For years Barra Wynch had filled her head with songs and stories from the green lands. She had listened to singers speak of shining knights, ladies crowned queens of love and beauty, and great tournaments where banners of a hundred colors fluttered beneath the sun. Her brothers had laughed, and many Ironborn had called her foolish, but Lord Harras Wynch had finally relented.

Now, after years of pleading, he had taken her across the Sunset Sea to attend a grand tourney in the westerlands.

The moment she passed through the gates of the tourney grounds, Barra felt as though she had stepped into one of her stories. Colorful pavilions stretched across the fields. Noble ladies walked arm in arm beneath fluttering banners. Knights in gleaming armor guided enormous destriers through the lists while squires hurried after them.

A mounted knight rode past her carrying a cloak embroidered with golden lions, another lowered his lance in practice while spectators cheered.

Barra stood frozen, staring wide-eyed at it all.

"Oh..."

For a moment she forgot her father, forgot the Iron Islands, forgot everything.

"It is real."

A smile slowly spread across her face as another knight thundered by atop a magnificent horse.

"It is exactly as I imagined."