"Don't trust anybody. Life is safer that way."
The words echo around the chamber and hit Sansa as if they each had slapped her. They leave a hollow aching loneliness inside her chest and Sansa doesn't know what it means. She only knows that she has to comfort the woman in front of her. So she takes a moment to look at the back of her servant who in a few short weeks has become her closest friend and confidant.
"Shae." She breathes out softly, slowly, trying her hardest not to scare the beautiful foreign girl in front of her. She looks fragile, broken, and Sansa can't be the one to finally break her. So instead she says three very different words than the ones that have been threatening to spill from her lips. "I trust you." She waits a beat, then another before pleading, "Look at me. Please."
Sansa can see the woman's back tighten at her voice, almost as if she had wanted to refuse the young noble, but Shae does turn around. Her eyes still trained on the floor. They stay like that for a few long seconds before Sansa finally gets up and goes to her handmaiden. She gently cups the woman's face, and brings her head up so sad dark eyes meet her own blue ones. "You're not the wrong people." Sansa says again putting as much truthfulness and caring that she can into the sentence. She sees brown eyes soften for just a second before they harden again with steely resolve, and suddenly tan hands are gripping at her wrists and throwing them forcefully away.
"You know nothing of me or where I come from m'lady." The title is thrown at Sansa with anger and a little bit of spite and something else that Sansa just can't place, but it sounds like jealousy. The young noble's eyes widen in shock and hurt. "So do not tell me what kind of person I am!" Shae snaps out finding Sansa's eyes and holding them. Staring into proud, defiant, and beautiful eyes she reaches out her hand and gently cups the other woman's cheek. They hold each other's gaze for a second more before silent tears start to flow down Shae's face. Hands start to swipe at the girl's tears, but she just can't seem to catch all the girl's sadness. Instinct leads her to step into Shae's space and put small but strong arms around the taller girl's neck.
Sansa realizes what she is doing a second too late, and shorter girl can feel the girl in her arms stiffen in just as much surprise as she is in. Just when Sansa is about to pull away Shae lets out a breath and relaxes. Sansa decides she is going to see how far she can push this and pulls the girl down, effectively pulling the girl's body against hers. It surprises Sansa again when she finds that she fits very nicely with Shae. Their bodies kind of mold into one another, and she is short enough to fit her head just under Shae's chin. Sansa realizes with a start that she can feel the girl's lips move against her hairline right above her temple, but she can't make out what the other girl is saying. The whispers she hears are in a foreign tongue and she furrows her brow trying to pick up anything that sounds like a word she knows. The taller girls chest vibrates with sudden giggling and Sansa looks up questioningly at her. Shae raises an eyebrow and smiles down at the red head. "Stop thinking so hard. I can hear you thinking all the way up here." Sansa lets out a huff of exasperation and tries to wiggle free of the hug she initiated. "Well if you just used common tongue then I wouldn't have to be thinking very hard would I?" Sansa snaps, still trying to find a way to wiggle out of the strong tan cage she has found herself in. Shae lets out a laugh as her hands gently pull the girl back against her body before slithering around the smaller girl's waist with a newfound ease.
She tilts her head in thought for a second before opening her mouth and saying, "I was only making a promise to myself, m'lady." Sansa quickly swats at her muttering, "Stop calling me that." before she finally stops trying to escape and lets Shae continue. "I just promised myself that I wouldn't let anything bad happen to you. Everyone around this castle and even out there is playing some sort of game and I just want you to be left out of it." Shae finds Sansa's eyes once more before softly saying, "That's why I got mad earlier. You trust so easily and that can you get you into severe trouble. It scares me to pieces."
Sansa has no idea what happens next and nor could she honestly tell you who moved first, but the next thing she knew Shae was kissing her, or she was kissing Shae. At the moment it didn't matter. All that did matter was the sense of peace and joy she hadn't felt since she had left Winterfell. Kissing Shae was like coming home.