[Open post] For the Oak and the Ash, they are all cutten down

[winter_came]

Ned has been very quiet, of late. His days are spent looking after his children, those who've grown and those who've yet to be born.

But this morning, his mind is on Westeros, and those children still unaccounted for. Bran. Rickon.

Snow falls slowly, covering the land, flat and hilly alike, and he whispers to himself, winter has come.Nostalgia

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[ladyless]

Sansa is on the porch, about to head out into the snow. It's so peaceful and serene-looking, but she remembers playing with Robb in the snow last winter, and how fun that was. She's definitely tempted to go out again and play, even though a part of her feels too old for it.

A visit from her father would be welcome.

[winter_came]

It's always a bit heart-breaking and heartwarming at the same time, for Ned to see his oldest daughter. The apple of his eye and the thorn in his side, all in one lovely package.

Ah, Sansa.

"Off for a walk?" he'll ask, by way of greeting.

[ladyless]

She nods and smiles, glad to see her father. "It's beautiful out, isn't it?"

[winter_came]

That gets her a little smile - Ned does not smile much, we know, but for Sansa, for Arya, for Robb and for all of his children, born and unborn alike, in name or in blood, he smiles.

"Aye, though would that it were summer still," he says, and because he will always worry about his little girl, he might fuss with her cloak, if she has one.

[ladyless]

She lets him--at one point in her life, she would have complained, but Sansa knows now to appreciate the little, kind things that her father does for her.

"Yes, I think I prefer the warmth, but the snow...it's so pretty."

[winter_came]

The cloak looks better, more settled, and so Ned finally leaves it be, though his hand lingers at the end of his daughter's locks.

"It is, aye, but pretty as it is, you and all your brothers and sisters must learn to fear and respect it," he says softly. "Come now - what does the pretty snow tell you, Sansa?"

[ladyless]

Sansa thinks a moment.

"It tells me to not linger too long in it," she says. One could freeze to death out here, she thinks, but doesn't say. The thought startles her a little, actually.

[winter_came]

"Aye," Ned replies, satisfied. "And so what is beautiful may be dangerous, too, as with the snow."

As with Cersei.

Old wounds.

[ladyless]

"Yes," she says softly, almost distantly. "You have to be careful."

[winter_came]

Ned notes the distraction, and frowns.

"And how is one careful, Sansa?"

[ladyless]

"Don't trust too much," is all she says, turning out and looking at the snow.

[winter_came]

"Aye," Ned replies quietly. "And then, distrust some more, if you must."

[ladyless]

She frowns a little.

"Yes." Sansa looks down then, fiddling a little with her cloak. "I'm not to trust much, right?"

[winter_came]

"Your mother, your father, your brother," Ned says sternly. "And you are to take care of Arya."

I realize she hasn't been around in ages, but I assume she's still here?

[ladyless]

She smiles a little, softly.

"Yes, of course," she replies, dutifully. "I will."

[winter_came]

"It's well," Ned says, quietly satisfied.

He'll reach and squeeze her shoulder.