Editing Melara Hetherspoon (section)

==History==
Melara was a [[ward]] at [[Casterly Rock]],{{Ref|AFFC|Appendix}} a childhood [[bedmaid]] of [[Cersei Lannister]],{{Ref|AFFC|36}} and her close friend during their youths.{{Ref|AFFC|24}}{{Ref|AFFC|28}} Another of Cersei's bedmaids, [[Jeyne Farman]], would always hang back or hide behind them.{{Ref|AFFC|36}} At Casterly Rock, Melara heard the serving girls say that the [[woods witch|witch woman]] [[Maggy the Frog]] in [[Lannisport]] could curse a man, make him fall in love, summon [[demons]], and [[prophecy|foretell the future]].{{Ref|AFFC|36}}

In {{date|276}}, when Cersei was ten years old and Melara was eleven, the girls attended the [[tourney]] hosted by Lord [[Tywin Lannister]] in Lannisport [[tournament in honor of Viserys's birth|in honor of Prince Viserys's birth]]. There, Cersei was secretly told that she would be [[betrothed]] to Prince [[Rhaegar Targaryen]] at the end of the tourney. Cersei was so happy that she decided to visit Maggy the Frog with Melara and Jeyne to have their fortunes told,{{Ref|AFFC|24}} after Melara told them tales of Maggy's powers she had heard from the Casterly Rock serving girls,{{Ref|AFFC|36}} and because Cersei wanted to show her friends that a queen and a [[House Lannister|lioness]] had no fears.{{Ref|AFFC|24}}

That night, Cersei and her friends sneaked out of their beds to seek Maggy's tent on the tourney grounds, and entered it to find that the sorceress was sleeping. Cersei kicked her bed and demanded she wake up and tell their fortunes. After Maggy opened her yellow and crusted eyes, the sight of them caused Jeyne to flee in fear. However, Cersei and Melara stayed, asking to know their futures and what men they would marry, despite Maggy ordering them to leave. After Cersei threatened to tell her father Tywin to have Maggy [[whipping|whipped]] for insolence, Maggy grudgingly agreed, saying she must [[bloodmagic|taste their blood]]. She provided a twisted [[iron]] dagger, which Cersei used to prick her thumb and Melara's. Maggy sucked the blood with her toothless mouth, then told the girls they had three questions. Cersei asked when she would marry Prince Rhaegar and about the children she would have, and received a frightening prophecy about marrying [[Robert Baratheon|a king]], the deaths of her children, a younger queen who would supplant her, and the ''[[valonqar]]'' that would kill her. Cersei wanted to leave after this, but Melara then demanded her own questions. She asked if she would marry [[Jaime Lannister]], Cersei's twin, a question that angered Cersei. However, Maggy prophesied that Melara would not marry anyone and would die a [[maiden]], and that her death was was very close, close enough to "smell her breath". Cersei followed this by throwing a jar of potion into Maggy's eyes, and the girls fled the tent while Maggy screamed and cursed at them in a foreign language.{{Ref|AFFC|36}}

Afterwards, Cersei and Melara laughed at the "stupid", nonsensical prophecies, until the end of the tourney, when Cersei learned that King [[Aerys II Targaryen]] had refused to consider Tywin's proposal and that she would not marry Prince Rhaegar.{{Ref|AFFC|24}} After that, Melara insisted that if they never spoke about the prophecies, they would be forgotten and would not come true.{{Ref|AFFC|17}}{{Ref|AFFC|36}}{{Ref|AFFC|39}} However, Melara fell down a well and drowned soon afterwards.{{Ref|AFFC|36}} Cersei recalls that Melara was not silent in the well, and that she had screamed and shouted.{{Ref|AFFC|39}} After Melara's death, Cersei asked her [[septa]], [[Saranella]], the meaning of the word ''valonqar'', who told her it was [[High Valyrian]] for "little brother", which Cersei took to mean her younger [[dwarf]] brother, [[Tyrion Lannister]].{{Ref|AFFC|39}}