Sansa stormed back to the chambers she shared with Tyrion from another woefully unproductive day, having made absolutely no progress in getting her husband to pay her any attention after he'd stormed out, not believing she truly wanted him, despite her adamant insistance. She flung herself backwards onto the bed, staring at the ceiling, then reached for a pillow and covered her face with it. She let out a strangled groan that turned into an elongated whine of "Why?" Shrugging off the darkly humorous thought of leaving the pillow on her face to time whether it or the weight of his silence would suffocate her first, she simply groaned again, rolling over onto her belly and knocking her head against the soft cushion a few times in frustration.

From behind her, her handmaiden, who had been gathering their washing, asked in her thick Lorathi accent, "Why what, My Lady?" She set the basket down and moved closer to the bed.

She propped herself up on her elbows, startled by the voice. "Oh, Shae, I didn't know you were here."

"I'm always here," she lauged, folding her arms. "What's wrong? Is your lion still being more of a wounded kitten?"

With a sigh, Sansa nodded, gesturing for Shae to sit beside her. "Unfortunately. I just wish he'd listen." She covered her eyes with her hands for a moment before dragging them down to rest on her neck, rubbing the knot developing just behind her ears. She corrected herself. "No, he listens. I wish he'd really hear me."

Shae swept the younger girl's hair back over her shoulder, gazing at her sympathetically. "So, he's as much a man as any other. Behind all that kindness and inteligence you praise is just as much self-obsession and stupidity as the rest." She gave a dry laugh.

"No," Sansa said, exhaling pointedly. "Maybe. I don't know. He's just so scared and so hurt."

The darker haired woman pursed her lips slightly, casting a telling stare at her. "But you're not?"

Shaking her head, Sansa dropped back onto the mattress again. "No. Not about this. I have the benefit of surity when it comes to how he feels about me. There's no denying it." She pinched at the bridge of her nose, trying desperately not to allow her head to pound. "Even when he's run off and given in to the horrible thoughts he has about himself, I have irrevocable proof." Sansa turned her head to Shae, choosing not to notice her pitying reaction. "If I could speed up time and reach my twenty-first nameday just to give him the same peace and confidence that I have, I would. I'd do anything for him to understand." She stared back at the ceiling, feeling remarkably silly for how this was bothering her and remarkably stupid for not being able to fix it. "I'm trying. I really am. He just won't hear me."

Sliding onto her side, the handmaiden rubbed the girl's shoulder, trying to comfort her. "In my experience, men need to have things shown to them." When Sansa loosed a displeased groan, tapping her hands on the bed in increasing frustration, all Shae could do was laugh. "Not necessarily like that, My Lady. They need it to be as plainly in front of them as you can manage to give it."

"I may as well have thrown myself at him. How much plainer could I have made it?" Sansa whined.

"Have you told him you love him?" Shae suggested.

Sitting up, the young bride worried her fingers together. "I don't know that I do."

Even without looking at her, Sansa could almost hear Shae roll her eyes as she asserted, "You do."

"How do you know?"

A coy smile played at her lips. "I just know." She smoothed the back of Sansa's mussed hair down.

"You just know?" Sansa scoffed. "Forgive me, Shae, but that doesn't really help."

Pulling one knee up onto the bed, she sighed, leaning forward. "Sansa," she said, "you are a sweet, beautiful young woman who turns the head of every man she walks by and you've never once noticed because you only have eyes for one. In as long as I've been in your service, you've never once looked at another the way you look at Lord Tyrion." Her Lady continued to stare at her hands as she continued. "You're sure that his words will appear on your chest. You've told me once that you remember what he said as clear as if it were yesterday, even though it was months ago." She inched closer to the girl, draping her arm around her shoulders. "After everything you've been through, you willingly got into bed with this man. Prior to this misstep, you've scarcely left his side since you were married. And you're not sure you love him?" She didn't buy it for a minute.

Sansa hadn't thought of it that way. "I... I'm not," she stammered. "I'm not sure I would even know if I were."

Knocking her shoulder into the girl fondly, Shae smiled warmly. "Say it to him. You'll know."

Rising from the bed, the younger woman moved toward the window and then back. "He has to talk to me first, or at least not run away when I try to talk to him."

"How hard would it be to restrain the little man?" the handmaiden wondered aloud, raising her eyebrow suggestively.

"Shae!" she squeaked, trying to suppress a laugh, before scolding her. "That's not right."

"See? I make a well-meaning joke and you jump to defend him." She stood, picking the washbasket back up and propping it on her hip. "You love him. That is love," she said, as casually as she'd mentioned that her dress was blue or that there was a book on the table.

Sansa smiled and clasped her hands behind her back. "I suppose," she said, before lifting her brows and blinking twice, unmoved. "It could also be an ill-mannered handmaiden."

The girls moved toward the door. As Shae prepared to take her leave, she stopped and asked, "What are you going to do to get him back?"

She turned to the woman she'd come to trust so easily, despite her claims that she shouldn't. She supposed it was because she was trying to hide that Tyrion had brought her to the city and secured the position for her as a kindness to Bronn so that the woman he loved would no longer have to sell her body and that he'd know where to find her. When Bronn had appeared She still hadn't told Tyrion that she knew that, but it didn't matter. Truthfully, it made her appreciate Shae's company even more. "What can I do?"

"You're a wolf. Show him how you howl. Then, remind him that he's a lion and has made you one, too. Make him roar with you," she coached, then left, leaving Sansa to ruminate on her advice.