A/N: Before we dive into Robb's magical adventures with Bloodraven, we take a quick interlude to Sansa's adventures in the South, her realization that the songs are unfortunately not real, after all, and a surprising set of events playing out...almost if they had been manipulated by a certain someone. This chapter will be running concurrently with the next two chapters timeline-wise. Let me know what you think!


INTERLUDE: A Little Bird's Lesson

Sansa Stark was no fool.

She was, perhaps, a little naïve, yes, and somewhat uncultured in the ways of the world, maybe, but Sansa Stark was insightful enough to know when the reality of a situation did not match the rose-colored pictures in her head.

She had been raised to be a lady in the South. Tales of gallantry, of struggle, of sacrifice from colorful, chivalrous knights, and of the fair maidens and noble lords that they served had filled her dreams. Romantic songs, tragic songs, fierce songs; songs were all that mattered in the world, for how could something so beautiful be incorrect in any way?

She had dreamed, then, of marrying a noble, knighted lord, who would win jousts and crown her the Queen of Love and Beauty, of an endless summer filled with lemon cakes, where every day was unique and her talents in embroidering, courtesies, and the ladylike talents trained into her by her mother and her Septa would be truly appreciated for what it was. Unlike the rest of her siblings, her dreams were not on the snowy, dreary North that was their home, but instead, the beautiful, vibrant South.

And then, Margaery had been betrothed by Robb, and her world had suddenly burst into even more vibrancy, as she was exposed to true Southern maidens adapting to her home, of the ideal women to emulate. Her daily life had shifted from the dreary routine of living up North, to the fun, ladylike world of the Reach.

To the courtly 'tea parties' that her good-sister would organize, where ladies spoke and giggled amongst bounties of cheesecake, lemon cakes, and other treats in Winterfell that made her feel as though she were in one of her tales, waiting for her knight or sworn shield, and her day in the sun.

To Margaery's tales of tourneys, wins, and other smaller things that Margaery had seen as normal, and Sansa's dreams of the bountiful gardens of the Reach and the colorful world that Margaery lived in.

To the hushed political discussions between Sansa and Margaery after Mother or Maester Luwin proposed a hypothetical political problems as her brother sat watching, and the satisfaction that filled Sansa's veins as she expertly solved a problem that left Robb scratching his heads in confusion, to the approving looks of her Mother and Maester Luwin.

Sansa Stark knew she was meant for the South, and meant to be Queen, for why else would the Gods have given her the unique set of skills she had, that she knew she could do well? She knew that with Margaery's betrothal to her brother, she had a clear path to be betrothed to the Prince, and she knew that she had a chance of improving the lives of others around her. It really didn't help that Robb and Margaery made betrothals look so easy; both of them were so naturally connected with one another that it seemed like a romantic song that was, of yet, unwritten.

And then she met Prince Joffrey. She knew how she was supposed to react to him, and based on the songs, she should have fallen deeply in love with him already. It would be perfect: her, the maiden growing up in the dreary North rescued by a dashing, handsome prince. The prince would be noble, kind and strong, fit to be King, and she, the charming Northern princess, with a hidden wisdom and talent for bringing realms together and solving problems as Queen to improve the lives of the small folk around her. He would fall in love with her nature, and they would rule together, the next Jaehaerys the Conciliator and Good Queen Alysanne.

Sansa wasn't blind though. Joffrey was handsome, and charming, but that didn't excuse the way he would look down on the smallfolk in Winterfell when he thought nobody else paid attention. Just because they were small folk didn't mean they weren't your people too, and if he was to be king, he needed to know his subjects, and treat them properly, the same way as the songs described princes, noble, and kind.

She wasn't that naive either: Robb's annoyance and outright disdain at his good brother-to-be, Margaery's cautioning words to slow down and to know Joffrey's character, Princess Arianne's thinly-veiled warning about Princess Elia and the danger in King's Landing, Princess Myrcella's stilted reactions at the mentions of her brother, and Prince Tommen's skittish look after spending too long a period of time near her brother; all of those added up. Not even Queen Cersei's exultations of her son during their feast together could detract from her understanding that something was fundamentally wrong.

Perhaps in another world, with only Queen Cersei as an influence, she may have ignored the signs, assuming her brothers were just jealous, or listened to the Queen's reassurances, but she knew her good-sister, and she knew her brother; they would not lie to her about something like this, especially as they have been betrothed themselves, and could take a person's measure effectively.

Sansa knew she had to find the truth about Joffrey before she truly fell for him, to be aware of the kind of man her betrothed was, so that she knew what to expect. She knew she had to ask around, and ask someone who would tell her the honest truth about the subject, in order to understand why people like her good-sister were so cautious of someone they should ordinarily have never meant.

That meant nobody from the North: otherwise, she would have known herself, and that meant nobody too closely affiliated with House Baratheon, or else she would most likely receive sugarcoated information, or worse, be found out by her betrothed, and tip them off to the warnings that she had received. She couldn't ask Princess Arianne, or any of the Tyrells, as they had gone to White Harbor in order to travel by ship to Sunspear and Highgarden, respectively. However, there was one Tyrell who was still traveling with the Royal Party who she knew she could talk to and receive the truth from; Margaery's older brother, Loras. Better yet, Loras was a prominent presence in King's Landing, meaning he most likely had reliable information, and Loras was slated as her protector, according to Margaery. With that in mind, Sansa took the perfect moment to approach Ser Loras.


"Ser Loras?" Sansa asked hesitantly.

Loras had just finished saddling his horse and preparing to enter the inn that the Royal Party was staying at for the night. Sansa had planned her moment to catch Loras alone in a conversation while everyone else was busy disembarking, and she had planned it wisely, knowing that Loras would naturally take to dismounting near last, as a knight protecting the group.

"Lady Sansa? Is there anything I can help you with?" Loras asked in surprise. Loras had known that Margaery had tasked him with protecting him with the Starks, but he was surprised that Sansa would approach him so soon.

She shifted anxiously, clasping her hands together out of habit.

"Margaery says that I can trust you to protect me in King's Landing," Sansa began nervously, "and so I have a question for you, if you don't mind?"

Loras blinked.

"Of course, Sansa, you are kin to my good-brother after all, which practically makes us good-siblings." Loras answered, adding a little bit of humor. "Let us find a place to talk quietly."

Sansa giggled lightly and her shoulders relaxed as she followed Loras to a nearby clearing. They were close to the Riverlands, and had passed Moat Cailin, which made it easy for them to find some flat ground to sit in to talk. Eventually, Sansa sat on a large rock, as Loras quickly checked for spies, before seemingly finding nothing. He sat down next to her.

"What was your question, Sansa?" Loras asked.

"I wanted to ask what you thought about Prince Joffrey," Sansa said quietly. "I am betrothed to him, and I've noticed that there are certain things that don't add up-"

Loras nodded.

"-and I wanted to ask someone who knew anything about the Prince and wouldn't tell him I was asking or elseIcouldbeindangerand-" Sansa rambled hurriedly.

"Sansa, it is alright," Loras said gently, stopping her in the middle of her speech. "No word of this will go to the Lannisters. House Tyrell takes the safety of House Stark seriously, and I promised my sweet sister I would protect all of you. Now, what would you like to know?"

"What is Prince Joffrey really like? Margaery and Princess Arianne have both warned me about Prince Joffrey, and I wanted to ask someone who has been in King's Landing and mayhaps, heard any rumors that would help."

Loras's face turned grim. "Are you sure you want me to tell you?" Loras asked. "The rumors are certainly not pleasant, certainly not what I have heard from Renly."

Sansa paused. If Loras had access to Renly Baratheon, he would certainly be informed about her betrothed's true nature, but was it something worth knowing? She wasn't sure she could handle it if she heard something horrifying, but she hadn't done all this for nothing.

"Yes, Ser Loras, please tell me anything," Sansa affirmed quietly. "I need to know to be prepared for whatever is ahead."

Loras sighed.

"To be honest, Prince Joffrey, on the surface, is a bit of a brat. He is very arrogant, somewhat cruel to the smallfolk, and I have seen instances of him harassing Tommen unjustly." Loras began.

That does not sound appealing but it could possibly be...manipulated, with time. Or perhaps they were exaggerations, meant to discredit my betrothed?

"Is there anything else, Ser Loras?"

"Well, only things I have heard from Renly, but…"

"But?"

"They're horrid things. Cruel beyond compare. Some could even call it mad."

Sansa paled. "Mad?"

Loras nodded wearily. "The King and Queen have tried their best to keep this under wraps, but Renly heard this rumor from Stannis. I've also heard some of the smallfolk in the Red Keep gossip about the incident…"

"What incident?"

"When Prince Joffrey was younger, mayhaps around eight name-days old, there was a cat that used to skulk around the kitchens of the Red Keep. The cooks were fond of it. The cat was pregnant, and one of the cooks told Joffrey that the cat would birth three kittens, thinking he would want one, you see? "

"And then?"

Loras turned slightly green. "And then Prince Joffrey opened up the poor thing with a dagger to find out if there really were kittens inside. Blood, guts, everything, while the cat was still pregnant. He brought it proudly to the King, and King Robert hit the boy so hard that Stannis thought he would be killed from it, according to Renly."

Sansa suddenly clutched at her stomach, feeling nauseous. Her illusions, her justifications, her hope; they were all shattered. She wanted to vomit at the thought, and then she made the mistake of looking at Lady, thinking of someone cutting her beloved direwolf, and proceeded to empty her guts out onto the ground nearby. Tears streamed down her face, as she felt her body shake in worry and fear.

What kind of prince in the songs would do such a thing? Why would he kill that cat like that? He's….he's a monster. The prince is supposed to be the hero that vanquishes monsters, and instead, my prince is the monster that needs to be vanquished. The Gods truly curse me with this match.

"But why would— why would anyone—" Sansa stammered between her sniffles, her voice distant, "—and he's...he's my betrothed. The man I am supposed to marry. If he could do that to a cat so easily..."

What could he do to me?

The question went unanswered, floating in between the two of them. Real fear crept up Sansa's spine at the thought of being betrothed to a cruel boy.

The songs said that King Aerys was mad, that he nearly burned down King's Landing. She had asked her mother once about what Queen Rhaella was like, if she were married to such a horrid man, and Mother had told her the rumors, of a woman treated horribly by her husband. A living nightmare, Mother had said. What song would they sing of King Joffrey and Queen Sansa if she married a man who very well could become the coming of the next Mad King?

Loras himself was not faring much better. He imagined Margaery in that same situation. Imagined her helpless to the future King, imagined the real fear she would hide. And yet, Margaery's good sister, a little sister to her, was in the same position, and yet worse, as she was unprepared for the trials of King's Landing. He was a knight, he was supposed to protect the innocent. His face grew determined at the thought.

"Lady Sansa, do not worry, I will do everything in my power to protect you in King's Landing." Loras said firmly. "I promised my sister, and I promise you, we will handle it safely. The honor of House Tyrell demands no less."

"Is there...is there a way we could convince Father to cancel the betrothal? I don't think I want to be Queen if I am to marry such a man." Sansa whispered softly. It stung bitterly for her to realize that she would have to empty her head of her dreams of being Queen, and of the songs that would be sung of her and her king, but she knew she would rather be happy as a Lady Paramount or as a noblewoman than to suffer endlessly as a Queen to a Mad King.

"I will not lie to you, Sansa, it will take time." Loras answered uneasily.

"Time?!" Sansa nearly shrieked. "Margaery married Robb about six moons to a year after she had flowered, and that was at fourteen! Is two years really enough?"

"It will be more than enough." Loras affirmed, with a confident voice he had used often to stop Margaery from panicking, free of any doubt. "We must head back to the inn, before a search party is sent out for us."

"Thank you," Sansa whispered softly. "Thank you for everything, Ser Loras."


The Twins were in utter chaos when the King's party arrived to cross the bridge. Originally supposed to be a short stay of about a night or so, the King needed to intercede at the Twins for an extra fortnight than planned, in order to prevent a succession war from consuming House Frey.

King Robert had complained bitterly that, "of course it would be at the most inconvenient time possible that the Late Lord Walder Frey would pass away." He had died of a heart attack, apparently, in the middle of copulation with his most recent wife, leaving her absolutely traumatized as a result.

The rumors in the Twins though, were much darker; this, Sansa knew. Some had argued that Walder Frey had suddenly been poisoned. He had not been very well-liked in the household, and it would have been easy for a certain benefactor vested in the death of Lord Walder to pay off one of his sons to "speed up" the succession. Others claimed that he had been assassinated by another, though, by who, nobody would know.

An unfortunate truth though, was that The Late Lord Walder Frey had many different children by many different wives, and as a result, even if the succession laws were clear, many sons and other relatives of Walder Frey were willing to "overlook" those laws to tout their own claim, leading to a short, but brutal succession war in the Twins, one with dead bodies floating in the rivers, and mysterious poisonings occurring instead of armies confronting one another for a stronghold.

Originally, Stevron Frey had been the legal heir of House Frey, and at the notice of his father's death, he had declared that only the members of his direct line, as well as a few other exceptions, would be allowed to stay in the Twins, drawing the ire of many of his half-siblings and relatives. That proclamation had changed when one of the servants found him poisoned in his rooms.

Father and King Robert quickly attempted to restore order by declaring Ryman Frey and his line as the official line in charge of the Twins, but Ryman Frey's dead body was found next, floating in the river, leaving Edwyn Frey, Stevron's son, as heir to the Twins, and even worse, with no clear perpetrator to be found to be met with the King's Justice, which meant that King Robert's proclamation went unheeded. Rumor had spread around House Frey after those events, and if they were to be believed, Edwyn Frey's children were all bastard children, and thus, the claim would go to "Black" Walder Frey, which would be awfully convenient for the man, Sansa thought, considering that he was the one starting those rumors, according to the servants.

Queen Cersei had touted Emmon Frey's claim as the future Lord of the Twins, to her husband's displeasure, claiming that the utter barbarism of the other bloodlines indicated that there was a need for a stable leader to hold the Keep instead. King Robert frankly told her that it "wasn't how succession laws worked, woman!", in a private conversation Sansa only overheard because she had wanted to ask her father a question while he was considering a solution in the temporary room Father and King Robert had made their solar. However, many of the other Freys were not very happy with the idea, claiming that the Emmon Frey was too close to the Queen's interests as a member of House Lannister to be ever considered seriously as lord of the Twins. Not only that, Emmon Frey and his wife were in Casterly Rock, and rumors in the Frey household indicated they were not arriving back to the Twins any time soon, if at all.

Other members of House Frey wanted a part of the succession crisis as well, meaning that sides were rapidly drawn, and assassinations and poison were the methods of attack as opposed to the storming of a Keep. House Frey was more divided than ever, and it didn't seem as though the King's influence would be any bit of a stabilizing influence on House Frey as past grievances were settled in the chaotic succession war that was taking place.

They are killing and devouring one another like...like rats. How could siblings treat one another this way? How could the King allow this to occur? I always thought the South would be full of joy, not a tragic tale about family members betraying one another to get one step closer to ruling.

Sansa realized that in this intrigue war, there would be no quarter, and nobody could actually win. The King could not truly interfere in the affairs of a keep, especially when the affairs were internal, in the form of deciding which members of a certain noble family were to stay in the Keep, which left plenty of fuel for the succession war to brew.

Even if the King declared another member of House Frey as the official heir, that heir was likely to die under the same mysterious circumstances that befell the other members of House Frey, leaving the King weak, because he could not execute a perpetrator that hadn't been found yet. Any indiscriminate killing, or quick trials, to end the situation on the King's part would only worsen the King's reputation and make his rule more difficult, which essentially forced King Robert to watch events play out.

The brewing situation forced Uncle Edmure to quickly ride from Riverrun to the Twins, to serve his father's will by acting as Lord Paramount of the Riverlands in Grandfather's name. However, House Tully was in a similar position as the King, as Uncle Edmure and Grandfather could not interfere in any meaningful way short of sending an army to enforce the law. Sansa also realized that neither the King nor the men of House Tully seemingly wanted to interfere based on the nasty reputation of House Frey, preferring to wait until the conflict was over to reestablish peace.

A few members of House Frey were content to stay far away from the intrigue wars that dominated the Twins, preferring to find an escape from the Twins by either requesting to squire or work as ladies-in-waiting for a visiting noble. Sansa knew two members of House Frey, Olyvar and Roslin, that did exactly that; as Olyvar Frey was taken as a squire to Uncle Edmure out of pity, and Lady Roslin was slated to work as a lady-in-waiting to Cerenna Lannister, Uncle Edmure's betrothed.

With Uncle Edmure's arrival, the King declared that Uncle Edmure would be in charge of settling the Twins to rights for as long as it was needed, which, in Sansa's opinion, would at least take a moon. She had personally spent the fortnight learning all she could about the rumors, and avoiding her betrothed, Joffrey, who seemed to take a special joy in watching the intrigue war play out in real time. She shuddered at the memory of it.

If I hadn't believed Ser Loras about Joffrey's madness, I certainly would believe it now. Even if House Frey is hated, it isn't right that innocents are killed for a claim. Only a monster would take the joy in watching the deaths of others over and over again for such a mundane reason.

Eventually, the King had decided that Father and the rest of the King's party had dallied long enough, and ensured that the royal wheelhouse would exit the Twins towards King's Landing as Uncle Edmure handled the issue of Frey succession. By this point, the succession conflicts had reached its peak, but Sansa could have hardly cared, in her joy to escape the intrigue wars of House Frey, as the grim keep they had entered moved further and further out of her vision.


The rest of the trip was uneventful, compared to the excitement of House Frey's succession war. Sansa and Bran had enjoyed the trip, with Bran and Tommen happily playing together and practicing their swordplay when the wheelhouse wasn't running, and Sansa, enjoying the sights of the Riverlands and the Crownlands as they traveled further down the Kingsroad. Eventually, they made it to King's Landing about a moon longer than they were expected to arrive.

King's Landing was a beautiful place, even if it smelled absolutely terrible. Life filled the city, and the colorful marketplaces of the cities, the power and majesty of the red keep, and the knights and goldcloaks patrolling the city drew Sansa's eyes.

It is almost as good as the songs. I could see myself falling in love with this city and helping the smallfolk, and perhaps they will know me as Good Queen Sansa, or Sansa the Kind. If only my betrothed were truly a prince of the songs, and not a monster in human skin.

The moment Father had arrived in King's Landing, the Northern retinue were escorted to the Tower of the Hand to begin settling in. Bran, in his eagerness to explore the Tower of the Hand, managed to sneak into Father's solar before Father had come back from his impromptu meeting with the Small Council, and saw a book, placed upon the desk, with a few letters that Bran noted he didn't want to touch, to avoid the risk of getting in trouble with her father. Their father would continue to look harried from his arrival in King's Landing, and would either be reading "The Lineages and Histories of the Great Houses of the Seven Kingdom", the book that Bran saw on the table, in the Tower of the Hand, presiding over small council meetings, and working with Renly Baratheon and Ser Loras, though for what, Sansa did not know.

Sansa's and Bran's routines changed quite a bit as well in King's Landing. Sansa was busy practicing her embroidery, learning more about the Faith from Septa Mordane, interacting with courtiers and doing her best to learn about the politics of King's Landing, and spending time with noble ladies like Queen Cersei to learn what was needed as a future Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. She made sure to take the perfunctory trips she needed to make with her betrothed, but always kept a few guards with her as chaperones to avoid negative consequences. She was wary of Prince Joffrey, and she did not want to be betrothed to him, but that did not mean she had to be stupid.

Sansa was surprised, however, to find that Bran was the busier out of the two of them. Bran, and Prince Tommen had developed a fast friendship, and were extremely busy with their duties as pages to Ser Barristan, and their frequent lessons and other duties meant that she would really only see Bran in the rare sessions they shared with the Maester and in their free time. She knew that Bran had aspirations to be a knight, but seeing him improve his swordplay little by little and doing what was needed of him consistently without fail, was a treat for Sansa, who adored her little brother.

Bran had also finally found the time to name his direwolf as well, or so he told Sansa. He had decided that he would name his Direwolf "Winter", in order to reflect his heritage as a Stark, no matter where he was.

"He will accompany me as we overwhelm our enemies, as harsh as a winter blizzard, so I thought I would give him a name to reflect that. Mayhaps we will be the Winter Wolves one day!," her brother had explained excitedly. She liked it a lot, and thought that it was an interesting way of honoring his heritage.

Their schedules remained the same as days went on: her father, ruling as hand; her brother, working to become a knight; and her, learning the intrigues behind the Seven Kingdoms. It was an idyllic and peaceful existence, one that Sansa would much later reflect, was a life of a summer child, something out of a song.

Eventually though, all songs end, and with it, her idyllic life in King's Landing, as a storm of events engulfed both the Red Keep and Winterfell, and what Sansa would know as daily life, changed forever.


Ending A/N: We take a curtain call from this chapter and the affairs of the South. I intentionally made a few things about King's Landing vague, as more will be explained timeline-wise in the coming chapters, and really dive into the shitshow that's about to hit King's Landing, and an overworked Ned Stark. Canon is changing, and many events that you will see in AGOT will be heavily modified/non-existent. Hope you liked the chapter!