❝ What do you think others like or admire about you?
Deep in the recesses of her mind Septa Mordane chided, “Modesty, my lady! No girl of gentle breeding subjects her guests to such shameless self-flattery!” Ever after, the girl met compliments with a pretty blush and flutter of lashes, no more than a quiet murmuring of thanks. One should endeavor to compliment themselves through action and skill rather than empty boasting, though Sansa hardly knew how perfect stitches were to win over the heart of a gallant prince. If only Lord Stark would send her south, then no question could remain of his daughter’s wit and charm and grace.
Winterfell offered so few delights compared to the capital, or the blossoming gardens of the Reach. Cold and grey failed to flatter even the prettiest of maids, Sansa thought; they said her aunt Lyanna had been a beauty, and it must have been so, for her to entrance a wedded prince. A part of her, however, suspected that ‘twas the southron sun which flattered poor Eddard’s sister most. If only she could go! King Robert would call upon them soon; there stood her best hope of at last becoming all she was surely meant to be.
“Men say I shall be as beautiful as my lady mother,” she confided, smiling. “And there is no better dancer in father’s court…though he rarely hosts minstrels for any to see.”
❝ Gotten her to do anything yet? ❞ Robb had been watching his sister train her direwolf in perfect silence, quiet as his own companion, Grey Wind, who stood faithfully at his feet. Genuine curiosity enlaced his words ; yet upon his lips lain a smirk of subtle amusement as well.
“Far more than Arya and her wild creature,” Sansa bragged, customary insult lacking its usual venom in light of her own prideful accomplishments. Ribbons of pale pink and ice blue fluttered in a summer’s breeze, beautiful streaks of color against argentate fur. “Lady, sit.” The wolf took to her haunches without hesitation and looked to her litter-mate mere feet away. “I suppose I hardly need ask if you have taught him anything; he seems more tame than even Farlen’s hounds.”
« …home is home, sansa. i might have lived down south, yes, but now i’m here. i’ve embraced it. it might be all so terrible here in the north, yes, it might be for a young soul like you, but as the time comes i hope you’ll understand that these aren’t just walls for you.
one day, & i promise, i’ll take you to the land of my father. »
“Then one day the time shall come that I might leave here as well, to make a new home just as you did with Father after King Robert’s war. Oh, but do you swear it? Jeyne says the Trident is so wide you cannot see from one bank to the other, though how she should know I cannot possibly guess. Or mayhaps Aunt Lysa would host us for a time; the Eyrie’s ivory halls sound ever so beautiful in the songs.”
« well, yes, i once dreamed of silk, songs & chivalry. i lived amongst it. i was also a young girl like you, you know. »
“But you were once a lady of the South, where singers roam freely and often, knights don armor inlaid with pearl and gold, and one shan’t catch a chill merely for the wish of wearing pretty gowns. I cannot imagine a more terrible fate than living out my days in such a grey place.”
should an exclusive partner go inactive for 1+ month, then i will become tentatively open to interactions with duplicates. when/if they return then exclusivity may resume.
