Wolf maiden and her spiritual wolf

Just before dawn of 9 March, Temple of Shadows:

"What is this?"

Visenya could sense something different. Not anything related to the ongoing War of the Ring or anything such, just…

A "crack" in the spiritual world, so to say. And it somehow was connected to House Stark, her maternal family.

Litter-sister! I am sorry, I am sorry, I am sorry! I only wanted to defend my human against that false stag! I didn't intend to become the cause of you dying in my stead!

Who was the owner of that voice? Not really human, but a sense of a wild beast at the same time? Who howled like a wolf in such sorrow and despair?

"Who are you?!" Visenya called, and then she saw something inside her mind:

Five newborn direwolf pups lying near a dead mother, killed by a stag's massive horn in her throat, with a sixth, albino in color, some distance away. Her Stark cousins with the pups, but each of them looked older than what they were now. King Robert and Queen Cersei, with only three children, each one of those looking pure Lannister rather than having the classical Baratheon colors or body build. Arya and her direwolf attacking the Lannister-looking Crown Prince, and then the younger Stark daughter throwing small rocks on her direwolf to make it run away from her…

"We have a wolf," Cersei Lannister said. Her voice was very quiet, but her green eyes shone with triumph. And the dawning look of pure horror on the face of Sansa as she seemed to realize what the Queen meant: That she would face the punishment that Arya should have gotten, by losing her direwolf all because Eddard Stark failed to teach his younger daughter that she could not act as she always pleased without thinking ahead.

Eddard Stark beheading the direwolf that Sansa had been given, by using Ice, the sword of their House.

The vision ended almost as soon as it had come, but Visenya had seen enough to realize what it had been about:

That somehow, thanks to running away or otherwise willfully ignoring the school lessons about how to act for someone of her rank, Arya and her impulsive behavior caused something which ended in catastrophic consequences for the innocent Sansa, who found herself punished instead of her sister. Both sisters had lost their direwolves thanks to the attack on the Crown Prince, but Sansa was the one worst affected by the loss, since Lady had been killed.

"Lady!" Visenya called, trying to reach out for the soul of the direwolf who had been killed by her uncle in that alternative world, "Lady! Come here, your mistress is needing you by her side!"

She may want Eddard Stark to realize his flaws as a father to both his daughters, as well helplessness over not being able to protect them against unwanted dangers in form of humans around them, and trying to push her female cousins out of that sheltered upbringing that made them so naive about how the real world did not as in a song, but Visenya was still a far step from the worst cruelty that could be found in both House Stark and Targaryen.

"You are a Stark of Winterfell, Sansa, even if you may come off as more southern than your siblings! If you need a direwolf at your side as the ultimate proof of that despite taking after House Tully in your coloring, then I can show one small act of mercy despite being the one to dump you and Arya here in this world!"

Perhaps she would never reveal herself to her Stark relatives due to preferring to have no one in Westeros know about her, but perhaps with Lady beside her, Visenya had little doubt that Sansa would grow into a stronger person in her own manner. Among all that naivety, there was a kindness of Sansa that was needed more in the world.

~X~X~X~X~X~X

Southern Gondor, a temporary overnight camp for the people who had left Minas Tirith over the passing days and week:

Sansa had awoken all suddenly, having a feeling that someone, or something, was calling out for her.

"Who…?"

Mindful to not wake up Arya beside her, Sansa walked towards the edge of the campm trying to not shiver without the blanket in the early hours of dawn.

"Somewhere…to the north…."

Despite not being able to understand the language spoken by the strangers around them in the unknown city, Sansa had understood that the vast number of people leaving said city was actually an evacuation of some kind, on firm orders from the city leaders. That all those men, women and children were fleeing from an incoming danger.

"Is there…going to be a war? Or some other sort of conflict that will pose a danger to the common people?"

Her concussion from the badly remembered Nazgûl attack on King's Landing had not yet completely healed, but Sansa had at least stopped to feel a haunting headache whatever she was awake and she was also not nauseous with sudden movements. But Arya did not seem to have the same luck, for she had no memories at all from their time in the capital and kept wondering why they were not back home in Winterfell with their parents and siblings.

"I hope that she will be quiet today and not cause another scene that will earn her a slap or worse from one of the adults…."

Thanks to that memory loss, Arya did not believe Sansa when the older sister had been trying to tell her that Jon Snow had been banished to the Wall and the Night's Watch for attacking Crown Prince Lyonel during the royal visit in Winterfell. While the younger sister had a bad habit of calling people liars, the worst hurt had come from Arya actually trying to pummel Sansa with her own fists during that outburst of anger, or even with the crutches she needed for her broken leg.

"Hello?" Sansa called softly, making a quick curtsy to the guard on the outskirts of the camp, and he pointed to a certain place just outside the camp, probably because he thought her early awakening at this time had a cause in having to answer the call of nature.

Despite the faint light of pre-dawn, Sansa did not feel frightened at seeing a pair of golden eyes come closer to her. Whatever this was, it did not mean any harm to her.

"Hello?" she whispered again, reaching out with a hand, trying to appear harmless yet not worth attacking. And what came out to be visible…

A direwolf. The very beast that was the symbol of House Stark. Somehow, she could sense a connection with this one, that it was not yet fully grown, and used to the presence of humans.

"...Lady?"

Sansa did not know where that name came from or how she knew it to be a female, only that the name formed in her mouth with no problems, alongside a strange, difficult to explain sorrow in her heart that made her start crying. Whimpering softly at seeing the young girl cry, Lady slowly came up and gently licked her face, using her rough tongue to dry the tears that Sansa could not stop.

When Sansa and Lady came back to the camp, the guards naturally noticed that Lady did not exactly match any of the breeds of dogs that had been spotted in the camp as the numbers of refugees came and went. However, Sansa using her simple belt as a leash, and managing to make a few simple commands to Lady to make her appear harmless, seemed to work in making Lady come off as a result of those more wolf-alike crossbreds that sometimes was bred to make hunting dogs or guard dogs for those who had money.

"Sansa!"

Arya came towards them, as fast she could with the crutches, and her eyes went wide over seeing Lady.

"Is that a direwolf?! A real one?!"

But suddenly, Sansa had a strange feeling that her sister would be wise in holding her distance, as if Lady did not trust her sister for some reason.

"Arya, wait, do not touch…?!"

Too late. Lady changed in a moment, growling in warning with her ears back and teeth bare. Had Sansa not held both hands on the leash around the neck, she knew that Arya risked getting injured because Lady did not want her close.

"What? The direwolf is the symbol of our House…"

And then it happened. More than just a gentle nip, but rather a serious attempt to bite her outreached hand really hard, and Arya jerked back with a cry of pain, her face showing shock over this response.

"W-what…w-why…?"

All her usual self-confidence seemed to have vanished, instead looking a little scared when Lady growled a new warning.

"Oi, little girl!" one guard called in the Westron spoken here in Gondor, "that wolf-like dog clearly does not trust you around herself or her chosen owner! Keep your distance from that dog!"

What neither Arya or Sansa understood in that moment, was that Lady's last memories before her death in an alternative universe of Westeros, happened to be of that world's Sansa Stark desperately pleading for her life in vain, and that she somehow knew that the alternative Arya Stark was the cause of that whole mess.

So for Lady, there was only one way to make things happen now when she was "reunited" with Sansa in this other world: Ensuring that this younger version of Arya Stark learned the hard way that the words and actions of a single person can damage others in far-reaching ways the first person can't always imagine. And that thanks to the whole event with her litter-sister Nymeria attacking Joffery Baratheon and the grief of the original Sansa that she had sensed in the last moments alive, Lady did not trust Arya anymore at all because her alternative self's lack of discipline or other form of punishments for her violent reactions when being angry and habit of getting away with her poor schooling in social manners, had proved to have fatal risks for others.

And if Lady ever saw Eddard Stark again, he would find himself with a deep bite in his dominant hand and viewed as untrustworthy by this sweet-natured direwolf as well, all thanks to a alternative version of himself being the one to kill her with his family sword, with the echo of Sansa being kept away from the scene despite her still desperately pleading for Lady's life being heard through the spiritual link between her and Lady as the greatsword Ice was brought down to her neck.

~X~X~X~X~X~X

Author note; For those who wonder why Lady attempted to bite Arya in this chapter despite being the "sweetest" of the direwolf litter in canon, she have a strong feeling that canon Arya held a part in her death thanks to her litter-sister Nymeria being the one to attack Joffrey but Arya forced Nymeria to run away before she was caught, and sensed the horror of canon Sansa though their spiritual bond when Sansa realized that Lady would be killed for what Nymeria did. In short, Lady does not trust this younger, alternative Arya to not be in the habit of causing trouble for Sansa or even be willing to hurt her physically as her canon self did in the GOT book, (canon Arya is mentioned to have thrown herself at Sansa to the point of KNOCKING her down to the ground and PUMMELING Sansa while shrieking that she is a liar at the "trial" that led to Lady being killed!), and her growling and attempted bites at Arya is meant as a warning for "do not think you can do this sort of behavior against your sister anymore around me, young human".

As for why Nymeria the direwolf seemed to be grieving and honestly upset at the beginning of the chapter: I think every member of that litter could sense when Lady was killed in canon, and that Nymeria was clever enough to realize that her litter-sister was killed for something she had done, aka attacking Joffrey and canon Arya not realizing the consequences of attacking a member of the royal family. (For those who have read the Hedge Knight, remember how Dunk the Tall would have lost a foot and hand for striking Prince Aerion Targaryen, who was not a very high-ranking member of the Targaryen family at the time of Ashford, if the Trial of Seven had not happened? Losing the limb who injured a royal person as punishment has likely been around since the time of Aegon I and his sisters, and still kept in the reign of Robert)