Game of Thrones
Long Road Home
Chapter VI
"The Red Queen fades."
She had first stepped foot on a ship as a little girl, accompanying her mother and father somewhere. She could not remember where now. She hadn't liked it. The salt in the air, the rocking of the boat, everything about that journey made her feel sick to her stomach. She decided then, she did not like ships. She did like riverboats, like the ones they had near her mothers home, they were smaller, more liked them more than ships. She left King's Landing on a ship. Left behind her tormentors, it had offered hope. She decided maybe ships weren't so bad.
This was a strange ship. She had been in The Eyrie, now she was on this very strange ship. Beneath a moonless and starless sky, it rocked up and down on gentle waters. A refreshing drizzle kept her awake, she was glad of this, because she was tired now. So very, very tired.
"The Red Queen fades." A voice echoed in her mind. She shook it off as Lady barked, bringing her to her senses.
Sansa looked across the deck of this strange ship, he stood there humbly. His long locks near to his shoulders, the proud Kraken emblazoned on his armour. "Theon." She said nothing else, as Lady barked. She crossed the deck in a few steps but it felt like an eternity. She threw her arms around his neck and buried her head into his shoulder. She allowed herself to sob a little.
"You shouldn't be here." Theon whispered to her, returning her embrace. Closing his eyes tightly as he felt her in his arms "It's not your time."
"So I'm told." Sansa half laughed, half sobbed "But here I am. I don't know how to get home."
Theon placed a gentle kiss on her forehead "Nor do I, My Lady." He half grinned. "I've been sailing for a while now. No stars, no land. I don't know where I am. I've got no crew to help me."
"I think I'm dying, Theon." She looked beyond the ship into the void of endless sea "Littlefinger told me, this was all in my mind, other people have told me this is the afterlife. I don't know for sure. But I can feel myself fading."
"The Red Queen fades."
"You have to fight Sansa." He took her hands in his and squeezed them "This is my place, I belong here. I've done a lot of bad things Sansa."
"You've paid for them." She almost pleaded, "You've made amends."
"Have I?" He asked, his voice empty as he leaned against the ship's rail "I betrayed Robb, I killed men at Tohren Square and Winterfell. I took Roderick Cassell's head. I killed those farm boys, crisped their bodies. I told Ramsay everything I knew about Winterfell and the little Lords… I abandoned my sister. I belong here…. You don't."
Sansa put a hand on his shoulder, Lady barked as the sky tore itself open. Sansa looked up, the skyline was dominated by a woman, she had leaves and vines woven into her hair, heavy makeup about her eyes. There was smoke about her, a smell of blood and incense. "The Red Queen is fading." She told a man in black with a chain around his neck. Just like that they were gone again, and the moonless sky stretched to eternity once more.
"They're trying to save you." Theon told her, as he took her hand once more "Your Maester, and whoever that was…"
"I need the witch." Sansa said distantly "I don't know how to get to them." She sighed, before hitching up her skirts and climbing onto the ship's rail. She steadied herself on one of the ship's guide ropes, before staring down into the calm, soothing void of an ocean. "All I had to do to get here was jump through The Moon Door. Maybe that's what I need to do here. Just jump."
"No. It is beautiful beneath the sea, but stay too long, you drown." She turned her head, had Theon said that, or Lady, or something else. She swallowed hard and turned around.
"I need to get home." She told Theon "I will not fade."
"Come." Theon told her as he grabbed her wrist and led her along the deck, up a deck and to the ship's wheel. He took it and brought the ship hard about, the sails seemed to come alive by themselves as the ship's course was decided by an intangible wind. "You are a Queen now, I see." He nodded towards her crown "Your people need you, I'll get you home… you'll be a better Queen than I was a Prince."
The ship got faster and faster, where once there was a void, now there was a coastline, the ship left the vastness of the sea and made its way along a river. "Where are we?"
"The Mander." Theon told her, as he held the ship's course.
Sansa looked out along the banks, she could tell she was on a river, but the details were missing, like a child's painting. The moonless night sky gave way to a sunless day in what seemed like the blink of an eye. Along the banks of The Mander a small jetty appeared at the foot of a shining white castle, its towers reaching towards the sky, brimming with life it was like no castle Sansa had seen before. With good reason, she thought. She had not been here before, this pretty picture was put together solely in her mind. The ship dropped anchor, Theon let the gangplank descend to the jetty. He stood at the top of the gangplank. "This is where we say goodbye, My Queen."
"I want you to come with me." She pleaded as she brought a hand to her face.
"We both know that can't hap…" He doubled over as a wound exploded from his chest, a trickle of blood flowed from his mouth and the once Prince of Winterfell collapsed to the deck. Sansa knelt down beside him, and rested a hand on his chest. She closed her eyes and forced back tears. Lady nuzzled against her, and yelped.
The Queen in the North rose and descended the gangplank. As she reached dryland there was a man waiting for her. Devastatingly handsome, a waterfall of gold locks, a golden rose broach on a blue silk doublet. "Ser Loras." She greeted him with a slight smile.
"Welcome to Highgarden, My Lady." He bowed politely and offered his arm, which The Queen duly took "My sister requests the honour of your company."
"The Red Queen fades."