open | text + action

[steeledskin]

Who: Sansa Stark + YOU
Broadcast: Text, fleetwide.
Action: Blue Fish
When: This morning.

Jon Snow and Bran Stark have left the Fleet. Condolences to those who may have befriended them while they were here; Gods-willing, we shall see them again.

[ sansa's message is short -- abrupt, and almost stripped of its emotion. she avoids broadcasting anything but simple text because she does not trust herself to maintain her mask, so to speak. as it is, she's cried too much. losing bran and jon feels like opening old wounds packed with grief. it makes her feel like a little girl again: weak, and mewling.

but she does add: ] I dread leaving, as they have left. Do others in the Fleet want to stay?

[ later, she can be found sitting on the floor of her personnel office. she has taken the furs from her bunk and has spread them across the ground, and she's allowed jon's direwolf pups free rein of the cozy and comfortable area. sansa's eyes are red-rimmed, and they betray every lie she tells when she insists she's as well as can be expected. but at least her spirits lift, a little, when she's playing tug-of-war with the pups.

they bring her a bittersweet joy. ]

Comments

[steeledskin]

...I couldn't bear the thought of them alone. [ and despite how early she'd lost her own wolf, sansa simply felt the certainty that they would need a northerner to care for them. or, as fate would have it, two northerners.

leading with instinct, she lays her hand gently on her brother's arm. ] They are our family, too, are they not?

[kingofbadlifechoices]

They should not be alone. [Robb moves to crouch down next to his sister, watching the pups play with each other.]

Yes, they are. Each one of them... [They represent their brothers, each one of them gone.] We will take good care of them. [For some reason it feels warm and familiar to watch the wolves play like that. It felt as if they were back at Winterfell and they all played with their wolves in the courtyard.]

They will be safe here. [He sounds melancholic as he says that.] Just like we are...

[steeledskin]

As safe as Jon and Bran were. As safe as Arya. [ there is a biting, unhappy tone in her voice. ordinarily, she's better with the lies they tell themselves. but today even that resolve is weakened. paper thin. ]

[kingofbadlifechoices]

[Robb can feel how a knot forms itself in his stomach. Gods be good, who are they kidding? No one is safe. There is no safety. Not here and not in Westeros. Absolutely nowhere.

They will take everyone away. Jeyne, Sansa and whoever is left. It is a matter of time.]

We need to...focus on what is left. [His words are far from convincing.] Who are here. Us. The wolves... [He sighs.] I miss them too, Sansa.

[steeledskin]

[ she curls her arm around his -- leans against his sturdy shoulder, and settles there in an almost half-embrace. even in the middle of such sorrow, she is comfortable and pliable next to him. there is no fear. she invites affection where, with anyone else, she avoids it. ]

We will be brave. We will be strong. [ we are our mother's daughter and our father's son and the blood of the first men flows in our veins. ]

[kingofbadlifechoices]

[His other arm curls around her the moment she starts to lean in, pressing her close. In a world where everything can be taken away in the blink of an eye she feels very real.]

We are of house Stark, of the North. [There is a heavy, serious undertone in his voice when he says that.] We will endure.

[Even, at some times things were difficult.]

One way or another. Even after death.

[steeledskin]

[ pained, she leans her forehead against his chest and whispers -- muffled into his clothing: ] I don't care to go home. You know it. But if I did, I...there is a plan, Robb, to reclaim Winterfell.

[kingofbadlifechoices]

[Robb raises his eyebrows and looks at her with a bit of a surprised look on his face.]

And what might that plan be?

[steeledskin]

To rouse support in the Vale. [ ... ] To wait until it's the appropriate time to press my claim to the North. I was told -- we thought I had one. But I suppose I know better, now.

[ bran and rickon live. it's almost a relief. ]

[kingofbadlifechoices]

[Robb doubts about Bran and if he will ever claim Winterfell. And Rickon... This wild boy and his ferocious direwolf. Where is he? Where will he be? Will he be able to claim the North the moment he is old enough?

He gazes at his sister for a moment, eyes narrowing a little.]

Who has told you what? [Not that Sansa would be unable to claim Winterfell. But he fears the Northmen would not bend the knee to a woman. Somewhere Robb still hopes Jon would know of his decree.]

I believe lady Lysa wanted no part in the war. [He could definitely use the Vale as an ally.]

[steeledskin]

Lady Lysa no longer commands the Vale and its forces. [ but sansa would rather not discuss their aunt's fate, leaping quite suddenly into other news: ] She and Petyr Baelish were married before she passed. He is its Lord Protector, now.

[kingofbadlifechoices]

[The name Baelish rings a bell somewhere. His lady mother has spoken of him once or twice and his uncle Edmure knew him as well. He used to be a ward at Riverrun and he grew up alongside the Tully children.]

And he is willing to call his banners? [The look on his face is a confused one.] And what about Robert? Her son? Did lady Lysa die? [But there is a certain opportunity in this.] Is he on our side? [The Vale is a powerful ally. And then he starts to think and think and names pop up in his head.]

What about lord Manderly? Did he turn his cloak as well? [The look on his face changes into a more focused one.] Or is he still loyal to Winterfell? [He cannot imagine him betraying house Stark. That would be absolutely ridiculous.]

[steeledskin]

[ darkly: ] Sweetrobin isn't the lord you need to consider most closely. Harold Hardyng is.

[ -- she can't assume he knows the intricacies of the family tree as dearly as she does. sansa frowns. ] He'll inherit the Vale. Robert Arryn is too sickly to rule.

[ and as for lord manderly? sansa cannot say. she doesn't know. she's been too caught up in the vale's politics. ]

[kingofbadlifechoices]

Sweetrobin? [Ah. Probably some sort of nickname. He barely remembers the child of lady Lysa and Jon Arryn.] Another one wishes to claim the Vale? [Would that mean more war? Gods, it would be absolute folly for the lords of the Vale to turn against each other.] Robert is the rightful son of Jon Arryn. I do not see how Harold Hardyng wishes to change that.

[For some reason it feels as some sort of relief to talk about these future Westerosi politics.]

Is he a bastard? Jon Arryn has a bastard? [Now that would be quite the shock.] Is Robert dying? [He takes it is unlucky for every man to be called after Robert Baratheon. They all die. Including Robert Baratheon himself.]

[steeledskin]

A bastard? [ a bit of a shock. sansa shakes her head. she can remember dancing with harry the heir -- flirting, too. despite her better judgement, she'd liked the young lord. ] No. Not at all. Ser Harrold would be Jon Arryn's great-nephew. Jon Arryn's brothers are all dead without living issue; his sister had eight daughters and one son, but the boy died. Two daughters died, too, and the third girl became a septa. Another a silent sister. One daughter married, but was found barren. The next carried off by mountain men. The oldest married Denys Arryn but the Stranger came for them and their son, too.

It leaves the youngest daughter. She married a knight of House Hardyng sworn to House Waynwood. Their son, Ser Harrold, is the nearest presumptive heir.

[ funny, really. she recites someone else's family history as though it has been drilled into her memory. long hours spent sitting in petyr baelish's lap with his soft words whispered in her ear. even maester luwin never taught them their own family tree half so well. ]

And our little cousin gets sicker every day, it seems. I am the one who cares for him -- now that Aunt Lysa is dead. He comes to me bedroom and he begs me to read him stories. Some mornings he will not eat his breakfast unless Alayne -- unless I am there to coax him.

[ she doubts he will survive to be married. which means ser harrold will take the vale -- although she hasn't expressed exactly how that helps the north. not yet. ]

[kingofbadlifechoices]

[His eyes become larger as she speaks. There is a bit of hope there. Just a little bit, but maybe enough to save the North. It would mean that the Northmen would have a great debt to the lords of the Vale, but that would come later. Robb cannot imagine any of them swearing to lord Bolton, after he violated guestright in such a way. It is a slight in the faces of the gods. A great dishonor house Bolton brought upon themselves.

And somewhere far away, in the back of his head, a small voice tells him that he hopes that lord Bolton and all those who follow him would die in the most gruesome way possible. That they would pay for what they have done.]

I see. [He frowns and thinks.] Sickly or not, the boy is the rightful heir, and mayhaps, if he might die, ser Harrold might be. But what about lord Baelish’ claim? [The frown on his face turns deeper and makes him look like a really old man.] I know him not, only from the stories of my lady mother. But he seems an ambitious man. [Daring to ask for her hand while being of low birth, daring to challenge his father’s brother for it.] Bold...at the least.

Then I might hope that ser Harrold is fond of the North. Otherwise the Vale has another heir that likes to sit idle while the realm is at war.

[steeledskin]

I can help him be fond of the North. [ at least she thinks she can. oh, she can't dare tell him the truth -- not yet. for the time being she must dance as alayne and flirt as alayne. but when the moment is right she might reveal to him her lineage. court his love and then court his loyalty. it's an ambitious plan. one she might never have thought likely until littlefinger began to teach it to her.

and speaking of! she seizes her bother's hand and takes one plunge she's been so nervous to take this whole time: telling the truth. ] Lord Baelish has promised to help reclaim our home. It was his idea I should meet Ser Harrold.

[kingofbadlifechoices]

[Robb smiles at that.]

I am sure you can. [Then he pauses and a more serious expression appears on his face.] You intend to wed him? This ser Harrold? [But what about her marriage to the Imp? And why would lord Baelish want to help them? After death and betrayal Robb has a hard time believing that Baelish would do this because he is a kind man]

And what will Lord Baelish gain from this? What will he demand from you?

[He knows so very little of this man that it aggravates him a bit.]

[steeledskin]

-- Lord Baelish intends that I should wed him, yes. I cannot say for certain what I intend. Littlefinger can't be trusted, no matter the depth of help he's given me. I'm well aware of that. I promise.

[ he wears two faces. and in king's landing, he'd allowed such horrible things to happen. sansa swallows hard. should robb ask about tyrion, she would talk. she would tell. but she does not volunteer that information all on her own.

instead: ] He loved our lady mother. I truly believe he did. [ but not a gentle and sweet love. his love must have burned and consumed, the way it's left ruin in its wake. she feels its discomfort whenever petyr cups her cheek. ] But I cannot vouchsafe that he does any of this in his memory. Lord Baelish started with very little, dear brother, and now he has a lot. I think he thinks securing Winterfell for our family will put us in his debt.

[ put me in his debt.

and it would. thoroughly. it doesn't mean she's not willing to play along so that she might glimpse her home again. ]

[kingofbadlifechoices]

[It is so very hard to believe that this lord Baelish only wants the best for his sister. There is no such thing as kindness and Robb can’t help feeling so very skeptical about the entire thing.

A marriage between the North and the Vale is an extremely important marriage. To have the Vale as an ally in some way would be brilliant. If the North would want to fight against it’s new warden. Apparently they would not dare to raise a stick now half of their lords have been killed or taken by the Freys.

So it is somewhat of a relief when Sansa voices that lord Baelish cannot be trusted.]

You need to be careful then. [The look on his face turns a bit darker.] I do not want them to harm you again. Especially because I cannot...I cannot undo that anymore.

[The more he hears about the man, the more uncomfortable it makes him. A man who loved their mother once, promises to help the daughter of the woman he, obviously, could not get with.]

Is he of low birth? [That would explain why Hoster Tully would never allow his daughter to wed this man. And maybe that has been for the best as well.] I take your marriage to the Imp is annulled, then? And I do not like the idea of our house owing him anything. But maybe, for the greater good, we must.

[For the North, for those who are still left.]

[steeledskin]

[ her brother offers her a bouquet of conversation topics. sansa picks carefully, but cannot cope with replying to each one.

she begins with hesitation. ] It's not annulled. Not yet. Lord Tyrion is unaccounted for -- back in Westeros. He is missing and Lord Baelish thinks that if we can wait just long enough...

[ then the imp will die. or be presumed dead. and sansa will be free to remarry. ] Robb. Our marriage was never -- [ she frowns. sansa doesn't want to discuss these matters with her brother. she doesn't want to discuss them with anyone. but she needs him -- her family; her lord; her king -- to understand that the union is ideally poised to be annulled.

she doesn't look him in the eyes when she says it: ] Consummated.

[ needs must. her pride cannot suffer this conversation, but her politics must. and yet when she speaks the word, it's with enough reproach to suggest she expects robb will not believe her. lysa didn't, after all. ]

[kingofbadlifechoices]

[Robb knew war and he knew how to speak to his men. He even knew how to inspire them and to convince them of his cause. But politics, that pure negotiation about positions, lands, marriages...he has never been good at that. At least, it was the most confusing part for him. Maybe he has been naive to think that they all shared a hate for Lannister crimson while lord Tywin had more gold than the entire bloody realm.

Gold shines better than words can do. Promises do better when there is a sack of gold involved.]

Hmph... [He presses his lips onto each other after that sound made it past his lips.] ...And what if he returns? [Now he got to know lord Tyrion better he has to say it is not the worst of men out there. And definitely not as bad as his lord father or his bloody sister.] What if he wishes to...?

[Would he?

Still, when she mentions that their marriage has never been consummated properly he can’t help a sigh of relief. Even though her words have an odd tone to them he decides to believe them for what they are.

Then again, the Imp isn’t a handsome man. Robb cannot imagine her beautiful sister sharing his bed. Willingly. That would mean that Tyrion has not been treating her the way his sister had done. Or his nephew.]

Thank the gods... I take it he has been kind to you?

[steeledskin]

-- He was decent. More so than I might have expected. [ but she will not call him kind. too often she remembers the disquieting presence of his hand on her bare breast, and of the raw disappointment on tyrion's face when she suggested she might never care to consummate their vows.

sansa understood the lust in men's eyes, now. and although tyrion's had mellowed, she understood he'd wanted her. the thought sat like a stone in her stomach. ] The match was as unwelcome to him as it was to me, I think. The only reason he agreed to it was because his father wanted.

[ and after what tyrion's family did to him in the wake of joffrey's death? ] I doubt that motivates him any longer.

[kingofbadlifechoices]

He did not beat you? {Robb’s eyes narrow.] Or any other harm? [Decent probably means ‘not behaving like Joffrey’ but he has no idea how decent Tyrion’s decency is.]

[Finally he laughs a very short, bitter laugh. Of course, Tywin.]

That surprises me not. Bloody Tywin Lannister being behind such a match. Apparently lord Bolton has not been kissing his arse enough. But then again he is more a fan of leeches than Lannister arse. [Bitter Robb is very bitter.]

I have heard that they accused him of Joffrey’s death. [It would not surprise him if Tyrion did it, Joffrey was a little piece of shit. But then again, Joffrey was that much of a shit that he would end up murdered sooner or later.] But it means it is not annulled yet.

That should happen first.

[steeledskin]

[ -- joffrey's death is the very last subject she wishes to broach. and to distract away from it, she decides to leverage the trauma in another portion of robb's conversation.

tight-throated and sad: ] Lord Tyrion was the one who stopped the beatings. He shamed the Kingsguard -- and then put his own men at my door to guard me. All well before our marriage was arranged.