She sits in her chamber, her body exhausted and numb. She doesn't occupy herself with anything. Reading about heroic knights seems silly now as she has seen how cruel the knights can really be. Needlework doesn't calm her nerves as it used to. Singing disgusts her as she has to sing to Joffrey from time to time. So she waits for the darkness to come, motionless and silent.
It finally gets darker. She awaits the nights in King's Landing with impatience and cherishes the dark and empty chambers and corridors. These are the only moments when the castle is fairly empty and it feels almost deserted. The court is sound asleep when she leaves her cage to explore the halls. She has done this for weeks now, since the king had stopped to care if she's dead or alive and dismissed the guards from her chamber door.
She isn't able to sleep calmly. She either is too sore to fall asleep or the nightmares are too vivid. She wanders around the castle freely. She has learned by now where the guards are at their night shifts so she goes round their posts unnoticed. Every time she is far away enough to breathe freely she smiles thinking that Arya would be proud of her. Her little sister was always better at sneaking but now they would finally have something in common, something to discuss and a possibility to exchange experiences.
Wondering about her little Arya she stops paying attention to where her footsteps are taking her. She comes to her senses just in time. Heavy footsteps are louder and louder. She looks around quickly but she doesn't know this place. She has never been to this corridor. And she has nowhere to hide. If the guards find her here they will surely report it to Joffrey. And this would mean the end of the little freedom she has.
She turns around and runs as quietly as she can towards the niche in the wall she noticed when passing by. She jumps in just in time to hide herself from the eyes of the guards entering the corridor. The niche appears to be a small staircase so she decides to climb higher. After a few seconds she stops to listen carefully but the guards have already passed by her hideout. Their footsteps fade away but she's not willing to go down. Not just yet.
She starts to go up the spiral stony stairs but as her climb continues she gets more impatient to find any kind of doors or landing at all. When she finally is ready to turn around and go back, she feels a light breeze on her face. A few more steps further she finds not a simple landing with a window but a small terrace.
She carefully steps forward. The balcony is not very big. In the centre, there is a small table and a few chairs. The walls are entangled by thick green creepers, flowers blooming all over the place, their scent fresh and sweet. But these are not the flowers that take her breath away. It's the view that spreads in front of her, the view of the city shrouded in the night, sparkling with the lights of torches in the streets and candles in the windows. She is high above the houses, far away from the people who hate her so much.
The beauty of this place overwhelms her. She knows she has just found her new favourite place in the castle. If only it was free to claim it hers.
She doesn't know how long she has been standing there but it was long enough to stop paying attention to the dangers. A silent shuffle breaks the silence. She turns around terrified. She feels how her muscles tens and breath gets stuck in her throat.
At first she doesn't see anyone but rather feels there's someone here. She takes one step forward and she finally notices a big, dark shadow. He leans against the wall, motionless, his eyes directly on her face, hands crossed on his chest. Judging by his comfortable position he's been there for a while, observing her.
When he notices the horror in her eyes he steps forward into the moonlight which enlightens his monstrous face. Eyes grim as always, scars twisting one side of his face. The moment he comes out of the shadow she recognises him.
"Wandering again Little Bird?" he asks as he takes the step.
He can see her muscles relax at the sound of his voice, her breath getting even. It surprises him, confuses him.
"I cannot sleep" she says calmly. She doesn't know why but the feeling of fright leaves her weary body when she realizes it was him who found her.
It happened before, once, a fortnight ago or earlier. She was prowling around the castle when she took the wrong turn in the corridors. At that time she didn't know yet where the guards are at nights. She was consumed with her thoughts when she came out of the turn and walked right into them. Two of them were talking, their backs to Sansa but one of them was looking straight at her, facing the entrance of the corridor.
She knew he saw her, he looked her straight in the eyes and without a word he let her leave. She remembers she ran to her chamber as quickly and quietly as she could, afraid of the punishment she would surely get. But it never came. Sandor Clegane never reported on her, never mentioned a word to the king about her night strolls.
"If you keep being so clumsy the whole castle won't be able to sleep" he grunts through his teeth.
"Forgive me, my lord. I had no intention to disturb you".
She feels ashamed. An hour ago she was so proud of how good she got in sneaking around the castle. And now it appears she's not even near being good at it. The Hound has heard her. She wonders for how long he has been aware of her presence in the tower.
His eyes get filled with anger. Disturb him? Is she out of her mind? It's not about him being disturbed or not. It's about her safety. Does she have a death wish sneaking every other night or so from her chamber? He doesn't understand why she keeps doing that. He saw her once and let her go without a word. He was hoping she would never do this again, that she would be too scared to leave her cage at night again. But yet here they are. He has caught her again.
"Come girl, I'll take you to your chamber" he says when he manages to control his rage, though it still can be heard in his words.
She takes one last look at the terrace and follows him down the stairs. When they reach the bottom he leads her through some dark corridors she has never explored before. She realizes that he has taken a road where there are no guards. Surely, he can walk freely around the castle but how would he explain her company?
A faint, thankful smile plays on her lips for a second. But he doesn't see it paving their way through the night in front of her. He doesn't turn to look at her, she probably is loud enough, so he is certain she walks behind him. When they reach her room he moves away to let her pass.
"Thank you, ser" she says silently. She knows his response to these words. They have exchanged them so many times by now that even though it's dark she is sure of his reaction, of his grimace.
"I am no ser" he snarls as always. There is impatience and anger in these words. This time, however, she can hear something new in his voice. Weariness maybe?
Without any other word he leaves her side and vanishes into the night. Sansa enters her chamber then and gladly lays down on her bed. She hopes her mind is too tired to present her with a nightmare.