Brienne/Pod/Sandor brainstorming?
âI donât know,â Podâs voice is clipped. âI donât know. I donât have anything to back it up. There are no hard facts. Period.â
âBut youâre still sure.â Brienne sounds tired. They are all tired. Theyâve been sitting here for the past three hours, and theyâve made no headway. None. Â
âBecause the little bird got a look on her face when talking about her mother,â Sandor snorts. âMaybe sheâs a bad liar.â
âNo--it wasnât a lie,â Pod says. âLook, whenever she talks about Pansy Stone,â He jabs at the manila folder thatâs full of Pansy Stoneâs information--her birth and death certificate, even proof of some hospital visits sheâd made while pregnant at the right time for her to be Alayne Stoneâs mother. âShe gets this look on her face. Like sheâs in a war zone, or something. Her face gets hard, her voice gets hard. Like youâd better not ask her questions about it. A âyou canât handle the truthâ kind of thing. Every time.â
âOf course. If her mother was abusive--â
âBut this time,â Pod hates talking over Brienne. Hates it. Brienne gets talked over enough by Sandor, but he wasnât done with his point, and he knows what Brienneâs going to say. âHer voice was soft, her face was soft. She was remembering getting ice cream and playing dress up and she never remembers anything good about Pansy Stone.â
âSo youâre running off a hunch,â Sandor says.
âInstinct,â Brienne corrects.
âHunch. Instinct. Whatever. This case explodes if we do it wrong, and do you really want Lannister up our ass about it?â
âI know that,â Brienne says at the same time Pod says, âLook--Iâm still working on it, ok? I am.â
âYeah,â Sandor snorts. âYou are.â
Pod glares at him. âWhatâs that supposed to mean?â
âYou get all starry-eyed whenever you talk about her. You think sheâs some damsel in distress whoâll fall into your arms when you rescue her?â
âDo you?â Pod snaps. âThatâs the first time anyoneâs brought that up, Sandor.â
Sandor starts to growl, leaning forward in his seat. âAll right,â Brienne says. âIâm calling it done for the day. Meet up again tomorrow afternoon.â
âCanât,â Pod says. âTold Alayne Iâd meet her after sheâs finished her studio time.â
Sandor gives him a look. Shut up, Pod thinks angrily. Shut up shut up shut up. He doesnât like it when Sandorâs like this. Or rather, he doesnât like it when Sandorâs like this with him. Sandorâs got an eye for this shit. I know, all right? he wants to yell. I know I care too much.
âSometimes I still remember putting on her dresses and jewelry and sheâd tell me I was more beautiful than she could ever be,â Alayne had said. No. Not Alayne.
Sansa. Sansa had said that.