(King's Landing: 9/22/298 AC) Sansa I

It was a glorious day, just as she always imagined it, gallant knights jousting, food and people from all over the kingdoms, the crown prince her betrothed, numerous banners fluttering in the wind, and all of this celebrating her father's rise to hand of King Robert Baratheon. Today her happiness knew no bounds. As she glanced towards her soon to be royal husband, Joffrey Baratheon let loose a princely smile, while his mother, her future good mother, nodded her head in approval. Turning back towards the jousting area, she saw the two opponents preparing for their match, Ser Hugh of the Vale and Ser Steffon Baratheon, son of Lord Stannis Baratheon, and the heir of Dragonstone. With her attention drawn towards the king's nephew, she overheard the Master of Laws, Renly Baratheon, proclaim, "One hundred gold dragons on Ser Hugh of the Vale!" surveying the crowd and flashing his handsome smile.

"Betting against your own kin, Lord Renly?" stated Petyr Baelish, in faux concern. "Still sore about losing to your nephew? How, ever, would your esteemed brother, Lord Stannis, take that insult?" he continued, casting a sly grin, towards the Lord of Dragonstone.

The Master of Ships, sat alone, near the royal box, his lady wife curiously absent. "I will take that bet," he uttered, in a dangerously quiet tone.

This seemed to stun both Lord Renly and Lord Baelish, into a brief silence, before they each recovered. "So, my esteemed brother seems to be a gambler? I would never have guessed," the Master of Laws stated before both began glaring at each other. Whether by design or not, King Robert released a loud belch, destroying the heightened tension. This caused an awkward silence before Lord Renly laughed jovially, and King Robert demanded another serving of wine, much to her Grace's displeasure.

Brotherly feud forgotten, Sansa turned and focused on the knight of the Vale and the future Lord of Dragonstone as they finished preparing. The Vale Knight wore standard plate, and the Heir of Dragonstone was clad in something, much different. His black greaves wore a line of gold around his feet and straight up the middle of the shin, forming a stag head underneath the armored knee guards. The chest plate and gauntlets he wore, over a black gambeson, were aesthetically similar, black, glossy, and bordered in gold. Clasped around his waist was a thick, black leather belt, with his family sigil as its buckle. Before shutting the bone white visor on his red and black helmet, Ser Steffon shot a grin towards the crown prince.

As golden eyes locked onto their green counterpart, her betrothed frowned, as it was well known that the Heir of the Seven Kingdoms and the Heir of Dragonstone were not on the best of terms. Many who came from Dragonstone, had nothing but praise and respect for their future Lord while none in King's Landing spoke of their crown prince in such regards. Even so, the prince would be hers and she would be his. 'She would be the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, so the Heir of Dragonstone could keep the love of his people on that bleak island,' she thought to herself, as she glared at him. Suddenly, he stared straight at her, his handsome Baratheon features accented by his deep golden eyes, as he raised his eyebrow and beamed what must have been the most dashing smile she had ever seen. His banner, the banner of the Baratheons of Dragonstone, beat in the wind behind him; the Black Stag, within a golden, three-pronged flame, upon a black field, and bordered in gold. At that moment, he looked every bit the shining, heroic knight, and she couldn't help but feel her heart flutter and her face redden. She turned away in embarrassment before he shut his visor, rounded his horse, and awaited the signal to begin.

Unbeknownst to the majority of the crowd, whose rapt attention was towards the jousting arena, Lord Stannis' lady wife, the Lady Azula Baratheon, entered the stands. Gracefully and purposefully, she made her way towards her Lord Husband. Her long dark hair was wrapped tightly in a bun and topped with a small golden flame headpiece. With her eyes burning like the golden sun, and clad in her usual gold trimmed, black leather armor, and boots, with red underclothes, 'she looked more like a warrior than a lady of noble birth,' Sansa thought, frowning to herself. Flashes of Lady Azula's daughter, Lady Ursa, and ward of Winterfell reared into her mind. Unlike her daughter, however, who held a strong Baratheon look, the Lady Azula had a 'foreignness' to her that Sansa had not been able to identify. Indeed, the only people who were rumored to share some of her traits were people from Yi Ti, or so the Queen had explained to her. Sansa herself, having never traveled to such far off places, had never seen anyone from that country, so she accepted her Queen's assessment.

As she motioned to sit, Lord Stannis began to stiffly lean towards her. She crossed her legs, placed one hand on her lap, while another guarded against unwanted eavesdroppers, and she began whispering something into her Lord Husband's ear. Several in attendance seemed to collectively hold their breath and slant their bodies towards the direction of the Lord and Lady of Dragonstone, the Queen and Lord Baelish in particular. A pair of her mysterious, "Flameguard," had shadowed her during her approach to the jousting arena, and remained below. Along with the four others that had arrived earlier with Lord Stannis, and the two that arrived with Ser Steffon, they stood at attention. Silently, the eight surveyed the crowd, in their red and black armor. Their ghastly white skull face plates, similar to their Lord's son, gave no hint of mercy against threats to their Lady and Lords.

Whatever the Lady Azula had said, caused her Lord Husband's already threatening frown to deepen and grow sour. After several moments the Lord of Dragonstone excused himself, making his way out of the stands. Just as he finished walking down from the final step of the stands, his son clashed with Ser Hugh of the Vale. Ser Steffon sent his opponent toppling over in an inglorious heap, to the roar of the crowd. Rounding his steed, towards the throng of people, he gave a simple smile and bow, to many a maiden's beating heart, her own included. He scanned the stands for his Lord Father and Lady Mother and regarded each of them, with a deep nod and determined look. The Lord of Dragonstone paused and nodded back in kind, a slight upward twitch at the corner of his mouth, before continuing on out of the arena with his four Flameguard in tow. Ser Steffon's Lady Mother, on the other hand, remained impassive, only giving the slightest tilt of her head. Ser Steffon's expression was unreadable, but for a brief moment, Sansa saw a flicker of disappointment, before he returned to form and brightly smiled towards the crowd. He trotted off the field, leaving his opponent to pick himself up.

"It appears my patience for these tedious games has run its course, Lord Renly, I am going to retire to my chambers," Lord Baelish announced, quite a bit louder than necessary, given Lord Renly was only a few seats away. At this, Sansa noticed her Lord Father turn in the Master of Coin's direction, before giving a nearly silent grunt.

"No need to shout, Lord Baelish, I am not deaf nor do I care what dank corner you care to retire into," Lord Renly replied, with a grin.

"Perhaps not, Lord Renly, but what you might care about are the hundred gold dragons you now owe Lady Azula in the absence of her Lord Husband," Baelish retorted, before shuffling off out of the tourney grounds.

In the corner of her eye, Sansa saw Lady Azula raise her eyebrow, while the Queen summoned a servant towards her, whispering something in his ear, to which the servant quickly nodded and exited the stands.