"Asha." A rich, resonant voice came from behind her.
Asha did not turn. She recognized Cole's voice, though it sounded steadier than usual, as if he were holding back something he had yet to say.
Cole was better known in Westeros as "Maiden" Cole.
His cheeks were smooth and pink, like a maiden's, and his long, straight, sandy hair just brushed his shoulders. He was slender, too, with the graceful build of a swimmer.
Though he looked nothing like the other rough, ugly Ironborn, he was widely acknowledged as one of the bravest warriors in the Iron Islands. He also fought with a longsword rather than the shortswords or axes most Ironborn favored for their convenience aboard ships.
He therefore looked more like a knight of the Seven Kingdoms than an Ironborn of the Iron Islands, though his experience on horseback was hardly extensive. He was still far more comfortable fighting aboard a ship.
Cole was also captain of the Daughter of the Sea Monster. He had followed Asha since she was sixteen, and he was one of her lovers-her favorite, in fact.
When Asha first met Cole, she called the beard he was struggling to grow "peach fuzz," meaning to tease him.
But Cole frankly admitted that he had never seen a peach, so Asha invited him to join her ship.
They sailed south from the Iron Islands together, visiting Fair Isle, Lannisport, and many smaller ports before finally reaching the Arbor. Then they raided pirates from Lys in the Stepstones.
After Cole tasted a peach with Asha on the Arbor, they began the affair that had lasted to this day.
That was also why Cole's ship was called the Daughter of the Sea Monster. Asha herself was a daughter of the sea monster's house, the daughter of King