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"Three more days."

Joanna looked up from the fire she was building and, upon seeing the confusion on her face, Jaime clarified.

"Three more days until we arrive at the Vale, assuming we keep traveling at this same pace. In three days, we'll find out whether your sister is there or not."

Joanna looked back at the fire and swallowed the lump in her throat. She knew how ridiculous it was to put all her faith in a dream, but she didn't like to think about the fact that there was a very good chance that Sansa wasn't at the Vale. That Joanna's dream had simply been that, a dream. Right now, a dream was the best possible chance Joanna had to go on and she didn't know what she do if she got to the Vale and found no trace of her sister. The idea alone made Joanna simply want to lie down and cry and possibly never get up.

Joanna had always looked up to the Targaryen and Stark queens of old. Unlike Sansa, who wanted to have a wonderful time at court and be simply a pretty little queen who had no idea what was going on the kingdom that her husband would rule, and Arya, who wanted nothing to do with courts or becoming queen, Joanna had wanted to be a great queen, a wonderful queen, a queen beloved who took the power she deserved because she worked hard for it, she struggled for it.

She won it.

Now Joanna could see that becoming a queen like that was not like the history books had made it seem. That becoming a queen like that was full of pain and grief and suffering.

"It's a good idea," Jaime said suddenly.

"What?" Joanna looked up again. "What do you mean?"

"The Vale. It's a perfectly logical place for her to be. If she isn't there, I don't know where she would be."

Joanna knew he meant those words to comfort her, but that was what scared her. Where else could Sansa be if she wasn't at the Vale? If she had come anywhere close to the Riverlands or the North, surely one of her bannermen would have informed her. If they hadn't, Joanna could only think of a few reasons why they wouldn't and none of them were comforting. And if she didn't come north when she escaped King's Landing, why would she head south or to Essos?

"She's there," Joanna said adamantly into the flames, an answer to the question that Jaime hadn't truly asked, but was there on the surface. If she isn't there, I don't know where she would be.

She could feel Jaime's gaze upon her, but she didn't turn to look at him.

"What did you think?"

Joanna didn't turn to look at him, but she turn her gaze away from the flames. "About what?"

"Her marriage with my brother."

Joanna sighed. "I met your brother a few times at Winterfell. He seemed like a good man, in other circumstances I doubt that I would have an objection over their marriage, but in other circumstances she would not be married to him. Besides, Sansa was too young anyway, too scared. I wasn't happy with the marriage, but I was unhappier with Robb and his decision to disown her.

"That was when he legitimized me."

Joanna knew that she had Jaime's attention with those words, and she continued. "He wanted to disown Sansa, but I convinced him not too. I knew that she was living in hell at King's Landing, and I didn't want her to be forced into a marriage against her will and then find out that her brother had denied that she ever was a Stark. Robb's solution was to legitimize me, so that if anything happened to him, the North and the Trident would become mine, not Sansa's."

Joanna sighed. "I have never wanted to hurt Sansa and I would give her the North if she asked, but Robb couldn't let any Lannisters have the North." It would tear me up inside and I could never give it gladly, but I could give it.

Joanna smiled bitterly. "Lady Catelyn had not been happy with me becoming Robb's heir, but even she saw the sense in it."

Lady Catelyn had not looked at Robb or her for three days after he had done so, but she had understood that it had to be done.

"You know," Jaime said, "my sister does not recognize you as legitimate. She claims that the North belongs to your sister, her good-sister."

"Yes, but I have the North, I have the Trident, and more importantly, it's under my control and we've recognized Stannis Baratheon is the King of the Seven Kingdoms though we are no longer his subjects."

Jaime grinned. "And what does Stannis Baratheon think of that?"

Joanna shrugged. "I don't really know. He's up at the wall, helping with the wilding attacks that have become more frequent and Brynden Tully has gone to meet him with soldiers to help. I've told my bannermen to treat him like the king he is, but make sure he remembers that I'm a Queen."

Stannis Baratheon could not afford to go to war with her, and it would be more prudent to simply cut his losses and accept them as allies, but from what she had heard about the man, he would be too stubborn to. Joanna prayed that Stannis Baratheon might just surprise them.

Joanna was silent for a moment before she began to speak again, ignoring the lump in her throat. "If Sansa is not at the Vale, then I think I will have no other option that to head to the Wall and hopefully talk and come to an agreement with King Stannis. I will pray to all the gods I can think of to bring my sisters back to me, but I don't think I can afford to linger on them or their whereabouts unless I have something to go on. If that happens, please consider your vow complete with the exception of informing me and not your sister if you receive any new information about them."

Joanna wondered if this was how Robb had felt when he had made his decisions and gained a whole new appreciation for her brother. She just wished she never had a chance too. Joanna sighed and scratched behind Ghost's ear. The direwolf, who was laying on the ground next to her, looked at her with red eyes.

Joanna wondered, truly, if she actually had a something more dream that showed her where her sister was, or if it had just been a mixture of longing and want that had given the odd dream to her.

Joanna still wondered who the people in it were, as she was only sure of three of the people in it.

The two men who looked like Father and had smiled at her, Joanna thought they must be Brandon and Rickard Stark, her uncle and grandfather. The man with white hair who hissed at her from the Iron Throne was more than likely the Mad King Aerys.

She didn't why they were in her dream though, and the identities of the other's still confused her.

"Ser Jaime," she asked. "Where you there when the Mad King burned my uncle and grandfather?"

She hated how weak and childish she sounded, but still she wanted to know. Perhaps the more she knew about one aspect of her dream could help her figure out the rest.

Jaime had got their bedding ready for the night, but he stilled as soon as she asked her question.

After a few minutes of silence, he began to speak again. "Yes."

Joanna nodded and licked her lips before she began again. "What was it like?"

"A fate I never wanted to happen to anyone else."

Joanna wanted to ask more, but she could tell by the troubled expression on his face that he didn't want to her too.

Joanna could only think of one thing to say to him.

"It wasn't your fault. You weren't the only one there."

"What?"

"You weren't the only member of the Kingsguard there."

Jaime smiled bitterly. "It felt like I was. I think it felt like that for knight. And in the end, I was the only knight there. Just ask Aerys."

Joanna didn't know what to say to that, but "I'm sorry" slipped out of her before she even realized.

Jaime looked at her. "You're the first person to ever say that to me."

"I shouldn't be."

"Perhaps. But you still are."

Joanna said nothing for a moment. "You know, the only thing I can think to say to you is that you should have killed King Aerys sooner. Then people wouldn't think that you had anything to do with the killing of the Princess Elia and her children."

"You don't think that I had anything to do with it?"

"Ghost wouldn't like you if you did."

Jaime grinned. "No. I guess not." He stretched out his right hand towards the direwolf, who sniffed it and then licked it. "I always did prefer her to Grey Wind. Grey Wind was a little too angry in my opinion."

Joanna laughed for what seemed like the time in forever.