Hello!
There will be an AN at the end so go ahead and dive in!
- Reara
Chapter Nine
Weak
When you go looking for rescue you end up trapped in your own weakness.
Deb Calleti
Sansa had never been to a council meeting before, no one had ever invited her.
But the morning after her meeting with Daenerys she rose early.
She did her usual stretches, wrapped her knife around her thigh - although if they were ever in any real danger she doubted she'd be able to reach it - and showed her new maid, Dora, how to create a lady's hairstyle, she pulled on the familiar blue dress that The Spider had made for her and placed a handkerchief in her sleeve.
The red eyes of a white wolf were just visible.
And she began a slow walk to the castle's main room.
There was already a flurry of activity. Men and women, highborn, already standing to the right or left side of the room talking in hushed voices. Ignoring the wondering gazes of the people around her, she moved to stand at the front of the right side, closest to the window.
Sansa smiled at everyone, her face calm, she had no reason to be hostile.
Yet.
A guard stood in front of the room entrance and beat against the floor with the bottom of his staff.
"Thump!" "Thump!"
"Announcing Daenerys Stormborn of the House Targaryen, First of Her Name, the Unburnt, Queen of the Andals and the First Men, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, Breaker of Chains, and Mother of Dragons."
"Thump!" "Thump!"
"Announcing Tyrion Lannister, Hand of The Queen, Warden of the West and Lord of Casterly Rock"
Sansa just remembered to curtsy and kept her head lowered as her husband and the Queen walked.
First One, then the Other.
Daenerys was an eye catching woman. From a distance her skin appeared youthful, soft and unmarred. It was only upclose that you saw the scars that wound around her neck, the scratches around her fingers and hands. And while Sansa hid hers with fabric Daenerys appeared perfectly calm with every mark exposed.
It was hard to believe they were the same age.
When her husband walked past her he nearly stopped but Sansa's eyes remained on Daenerys and his face remained filled with confusion as he stood by the Queen of Mereen.
Sansa watched the men and women around her, waiting for the curtsey, the bow.
Instead they simply nodded as if reaffirming their allegiance to Daenerys.
Daenerys finally sat then, her eye roaming over every member of her court. She had no problem staring at them with increased scrutiny.
And when her eyes landed on Sansa, Sansa tensed - her back ramrod straight.
The queen simply nodded before she began to speak.
"Please, bring forth the first of the day"
The door to the courtroom blew open, and the doors clattered against the walls.
Two soldiers, both dark in appearance, held an elderly man by the shoulders and pushed him into the center of the room. The one to the left, put the heel of his boot against the elderly mans back and pushed.
To force the to prisoner bow.
Everyone leaned away from the man, as if to affirm that they weren't bowing.
"Zuhayr Rede, you have been brought before Queen Daenerys, Ruler of Mereen to answer for your crimes. Of theft and brutality against the people of The Isle. How do you plead?"
Sansa tuned out the sniffling of the prisoner just a few inches from her and concentrated on her husband.
His gaze was calm and emotionless. He commanded respect as he spoke, his small stature overshadowed by the way, and where, he stood.
The prisoners hair was gray and matted and hung over his shoulders in thick clumps.
His nose was curved to the right, obviously broken, and his eyes were red and filled with tears.
"I-I am innocent Your Grace," he whispered, hands outstretched.
Pleading for his life.
"Bring out the Witness and the Accuser"
A door opened to the side and Sansa furrowed her brow. It had been made to look exactly like the wall.
A guard and a young woman entered.
The guard was tall in appearance, his face clear of hair. His mouth was curved into a perfect cupids bow and Sansa was amazed at his beauty.
But it was the woman next to him that grabbed Sansa's attention.
She was long and beautiful. Her neck was soft and her eyes were sweet. She seemed the picture of womanly grace and elegance. Her back straight, breast full.
"Azhara of the Isles, you stand here to give testimony against Zuhayr Rede"
"Yes, Lord Tyrion, he was the man who destroyed my home," the woman said, her voice as clear as a stream.
Azhara never wavered.
"Explain," Tyrion pressed, waving her on.
"That man destroyed my home, set fire to the house, the crops, the children," Azhara yelled, jabbing a finger at the lump of a man near Sansa's feet, "I saw him!"
Her voice was victorious, her eyes alight with glee.
(It reminded Sansa of when Joffrey killed a kept lamb, or a restrained boar.)
Tyrion nodded as if she had only reaffirmed his point.
Sansa continued to watch, waiting for the next step. The man was guilty, of course.
And yet Tyrion made no move to tell the guards to grab the man, nor did he move to press the girl to speak.
He simply waited.
And then another door opened, closer to the throne.
And a child step through the door, two guards surrounding her.
If Sansa had turned to face Azhara she would have seen the snarl that curled the woman's lip and the hatred that filled her eyes.
"State your name"
Her eyes were red and her entire body shook. The girl was dark skinned with wide green eyes and a thick mane of dark red hair, she stood - back straight, yet her chin seemed slightly bent.
As if she was still getting used to having her head up.
The girls' head turned to Tyrion as if in shock before she began to speak.
"Y-yes!", the girl breathed, before clearing her throat, "Yes Lord Tyrion"
Once again, with feeling, Septa Mordane whispered in her ear.
"Do you recognize any of the people here?"
"Yes, m-my lord," the girl murmured.
"Who?"
Sighing, the girl slowly pointed her finger.
At Azhara.
"That woman," the girl said, "Her name is Zara, and she was with Zuhayr Rede when he attacked my home."
Sansa's attention was drawn back to the newly accused and she watched as the guard that had been "protecting" her began to restrain her.
"She was the one who began the burnings of the children and women inside the healer's tent. She threw the little ones into the sea and laughed when the mother's ran after them, only for the women to die from arrows and swor-"
The woman, Zara, began to scream, anger in her throat.
"I'll kill you!," she screamed, clawing at the soldier who made no noise, "Every single one of you disgusting Kadians will die by my hand!"
Zara began to punch and spit, her knees jerking and kicking against the soldier who bound her.
"I swear!," Zara screamed, "I'll burn you, I'll drown you, I'll starve you, by the time I'm done you'll wish you had died!"
The girl began to cry, her entire body shaking in fear.
Sansa acted on instinct when she saw the little girl's hands reaching for air.
She slowly walked to the child and pulled her to her chest, burying the girl's face in her breast. The girl continued to gasp for air though and could not remain calm, even as she buried her body into Sansa's.
"Get her out of here!," Tyrion said, slapping the air.
The screaming Zara was pulled from the room, the elderly man had, once again, collapsed on the floor in all the commotion.
Sansa picked the child up and ignored the wondering looks of the once undisturbed throne room.
Sansa placed the bundle of a girl in the arms of the large, grey haired woman that was behind the door, probably her grandmother, and felt herself choke at the scene.
That girl was one of the most unluckiest lucky person she had ever seen.
And for the first time, in a while, she thought about her mom.
Her lovely, kind, tradition bound mother.
Whose throat had been slit at a wedding that never should have happened, during a war that never should have destroyed her life.
Sansa took a deep breathe and shook her head.
"She had a bit of a run in with that woman"
The grandmother stared at her with fear, and relief.
The grandmother replied, "T-thank you, ma-madame, she's a prec-precious one"
Sansa nodded, "She is"
"Sansa!"
She turned away from the grandmother and turned to face her husband.
"I can't believe you went there, much less interfered," Tyrion continued to pass on the floor in front of her, angry and frustrated.
"But I-"
"Why would you even consider going there?"
"I was just-"
"You could have been hurt, or worse, killed!"
"That's-"
"Why Sansa!", he yelled.
His chest rose and fell, his hands shook. Sansa watched him for a moment, hoping that he would calm down.
"Tyrion"
He refused to look at her, and, for a moment, she thought she was seeing her fussy brother.
"Tyrion," she said more firmly.
Tyrion finally turned and looked at her his eyes wide.
She stared at him for a moment, and then smiled.
He was afraid. But not that her getting hurt would destroy his reputation or that something bad would cause him to be a laughstock but that she, her person, would be hurt.
Tyrion stared at her and then sighed, rubbing a small, rough hand over his face.
"I was fine Tyrion, really,"
He reached out then a placed his hand over hers, and let out a small sigh.
"Just, just be careful Sansa"
Sansa nodded and stroked his cheek with her thumb.
There was a stuttering knock at the door then and Sansas' finger froze almost instantly. It was almost funny to see Tyrion close his eyes, his face filled with frustration.
The door swung open and Zander, the squire, came through, his face red and filled with slight terror.
"Your uh, there is- there is a uh"
Zander simply pointed at the door.
"Yes, that is a very nice door, Zander, thank you for sharing, but what exactly did you need"
Sansa pressed her thumb rather firmly into Tyrion's cheek.
"There's s-someone here, my lord"
Tyrion sighed and kissed Sansas' head before turning to leave.
"Let's not keep them waiting then"
Zander shook his head, squeezing his hands.
"I-it's not for you, m-my lord, i-it's a s-sword master for Lady S-sansa"
AN:/ Thank you all so much for your patience. A lot of things have happened in the past few months that have kept me from being able to update but, a few of them are,
1.) I just entered my first official year of college, only to find out I can graduate in a year and a half after this semester.
2.) I am double majoring (History & English) both with a Law Track
3.) Without being too political I've been volunteering a lot of time trying to turn Texas Blue
4.) I have been trying to find an internship but since I've only 18 not a lot of people take me seriously (two of them asked me if I was "really ready" for this)
*insert eye roll here)
But since things have started to die down and I've gotten into the swings of all of my classes and my volunteering I will be (hopefully) updating more!
Thank you all for reading!