Challenges soon ended by secret stones cloistered deep within her wardrobe. Could this lady knight see the truth writ plain upon her face, the fear and hope and staggering possibility contained within a single jeweled net? Sansa tucked it all away, a drunken fool’s plan sheathed in the pale silk of genteel mask, her reply first a smile tinged with warmth. Rarely did sympathy greet the traitorous wolf; a crimson cloak and stunted groom did little to erase Stark treachery from the court’s mind. No matter that this warrior’s help had come too late — she seemed too gentle a soul to suffer the callousness demanded of one behind carmine walls.
“No more than any other in such trying days, my lady. I may only pray that peace shall bring some measure of comfort to us all.”
⊰ hamilton meme ⊱
When last had Sansa taken her ease? Certainly not since Winterfell, whose days once felt so full, bursting with promise and prosperity, now withered upon the vine. Though life as lion’s captive provided little in the manner of entertainments still she found hours consumed with worry, with caution, with rage. How it drained her, that ceaseless blaze like rumored dragon’s fire ‘neath a Northern home’s walls. It was not supposed to be this way. Life was not meant to have taken such a turn.
“I fear I have forgotten how.”
⊰ hamilton meme ⊱
“Until such time as one does not find himself quite so befuddled by sharp words. You must exercise caution, Ofelia; when brutality and dull wits meet within a single man, terrible things might occur.”
“ — And yet to strike a prince is unlike striking any other man. Though he may bleed as readily, royal ichor and its cost elevate him to stand amongst the gods.”
“But a temporary intrusion, I assure you. Ears purchased by coin or favor rarely see the need in listening where only one person resides; surely you know, Lady Alys, that when one’s life depends upon the keeping of secrets, knowing when and where to speak of them becomes a delicate art.”
⊰ stardust meme ⊱
“ — Alas, I fear you cannot, my lady.” Now at last the girl’s eyes matched her father’s, curiously flat despite a smile winding across rosen lips. “Caution remains a wise choice, even in days so placid as these.”
⊰ stardust meme ⊱
wolfless. Aw, thank you darling!
perfect.
Swift, the change from life to death. One moment you struggled and gasped, so full of vigor that one might burst from such exertion, before the Stranger’s chill breath swept over that small, guttering flame, another soul extinguished. Though she had wished it a thousand, thousand times, whispered prayers of justice and vengeance offered up to her father’s gods of old, Sansa found herself aghast at seeing a purpled face, hearing that rattled moan of final defeat.
At once panic began gnawing at her belly; every guest there knew how Joffrey had treated her, what his family had done to the warring wolves. Impish husband helped no more, perhaps the sole member of court capable of lowering her station still, if by reputation more than blood. Such worry flew on shaky wings, careening through her mind in hurried snippets, fragments of thought which could only amount to fear.
“ —— He’s…he’s dead! Margaery, he’s dead!”
Murdered, after taking guest right and a place of honor as riverine kin exchanged a vow of marriage before the gods. Imagination had summoned all manner of dreadful news — a battled turned against him, assassins in the night — yet none save a lion could conceive of victory through such ignoble means. And her mother! Mayhaps what gods they petitioned for children and harmony no longer looked down upon them, protections vanished when men’s hearts turned so hateful as to slay kings amidst a wedding feast.
Lord Tyrion had thought to share such tidings of loss gently, she could see, dismissing him with no more than murmured thanks. No Lannister would see her tears or offer comfort; despite being the best of them, the Imp remained in their pride. Preoccupied with grief, that final hope of rescue smothered, Sansa thought nothing of the young girl, where her mind might race to find ruby-haired companion flushed and weeping.
“ — ‘Tis nothing; worry not sweetling.” To know would terrify her, and another shall speak of this soon enough. “It will pass.”
“ — Then stay your hand, ser!”
Though her father spoke of the knight as lacking honor, a man whose vow meant little when confronted with a choice between duty and family forsworn, such a stain could not diminish what talent he naturally possessed. Beyond physical prowess lay a clever mind — all lions were clever, a lesson learnt no sooner than Sansa understood the true purpose of Cersei’s words penned in her careful script. Kingslayer, oathbreaker…ought one add fool to his sobriquets? Neither Trant nor Blount had yet managed to beat a brother’s victories out of her; failure, however, did not inspire defeat. Mayhaps he believed leonine blood would serve more faithfully; mayhaps he merely thought her scared. Sansa would not yield so easily, would not grant the king such vile satisfaction.
“Are you truly so blind to your nephew’s whims?”
⊰ reign quotes ⊱
Features arranged themselves into what she once remembered as sympathy; not so long ago ‘twas Sansa swooning over her prince, lightheaded with the dream of their life together. Now another sought such bliss, or else was pushed into it as so many girls were. She could not begrudge her — Willas, Willas…I can make you happy, Willas — though infatuation seemed more an effort, than a dizzying fall.
“You mustn’t fear, he shall come to love you even before the day has finished.”
⊰ three words meme ⊱
wolfless. Hello there, Anon! As stated in my rules, memes and open starters are there for all of my followers, not just mutuals.
To meet one’s betrothed oft presented a daunting task, one weighed down by a future as unavoidable as it was inevitable. What impressions departed with lord and lady might influence decades of marriage, both parties nervously catering to unknown whims; though so many noble houses lacked sons by force of Winter and war, the last casualty of such strife remained dreams. Lovers lost, homes abandoned, change cemented by new alliances lacking the benefit of months or years of feverish dreaming. They must all abide disappointment in some manner, though she prayed the worst would pass over a lupine house already ravaged.
“It shows your care, dear brother. When you are older and these early days have been committed to the past, no doubt she shall find such anxious thoughts endearing. On the morrow you will have some measure of time to yourselves; mayhaps you’ll find she too felt a certain apprehension in meeting at last.”
