daughter of the rain and snow (asoiaf, sansa stark) 2/3youremyqueenApril 4 2012, 23:19:09 UTC
"So then why does he -" Sansa starts.
"Insist upon praying to that tree?" Asha interrupts. Asha interrupts often, which is an unfavorable habit, to be sure, but in the last few years Sansa has met many a courteous and gracious knight with habits by far worset, so she isn't overly bothered by it. "I asked him the same thing. And do you know what he said?"
Sansa shakes her head. Theon doesn't say much, in her experience, except, 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry,' and 'You have to remember your name,' with a kind of frightening earnestness that makes Sansa uncomfortable.
Asha's fingers play along the knife she keeps at her hip and she leans forward in an almost conspiratorial way that reminds Sansa depressingly of her girlhood days of telling secrets with Jeyne. "He said it's because the Drowned God - our God - doesn't ever call him by name."
Sansa's brow creases. "What does that mean?"
Asha leans back in her chair and tosses a grape into her mouth. "Fucked if I know. The Bolton bastard did a number on him, could mean anything." She plays it off, but her eyes are sad and tired, and those are feelings that Sansa understands well.
Things are quiet for a while - the smallfolk are rebuilding their towns, the war is wrapping up, Asha is uncouth, Jeyne is a bit mad, Theon is madder still - and it all becomes almost familiar until Jon Snow shows up.
He's poorly bandaged in several places and being carried on a makeshift stretcher, would like as not have died if not for the ragged, frostbitten Wildings who'd brought him this far, led by a short, stout man with a booming voice and a golden-haired woman with a babe clutched to her breast. Sansa gives them all shelter and has her new Maester tend to Jon's wounds. In her childhood, she had only barely tolerated her bastard brother, but when his eyes finally flick open on the fifth day, she's never been so happy to see someone in her life.
He doesn't recognize her at first, she thinks, from the fuzzy confusion that colors his face - but when he does, his hand shoots out to grab her arm and he chokes on his own voice trying to say something. She has him brought water, if only so that he can sit up and tell her, "Sansa," in a voice cracked from disuse and full of disbelieving awe.
"Hello, Jon," she tells him. "I've heard that you were made Lord Commander of the Night's Watch."
He blinks, looks down at his bandaged chest, and says something that might be, "Not anymore," but she doesn't have time to makes sure, as he passes out again soon after.
Sansa sits with him most days, for lack of anything better to do, as he heals. They talk about Arya and Robb and Bran and Rickon, about their father and her mother and how beautiful Winterfell used to be in the summer of their youth. Neither of them make much mention of what they'd done since then, nor what they plan to do next. It's not something she enjoys dwelling on, and she wagers he feels the same. He progresses quite nicely until - somehow - he finds out that Theon is there, neither hanged nor headless, and reopens one of his wounds trying to get out of bed to go hunt him down.
daughter of the rain and snow (asoiaf, sansa stark) 3/3youremyqueenApril 4 2012, 23:21:17 UTC
He fails, of course, being barely able to walk on his own, and he and Asha make a lot of noise yelling at each other about the difference between justice and vengeance - "He's paid enough!" - "He killed my brothers, burned my home. There is no such thing as paying enough for that."
The matter isn't settled even when Sansa settles it, giving him a variation of the speech she gave her advisors. No, it isn't truly settled until Jon can walk again and drags himself to the armory for a sword, and then to the Godswood to hold it to Theon's throat. Isn't settled until Theon simply bows his head for the blow, and Jon stares at him for a long time, at his missing fingers and the loose skin hanging off of him, and says something about 'not deserving the mercy of death,' before throwing the sword down and turning away.
Sansa sits next to his bed the next day, as with all the other days, and doesn't comment on it. In a way, she understands. She understands a lot now.
Her lord husband stops in for a few days inbetween riding across the North in her name, and she greets him graciously if unfamiliarly. Beyond the marriage ceremony, beyond the bedding that had been almost easy in comparison to that of her first marriage, she knows very little about Harrold. He is kind to her, brings her favorable news, and kisses her goodbye when he rides off again.
"Weren't you meant to marry a king, once?" Jeyne asks her timidly, as she draws her bath that night.
"Yes," Sansa tells her, feeling somehow far older than the other girl, despite the horrors they had both been exposed to. "And believe me, Jeyne, Harrold Hardyng is far preferable to a king." Though, if she's honest, anyone is far preferable to the king in question.
All is quiet again. Jon drinks and makes plans with his Wildings, Theon stays with his heart tree and Asha stays with Theon, and Jeyne - after enough time has passed - starts to say things again that remind Sansa of the girl she once knew. No one tries to kill anyone else all that often, and although the snows are heavy and the winds are cold, there is peace again in the North.
That is before the two ravens come, though, within only a few days of each other. The first is addressed to Jon and comes from The Wall. It is signed by someone who identifies himself only as Satin, and reads, 'You need to return. Winter has come.'
The second comes from the south, and is not signed or addressed at all. It contains only one word. 'Dragons.'
And so both messages prove themselves true, as dead men stream down from the north, led as an army by glistening shadows that barely appear when you look straight at them. And King's Landing burns under the breath of a black beast with a girl on its back, producing smoke that can be seen all the way in the Riverlands.
And Sansa - Sansa is tired. She wants her home, wants her mother and her father and her long dead wolf, wants to get to know her half brother again and her husband for the first time, wants to find her sister and to finish rebuilding Winterfell's stables. Wants to be able to rest for just a little while
But she is the Queen in the North, so she calls her bannermen, has Asha call her Ironmen, sends Jon back to The Wall, and braces herself for even more loss.
Re: daughter of the rain and snow (asoiaf, sansa stark) 3/3scorpiod1April 6 2012, 01:30:19 UTC
OH MY GOD.
HOW IS THIS EVERYTHING I WANT? EVERYTHING I WANT. ASHA AND SANSA AND THEIR TREATY AND THEM GETTING ALONG AND TALKING ABOUT THEON AND EEEEK *___* AND SANSA AND JON. AND JON AND THEON. THEON AND JEEEEYNE, oh god their scenes and Jeyne bursting into tears until Sansa decides not to kill him and this part:
"No," Theon Greyjoy says softly into Jeyne's ear, white-haired and barely able to stand upright as he is. "That's not your name. Remember your name."
FEEEEELINGS. And I loved Jon getting out of bed and reopening his wounds trying to kill Theon over it and Asha yelling at him for it and Jon not being able to bring himself to do it when he gets the chance and YES. EVERYTHING IS PERFECT, IT WOULD GO JUST LIKE THIS.
Sansa sits next to his bed the next day, as with all the other days, and doesn't comment on it. In a way, she understands. She understands a lot now.
Saaaaaansaaaaa. And the ending is basically sad and hurty in how resigned it is BUT OH SANSA.
Re: daughter of the rain and snow (asoiaf, sansa stark) 3/3youremyqueenApril 6 2012, 17:36:57 UTC
OH GOD I'M SO GLAD YOU LIKED IT BECAUSE IT WAS KIND OF SELF-SERVING WISH-FULLFILLMENT IN THAT I JUST THREW ALL MY FAVORITE CHARACTERS TOGETHER FOR A PROMPT THAT HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH MOST OF THEM.
It's just, your prompt only said 'Sansa,' and, try as I might I cannot write people on their own without someone to bounce off of, so I gave her a bunch of random people to bounce off of! tbh, I think it was you - over on the friending meme? - who pointed out the awesomeness of Asha/Sansa to me and I COULD NOT UNSEE. I had to write them interacting and, oh my god, I'm so in love with this ship now. ♥
WELL. 'Landscape' is a depressing song, but it also has this sort of uproarious, fighting-ish feel to it, which made me think of marching off into battle. THUS, LOTS OF WAR.
Re: daughter of the rain and snow (asoiaf, sansa stark) 3/3youcallitwinterApril 6 2012, 17:42:46 UTC
MY DILEMMA, LET ME SHOW YOU IT. I've just seen the Game of Thrones and have not, as yet, started the second season and am a book!canon n00b. So will I be spoiling myself terribly if I read this? I MEAN I'M REALLY DYING TO, SINCE YOU'VE WRITTEN IT DDD:
Re: daughter of the rain and snow (asoiaf, sansa stark) 3/3youremyqueenApril 6 2012, 17:52:59 UTC
AHAHA, PROBABLY? YES, YES, DEFINITELY. It mentions a bunch of people who die (I.E.: EVERYBODY) and even if it didn't, it would probably make less than no sense to you at this point. I would recommend waiting until about season three or four - or reading the books. YES GOOD READ THE BOOKS.
(I'm kidding, of course. I know time constraints don't allow many people to read five one thousand page books within any reasonable amount of time, if at all.)
BUT AS COMPENSATION, I WILL WRITE SPIKE/DAWN FOR YOU. I WILL. gimme a few days, tho. :3
Re: daughter of the rain and snow (asoiaf, sansa stark) 3/3youcallitwinterApril 6 2012, 18:04:36 UTC
OHHH, MAN, I'M GLAD I ASKED YOU THEN. Even though I'm usually a spoiler phobe (although of that insane variety where I will look up the episode in middle of watching it, which, WHAT EVEN) I was totally going to read it anyway, discretion be damned, but I SHALL WAIT THEN.
I need to read the books, after all that I've heard seriously, the craziness and fandom squee they inspire is a force to be reckoned with! :O
YOU DO KNOW YOU DON'T HAVE TO WRITE THE SPIKE/DAWN IF YOU'RE BUSY, RIGHT? Let me not coerce you into it, hee. But if you are writing, TAKE AS MUCH TIME AS YOU WANT OFC <3
"Insist upon praying to that tree?" Asha interrupts. Asha interrupts often, which is an unfavorable habit, to be sure, but in the last few years Sansa has met many a courteous and gracious knight with habits by far worset, so she isn't overly bothered by it. "I asked him the same thing. And do you know what he said?"
Sansa shakes her head. Theon doesn't say much, in her experience, except, 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry,' and 'You have to remember your name,' with a kind of frightening earnestness that makes Sansa uncomfortable.
Asha's fingers play along the knife she keeps at her hip and she leans forward in an almost conspiratorial way that reminds Sansa depressingly of her girlhood days of telling secrets with Jeyne. "He said it's because the Drowned God - our God - doesn't ever call him by name."
Sansa's brow creases. "What does that mean?"
Asha leans back in her chair and tosses a grape into her mouth. "Fucked if I know. The Bolton bastard did a number on him, could mean anything." She plays it off, but her eyes are sad and tired, and those are feelings that Sansa understands well.
Things are quiet for a while - the smallfolk are rebuilding their towns, the war is wrapping up, Asha is uncouth, Jeyne is a bit mad, Theon is madder still - and it all becomes almost familiar until Jon Snow shows up.
He's poorly bandaged in several places and being carried on a makeshift stretcher, would like as not have died if not for the ragged, frostbitten Wildings who'd brought him this far, led by a short, stout man with a booming voice and a golden-haired woman with a babe clutched to her breast. Sansa gives them all shelter and has her new Maester tend to Jon's wounds. In her childhood, she had only barely tolerated her bastard brother, but when his eyes finally flick open on the fifth day, she's never been so happy to see someone in her life.
He doesn't recognize her at first, she thinks, from the fuzzy confusion that colors his face - but when he does, his hand shoots out to grab her arm and he chokes on his own voice trying to say something. She has him brought water, if only so that he can sit up and tell her, "Sansa," in a voice cracked from disuse and full of disbelieving awe.
"Hello, Jon," she tells him. "I've heard that you were made Lord Commander of the Night's Watch."
He blinks, looks down at his bandaged chest, and says something that might be, "Not anymore," but she doesn't have time to makes sure, as he passes out again soon after.
Sansa sits with him most days, for lack of anything better to do, as he heals. They talk about Arya and Robb and Bran and Rickon, about their father and her mother and how beautiful Winterfell used to be in the summer of their youth. Neither of them make much mention of what they'd done since then, nor what they plan to do next. It's not something she enjoys dwelling on, and she wagers he feels the same. He progresses quite nicely until - somehow - he finds out that Theon is there, neither hanged nor headless, and reopens one of his wounds trying to get out of bed to go hunt him down.
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The matter isn't settled even when Sansa settles it, giving him a variation of the speech she gave her advisors. No, it isn't truly settled until Jon can walk again and drags himself to the armory for a sword, and then to the Godswood to hold it to Theon's throat. Isn't settled until Theon simply bows his head for the blow, and Jon stares at him for a long time, at his missing fingers and the loose skin hanging off of him, and says something about 'not deserving the mercy of death,' before throwing the sword down and turning away.
Sansa sits next to his bed the next day, as with all the other days, and doesn't comment on it. In a way, she understands. She understands a lot now.
Her lord husband stops in for a few days inbetween riding across the North in her name, and she greets him graciously if unfamiliarly. Beyond the marriage ceremony, beyond the bedding that had been almost easy in comparison to that of her first marriage, she knows very little about Harrold. He is kind to her, brings her favorable news, and kisses her goodbye when he rides off again.
"Weren't you meant to marry a king, once?" Jeyne asks her timidly, as she draws her bath that night.
"Yes," Sansa tells her, feeling somehow far older than the other girl, despite the horrors they had both been exposed to. "And believe me, Jeyne, Harrold Hardyng is far preferable to a king." Though, if she's honest, anyone is far preferable to the king in question.
All is quiet again. Jon drinks and makes plans with his Wildings, Theon stays with his heart tree and Asha stays with Theon, and Jeyne - after enough time has passed - starts to say things again that remind Sansa of the girl she once knew. No one tries to kill anyone else all that often, and although the snows are heavy and the winds are cold, there is peace again in the North.
That is before the two ravens come, though, within only a few days of each other. The first is addressed to Jon and comes from The Wall. It is signed by someone who identifies himself only as Satin, and reads, 'You need to return. Winter has come.'
The second comes from the south, and is not signed or addressed at all. It contains only one word. 'Dragons.'
And so both messages prove themselves true, as dead men stream down from the north, led as an army by glistening shadows that barely appear when you look straight at them. And King's Landing burns under the breath of a black beast with a girl on its back, producing smoke that can be seen all the way in the Riverlands.
And Sansa - Sansa is tired. She wants her home, wants her mother and her father and her long dead wolf, wants to get to know her half brother again and her husband for the first time, wants to find her sister and to finish rebuilding Winterfell's stables. Wants to be able to rest for just a little while
But she is the Queen in the North, so she calls her bannermen, has Asha call her Ironmen, sends Jon back to The Wall, and braces herself for even more loss.
Reply
HOW IS THIS EVERYTHING I WANT? EVERYTHING I WANT. ASHA AND SANSA AND THEIR TREATY AND THEM GETTING ALONG AND TALKING ABOUT THEON AND EEEEK *___* AND SANSA AND JON. AND JON AND THEON. THEON AND JEEEEYNE, oh god their scenes and Jeyne bursting into tears until Sansa decides not to kill him and this part:
"No," Theon Greyjoy says softly into Jeyne's ear, white-haired and barely able to stand upright as he is. "That's not your name. Remember your name."
FEEEEELINGS. And I loved Jon getting out of bed and reopening his wounds trying to kill Theon over it and Asha yelling at him for it and Jon not being able to bring himself to do it when he gets the chance and YES. EVERYTHING IS PERFECT, IT WOULD GO JUST LIKE THIS.
Sansa sits next to his bed the next day, as with all the other days, and doesn't comment on it. In a way, she understands. She understands a lot now.
Saaaaaansaaaaa. And the ending is basically sad and hurty in how resigned it is BUT OH SANSA.
*PROPOSES MARRIAGE*
Reply
It's just, your prompt only said 'Sansa,' and, try as I might I cannot write people on their own without someone to bounce off of, so I gave her a bunch of random people to bounce off of! tbh, I think it was you - over on the friending meme? - who pointed out the awesomeness of Asha/Sansa to me and I COULD NOT UNSEE. I had to write them interacting and, oh my god, I'm so in love with this ship now. ♥
WELL. 'Landscape' is a depressing song, but it also has this sort of uproarious, fighting-ish feel to it, which made me think of marching off into battle. THUS, LOTS OF WAR.
ANYWAY, THANK YOU. *ACCEPTS PROPOSAL*
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(I'm kidding, of course. I know time constraints don't allow many people to read five one thousand page books within any reasonable amount of time, if at all.)
BUT AS COMPENSATION, I WILL WRITE SPIKE/DAWN FOR YOU. I WILL. gimme a few days, tho. :3
Reply
I need to read the books, after all that I've heard seriously, the craziness and fandom squee they inspire is a force to be reckoned with! :O
YOU DO KNOW YOU DON'T HAVE TO WRITE THE SPIKE/DAWN IF YOU'RE BUSY, RIGHT? Let me not coerce you into it, hee. But if you are writing, TAKE AS MUCH TIME AS YOU WANT OFC <3
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