Davos Seaworth is marched between two guards into the stone keep of Breakwater and brought before Godric Borrell, Lord of Sweetsister. He is an ugly bald man, big and fleshy, with an oarsman’s thick shoulders and no neck. Coarse grey stubble, going white in patches, covers his cheeks and chin. Davos also notices that the man has a sort of webbing between the three middle fingers of his right hand. A guard produces a ribbon of black velvet trimmed with cloth-of-gold, and bearing three seals: a crowned stag, a flaming heart in red, and a hand in white. He lays it out in front of Godric. Davos has been discovered in the Belly o’ the Whale, a smuggler’s den, trying to buy passage to White Harbor. Cut him free, Gordic commands, and peel off his gloves. Davos’s gloves are removed, revealing his maimed left hand. The shortened fingers confirm his identity – he is the onion knight.
Godric inquires as to why Davos is in Sisterton. Storms, Davos explains. Storms were sacred on the Sisters before the Andals came. The gods of old were the Lady of the Waves and the Lord of the Skies, who made storms every time they mated. Davos had set sail from the Wall with twenty-nine ships, but now less than half remain afloat. Black skies, bitter winds, and lashing rains had driven their galleys onto the rocks of Skagos. Salladhor Saan’s Lysene fleet had been scattered across the narrow sea. Frustrated by the storms and Stannis’s delayed payment for his services, Salladhor had abandoned Stannis and his cause. Before returning to the Stepstones, however, Salladhor had left Davos an open boat to deliver him to the shores of Sweetsister.
Godric dismisses his guards. When they are alone, he asks Davos why he should not hand him over to Sunderland. Borrell is Lord of Sweetsister, Longthorpe Lord of Longsister, and Torrent Lord of Littlesister. All three are sworn to Triston Sunderland, the Lord of the Three Sisters. The Three Sisters itself is sworn to the Arryns of the Vale, but the allegiance is tenuous. Godric instructs a servant to bring Davos some food. As he eats, Davos asks Gordic whether there is saffron in his stew. The stew contains many eastern spices, Davos discovers; a ship, the Sloe-Eyed Maid, returning from Qarth and Volantis had smashed up against the rocks of Sweetsister, spilling forth chests of exotic goods. Davos suspects Gordic had used false lights to draw the ship to its doom.
Gordic informs Davos that his cause is hopeless: Lord Wyman of White Harbor has bent the knee for Tommen. The Lionstar, a Frey vessel, had docked on Sweetsister before continuing to White Harbor. The Freys had visited Sisterton to dine with Gordic. During the dinner Rhaegar Frey had told Gordic that he had lost his wife, but meant to get himself a new one in White Harbor; Lord Wyman and Lord Walder have made a pact, and mean to seal it with a marriage. Davos is dismayed. Without White Harbor, Stannis is lost.
Davos begs Godric to help him reach White Harbor. Godric begins to tell him of the time that Ned Stark visited Sisterton. The Mad King had sent to the Eyrie for Stark’s head, but Jon Arryn had refused. To get home and call his banners, Stark had to cross the mountains to the Fingers and find a fisherman to carry him across the Bite. A storm caught him on the way, but the fisherman’s daughter managed to get him to the Sisters before the boat went down. Godric claims the woman was Jon Snow’s mother. Godric’s father had met with Stark when he came ashore. Godric’s maester counseled his father that Prince Rhaegar was certain to defeat Robert, and that they should send Stark’s head to Aerys. In this world only winter is certain, Stark had replied, we may lose our heads, it’s true, but what if we prevail? Godric’s father had allowed Stark to leave unharmed. Following in his father’s footsteps, Godric allows Davos to leave. If you lose, he tells him, you were never here.
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