» 2nd lemoncake

[steeledskin]

Who: Sansa Stark and anyone.
Broadcast: Video. Fleetwide.
Action: Find her on the Blue Fish, if you like.
When: Midday.

[ by all accounts, sansa stark has survived. she now lives on an armoured ship. her brothers are nearby -- alongside one brother's devoted friends, who have all been more kind to her kin than she can put to words. although nothing so much as approaches normal, she's beginning to feel settled. stability creeps in from the corners.

and this allows her to ask a question of her fleetmates: ] Is there any means by which I might find spare cloth and thread? And needles, too, of course. The ships give us so much, but I'm not certain -- [ not certain they can give me these. she does not understand their magic, nor the purchasing power of her device. ]

I like to embroider. I should like to do it again, if I could. [ but without a handmaiden to bid fetch these things, she doesn't know how to begin. perhaps it's as simple as looking in the correct spot -- but she was never raised to procure or purchase anything in her life. ]

Comments

[resnipstance]

[Ahsoka gives a low whistle, impressed.]

Wow. You must be used to this, then.

There's a planet like that back home, too. Carlac. The primary native plant there is this kind of ... pink blossom. Everything is white, except for these ... silly pink trees dotting the horizon. It's beautiful.

[steeledskin]

Pink?

[ that snags her attention. a weirwood's leaves were never pink, not properly. they were blood red. but this is the nearest she's come to hearing anything like those hallowed trees. ]

[resnipstance]

That's right.

I don't have many good memories of the time I spent there, but I can't forget those trees. I don't know what makes them look like that, but... I've never seen them anywhere else. And I've been a lot of places.

[steeledskin]

We have trees in the North -- we call them weirwoods. A-and their bark is bone white, but their leaves are red. [ not pink, but still. ] They are sacred to the old gods. I've not seen one in the south of my -- my home. I wish I could see one again.

[resnipstance]

[Ahsoka guides them gently down towards a landing zone on the outskirts of town.]

... They sound beautiful. I'm sure we'll be able to get you home soon. It's only a matter of time before we get these Atroma punks! I promise.

[steeledskin]

[ her jaw clenches. sansa nearly spills it all -- how there is no 'home' to which she might wish to return. there is only ash and pain. winterfell, taken and wrecked. and the rest of westeros seemingly unsympathetic to the plight of the stark family.

instead, she hedges: ] It's not so bad. Here.

[ sansa braces herself for their landing. ]

[resnipstance]

[Ahsoka doesn't reply for a moment-- she abandons conversation to concentrate on making sure the shuttle lands smoothly as possible-- but once the vehicle is safely parked on the ground, Sansa's words seem to belatedly register in Ahsoka's head. She turns to Sansa in confusion, surprise written all over her face.]

Wait-- really? ... You think so?

[steeledskin]

[ oh. sansa bites the inside of her lip. should she not have spoke her mind? likely not, because ahsoka's reaction makes her doubt she should have spoken at all. she appears momentarily stricken as she tries to sort through her feelings.

to lie? or to tell the truth? in the end, she lands upon a vague clarification: ] Y-yes. Here, with my brothers. I missed them.

[resnipstance]

Oh... of course. You guys are separated by some kind of war, right?

[She isn't really clear on the whole Stark family drama, to be honest. But Robb mentioned a war, so she can connect the dots.]

But every war has to end eventually!

[steeledskin]

[ for a moment, she watches ahsoka. there lurks such optimism in her words -- and sansa, feeling guilty, can't bring herself to dash it on the rocks of her reality. a war that ends might be a war her family loses. a war they've already lost.

but to preserve ahsoka's sense of the matter, she dredges up a careful smile. ] You speak the truth. Of course, it will end. Someday.

[resnipstance]

[Ahsoka's look turns thoughtful as she unbuckles herself and gathers up her bag.]

Mm. I can understand not wanting to go back to that, though. We have a war going on back home too...

Sometimes I think it's harder on the civilians than it is on those of us who're fighting. At least we're prepared.

[steeledskin]

Did one of them talk to you about it? Our war, back in Westeros. [ she's curious, now. how much does ahsoka know? ]

[resnipstance]

[Ahsoka shakes her head.]

Your-- brother? Only said that he was fighting in it.

[steeledskin]

Robb is no mere soldier, Lady Ahsoka. [ she unbuckles herself and stands. feeling tall -- and proud, for she is kin with kings. ] He leads the Northern armies.

[ did lead. once upon a time. ]

[resnipstance]

Oh! So he's... a General? Wow. That's amazing, considering his age. [They have kings and princesses in Ahsoka's universe, of course. But they don't lead armies. Only Jedi and military personnel do that.]

Still... you must be worried for him, right?

[steeledskin]

He's won many victories. Defeated many enemies. [ she spins a fairy tale for herself. a beautiful lie, that doesn't end in heartache. ] Lords and knights flock to his banners, for they know his cause is just.

[ of course she worried for him. but her worries and prayers did nothing. ]

[resnipstance]

Then-- I'm sure he'll come home safely.

[steeledskin]

[ when sansa next speaks, it's barely above a whisper: ] He won't.

[resnipstance]

[Ahsoka's brow furrows in confusion.]

... What do you mean ...?

[steeledskin]

-- Ser Ahsoka. [ the young woman claimed (bizarrely) to be a knight, after all. ] Could you keep a secret for me?

[ she squirms in place. she wants to trust someone. ]

[resnipstance]

[She turns to face Sansa full in the face, then, expression serious.]

... Of course. Whatever it is, you have my word. I won't tell anyone.

[steeledskin]

[ -- her expression is steel. as painful as these thoughts are, she'd been made to hide them in king's landing. and then lie about them in the vale. sansa is a creature of self-denial, and it's rare that she cries. today, she looks near-blank. ]

I do not know how the Atroma do it, but Robb -- my older brother? He came here from a moment in time different from that of mine or Bran's. He does not know that he is dead, ser. Killed by his enemies -- and his noble cause in tatters.

[resnipstance]

[Oh. Oh no. Ahsoka's eyes widen for a moment as she takes the full enormity of that in. She's stricken, really, by the full enormity of her carelessness. How could she have said something so naive? ... She knows what happens in a war.

Then her expression softens. Force, the time shenanigans. Ahsoka has some experience of her own with them, but nothing of this magnitude. That makes it so much worse. She can't even begin to imagine. How terrible would it be, if Anakin died in the Clone Wars and she came here only to find him alive? ... It's both a blessing and a curse. And Sansa can't even tell anyone. ... Poor Sansa.]

Oh. I'm--... [Her throat catches.]

I'm so sorry.

[There isn't really anything more you can say to that, is there? No amount of Robb being here will make Sansa living past her brother any better.]

[steeledskin]

[ the grief has never left her. it's clung -- like billowed silk -- to the lines of her body. some days, it feels as though this silky sorrow is the only thing holding her up. keeping her on her feet. ]

With his death, so too died our family's cause. The war continues, Ser Ahsoka. But the Starks have already lost.

[ ... ] You needn't apologize. What's done is done. We cannot change it.

[resnipstance]

That might be true, but... I can be sorry for your loss, can't I?

It was... pretty stupid of me to say what I did, too. I know what war can be like. Sometimes I just... say things without thinking. [Most of the time, really. Ahsoka hails from the "act first, think later" school of learning, clearly.]