A/N: I wanted to play with the idea of Arya as a femme fatale type of character. Her fascination with the Braavosi Courtesans and her conversations with the Kindly Man in ADwD makes me think that her next apprenticeship will be with the Courtesans. So this chapter is going to go with that AU and I plan to explore this in future chapters as well. This also takes place after the war with the Lannisters and the War for the Dawn is over and the Starks/Targaryen's have won both.

SANSA STARK I

True Northern Beauty

"You may be as different as the sun and the moon, but the same blood flows through both your hearts. You need her, as she needs you..."

-Ned Stark

It had taken much pleading, bargaining, and some borderline blackmail, but the Lady of Winterfell had finally convinced Arya "I am not a Lady/Princess fight me" Stark to let her sister dress her up for the feast that was to celebrate their victory over the Lannisters as a result of Queen Cersei's mysterious and poignantly ironic death and the hands of an unknown killer.

Sansa weaves her fingers through her younger sister's dark waves, braiding small sections back against her head. Arya once had mentioned that she had seen the Braavosi Courtesans their hair in a similar fashion and had admired it.

Sansa had never known her tomboy little sister to notice things like hairstyles but she supposed that their time apart had changed them both in many ways. Sansa couldn't help but wonder if sword fighting and knife throwing weren't the only unladylike pursuits Arya had studied during her time across the Narrow Sea.

She had heard her young sisters stories her time away and still cringed to see the scars left by the stab wounds that nearly caused her sister to bleed to death in the Braavosi streets.

"Everything is a weapon if you know how to wield it."

Years ago, Sansa would have laughed at the mere thought of Arya even realizing that boys beyond their brothers and Theon existed, especially in a way that wasn't platonic, but now Sansa wouldn't put it past the infamous She Wolf of Winterfell to include her sexuality amongst the weapons in her arsenal.

Her sister could be quite charming when it suited her (though it rarely did).

The older woman saw the way men looked at Arya and often teased her sister about it.

The day that Edric Dayne arrived with his men to help in the fight Beyond the Wall, Arya had greeted the young Lord of Starfall with a familiarity and friendliness that Sansa hadn't seen from her unruly sister since their days in Winterfell all those years ago. But Arya had always had a way of befriending people everywhere she went.

Sansa had noticed the blush on Dornishman's cheeks when her sister had thrown her arms around him in greeting and the happy sparkle in his lilac eyes when Arya had challenged him to spar, making quips about seeing if he had improved since their last fight and if he was truly the next Sword of the Morning.

Sansa had also noticed the cool manner in which the Baratheon Bull had greeted their new ally, and the way he had crossed his arms against his burly chest, grumbling about little Lordlings when Arya had chatted endlessly to the blonde haired young man about her adventures since leaving the Riverlands and peppering him with questions about what life was like in Dorne.

Lady Stark hadn't missed the petulant look on the Targaryen Prince's face either or the suspicious gleam in Jon's gaze as he had watched the pair.

Arya had them all wrapped around her fingers without even trying and she didn't even realize it.

Sansa had convinced Arya into a gown of midnight blue, saying the color complimented her complexion. The gown has a slit up the side, which Arya claimed gave her more freedom to move and was made of a Dornish silk, the color of the midnight sky.

Since defeating the Night King, winter had slowly begun to thaw, though there was still a chill present in the air, even in Kingslanding. When Sansa pointed this out, Arya had dismissed her sister, claiming that she wouldn't be cold and that the ice in her veins would keep the chill from setting in. The auburn haired girl had rolled her eyes.

Arya had continued to be her stubborn self, shunning heels in favor her boots, saying that heels were an invention designed to make it more difficult to for women to run away from men's unwanted advances.

Then her ever unconventional sister had strapped a knife to each thigh.

"Is that really necessary?"

"Yes. I have at least two blades on me at all times."

"Even when you sleep?"

"Especially asleep. Sleeping makes us less aware of our surroundings making one more vulnerable to attacks."

And once again, Sansa couldn't help but wonder if her sister had suffered far more than she let on to still insist on being so heavily armed after the wars were over and they had won.

Sansa had drawn the line when Arya had tried to attach her beloved Needle to her hip. Concealed weapons were one thing, but a sword belt would ruin her ensemble. They had compromised on Arya slipping another dagger into her boot.

Her sister never failed to surprise her, slipping a delicate silver chain around her neck as a finishing touch to her outfit. A pendant depicting a direwolf that bears an astonishing resemblance to Nymeria rested against sister's collarbone.

"Where did you get that?"

A faint blush painted the younger woman's cheeks. "Gendry made it as a present for my nameday."

Sansa arches a perfectly manicured eyebrow.

Arya blushes harder. "Shut up."

"I didn't say anything."

"No, but you were thinking it."

She smirks and lines her sister's eyes with kohl, making there already smoking hue look iridescent.

Arya had tried to swat her hands away. "I'm going to look stupid. Painting my face won't hide the fact that I'm Arya Horseface."

Sansa had stopped and too her sister's face in her hands. "Don't you dare say that. You are not ugly, you never were. It was cruel of men to say those things about you when we were growing up."

"Then why did you?"

"I was jealous."

Arya snorted. "Why would perfect Lady Sansa be jealous of Arya Underfoot?"

Sansa rolled her eyes and sighed. "I spent years trying to please everyone, get people to like me, caring about what they said and thought of me, obsessing over it. But you never cared what anyone thought of you. You never anyone but yourself and people loved you for it. No matter what trouble you got into, father never got mad at you, not truly. Our brothers always favored you. Robb would take you out riding in the woods and Theon would give you give you tips on your archery when he thought no one else was listening. Bran wanted to play with you and Rickon adored you because you would chase him around the castle rather than scold him for him for not sitting still. You and Jon were inseparable. Everyone adored you and you didn't even have to try. I was petty and jealous and I'm truly sorry."

"That may be true, but I'll never be pretty. Not like you and mother."

"Just because you don't take after mother and I doesn't mean you aren't beautiful. There is more than one kind of beauty, Arya. Father said it himself, you have Lyanna's look. She wasn't a Southern beauty like our mother, but she was beautiful. She had a wild and captivating beauty that brought men to their knees. A true Northern beauty, just like you."

Arya smiles and wraps her arms around her sister. "Thank you." She murmurs into her older sister's shoulder and Sansa squeezes her tighter, not caring that she'll wrinkle her gown. Some things are more important.

A/N: I'm not pitting Arya and Sansa against each other here. I wanted to use this as a way of explaining why Sansa treated Arya the way she did when they were children and am not saying that one is better than the other. They are two very different people who have been on very different journey's and have very different experiences and talents and both are valid. In my opinion, Sansa is one of the characters who has changed the most dramatically since the beginning of the story and I wanted to explore how her view has changed since we first met her, especially in regards to what she views as important now (her family) whereas what she viewed as important at the beginning on the story (pretty things and boys and fairytales) and just how far she has come as character.