GORKOS

Autumn winds are nigh',
Storms abound and sailors die.

Gorkos had learned those words as a child on Skagos from his father who hunted seals, like his father had before him, like Gorkos now did, and like his newfound son would after him. Autumn was a time to stay home and wait for Winter when the storms would not be as frequent-though perhaps stronger.

It was after an especially nasty storm, that he and his woman Marne had been blessed with the discovery . The gods had not been kind to them concerning children-their own trueborn children all either dying in the womb, or not long after leaving it. So to find a weak, plump, and frostbitten young boy with hair the color of wet straw washed up on the shore just outside their hut on Skagos, felt as though the gods had finally seen fit to bless him and Marne. The lad barely breathed and was pale to the bone when he'd found him-he had likely only lived due to the warmth his excess weight had provided him. From the fine silks he wore they knew he was a highborn Southron child. They replaced them with fine Northern furs and skins to warm his chilled body.

Marne immediately took the boy into her heart as Gorkos knew she would. The only child that had lived beyond infancy before dying of a nasty cough had been about this boy's age. With gentle and tender care they looked after the boy for well over two weeks before feeling that he was like to live. From frostbite, the boy had lost two toes (one on each foot), his left ear, as well as his spearhand's smallest finger. There was also some significant scarring on his cheeks and across his nose from chilblains. But beyond these surface disfigurements the lad soon regained his strength and became easier to talk with.

When the lad had first awoke he had been scared and confused by his surroundings, calling frantically for someone named Myrcella, before accepting that she wasn't coming and crying himself to sleep. Those first few nights Gorkos saw that Marne had felt absolutely helpless to soothe the child. Nothing from her would satisfy him. Slowly as the days turned to weeks, though, the boy came to see that he was safe and well taken care of here, and slowly began to let Marne into his heart. They discovered to their relief that the lad was sweet and kindly. When he began to feel quite comfortable with them, he began to ask about people and places that they had only rarely-if ever-heard about before. He asked about Lord Stark, a name which Gorkos recalled as a great king or ruler of the mainland shores, but with whom he'd had no interaction with ever in his life. He also spoke of . Most of all the child seemed concerned about them inquiring about his litter of pet cats-had any of them survived the sinking? Gorkos thanked his stars that such creatures had drowned-such a strange Southron custom to keep such wild beasts as Wildcats as pets!

When the lad had recovered quite well enough to walk he asked if a boat might be procured to help him search for his sister, to whom the name of Myrcella belonged.

Marne, ever so sweetly asked, "Don't you like it here, Tommick?"

"Tommen." insisted the lad for the hundredth time-but he did not know Marne-once she'd settled on something she never budged. The boy gave a little harrumph before then saying, "And I like it here well enough, but I want to find my sister. If I survived she might as well."

Gorkos sighed before replying, "I'm afraid with Autumn soon to set in, it's far too dangerous to set sail. You'd have to wait for one of those fancy ships that the mainlanders have." Marne shot him a dirty look for suggesting even the barest hope of a way off of Skagos.

The boy picked up this hope and ran with it, eagerly asking, "When does the next mainlander ship come?"

"Spring, likely, what with all the storms there are during Autumn and Winter," lied Marne. She wanted to keep the boy, and Gorkos could hardly blame her... and truth be told, with Marne and himself likely too old to have children, this would be their last chance to do so. And so Gorkos held his tongue on when the next mainlander ship would come-and let the lad Tommick's hopes of finding his sister fall asunder.

The lad's complete fall into despondency after that deeply troubled Gorkos, almost to the point where he considered telling him the truth-but not quite to that point.

The only thing that cheered him up was when Gorkos came home with two Wildcat younglings that he'd found by a dead she-cat and their larger litter mate. One was weak and sickly-the other healthy and strong, and Tommick took a liking to them immediately. And soon after that he began asking about leaving Skagos fewer and fewer times, seeming to enjoy his new life for the moment, and Gorkos let his worry and concerns about lying to the boy fade into nothing.