfumes.
Foreign languages.
Bright silks.
Spices from lands I'd only read about.
Priests in strange robes.
Sellswords wearing armor unlike anything in Westeros.
Merchants from half the known world.
I couldn't stop staring.
Celebrimbor smiled faintly.
"Your world grows larger."
"It certainly does."
As evening fell, I found a modest inn overlooking one of the city's canals.
Nymeria immediately claimed a shaded courtyard to sleep in.
The innkeeper wisely chose not to object.
After securing a room...
I spread a crude map across the table.
Celebrimbor looked down at it.
"Where now?"
I tapped one particular manse outside the city.
"Illyrio Mopatis."
The Elf-Lord frowned.
"The merchant prince?"
"The same."
"He shelters Daenerys and her brother."
"They should still be here."
Celebrimbor looked at me carefully.
"And if they have already departed?"
"Then we follow."
"Across the Dothraki Sea if necessary."
He raised an eyebrow.
"You intend to alter history."
I nodded slowly.
"I couldn't save Eddard Stark."
"That story has already begun."
"And if I tried..."
"I'd likely only die again."
I looked east.
"But Daenerys..."
"She's different."
"She's alone."
"She has no true friends."
"No one looking out for her."
"If I can earn her trust before the dragons hatch..."
"...then perhaps I can help shape the future instead of chasing the past."
Celebrimbor considered that for a long moment.
Finally...
He nodded.
"A queen with dragons."
"A knight returned from death."
His eyes drifted toward Nymeria sleeping peacefully in the courtyard.
"A direwolf."
Then to himself.
"And an Elven smith bound to a mortal."
For the first time...
A genuine smile crossed his face.
"This world grows stranger by the day."
I couldn't help laughing.
"It hasn't even reached the interesting part yet."
Tomorrow...
I would seek out Illyrio Mopatis.
And for the first time since waking from death...
I would step directly into the story I had once only read.
Markets stretched across entire districts.
Perfumed gardens surrounded the homes of wealthy magisters.
Slaves hurried through the streets with their eyes lowered.
Sellswords laughed outside taverns in a dozen different languages.
No one paid any attention to one more wandering hedge knight.
Exactly as I wanted.
Finding Illyrio Mopatis' manse proved surprisingly easy.
Finding a way inside...
Less so.
The walls were high.
The gates were guarded.
Not Unsullied.
Household guards.
Well-equipped.
Well-fed.
And very alert.
I spent most of the afternoon watching from a rooftop across the street.
Celebrimbor stood beside me.
"You are studying them."
"The guards."
"The servants."
"The routine."
He nodded.
"Good."
Near sunset...
The gates opened.
A column of mounted Dothraki rode into the courtyard.
Even from a distance...
There was no mistaking them.
Long braids.
Curved arakhs.
Leather riding clothes.
Every movement radiated confidence.
At their center rode one man.
Broad-shouldered.
Bare-chested despite the evening breeze.
His braid hung nearly to his waist.
Not a single bell upon it had been cut away.
Khal Drogo.
Celebrimbor watched him carefully.
"A warrior."
"The greatest of his people."
"And tomorrow..."
I watched Drogo disappear through the gates.
"...he marries Daenerys Targaryen."
That night I barely slept.
Instead...
I sat upon the roof overlooking the moonlit city.
Nymeria lay beside me.
Her head rested upon her paws.
Celebrimbor remained silent.
Until finally...
"You are troubled."
"I am."
"Because of him."
I looked toward Illyrio's manse.
"Drogo."
Celebrimbor waited.
"I could kill him."
The words hung in the night air.
"So easily?"
"He doesn't know I exist."
"I've trained for years."
"I have your abilities."
"He'd never see it coming."
Celebrimbor's expression remained unreadable.
"And why do you hesitate?"
"Because..."
I rubbed my face.
"She became happy"
He waited.
Silence settled between us.
Finally...
Celebrimbor spoke.
"Then ask her."
I blinked.
"What?"
"You possess knowledge she does not."
"She possesses a choice you would steal."
He looked directly at me.
"Do not decide her fate without hearing her own will."
I stared at him.
For someone who had once sought to dominate all of Middle-earth...
That was surprisingly wise.
He noticed my expression.
"You are thinking of what I once was."
"I am."
His voice became quieter.
"Failure teaches lessons victory never can."
Before dawn...
I made my decision.
I wasn't going to choose for her.
She deserved that much.
Getting into Illyrio's manse proved easier than expected.
Not through the gate.
Over the wall.
Elven Agility carried me silently from rooftop to rooftop.
Then over polished marble.
Then through a garden filled with orange trees.
Not once did a guard look upward.
Celebrimbor smiled faintly.
"Humans rarely do."
Wrath's Vision washed over the world.
Everything became grey.
Servants glowed softly throughout the halls.
Guards burned brighter.
Then...
One life stood apart.
Slender.
Alone.
Second floor.
Eastern wing.
"Her."
Celebrimbor nodded.
The balcony doors stood open.
Warm Pentoshi air drifted through sheer curtains.
I climbed silently onto the balcony.
Then knocked gently upon the wooden frame.
The young girl inside spun around.
Violet eyes widened.
She couldn't have been more than thirteen.
Silver-gold hair fell almost to her waist.
For a heartbeat...
Neither of us spoke.
She recovered first.
"Who are you?"
Her voice was frightened.
Not angry.
Frightened.
I raised both hands.
Slowly.
"I'm not here to hurt you."
She looked toward the door.
Probably considering calling for help.
"If you scream..."
"I'll leave."
She hesitated.
Then nodded once.
"...Very well."
"I know who you are."
She frowned.
"Many people do."
"I also know what's happening tomorrow."
Her expression changed.
"You've come to mock me?"
"No."
"To help."
She almost laughed.
"A stranger climbs into my room..."
"...and says he wants to help?"
"I know."
"It sounds ridiculous."
"It truly does."
She studied me.
"You aren't one of Illyrio's men."
"No."
"Nor one of my brother's."
"No."
"Then who are you?"
I hesitated.
Not because I didn't know.
Because I couldn't tell her the truth.
"A traveler."
She looked unconvinced.
"You climbed a wall guarded by twenty men."
"...An unusually determined traveler."
To my surprise...
She smiled.
Only slightly.
But it was there.
I took a slow breath.
Then asked the question.
The reason I'd come.
"Do you want to marry Khal Drogo?"
The smile vanished.
She looked down at her hands.
For several seconds...
She didn't answer.
When she finally spoke...
Her voice was barely audible.
"No."
One word.
Quiet.
Honest.
"I don't."
She swallowed hard.
"But my brother says I must."
"He says it's my duty."
"He says..."
She stopped herself.
I already knew what Viserys said.
He'd sell every part of her if it won him an army.
I didn't need to hear it again.
I nodded slowly.
"Thank you."
She frowned.
"...For what?"
"For answering honestly."
She looked confused.
"Most people never asked, did they?"
A tear escaped before she could stop it.
"No."
"They only told me."
I looked toward the balcony.
Toward the sleeping city beyond.
My hand rested unconsciously upon the hilt of Joffrey's sword.
Celebrimbor's voice echoed quietly in my mind.
"Now you know."
Yes.
Now I knew.
The question was no longer what history demanded.
The question was what I would do about it.