Partings and Meetings

Aug 08, 2012 19:37

Sansa/Tyrion--how they got together after their abrupt parting in ASoS, a prompt on the comment fic meme at got_exchange
No. of words: 4,056
These characters belong to GRRM

They had parted abruptly when Joffrey died-she had fled the banqueting hall to freedom and Winterfell (so she had hoped), while he stayed on to be imprisoned and falsely accused of murder. He escaped sooner than she did, and went on to have more adventures in the Free Cities of Essos and on Slaver’s Bay, while she remained a captive of the mockingbird, first at the Eyrie and then at the Gates of the Moon. She had an equally adventurous journey from the Vale to the North, with the help of her granduncle the Blackfish, the Maid of Tarth, Ser Hyle Hunt and young Podrick Payne, whose unflinching loyalty to her enabled her to clear herself of the murder of a king.

She had almost forgotten him, since she was kept busy with the rebuilding of Winterfell, the education of her young brothers and sister (when they finally located Arya in Braavos, with the assistance of Ser Gendry Waters) and the provision of assistance not only to the Stark bannermen and smallfolk but also the Night’s Watch, which was battling the Others. And they met almost as abruptly and unpleasantly as they had parted-she was going in to Jon’s solar to speak to him, just as Tyrion was coming out in a hurry. They stumbled against each other and both would have fallen on the slippery ice, when she steadied him.

“Sansa!” he exclaimed when he saw her. He sounded almost angry, she thought-and she did not wonder at it. He had been left alone to face accusations of murder when Joffrey died. How he must hate her.

“My lord,” she responded courteously. “It is good of you to visit the Night’s Watch-they need your assistance, especially at this hour.”

He growled, “You never forget your courtesies, do you, dear wife? I wonder what you would say on your death bed.”

She was prevented from answering his jape by Satin, Jon’s steward, who told her that Lord Snow was ready to receive her. She turned to her husband. “I hope, my lord, to see you in the common hall.” She did not wait for his “Pah!” to follow Satin in to Jon’s solar.

When she had finished discussing her business with Jon-a method of paying off the Night’s Watch’s and the North’s debts to the Iron Bank of Braavos-she asked him, not without a certain curiosity, what had brought Lord Tyrion to visit the Wall after so many years. Although he had first visited before King Robert died, it did not prevent him from giving Ser Alliser Thorne, the Night’s Watch ambassador, a very shabby reception when he arrived at court.

“So, what brings him here now, Jon?” she asked.

Jon shrugged slightly. “There’s yet another claimant to the throne,” he said. “Daenerys Stormborn, old King Aerys’ daughter, who was born on Dragonstone. She’s here in Westeros, with a force of Unsullied, a Dothraki khalasar and three dragons. His lordship is her Hand and is visiting the Wall in that capacity.”

She tried to remember who ruled at King’s Landing at present-Tommen and Myrcella had both briefly reigned after Joffrey’s death, supported by their Highgarden and Dornish in-laws. Both Stannis and his daughter had died in the North, but not until the Boltons were defeated and the Dreadfort and Moat Cailin taken. The boy who claimed to be Aegon Targaryen had taken King’s Landing from the Lannisters and fought against the Ironborn king, Theon’s Uncle Euron-both men had perished only a few moons ago. Had he lived, the North would have bent its knee to him, for help against the Others. There was a remarkable lack of claimants to the Iron Throne at present, so Daenerys Targaryen could lay claim to being lucky.

“So why did he leave in such a hurry?” she asked.

Jon looked at her rather guiltily. “Well, after we’d exchanged diplomatic courtesies, I asked him why the Iron Throne had failed to respond to the Night’s Watch’s request for help when his father was Hand. He retorted by reminding me of Robb’s treason and I reminded him of how our lord father was executed. And then he spoke of how you had abandoned him and I reminded him that you had been forced into a marriage you did not want... It went on from there-he accused me of supporting Stannis; I told him that Stannis, as King, had come to the aid of the Watch, which neither of his nephews or niece had done. And I reminded him that Daenerys was more likely to execute his beloved brother than any other claimant to the Iron Throne had been. That’s when he walked out so hurriedly.”

Sansa sighed and laughed. “Really, Jon!” And then she tried to explain why Lord Tywin would not have given aid to the Night’s Watch, even if his son had asked him to do so. “I know it’s difficult to understand how they used to think...” she concluded, “but he never really listened to Tyrion when he was alive. It makes me angry now, when I think about it.”

Jon huffed a little and then said, “I would have offered you a meal in my solar if he had not turned up.”

“But since he has,” she said firmly, “both of us must eat in the common hall. Of course, you will seat him at your table?”

“Of course,” he said, as he helped her out of the solar.

During the meal that followed, Tyrion took care to address his remarks to Jon, who answered him civilly enough. Sansa spoke to Jon’s brother officers-Maester Samwell, Pyp, Grenn, Tormund Giantsbane, Mance Rayder-but she could not help noticing the manner in which Tyrion looked around the hall as he ate. When their meal was over, Jon excused himself-he had to send a raven to Eastwatch-so Sansa was left alone to entertain her husband.

“The Wall must have changed a great deal since you were here last, my lord,” she remarked, when they were on their own.

He grunted. “I was surprised not to see Bowen Marsh, Alliser Thorne and Janos Slynt here. I recall sending Slynt to the Wall myself.”

“Yes-well, Jon had him executed for not obeying a command,” Sansa said quietly. “Jon wanted him to take some men and take charge of another part of the Wall, and Slynt was rude and refused to obey him.”

“And Alliser Thorne and Bowen Marsh were executed when they tried to assassinate the Lord Commander? Yes, I’ve heard the tales.” Tyrion said. “You Starks are a bloodthirsty lot,” he remarked conversationally.

“I think I could say the same about your family my lord,” Sansa said, through gritted teeth.

“Now that we have exchanged courtesies to my heart’s desire, dear wife, perhaps you will be good enough to tell me why you abandoned me in King’s Landing and what you got up to thereafter?” he asked, a sardonic grimace on his lips.

Sansa marched into the sept, which was empty-Septon Cellador was probably sleeping it off in a cell somewhere in Castle Black. “We can converse here in some comfort, my lord-I don’t see why both of us should freeze in the practice yard.”

She then proceeded to tell him how and why she had escaped King’s Landing, and how she had reached the north. She had to respond to his indignation with her reasoning--“Why did you feel the need to escape? You were married to me! You were a Lannister!”

“I was a prisoner of war, my lord, marriage or no marriage. In fact, they married me to you to humiliate both of us-they wanted to show me how powerless and helpless I was and they wanted to show you how much they despised you by giving you a wife who did not want you. They forced me to marry you-neither my mother nor my brother was present at the ceremony.”

“And so, you got back at us all by killing Joffrey...”

“I wasn’t involved in a plan to kill Joffrey-I was Ser Dontos’ dupe in this, just as he was Lord Baelish’s dupe. Baelish had him shot as soon as I stepped on the deck of the Merling King-he said it was to ensure my safety, but he wanted to ensure Ser Dontos’ silence as well. The people who made the plan were Lord Baelish and Lady Olenna, both of whom are dead now.”

“And you claim,” he said, “that Baelish not only killed Lady Lysa, he did so because he felt she would reveal his part in the murder of her husband?”

“Yes-I was there in that hall, with the Moon Door. She wanted to push me out of it-I don’t know how he got in. And then she was all over him.” She recalled all that Lysa had said-her painful adoration of a man who had loved another woman; the loss of her first-born in an abortion; the threat to deprive her of Sweetrobin and Petyr’s suggestion (and gift) of the Tears of Lys...the promise that they would finally be together after so many years.

“She accused me of the crime,” he said suddenly. “Your mother arrested me and took me to the Eyrie, and Lady Lysa accused me of the crime.” He was indignant, she could tell.

“She sent a secret message to my mother, accusing the Lannisters of the crime-your family, not you in particular.”

“Yes, but when I got there...”

“You were the only member of the family she had available, so she accused you. Yes, she was like that-I’ve had quite a time training Robin out of that habit.”

He jumped up from the bench where he had been sitting. “That horrible boy! Do you know, all he wanted to do was to throw me out of the Moon Door? Is he still alive?”

“Yes, he is-alive and well and at Winterfell. Although he has a hard time of it with Bran, Rickon and Arya-they are less gentle with him than I am. Of course, Pod does what he can to keep the peace.”

“Podrick is there? Podrick Payne?”

“Yes-he is now Ser Podrick Payne and my castellan.”

She then described her escape from the Vale and her arrival in the north. He was then sufficiently mollified to describe his adventures and his travels from the Free Cities to Slaver’s Bay. When Jon walked into the sept, looking for them, it was to find them deep in conversation, as Sansa sat wide-eyed, listening to Tyrion’s account of the Battle for Meereen.

Later that day, as Sansa prepared to leave for Last Hearth, she invited Tyrion to visit Winterfell to meet Bran. “He wants to thank you-for that special saddle you designed for him. He got someone to make another such for him after he got back from beyond the Wall-and he got Brienne and Pod to train a horse for him, just as you had advised.”

“Beyond the Wall! What in seven hells was he doing there? I’ll certainly come to Winterfell-I want to find out just what each one of you was up to!”

And he was as good as his word. He arrived in Winterfell within a month, to meet her brothers and Arya. He was glad to see them all, which surprised her to some extent. She had always assumed that he, like the rest of his family, merely saw his marriage to her as a means to lay claim to Winterfell. Hence her refusal to consummate a marriage that she believed was undertaken to conquer the North by means other than war. But then she recalled the questions he had asked her as they left the palace after presenting Joffrey with their wedding gift-she remembered that he had asked about Bran falling. He had seemed concerned and anxious then, she recalled. And she had felt unhappy and unable to help him.

He spent some time talking to Arya and Rickon about Braavos and Skagos, after which he spent a long time talking to Bran and Osha, as well as the Reeds. Finally, he came to see her the day before he was to leave.

“Sansa,” he said, quietly. “We need to talk before I leave for King’s Landing. Has Bran spoken of how he came to fall to you?”

“Yes, my lord, he did.”

“Did he tell you that Jaime pushed him off the First Keep?” When she nodded, he asked, “I suppose he must have told you why Jaime did that.”

“Yes, he told me-did he tell you?” she asked quietly.

“He told me he was climbing-he used to climb all over Winterfell, you said-and he climbed to the First Keep, where he heard a man and a woman talking. He did not know who the people were-it was only when he looked into the room that he saw a man and a woman ‘wrestling’. Yes, that is what he said,” he responded to her raised eyebrow.

“He said he realised what he had seen only when one of your bannermen told him of Stannis’ letter that described my nephews and niece as products of an incestuous and adulterous relationship. “ They were both silent after this.

“What can you do about this?” she asked him.

“There is little I can do to atone for Jaime and Cersei’s misdeeds. Of course, all three of her children are dead-there is little she has to live for, now. And Jaime-well, he lost his hand soon after your lady mother freed him-it seems Vargo Hoat had his sword hand cut off. Of course, he learnt to fight with his left hand, but it seems that the Dragon Queen might well want him punished for killing her father.”

“Have you spoken of this with Jon, my lord? I am sure he can find a place for Ser Jaime in the Night’s Watch. Perhaps Her Grace may consent to his taking the black, if he confesses ...”

“Sansa,” he sighed, “I don’t know if the queen will be so forbearing. She has waited long for this day, you can be sure of that. So why should she not wreak her vengeance on Jaime? And believe me, my lady, he deserves punishment-he has caused much harm in the realm. Moreover, Jaime is at least alive-my father, Jon Arryn, Hoster Tully and King Robert are dead. Your father was executed. Edmure Tully, you Starks, myself and young Robin-we were either too young or not yet born when the rebellion took place...”

“She cannot blame my father and Robert Baratheon for raising the banners-not after the manner in which her father killed my uncle and grandfather, nor after the manner in which her brother carried off my aunt!”

“She can and she does,” he said rather bleakly. “It seems Viserys, who was a boy of six or so when she was born, told her about the rebellion. He said that Rhaegar fought Robert for the right to love Lyanna, just as Robert claimed that Rhaegar had kidnapped and raped Lyanna. Of course, both Ser Barristan and I, as well as Jorah Mormont, have tried to tell her what we know happened-but she prefers to believe her brother died for love.”

“Doesn’t she realise that her brother’s conduct led to the deaths of his wife, children and parents; their family’s loss of the throne and exile for her brother and herself? The Gods know, we all grieve for Robb and his untimely death-but we also know what it cost the North and the Riverlands...”

“Yes, but you were not a babe unborn when Robb was killed...” he said sadly.
She was silent after this. He continued. “Bran also spoke to me about the weirwoods and the godswoods. He said he could see things through the trees-that he could see past events.”

“What of that, my lord?” she asked, somewhat surprised. Bran had not spoken to her of this.

“He said he saw your father speaking to Cersei about the children in the godswood-days before Robert died. He says your father told her to leave Westeros with the family...and Cersei refused.”

“Perhaps father wanted to spare the children’s lives?” she wondered aloud.

“Sansa,” he said with some difficulty, “I need to know just what you told my sister about your father’s plans. She gave me to understand you told her everything. Yet, Bran says your father told her the gist of it-that he knew her children were born of incest and that he planned to reveal her secret to Robert. And she admitted it all to him.”

“All I knew of my father’s plans was that he wanted to send us back to Winterfell. I did not wish to go, because at that time, I believed myself in love with Joffrey. I thought that if I went to Cersei, she would speak to the king and convince father to let me stay on at court. He did not tell me what he had discovered-all he said was that he would betroth me to someone honourable and good when we came back to Winterfell. All I could think of then was that he would betroth me to a hedge knight.”

“You were what-a child of eleven? I can understand why he would not have told you then, although I wonder if you would have trusted Cersei quite so much had he told you the truth. At least, you would have known her to be capable of much duplicity...I wonder why she lied to me about you. She must have sensed that I would try to befriend you and she wished to leave you friendless at court, at Joffrey’s mercy. Well,” and he sounded cold and icy-all of a sudden, Sansa realised that Tyrion, whom she had always seen as a kind man, could also be very cruel-“I will ensure she lives a very long life after Jaime dies. I want to see her alone in the Dragon Queen’s court-at Daenerys’ mercy.”

“My lord,” she exclaimed, “she is your sister...”

“She has never behaved like a sister to me, has she, Sansa? So why should I treat her with any kindness or consideration? She has earned nothing but hatred from me, and I shall repay her with interest. A Lannister pays his debts, you know,” he said, his eyes and voice as cold as a glacier. She shuddered as she looked at him.

“Bran also told me,” he continued in a calmer tone of voice, “about your meetings in the godswood with Dontos Hollard and his offer to help you escape. He told me about Dontos’ gift of the hairnet. Did he tell you the purple stones were amethysts from Asshai?”

“Yes, my lord, he did.” She answered.

“Of course, you would not have known that the purple stones were the strangler, would you? Young ladies are not taught to recognize poisons by their maesters or septas, are they?” he asked musingly. “Not if you’re not the Red Viper’s daughter, at least.”

“So you do believe that I did not knowingly poison Joffrey?” she asked anxiously.

“Yes, I believe you-I think both Littlefinger and the Tyrells wanted you there for the wedding. No one would look twice if you were to appear wearing that hairnet-they all knew you were being watched. And yet, when Joffrey was killed, they turned on us, on you and me, as the killers. I wonder why?”

“I don’t think,” she spoke with some difficulty, “that they wanted us to live. Even if we’d consummated our marriage, they would have found a way to kill us off. I would have died in childbed and you would have been killed off conveniently-poison in your wine; a knife in your ribs as you visited a brothel or...”

“An accusation of murdering a king who was also my nephew? Yes-my father and my sister would have done that. And now you know why I want her to live and to suffer and to watch me rise.”

They were both silent after this exchange-she was shocked but not surprised to realise the extent of his hatred for his father and sister. She then asked him hesitantly, “Will we have to go to King’s Landing to declare our fealty to the Dragon Queen, my lord?”

“I think the Dragon Queen plans to visit the North soon, my lady,” he informed her, “And then she will expect to receive oaths of fealty from all her northern subjects, including the wildlings. Of course,” he continued, “your uncle at Riverrun and the other Riverland lords have welcomed her, as have the Lords of the Vale. The Reach, Dorne, the Crownlands and the Stormlands are exhausted, as are the Westerlands, with their battles with the Ironborn. So she should come north in say six turns of the moon or so. You have restored Winterfell to its former glory, my lady, but...she will bring a smaller retinue than Robert did. She might even visit the Wall.”

“Have you informed Jon of this, my lord?”

“Yes, he knows. I spoke to him of this before I left the Wall.”

They were silent for a while, and then he spoke again.

“Sansa,” he said heavily, “she also expects us-you and me, that is-to live as man and wife. She is convinced that it will settle the war between our families. Believe me, I tried to talk her out of it, but she is determined.”

She was silent, so he continued: “You once told me that you could never love me. If you still feel the same...”

“When I said those words to you, my lord, I was very angry with you. You had promised-nay, you had given your word-that you would send me home to my mother. And I was enraged that, when my betrothal to Joffrey was broken, you agreed to marry me when your father asked you to do so. My brothers were dead, or so I believed, and Arya was lost, believed dead. And then, Robb and my mother were murdered by the Freys and Lord Bolton and his men. Can you doubt that I believed you had married me for my claim to Winterfell? And can you blame me for hating you then?”

“You had every right to feel that way...although I hoped to win your love somehow...”

“I could never have loved you then, my lord-my heart was too full of grief and bitterness. And no, I did not want your comfort either...I could not have trusted you then, for I had seen what trusting and loving Joffrey and Cersei had cost me.”

“You speak of then, Sansa, as if your feelings have changed now.”

She was silent for a while and then she spoke. “My lord, I think both you and I need to be better acquainted with each other before we can truly live together as man and wife. We have lived apart for many years and we have misunderstood each other so often that...I sincerely hoped you would meet someone on your travels who loved you better than I did.”

“Is there someone else you would prefer to wed, Sansa? Anyone you met in King’s Landing or the Vale?”

She said quietly, “No, there isn’t-my aunt tried to make a match for me with Robin before she died and Lord Baelish wanted me to marry Ser Harrold Hardying-but I was sick of marriages being made for me. I had no desire to wed-I still don’t. But, if I must be married, I’d rather marry someone who had been kind to me. And you were kind to me when we were together.”

“So what should I say to the Queen, my lady?”

“Tell her that we agree-we can choose to live as man and wife while we get to know and understand each other better. She does not have to know everything about our lives, does she?”

“No, she does not-I think this is a good plan, my lady.”

asoiaf; sansa; tyrion; arranged marriage

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