* SHE / WOLF !

a smile curls up the corners of her mouth before sansa can stop it, eyes bright with a mixture of amusement and fondness. she can only imagine; would have loved to have seen it. had heard stories, a few times. of her father in his youth; her uncle, her aunt. all those that she would grow up with and without. the thought is ignored as her head tilts to the side, watches the other. a smile still lingers on her features. sansa doesn’t try to hide it. doubts she could, even if she wanted to. “i doubt they would accuse me of favouritism,” she answers, means it too. “if they put their brains into thinking about it, at least,” she laughs then. loud, perhaps a bit more careless than she ought to be. “there isn’t any others… brienne, she was the only one i trusted enough, and she is…” a pause, a frown. “well, she’s not here anymore. she fulfilled her oath and she’s in the south, now.” 

          ❛  you  really  will  teach  me?  ❜   it’s  uncertain  whether  or  not  arya  has  ever  smiled  so  brightly  in  her  life.   with  disapproving  mother  and  father,  as  well  as  a  sister  who  shames  her  for  differing  interests,  having  someone  who  was  finally  willing  to  indulge  her  heart’s  deepest  desires  means  the  world  and  more  to  her.   she  takes  the  hilt  of  the  sword  within  her  left  hand   (  a  bit  heavy  for  her,  but  she  shall  not  show  discomfort.   not  now  when  dreams  finally  come  true.  )   she  gazes  up  at  her  aunt,  her  head  beginning  to  nod.   ❛  i  promise.   i’ll  practice  every  single  day  ❜   she  gazes  down  at  the  sword  in  her  hand,  but  soon  offers  it  back  to  lyanna.   ❛  can  you  show  me  again?  ❜

     lyanna had not seen the woman in years, had been a young girl the last time they spoke. things have changed now, the world has changed now, so the stark believed it as time for the lie to be changed to the truth. quietly she moves to the woman’s side and takes a seat in front of her.   “ catelyn, ”   the younger begins in a soft tone, hand going to reach out but stopping short,   “ cat, i have something i need to tell you. ”

words cut through silence so abruptly, sansa finds herself caught off guard. only for a moment. only for a moment, but it’s still long enough. can only stare at the woman stood across the room from her, walking closer and closer. there was no mistaking her; no misunderstanding who she was. “lyanna,” the name leaves her lips in a breath, surprised. of all people she had expected to see… even as queen, sansa couldn’t have predicted this. her lips curl into the start of a smile, amusement shining in her eyes before she can stop it. “you think that you can train and organize them, then?” she asks, before she can think to stop herself. “that would be quite the challenge, wouldn’t it?”

❝ AUNT LYANNA, ❞ the queen replies in response, a soft smile carved onto her lips. she watches as the other woman approaches her, taking in her aunt for all she was. her words please sansa, being compared to her mother nothing short of a compliment. her head bows slightly, her eyes flashing to that of bittersweet emotion. she wished more than anything her parents could be here to see all that was accomplished for the north – her brothers too. she had helped build a world they could all benefit from together.  ❝ your words are too kind. ❞ though she’s quick to rise from her throne, making her way down several steps to be closer to her aunt. her queen’s guard follows closely behind – something she had yet to get used to. 

❝ i’m off to go visit the crypts, if you’d care to join me. ❞ she offers, figuring that whatever reason her aunt wished to speak to her for could be addressed during the visit. ❝ we’ve added a few minor changes to the crypts. robb’s statue was finally put up next to father’s, and rickon’s is beside the one we also had made for mother.  you should come see for yourself, the work on them is remarkably accurate. ❞ 

lyanna knew that she could never replace catelyn stark as sansa’s mother, and she certainly did not want to ; the elder stark wanted sansa to remember catelyn for all she was, and that her tully blood was flowing through the red-haired queen’s veins. as sansa stood she certainly had the same grace as her mother, that same expression of a woman in charge. the wolf’s lips pulled into a smirk at the sight, knowing full well the north was in capable hands.

he shrugged a little as he smiled a bit, “ if he slept around as much as he did even with cersei as his queen, i’m happy you were subjected to such torment,” he confessed, everyone knew all the baratheon gossip and he wasn’t one for it but he couldn’t help what he heard when people would walk by. he hadn’t know his mother long, he knew her hair blonde like the queens but had died quite young, “he wouldn’t have treated you any better i imagine. “

            his hand rises to rest upon his shoulder, absentmindedly rubbing at the armor protecting his body. he should not have assumed a northern woman did not come prepared—-but with the amount of women and children beneath the keep, what was there to expect? he smiles apologetically at the stranger, but her words tickle his curiosity.  “  my apologies, my lady,  ”  he ducks his head, free hand running through the thick fur of his direwolf companion. the beast, however, leaves his side to sniff at the woman before his master. he sits and whines, and jon makes a sound to get him back to his side.  “  you’re a true northerner, you are, but don’t fight for my sake. fight for yours, your house’s, your family’s …  fight for the north.  ”