[Chapter Size: 2200 Words.]

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  The egg, which had remained dormant for over three years, finally hatched!

  However, the birth drained elia's power pletely. All the power she had accumuted was transferred to give life to the creature, f her to start over from scratch.

  Fortunately, this time, her body didn't bee as weak or cold as before. She seemed more normal, which could be sidered the only good news amidst everything. Additionally, sihe creature's birth, it had not absorbed elia's power anymore, allowio start regaining it, albeit slowly. Of course, this recovery was far from reag her previous levels, but it was a start.

  As for the bird she brought into the world with such effort...

  The most special thing so far was that elia could see it clearly, whether it was day ht. No matter the light or darkness, its ice-blue feathers glowed sharply to her, something she didn't fully uand.

  Moreover, it didn't seem to have anything magical about it. It had been almost a month sihe bird's birth, and, it, elia couldn't identify any special ability or characteristic other than its impressive beauty. Its ice-blue feathers were extraordinarily beautiful.

  The bird was growing quickly. When it came out of the egg, it was small, barely the size of Robb's thumb, but now, in such a short time, it had already grown to the size of a parrot.

  Still, nothing else stood out. It didn't spit fire, it didn't create ice, and it seemed to behave like any other on bird.

  But elia still had high expectations. She remembered the violent fire that apahe creature's birth and believed that something powerful could still awaken. Ri, in turn, was the most excited about the bird. His sadness and ay disappeared instantly when he saw the little being. He seemed happier than ever, and for elia, that was enough to make the birth worthwhile.

  Later that same day, Robb and Ri suggested that the bird should be named. elia thought about it deeply. She remembered that both when she found the egg and when it finally hatched, there had been fire. That's how she decided:

  "Phoenix!"

  The way it emerged from the fmes that night reminded her of the Phoenix, the mythical bird that rises from the ashes, a figure from the legends and myths of her past life. Of course, she khat the traditional phoenix was associated with red and fiery fmes, not ice-blue fmes. The phoenix's feathers were described as a vivid red, while her "Phoenix" had cold, shimmering blue feathers. But that didn't matter.

  elia just wanted her "Phoenix" to be as powerful as the mythical bird she remembered. That was her hope for the creature.

  As elia watched the phoenix jumping on her bed, lost in thought, she was suddenly interrupted. She heard anxious howls from the giant wolves and noisy voices from outside.

  Quickly, she got up and ran to the window. What she saw was not the cold fire she knew, but a real fire, red and violent fmes ing part of Winterfell.

  There was a fire!

  Without thinking twice, elia spun on her heels and ran to the door, ready to help put out the fire. But the moment she crossed the threshold, she stopped abruptly.

  After her father, Ned, went south, Catelyn decided to follow him to King's Landing. On the way back, Tyrion Lanhe little imp, who had beeurning from the Wall and nning to go to King's Landing, was captured aained. He was accused of attempting to assassinate Bran by pushing him from the tower.

  elia remembered that i, but in the past two days, she had thought a lot about it. She didn't believe Tyrion was responsible. First of all, her intuition told her that the "imp" wouldn't do something like that. Besides, on the day of the i, Tyrion helped her get up from the ground, and she didn't notiything strange about his behavior.

  But why?

  Why did Catelyn suddenly go to King's Landing? Why was Tyrion captured? How did she clude that he was involved ia Bran?

  That's when elia remembered something crucial: a dagger. Catelyn took this dagger to King's Landing. If it wasn't somethiremely important, her mother would never have left Bran unscious behind and traveled aloo King's Landing.

  Where did this dagger e from? And what did it have to do with the south?

  These thoughts quickly crossed elia's mind, but she didn't have time tahem. Suddenly, something arming crossed her mind. She grabbed the sword her father had given her and ran, full ency, toward Bran's room.

  Bran and her mother were in danger!

  elia thought that, after the king and his me, the danger had disappeared. Until then, she hadn't known who pushed Bran from the tower and didn't have crete evidehat's why she had decided to stay silent and perhaps apany Catelyn to King's Landing to iigate.

  But now, remembering how her mother didn't even go out to say goodbye to Ned before his departure, a doubt grew in her mind. How could Catelyn, who was so ed by Bran's dition, leave him behind and travel so far?

  elia bmed herself fn those details. The events of the past few days had shaken her so much that her mind seemed frozen.

  Filled with ay, elia ran as fast as she could. Bran's room wasn't far from hers, and in the blink of an eye, she could already see the door. With the sword tightly in her hands, she took a determiep and pushed the door open with force.

  "Mother, be careful!"

  As soon as she opehe door, elia saw her mother standihe window. Behihere was a man in a bck cloak, holding a dagger, ready to attack. She shouted to warn Catelyn.

  Catelyn, hearing her daughter's warning, turned around and, upon seeing the man, instinctively stepped back. The stranger also turned when he heard elia's voice. He looked at her with disdain, as if he didn't care about her presence.

  "You shouldn't be here. No one should be here. Let him go, he should have died a long time ago!" the man growled angrily, casting a furious g Bran. Then, he looked at elia, sizing her up with a mixture of pity and disdain. "It's a shame... A beautiful girl. But, unfortunately, you'll have to die too."

  "Don't even think about it!" elia replied firmly, drawing the sword. She stepped forward, moving closer to the man.

  The stranger s her, drawing his dagger before ung an attack. To him, elia was just a young girl, easy to defeat.

  But elia was quicker. With a swift move, she dodged the attack by leaning to the side. Then, she raised her sword and positio accurately, disarming the enemy's dagger with a precise strike. The man recoiled, surprised by the speed and skill of the girl.

  elia didn't give him time to react. After knog the dagger away, she attacked the man's lower body with a series of quid calcuted moves. He tried to dodge, but was caught off guard when elia spun around and kicked him hard, throwing him backward. The impact made him stumble and fall to the ground before he could stabilize himself again.

  "Lia! Be careful!"

  Catelyn's heartbeat almost stopped as she watched the se. She wao help, but she was behind elia, while the man was in front of her, ready to attack.

  With few optio, Catelyn grabbed a vase that was nearby and threw it with force at the man.

  The assassin, however, was clearly experienced in bat. With quick reflexes, he dodged the vase and then lu elia, dagger in hand. His goal was not just to incapacitate; he wao finish the attack quickly, kill Bran, and disappear.

  But elia was faster. Her sword was already in motion, aimed directly at the man’s heart. However, at the crucial moment, something ued happened: her hand involuntarily veered off course, as if guided by forces beyond her trol. The strike that should have been fatal ended up hitting the man's arm. He roared in pain, but that was not enough to stop him. His dagger passed dangerously close to elia's neck.

  "Lia!"

  Catelyn screamed, her heart tightening, thinking she would lose her daughter at that very moment. She tried to move forward, but it was then that something ued happened. Bran’s direwolf, Summer, charged fiercely. In one swift motion, the wolf bit down hard on the man’s head, throwing him to the ground.

  The assassin’s scream of pain echoed through the room. He tried to free himself, but Summer held his jaw firmly, immobilizing him pletely.

  "g!"

  elia’s sword dropped to the floor. She stood frozen, her eyes fixed on the se before her. The man’s blood now staihe floor, and some droplets had spshed onto her dress. Uo trol herself, tears began to fall from her eyes.

  She didn’t want to cry. In fact, she wasn’t feeling any particur emotion at that moment. It was as if her body was reag on its own, with no trol.

  It was like the movement of the sword, something that simply escaped her will.

  elia knew she could have killed him. All she needed was to keep her hand steady. The man wouldn’t have had another ce to strike. But in that critical moment, her mi bnk.

  Suddenly, memories of that day at the execution grouurned with force. The pu smell of blood seemed to invade her nostrils again, and the sound of a bde cutting off a head echoed in her ears.

  Her thoughts became jumbled, and in the end, her hand moved untrolbly.

  And that’s when she realized the truth: she couldn’t do it.

  Even now, her hands were trembling. Summer had returo the bed, lying beside Bran as if guarding the unscious boy. The man’s unreizable body y on the floor before her. elia felt a wave of nausea growing, a sensation even worse than what she had experie the execution ground.

  Over the years, she had trained relentlessly – in fighting, archery, feng. But when the moment came, she finally uood that she wasn’t ready to take someone’s life.

  If she had died today, it would have been her fault. She would deserve it.

  "Lia! My daughter! Are you alright?"

  Catelyn rushed to elia, embrag her tightly, as if holding a treasure she almost lost. The terrifying moment had shaken her mother deeply. The thought of losing another child would be more painful for her thah itself.

  "Mother!" elia whispered in pain, closing her eyes and burying her fa Catelyn’s arms. The smell of blood in the air was strong, s it felt like it was suffog her. For some reason, that smell reminded her of that night at the execution site – the smell was eerily simir, even though the situations were different.

  Obviously, it was all bloht?

  What was the difference?

  elia couldn’t uand. But iate she was in, she had no energy to reflect deeply. Her mind had been fused sihe moment her sword veered off course. She could only pretend to be calm.

  Soon, she grabbed the sword her father had given her and put it away, trying to keep her posure. Even with the nausea growing inside her, elia suppressed the disfort and asked for help to collect the assassin’s body. When Robb returned, she reported everything that had happened, her voice trolled and seemingly calm.

  Later, Catelyn, still ed, insisted that elia return to her room a. After much effort, elia mao persuade her mother to leave. However, as soon as she was alone, she could no longer hold back her emotions. Tremors took over her body, and while she was bathing, she began to sob untrolbly.

  The image of the man’s body was etched in her mind.

  The disfigured face. The eyes ripped from their sockets. The shredded flesh exposing only blood and bones.

  All of that was just two steps away from her.

  Every time elia closed her eyes, those images resurfaced, clear as day. It was as if the se was imprinted in her memory, impossible to erase.

  The nausea rose again. elia grabbed the edge of the bathtub, trying to vomit, but nothing came out. After long minutes, all that remained were gasps. Weak, she curled up ihtub, hugging her knees and trying to st, but it was useless.

  She couldn’t tinue like this.

  If Summer hadn’t acted in time, it would have been her, her mother, and Bran who would have died.

  If she couldn’t use the sword, she had to accept that responsibility.

  elia realized, with brutal crity, that if she tinued like this, "hesitant, vulnerable," she and her family would always be victims. They would always be at the mercy of enemies who wouldn’t hesitate to take their lives.

  And the enemies showed no mercy.

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