"Mother, this place has changed so much!"
Natalie linked her arm through her mother Nara's, her lively violet eyes roaming over their surroundings before she finally let out a sigh.
"It certainly has."
The mother and daughter walked along the flat stone roads of Eagle's Beak, watching the busy Wildlings constantly passing by, as well as the neat wooden houses, towers, and the castle rising from the ground. For a moment, it felt as though they had arrived in a bustling city.
It was hard to imagine that only a few months ago, this had been nothing but an uninhabited valley.
Natalie wanted to take a look at the castle, whose foundations had already been laid and whose outer walls had risen to about three feet high, but her mother pulled her toward the Orphanage instead.
The yard was not large, merely enclosed by a simple fence. More than a dozen wooden houses stood inside, and several hundred children gathered in the square surrounded by them. The oldest were eleven or twelve, while the youngest were only three or four.
They all wore ragged animal-hide clothes and were swaying their heads as they sang:
"Father's countenance is resolute and strong, judging falsehoods and upholding justice, deciding the measure of fortune and lifespan, kindly cherishing little children;
Mother bestows the blessing of life, guarding and caring for every woman, her smile shall one day end all strife, tenderly protecting little children;
Warrior stands before his enemies..."
Nara knew this was the Song of the Seven.
She was not surprised. That lord was a knight of the Seven, so naturally he would spread the Faith of the Seven throughout his lands. There was nothing wrong with that.
Besides, he had not used forceful means to compel all his subjects to convert to