Everywhere around Theon Greyjoy, men prepared for war. Ships began loading with fish and barley. Captains commanded to soldiers battle plans and strategies. The Unsullied marched across salt shores with unsettling precision. Ships from Dorne and Highgarden began to arrive, docking on the iron islands. The dragons above yelled with impatience.
His sister was to stay in Pyke and rule, and Theon would be better serving Daenerys in war than with the ironborn, whose disgust for him had only increased after he had throttled the poor boy. Theon knew the queen needed him – he was the only one on the island who lived his life in the northlands and had, however briefly, even conquered Winterfell.
‘Prince of Winterfell’… that seems so long ago. The wounds of the War of Five Kings were many – the death of Luwin, of Ser Rodrik, of Bran and Rickon. They may never be healed, but when they felt to be finally forgotten, more war loomed, and more loss.
I want to be over with war, but what else am I to do?
A few ironborn had pledged their swords to the queen. Theon did not want to, even if he knew he must. This entire war was built on lies. Yara saw Arya Stark leap into the Ironman’s Bay and inferred her death, even though they never found her body. Jon Snow may have bent the knee if he was not told about Arya’s death. Arya may not have died at all. She was tough, she may have swum across the waves of the bay, seized a stray vessel. She must.
Please, not her too.
Theon went into the sea to escape the glares of the ironborn. Alone, cold waves engulfed him and the smell of salt brought with it memories. Theon remembered very little of his memories at Pyke, but he recalled the time he came here to convince his father to pledge for Robb Stark. It was a place he hardly recognized, with people who did not recognize him either.
The smell of the sea began to change. Theon saw shades of crimson among blue and black. He began to pat his body in panic, but realized the blood was not his. Robed in red and grey, he saw the body float down to him in eerie stillness. Reek felt his heart tumble, scared of what he was to see, hoping he would be mistaken.
Her face was older than when Theon last saw her, but there was no mistaking the long face, the skinny hands, the brown of her hair nor the color of her eyes – grey, lifeless and lost.
*
End of episode – S07E05 will be published on Sunday, 29th July 2018, 8:30 am GMT
Comments