The Great Sept is always a quiet place. Septons shuffle, septas whisper prayers, murmurs sound from beyond the walls, yet it all just blends in, becomes a noise the ear ignores. The sept is quiet. This is where you are alone with the Gods, even if others share their Gracious Light with you.

Knelt at the round altar, whispering her prayers, is Queen Alicent, lighting candles.

'The Mother watches her'.

Alicent does not glance up, to meet the marble statue's gaze. It may be just a statue, yet the Hightower Queen cannot help but feel her heart clench, drop whenever she meets the Mother with her eyes. The Queen's heart is sinful, shame eats away at joy, and to see the Gods looking down... somehow Alicent is sure she will see none but disappointment in them.

Why.

'A loyal wife I am, a loyal Queen, a mother, why does this poison blacken in my soul?'

That question flows around Alicent's head, slowly, coming and going. She knows why, really, it's just that the Hightower won't admit it to herself - why sins weigh down at her heart.

Glancing over the flickering candles, knelt before the altar, Alicent, the queen in green, should feel at peace, and yet peace still eludes her, as if the Gods deny her it, even in this holy place, even on her knees, the Queen does not kneel for any but the Seven, and yet even that isn't enough.

'Temper, Alicent.' - she has to keep reminding herself, - 'The Gods test us all.'

Tests... how many more will they bestow upon the head that wears the crown before that head knows peace? Hightower's jaw clenched at the thought.

The Seven all stand in a circle, gazing down at the believers with their marble eyes, and yet Alicent cannot help but feel, jealousy, as if only upon her the Gods look with contempt, as if everyone else deserves the kindness but her.

'Temper...'