Mockingbird's Play
Sansa POV:
Riding across the north's expansive grey landscape lends me the thought of how small mankind is. I've experienced how harsh these lands could be, step off of the known path and the wilderness will break you. Looking down at the letter stamped with the sigil of House Baelish in my hand, I'm reminded of how lost I was that I would trust the word of a man that forced me to call him "father" and sold me to that monster. I glanced at Brienne's huge back, I felt secure with her at my side.
"Thank you for following me, Ser Brienne." Grateful to have a skilled and trusted warrior at my side.
"I'm not a knight, M'lady." reminding me once again, " It's my duty and pleasure to serve Lady Catelyn's daughter." I can hear the pride in her voice.
"How was she?" I was anxiously waiting for the answer. "The last time I remember of her, she was brushing my hair and telling me not to worry about my betrothal to Joffrey," the mention of the late King Joffrey had me shaking my head. "Gods, I was an idiot."
"You were young, M'lady," Brienne said in defense of my former self.
"Last I saw Lady Catelyn, she ordered me to take Jaime back to King's Landing to ransom him for you and Lady Arya…" There she brought me closure to how my Mother and Brother fought to the end for our family.
I will not let us be the end of House Stark. Honor killed Robb, loyalty killed Father, and love killed Mother. What worth are these values in the face of losing the warmth of your loved ones? In order to beat our enemies. I'll be as ruthless as my enemies and cleverer than them to not lose Jon- no, the rest of my family wherever they are.
We trotted over and dismounted outside a decrepit wooden house on the outskirts of the Mole's Town where Baelish wrote me to meet him. The house's wooden beams were scattered and the roof was caved in as if a giant stepped on it. There Baelish stood on the snow-covered floor of the snow-covered ruin, wearing the facade of a father concerned for his daughter.
"Sansa-" his gravelly snake-like voice accompanied his action to slither near me but Brienne's presence put a stop to that. "Lady Brienne." Brienne's presence stomped him, confused. The last time he met Brienne was when I rejected her service back in the inn on our way to the North where I was to be sold to Ra- Boltons.
"Sansa…" he whispered my name like a prayer, "when I heard you've escaped Winterfell I feared the worst." shoulders slouched, to make himself more sympathetic. I know you too well.
I let his slimy words roll off of me, remembering his wise counsel to me. Play the game. What are his worst reasons to mention his relief at my survival?
"You've no idea how relieved I am to see you unharmed." Unharmed?!
"Unharmed." All thoughts of discerning his motives were washed away in the wave of my indignation. "What are you doing here?" Ice in my throat. I could care less about what he has to offer me, I need Brienne's sword to slice right through his lying mouth.
His narrow shoulders unfurled, and he straightened towards me. "I rode North with the Knights of the Vale to come to your aid. They're encamped in Moat Cailin as we speak."
The mention of his army cleared the veil of anger over me. An alliance with him can solve all of my problems but I'm still not sure of his worst reasons to offer me the Vale. His immediate mention of his offer without conditions is alarming or maybe my vitriol combined with Brienne's presence staggered him.
I press on with my indignation, "To come to my aid?" a breathless question. Belying my disbelief at his benign assistance. Channeling my anger still. "Did you know about Ramsay? If you didn't you're an idiot and if you did you're my enemy." I can feel my nostrils flaring as I stepped toward him. Conquering his space to make room for my anger. "Would you like to know of our wedding night?" I let him ponder that. Then I continued, "he never hurt my face, the face of Ned Stark's daughter but the rest," my voice broke at the end, forcing my mind not to wander to Ramsay's acts of cruelty. "The rest of me, he did what he liked to it as long I could still give him an heir. What do you think he did?" This time I allowed him ample time to answer.
Shaking his head, his gravelly voice cracking. "I c-can't begin to contemplate-" I cut him off.
"What do you think he did to me?" This is the first time I left him speechless for an extended amount of time. I was about to pressure him with more inquiries into what Ramsay has done to me when Brienne interrupted.
I can hear the screech of her gauntlet-covered hand scratching over the hilt of her sword behind me. "Lady Sansa asked you a question."
The air almost didn't meet his voice as he asked. "Did he cut you?"
"So maybe you did know about Ramsay all along?" I implored, daring him to provide me with enough rope to hang him with.
"I didn't-" I interrupted him. "I thought you knew everyone's secrets?" Throwing his pride to his face.
"I made a grievous mistake to underestimate a stranger." He shuffled towards me, hands out as if to convey he means no harm. Too late.
"The things he did aren't meant for ladies to talk about but I imagine your brothel keepers talk about them all the time." His spies should've informed him what Ramsay likes to do to his women. "I can still feel it…" I whispered. Defeated until my righteous anger washed over. "I don't mean that in my tender heart I feel it. No. As I'm standing here in front of you I can still feel what he did to my body."
"I'm. So. Sorry."
"You said you'd protect me?" scoffing at the end.
"And I will. You must believe me that I will-" to prevent his groveling I spoke over him
"I don't believe you." I snarled out. "I don't need you anymore. You can't protect me." I looked at him in disgust. "You can't even protect yourself if I order Brienne to cut you down right now." I let the threat settle in his mind for a moment. "Why shouldn't I?"
"Do you want me to beg for my life? I will," he begged. "Whatever you ask that is in my power, I will do."
"If I want you to die here and now?"
"Then I will die." he looked at me straight in the eyes. Resolve clear in his eyes. This must be the most honest he ever has been in his lifetime.
"You freed me from the monsters in gold who killed my family then gave me to the other monsters who've slaughtered the rest of my family." I spat on his offer, "go back to Moat Cailin. My Brother and I will take back the North ourselves and I never want to see you again."
"If I could undo what's been done to you, I would." senseless drivel meant to make me feel sorry for him. "But I know that I can't." He continued, "will you allow me to say one more thing before I go?" I nodded "Your Uncle, the Black Fish, has retaken Riverrun. You might consider seeking him out? The time may come when you need an army loyal only to you."
I rebuked, "I have an army."
"Your brother's army?" he started walking out the house, then looked over his shoulder at me and said. "Half-brother." and left that final piece.
For some reason, the last words he dropped left me with a cold reminder of the harsh weather of the North. Am I alone to fight my own battles? No, Jon will help me. He has to.
"We need to go back to Castle Black immediately." I rushed out of the decrepit hut. Not even bothering to look back to see if Brienne's following me.
As we neared Castle Black on horseback we were met with bands of brothers of the Night's Watch patrolling the forests near the Castle searching for us. We were escorted back into the castle, where Jon was in the courtyard frantically directing the Night's brothers and Wildlings to mount and go out. Then once he saw, he came bearing down like a feral mother wolf, if it weren't for inheriting Father's stoicism he'd be huffing and puffing as he strode towards us.
"Where have you been?" his voice hitching to a shouting pitch. "You didn't warn anyone, no letters left in your room to tell me where you've gone." he ranted, "I thought the Boltons have kidnapped you under the cover of the night."
"Jon, I'm fine." Raising my brows at him, "I was with Ser Brienne, you need not worry. I just wanted to polish my riding skills." I drawled out with a bored expression on my face.
"Your riding skills?" He looked at me with disbelief. "Since when-" he stopped pressing all of a sudden. "Alright, I believe you." He sighed. "I worry." then lamely added, throwing out his arms in a shrugging motion. "Well, I need you by my side today. I've gathered everyone we need to plan our liberation of the North." Then abruptly turned away to head inside.
His cold dismissal left me with a cold reminder once again. This meant nothing, he's just annoyed with me for leaving his protection with no word from me. Baelish's last words rang inside my head. Half brother or not, Jon will do right by me. Then I followed after his tracks back inside.
The war meeting commenced at the same mess hall where I broke my fast a few days ago. The half-rotted wooden tables and benches were placed at the sides of the hall to make room for a large desk layered with a map of the North. Stacked on top of the map were wooden figures of various houses' sigils. Half the members of this meeting I haven't met yet the ones I could recognize are Night's brother, Edd, seating by the map, and the massive redhaired wildling leaning upon a wooden post was Tormund. There was a striking lady in red thin robes sitting on a stool in front of the hearth. Must be warming herself, with her wearing such exposing southern fashion the cold will surely kill her. Glancing back at the people surrounding the map, there was another figure unknown to me. Scraggly grey beard with a balding patch of grey on his head, his presence conveyed experience and he looked quite skittish. As if not sure he is where he ought to be. Between the two, I chose to approach the southern lady and maybe our shared sex will make the interaction smoother.
"The silk you're wearing is quite lovely." I smiled her way, now that I'm closer her red hair is a shade darker than mine and her beauty is almost otherworldly. Still, her thin robes are not appropriate for this weather. And are the tips of her teats trying to poke through her robes?!
"..." The woman in red was still fixated on the flames of the hearth.
"What's your name?" I asked. "This place isn't exactly accommodating to the fairer sex." I continued to prod. "By my count, there are only 3 ladies right now in Castle Black." I'm beginning to feel unnerved by her silence. I looked around and spotted a nearby stool and plopped it beside her. I sat on it and leaned over to see why's she was so obsessed with the hearth. "Are you alright?"
"..." silence.
"Has Jon been treating you well?" That garnered a response from her. Her red eyes widened, postured straightened, and blankly looked at me.
"Has your brother mentioned me to you?" she looked at me through her eyelashes. They're quite pretty. But what an odd question.
"No, Jon hasn't." Is there a history between the two? And what sort of consideration does Jon hold for this woman? Nevertheless, I am too curious about her. "Is Jon the reason you're here?" I need to establish a commonality between us, Jon seems to be it.
"In a manner of speaking…" it's too vague. I'm beginning to wring my hands over each other in worry.
"Are you friends with Jon?" I asked and before she could answer Jon came over and pulled me by the right arm and proceeded to walk away from the lady in red. But not before I heard her say. "Have you grown used to your body?" Jon tensed, the hand gently wrapping my arm stiffened. Jon relaxed for a moment then turned towards the lady by the fire.
"Save your words for your flames and leave my family alone." As I was behind him I could not see his face but his body seemed ready to pounce. This woman is a threat but why is she here if she's not welcomed?
For a moment the Lady in Red locked eyes with Jon then muttered. "... forgive me." Bowing her head in reverence to Jon and continued her vigil by the hearth. Jon stared at the lady in red then pulled me back with him towards the map on the table.
"JON." I shrugged off his hand. "Wha-" To interrupt me Jon introduced the white-bearded man by the map.
"Ser Davos, this is my sister Sansa." The balding man looked at me, then looked back at Jon.
"It's good to see you safe, Lady Stark." strange, that was the most sincere greeting I've received in a while. Davos looks to be good-natured, an old man willing to impart wisdom when asked. "I'm happy for you, Jon. Family is hard to come by these days." Ser Davos held Jon's shoulder, but his eyes are seeing fond old memories.
Ser Davos's trance broke when I asked. "You're a Knight? Did you serve my brother Robb in the Riverlands?" I was a bit confused about why there's a knight so far from the South.
"Sorry, M'lady." he shooked his head and explained. "but my house, Seaworth, is of the Stormlands."
"Are you part of the Night's watch then?"
"I was part of Lo-" he cleared his throat then proceeded. "Late Lord Stannis's Army and he left me here to coordinate with the Watch's Lord commander." Nodding towards Jon.
"I'm not Lord Commander anymore, I've appointed Edd Tollett to take my place." Jon immediately corrected. "My vows have been dissolved and now my family needs me." He locked eyes with me, communicating his devotion to my cause.
"Well," Ser Davos maneuvered across the hall and brought with him two rotted chairs placing them by the map facing it. "Let's start the battle plans then, M'Lady." beckoning me to seat on one of them. "You too, M'lady. Though you may be wearing leathers and braces they don't exempt you from courtesy." motioning Ser Brienne over, who's stood behind me this entire time.
Jon coughed, preparing himself to speak. "Before we start strategizing over what we can do with the men we have. We need to address and straighten out what we know of our enemies." Jon gestured to Tormund to speak up.
Tormund glanced at the Ser Davos, me, the Lady in Red, and finally Ser Brienne before speaking. "To those southerners who've never been to the North-"
"We're in the North." I corrected him
"The true North. Summer child." he glanced towards the upper portion of the map pointing at the Crossing where the southern border of the North lie.
This man can't read a map. I looked at the map and then glanced back at Tormund when Jon's arm came into view from my left view grasping Tormund's arm and moving it past the Wall on the map. Tormund looked at him confused for a moment then nodded, finally understanding what Jon did.
"Behind the Wall are the Others," his grizzly face looked ready to defend and maul whatever words we have against that claim. Then he gestured to Jon and said, "only by burning wights can we kill 'em, along with dragon glass and that fancy sword little crow have." Then he stood straight, his large frame encompassed the room and his words loomed larger still. "The only way to stop 'em is by holding the Wall. If the Wall falls we're fucking meat in their army and they'll raise every corpse as far as south goes." a chill went up to my spine and goose pimples rose over my skin at the mention of the Others. How could these legendary creatures exist? And why now?
"What are umm… plans for that?" Ser Davos looked shaken but resolve slowly returned in his eyes. "When Jon was still lord commander, we was transporting wildlings through Lord Stannis's Fleet and finding places for them behind the wall." He clenched his fingerless hand over his chest as if grabbing something. "Lord Commander Tollet, are there any happenings goin' between men of the Night's watch and their wildling neighbor?"
"Call them Free Folk." Jon's somber voice echoed through the hall. "They named themselves the free folk, not wildlings." I can see Tormund grinning at Jon for what he said.
"M'apologies." Ser Davos contritely mentioned locking gazes with Tormund. Mutual respect growing between the two, at least our advisors are united, and their motives seem simple enough. To serve and to survive.
"Well," Edd coughed up phlegm and was about to spit it on the ground when Jon casually slid a wooden ale mug over to Edd, subtly telling Edd to spit in the mug. Edd looked exasperatingly at Jon, his dead-fish eyes looked even more dead inside but he acquiesced to Jon's demand. I bumped elbows with Jon, rolling my eyes at his act of chivalry. I know chivalry and honor are lies built by the powerful to hide how ugly they truly are but somehow Jon acting chivalrous for me is heart-warming.
"Anyways, there is a lot of bad blood between them, and most of my men want to gut them wildlings and wildlings would love to do the same. Between Tormund and I, we have been able to stop any fighting- killing- from happening so far." Nodding towards Tormund. "Aside from that, the Watch has barely enough land to give to the Wil-free folks, and methinks sooner or later the Free folks will start raiding just to have enough food. Sorry."
"I can't have that Tormund, if we are to unite the North the free folk have to stop pillaging no matter what. We'll find a way to feed them once the northern houses are on our side." Jon demanded, leaning over the map facing Tormund.
"The Free folk does whatever they want, they've only followed so far because of your promises, crow," Tormund replied.
"Not good enough, I need you to force them to obey. If we're all too busy fighting amongst ourselves it wouldn't be just the dead killing us but also winter." Between their locked gaze seems to be a battle of domination happening.
"Aye, crow. I'll tell 'em but I need you with me to deliver our promise to 'em or else they gon' fuck off and raid wherever the fuck they want." Tormund eloquently put. Jon nodded, accepting the compromise
"Let's move on, to the Bolton problem." Jon gathered all the pieces resembling all the northern houses that are loyal to the Boltons. "We need Winterfell to survive and to have Winterfell we need more men." tossing the flayed-man piece on the map knocking down the sigils of Manderlys.
"The most powerful houses in the North are in support of the Boltons," Ser Davos began and started gathering the pieces for Houses Dustin, Cerwyn, Karstark, Umbers, and the Manderlys and converging them at the symbol for Winterfell- Direwolf sigil- on the Map. "Not much luck we having there with the Boltons alone commanding 5 thousand men and along with these powerful houses we might be fighting against 10 thousand men." This news is grim.
"Winter will cut off reinforcement thus reducing the number by at most half," Jon interjected, moving the house pieces of Manderly, Dustin, Cerwyn aside to the left edge of the map. "These powerful houses will not send their entire forces to Ramsay and most will be protecting their holdings for the coming winter but especially because of the presence of the Free Folk behind the wall…" The words coming from Jon have long since stopped making sense.
The military jargon at this point has left me completely lost, and half the time I've been staring at Jon. He's become an exceptional commander, giving all the people around this table leadership and from what I'm seeing hope. Even if Jon's not a legitimate Stark, I'll offer him to be my closest advisor, and I want to make him a real Stark. Maybe once I'm queen I'll offer him my-.
My thoughts were interrupted when. "How do we secure these houses to our side, Jon? The Karstarks might still hold a grudge against King Rob for beheading their house's lord. The Manderlys might be willing to fight for us but it seems the Boltons have hostages of their own to threaten them with. The Umbers might be enticed but-"
I spoke over him, "The Umbers killed my brother by giving him to the Boltons as far as I think they can all hang. The other houses only pledged loyalty to the Boltons not knowing they had another choice." I was convinced northern houses are loyal to us, they just need to know that the starks haven't died off yet.
"I beg yer pardon, M'lady." bowing his head. "I may not know Northern lords but I know men they're mo' or less the same in any corner of the world and even the bravest northerners don't want to see their children skinned alive for supporting a lost cause. If we don't have enough men, we can't give 'em hope to support us. Jon will have a long way to convince 'em to join us" Ser Davos made a convincing argument, that even if they are loyal, fear will stay their swords in their sheaths.
"There are other ways to gather more men," Jon pointed to houses Hornwood, Mormont, Glover, Tallhart, and House Reed. "Gaining the allegiance of House Reed will be guaranteed because of their closeness with our father but their forces aren't numerous enough to support us. There are dozens more houses in the North if we can get their allegiance then they'll equal the Bolton's alliance's army." he looked at everyone at the table. "We can start small and build."
"The North remembers, people remember the Stark name, northerners from White Harbor to even Ramsay's own door will risk their lives in support of us," I said with passion. "I know it."
"I don't doubt it but Jon doesn't have the Stark name." Ser Davos looked hopeless at the prospect.
"No, but I do ser." I have faith that the northerners will welcome Ned's blood even if it's from a daughter. "Even if they have misgivings over me, Jon is every bit as my Father's son as Ramsay is a bastard of Roose Bolton." Then I remembered what Littlefinger told me about my Uncle in Riverrrun. "The Tullys with my name will back us against the Bolton's without question."
"I didn't know the Tullys still had an army." Ser Davos' deep wrinkles smoothened out at the new prospect of hope.
I continued, "My Uncle, the Blackfish, has reformed it and retook Riverrun from the Lannisters." I was almost grinning at how possible it is now to have Ramsay's head.
"How'd you know this?" Jon's question froze the grin on my face. Do I tell them about Littlefinger? I can tell Jon but not the others. I can trust Jon. He'll protect me from Littlefinger. I suddenly remembered the last words he left me with. Half-Brother.
"Ramsay received a Raven before I left." A white lie fell from my lips, I glanced over my shoulder to look at Jon.
Ser Davos leaned over the table and stood up, skidding his chair in the motion. "That's good, good." He nodded and relief was clear on his face. "Blackfish's a legend, his support will mean a great deal. With the support of some houses." Ser Davos was smiling ear to ear at our growing potential allies. "It's starting to look like we're on the winning side."
I could almost see it. Ramsay. I'll tie him on a chair-maybe even nailed to it-, and then I'll keep his mouth open so I can hear every single whimper out of the bastard throat. I'll put him in the kennel where he liked to keep me with his other hound bitches. His Stark bitch. I'll have him forgotten where even my nightmares won't remember him. I can't even stop the smile forming on my face, I'll have him dead and buried in the snow from whence he came.