Chapter 23 - Sacrifice
Once every weirwood and heart tree across Westeros was finally linked, the whole continent felt like it breathed with me. I could speak through any tree, shift my sight from one to the next, or even listen to all of them together. That last part was the hardest.
Hearing every rustle of wind, every falling snowflake, every heartbeat near the trees at the same time was overwhelming. My mind wobbled for a moment under the weight of it. But Leaf stayed beside me in the dream-space, steady as a root gripping stone. Her presence balanced me, helped me manage the flood of information until it settled into something I could bear.
Once I grew steady enough, Leaf guided me gently. "Now," she said, "you must learn the second duty of the greenseer. The past."
"The past is important," she said softly. "Without it, the present is only half understood. All greenseers must see what came before."
So we tried.
Leaf pulled me through the trees, urging the magic downward, deeper into memory. I expected to fall into scenes of old battles, forgotten kings, First Men walking with the Children, the building of the Wall, maybe even the Azor Ahai. But something stopped us.
It felt like slamming into a soft, invisible wall. The magic tried to push ahead, tried to show me something, but nothing came. The images were faint, foggy. Then everything went grey.
Leaf frowned at once. I felt her magic strain, felt her try again. She pushed harder this time, guiding my sight with all the skill of someone who had been doing this for thousands of years. But the same grey nothingness blocked us.
We tried a third time. Then again and again. It was the same result.
She pulled back in surprise. In all the years of her life, she had never failed to see the past, not even once. Now she tried again and again and again, but each time we were stopped at the same invisible boundary. Her brows tightened. My head throbbed from frustration and strain. Even inside the dream, we could feel the frustration building.
Finally we opened our eyes. The roots loosened and pulled away. Leaf looked troubled. Truly troubled. Her golden eyes were narrowed and her lips pressed thin. Val, who had been sitting quietly at the cave wall, understood at once from our faces that something had gone wrong.
We sat there for a moment, silent, the cold cave air pressing around us. Finally Leaf whispered, "This has never happened. Not once."
I rubbed my forehead. "Why can't we see the past? What is blocking it?"
Leaf closed her eyes and stayed still for a few breaths. When she finally opened them, she let out a slow breath.
"I understand," she said. "I know why the past will not open to you. It is because you do not have the blood of the Children. The greenseer's root cannot reach into the old memories without it. Your magic touches the trees of today, and it listens. But it cannot reach into yesterday. Only our blood can cross that boundary."
Her words hit me harder than I expected. I felt something inside me drop. I had thought that with Val's bond and Leaf's magic I could become a true greenseer, complete with every gift. But hearing this… it felt like a door slamming shut. A door I desperately needed to open.
"How can that be?" I said quietly. "I linked the trees. I can see through them. Why can't I see the past?"
Leaf shook her head. "Because linking trees is the present. Seeing the past is different. Only our kind can carry it fully."
Disappointment washed over me. I had hoped this power would help me prepare, help me confirm what really happened in the stories I remembered, clear any doubts about the timeline and the legends. The books and the show might be wrong—or incomplete. Seeing the real past could change everything. And now that door was closed.
Maybe this was why greenseers had always been so rare. Even among the First Men who intermingled and carried a little of the Children's blood, not all of them had enough of it to truly see the past. Their magic must have been too thin, too scattered over generations.
And now it made sense why the Children kept one greenseer alive for years, even when his body was failing. They did not replace him because they could not. The chance of finding another with the right blood, the right magic, was almost nothing. The realisation hit me hard. I felt both sad and disappointed. I had come so close, yet the most important door stayed shut.
Unless…
A small thought crept up in my mind. A thought I did not want to have. A thought that felt both ridiculous and dangerous.
Leaf noticed the way my expression changed. "What are you thinking?" she asked slowly.
I blurted out without thinking. "Are you married, Leaf? Or do you have a partner?"
Leaf stared at me. Absolutely stunned.
"What?" she almost screamed, eyes wide.
Val, sitting on the side, choked on her own breath in disbelief over this sudden question.
I swallowed. "There is… a way. Maybe. A foolish idea, but still an idea."
Leaf tilted her head, suspicious already. "And what idea is that?"
I hesitated. I did not want to say it. Truly, I did not. But the words jumped out of my mouth before I could stop them.
"Well… I have this talent," I said awkwardly, "which lets me receive magic—gifts—from someone I'm bonded with. Or married."
Leaf blinked once. Twice. She did not understand yet. But she could feel the danger in my tone.
I rubbed the back of my neck. "It's not— it's not what it sounds like. This might be the only way. If I joined with someone of your blood, I might gain the missing ability. The connection and the key to the past."
Leaf continued staring at me as if I had just spoken High Valyrian backwards.
"What are you asking me?"
I sighed. "I'm asking if you had a partner. Because that might be my answer. The way forward."
"So… you want to procreate with me?" she asked calmly now as if discussing something trivial.
I nodded slowly while my mind spun in circles. The way she said procreate made it sound like a duty. Not at all like the "nightly activities" humans always seemed to talk about. I realised, with a sinking feeling, that for most races in the world, those activities were only for making children, not for enjoyment. Only humans and maybe a few others behaved differently. I sighed inwardly.
Was this what my life had come to? Sacrificing my body for the world, for magic, for the greenseers? I took a deep breath to stop my thoughts from drifting into absurd places. But if this was the only way forward, I am ready to sacrifice my body for the world.
Leaf tilted her head. "Manny, you look troubled. Why?"
I opened my mouth but nothing came out. I had no idea how to explain that the entire situation was melting my brain.
On the side, Val had been listening the whole time. She wasn't even pretending not to. A smirk stretched across her face until she burst into a soft laugh.
"Aha," she said, pointing at me with all the joy of someone watching a very amusing play. "So that is why you are making that face. You look like a man who had eaten the sourest berry in the wild."
I groaned. "Val… don't laugh."
She only laughed harder. "How could I not? I want to see how this goes. You and a child of the forest? I have never heard such a thing. I am curious how you two will even… manage." She lifted her eyebrow with wicked delight.
I covered my face with my hand. "Are you not jealous? Your man just asked another woman to—"
Val waved her hand before I even finished. "Jealous? Why would I be jealous? Among the free folk, we do not chain our hearts or our bodies so tightly. If our man has the strength or charm to win another wife, it only shows his worth. The real question is whether the wives can live with each other. Sometimes they kill. Sometimes they share. It depends."
I stared at her, shocked by how casually she said it.
"So what do you think?" I asked. "If Leaf agrees… will you be jealous? Will you kill her?"
Val snorted so loudly the cave echoed. "Are you mad? Kill her? She is literally a Child of the Forest! She has sharp nails, fast hands, and magic at her fingertips. She can kill me before I blink. Why would I fight her? I just got my man. I want to enjoy him, not die early."
Leaf blinked in surprise but said nothing.
I nodded slowly, still processing everything. I had known the free folk were open-minded… but this level of honesty and practical thinking was new to me. These people truly lived freely with heart, mind, and everything in between.
And somehow, in the middle of all this madness, I was supposed to decide the future of greenseer magic.
Wonderful. Perfect. Exactly what I needed.
End of Chapter 23 - Sacrifice