Trying to Grow Strong

There was a trail of broken twigs and up turned leaves, foot prints were visible on the muddy ground and dents in the ground from where the person had fallen. Blood was splattered across the trees and bushes, dripping endlessly through the path of the person. There was no sound, no birds or any other animals could be heard, and there was no breeze. The silence was deafening and made the person clutch their ears painfully tight with their eyes closed in pain, she let out a scream that echoed through the trees and ripping through the atmosphere of silence.

Elodie Tyrell sobbed loudly as she stumbled her way through the woods searching for her destination shakily. She knew where it was and she could usually find it with her eyes closed but the woods looked different and clouded. Her dress was ripped and the missing pieces where lost somewhere along the trail but she cared not as the sun seemed to burn her skin and her tears scarred her face. What was this madness?

Her throat was dry and cracked from crying and the endless running, it felt as though hours had passed and usually someone would come look for her, someone would send Ser Daniel to find her or one of her handmaidens but there was nothing, no one and she was getting nowhere. Elodie hadn’t noticed the blood trail that she had left, she had been running from something that filled the pit of her stomach with dread and she sought out the place where she knew or hoped she would be safe.

She tripped on a root from a nearby tree, it knocked the air from her lungs and smack her head off the ground. She looked up dizzily and ignored the feeling of the sticky blood which now seeped from a new gash on her forehead, she pulled herself up while tugging at the skirt of her dress which had gotten caught on one of the branches of a bush and that was when she notice the blood.

A shriek erupted from her lungs as her eyes stared widely at her pale skin smothered in blood. She was drenched in it and it was not her blood. A whimper passed her lips and she saw her reflection in a nearby puddle and hardly recognise herself, the person who stared back at her with her eyes had blood splattered across their face, you could see their pale skin shining through the blood from the long straight trails of their tears had made on their cheeks. She covered her mouth with her hand in horror, her hand shook violently like an earthquake and she felt her stomach turn as she asked herself the dreaded question.

Had she killed someone?

Was that why she ran?

She was blinded by hot tears and she pulled her arm up to wipe them away but she stopped and stared at the sleeve of her dress. It was a creamy gold colour that was stained with blood but she stared at it in confusion for she had never worn a dress this colour nor did she have one somewhere hidden in her room. What was happening?

She heard a piercing shriek burst through the air and her head snapped up and a gasp passed through her lips. She fell back onto her bottom and she stare in slight shock at what stood in front of her. It was the statue of her safe haven, the one that she prayed to ever since she had ventured the woods for the first time and stumbled across it. Some worshiped the Old Gods, some worshipped The Seven, and others worshipped the Drowned God while she worshipped this. The Veiled God.

The statue was of a woman who stood upon a marble block; her feet were bare while a book lay open in front of them. She held an outstretched marble hand to those knelt in front of her and she stared at them with a loving gaze that was covered by a see-though veil, her dress was long with short sleeves and her hair flowed long down to her waist. Her face had so much detail carved into in that it almost looked life-like. In her other hand she gripped a sword while a dagger was tucked in the ribbon tied around her waist. The book that lay at her feet had words engraved upon it for those who would visit her to remember her and gave thought to those of what she was truly like.

It read:
I am yours.
I am yours as the stars belong to the sky,
and I am yours as the rivers belong to the sea.
I am yours as your tears belong to your eyes,
and I am yours as your lungs belong to the pattern in which you breathe.

Elodie traced the letters with her fingers as she had done many times before but something was different and she did not jump when a drop of blood crashed onto the surface of the marble book, she simply stared up at the marble face and held her breath as she stared into pale unmoving eyes as tears of blood streamed down the statue’s cheeks.

And that was when Elodie fell backwards and the scene switched and she was still kneeling on the ground but the floor beneath her was stone and she was not covered in blood. She was sitting in the middle of someone’s house and she stared in fear as someone came running through the room, it was a small child with black hair giggling at the top of her lungs as she bolted toward another person who had entered the room. Elodie’s gaze followed the little girl as she sped right past her paying no attention and into the arms of a woman, a woman whose face made Elodie’s own pale. It was her. She stared at herself as she spun around with the girl in her arms, both were laughing but then the sound of a babe crying made her put the child down and tend to a cot at the side of the room.

No this can’t be happening.

This was her future? But she did not look like she had aged since the present, these couldn’t be her children! Elodie pushed herself back on the floor until her back hit the wall, her hair stuck to her forehead with the cold sweat of fear coated her skin. Her breathing was uneven and her eyes began to throb from how wide they were.

watched at her future-self lifted a baby from the cot and held it close to her chest, she soothed it by humming a tune and bouncing it in her arms, the young girl then exclaimed excitedly at something that she had seen outside the window. Soon another person entered, it was a man no older than herself but his face was blurred to her. The child shouted the man’s name but Elodie did not catch it but she stood frozen as the man’s blue eyes burned into hers.

She felt herself fall again and felt her body being shook by someone, her vision was blurred as she store her eyes open to stare at the woman above her.

“Lady Elodie!”

She knew that voice and that was when she realized that it was all just a dream, she gave a sigh and placed a hand on her forehead and she tried to catch her breath. She gave the woman a small smile to let her know that she was okay.

“I just came in to wake you up to break your fast with Lord Edmure and saw you were in a fitful sleep and could not wake you up!” Odine worried over the girl, stroking her hair lovingly and stared at her with worried brown eyes.

“I’m fine Septa Odine,” Elodie sighed and pulled herself up from her bed. The elder woman was like a mother to Elodie, she was a maid when she came here and Edmure deemed her as Elodie’s Septa to teach her and do all the things Septas do without actually being a Septa.

As Elodie got dressed quickly and requested if Lord Hoster Tully was awake, telling her handmaidens that if anyone asked for her that she would be with the ill lord of Riverrun. Odine stopped her at the door after she braided the young girl’s hair. Odine could tell her mind was somewhere else but felt the need to remind her what day it was.

“Lady Elodie, you do remember that the Starks arrive today and you must assist Lord Edmure in greeting them.”

Elodie froze with her hand on the door knob, her eyes searched for something in the wooden door that would spare her the meeting but she just nodded silently, “Come and find me when I must get ready for the meeting but for the time being I will be with Lord Hoster.”
With that she flew down the corridors of the castle to Lord Hoster’s room.