“there’s a first time for everything…and a last time”

I’ve waited my whole life to see the world from up there.

Brienne the Beauty, they name her… though not to her face, lest they be called upon to defend those words with their bodies.

Chaos is a ladder. Many who try to climb it fail, never get to try again. The fall breaks them. And some are given a chance to climb, but they refuse. They cling to the realm, or the gods, or love. Illusions. Only the ladder is real. The climb is all there is.

Hilarious and accurate.

She was sixteen, brown-haired and brown-eyed, slender and beautiful. The people called out her name as she passed, held up their children for her blessing, and scattered flowers under the hooves of her horse.