That night
he dreamt that he was back in the Great Sept of Baelor. The sept was still and
dark, until a woman emerged from the shadows and walked slowly to the bier.
“Sister?” he said.
But it was
not Cersei. A hood and veil concealed her features, but he could see the
candles burning in the green pools of her eyes. “Sister,” he said,
“what would you have of me?”
“I am not your sister, Jaime.” She
raised a pale soft hand and pushed her hood back. “Have you forgotten
me?”
Can I forget someone I never knew? The words caught in his throat. He
did know her, but it had been so long …
“Will
you forget your own lord father too? I wonder if you ever knew him,
truly.” Her eyes were green, her hair spun gold. He could not tell how old
she was. Fifteen, he thought, or fifty.
“Who are you?” He had to hear her
say it.
“The question is, who are you?”
“This is a dream.”
“Is it?” She smiled sadly. “We
all dream of things we cannot have. Tywin dreamed that his son would be a great
knight, that his daughter would be a queen. He dreamed they would be so strong
and brave and beautiful that no one would ever laugh at them.”
“I am a knight,” he told her,
“and Cersei is a queen.”
A tear rolled down her cheek. The woman raised
her hood again and turned her back on him. Jaime called after her, but already
she was moving away, her skirt whispering lullabies as it brushed across the
floor. Don’t leave me, he wanted to call, but of course she’d left them long
ago.
from A Feast for Crows, Chapter 44 (Jaime VII) – shortened.
Grand, elusive, yet benevolent beings who roam the Upper Planes. Most prefer to stay close to kin and be guides for good-aligned creatures visiting their plains. Possessing a gift of foretelling, in some halfling and elven cultures it’s believed if one happens to encounter one it will grant to you a warning for the following year before disappearing.
Naturally timid, celestial centaurs often do not show themselves to bolder beings such as humans. However, it does occur. The greatest chance a human has of meeting one is in the early evening of seasonal equinoxes and solstices; bringing gifts of scented waters and herbal cakes are encouraged. The last known telling of a human encounter was by an elderly woman hobbling into town on the night of a harvest moon festival. Observing that the woman was petrified, the being slowly approached and simply gently patted her head while fading away. Upon reaching town, the woman was in disbelief of her eyes…until realizing days later she no longer needed her old walking stick.