Author's Note: Thank you to everyone who has followed, favorited, and reviewed this story the past few months! This chapter is a bit shorter since it is just meant to transition from the last one, but the next chapter will be a regular full-length installment. Read on and stay tuned!

Peering down into the courtyard from her window, Sansa had to hold her hand in front of her eyes to block out the rays of the rising sun. Peeking through the slits between her fingers, she caught sight of Jaime Lannister on the farthest side of the departing company, mounting his horse after waving off the assistance of his squire. Even with sunlight and fingers obscuring her vision, Sansa was able to see the look of acute misery emanating from the golden lion's expression as he turned back to glance at the stone walls of the keep.

Sansa was tempted to call out a wish of good fortune for his journey, but he turned to her then, jerking back slightly in his saddle as if he had forgotten her existence. Instead of shouting any words of goodbye, she settled for giving a sympathetic tilt of her head, an action which only seemed increase his agitation rather than placate it. Not offering her any further glimpse of his private pain, Lannister motivated his steed to action with a curse and swift kick, riding through the gate with a splatter of mud left in his wake.

"I never thought I'd be standing here again to make my farewells."

Sansa looked away from the bustle of the courtyard to find Jon standing in her doorway, a sad smile painted on his lips. "I'm not certain there was a farewell for me then," she returned his words with a guilty look. "I didn't treat you with the kindness that I should have."

"But now we can make it right," Jon answered, holding out his arms until she walked forward into their enveloping warmth. His hands clasped her small form tightly to him as his warm breath stirred the hair at her temples. "Goodbye, Sansa."

Though she felt a weight of sadness pressing against her heart, Sansa's eyes were dry as she answered him. "Goodbye, Jon."

As he pulled away with one last brotherly kiss pressed to her forehead, she stopped him with a tug on his left arm. "Did you speak with Amarah?"

"Briefly," he spoke with a grimace. "She wasn't in much of a mood to converse."

Sansa frowned, picturing the state Amarah must be in with Jaime Lannister riding farther and farther away from Winterfell with each passing moment. "Do you think it's wise to allow Ser Jaime to accompany you to the wall? Perhaps it would be better – "

"Sansa," Jon stopped her with a gentle smile. "We need Lannister in this fight. He's still one of the best warriors in the kingdoms despite his missing hand." He paused for a brief moment, raking his hands through his wild curls. "I don't know whether he'll return. I don't know whether any of us will return." His gaze turned hard then, boring into hers with determination. "Stay strong for her, Sansa. Stay strong for the North, for your people. They will be looking to you for guidance."

"I'm not sure I know how to guide," she admitted in a half-whisper, dropping her gaze from his face to the tightly knotted fingers held at her waist.

A gentle hand, much larger than hers, covered the restless fingers, gently untwisting them. "You will learn, just as I did."

Ignoring the topic of leadership, Sansa pressed a kiss of farewell to his hands before releasing them. "May the Seven protect you."

"Say a prayer for us, little sister, and perhaps they will." With those last words, he turned and left her alone in the room with only the crackle of the fire in the hearth to keep her company.

Feeling instantly cold despite the warmth before her, Sansa reached for her cloak and started for the place she always felt most at peace. Whenever she needed to collect her thoughts, whether at Winterfell as a child, the capital among a den of lions, or the mountains of the Eyrie, she would go to nature to restore her peace and tranquility. There was something about the woods that helped calm her soul. Perhaps being a daughter of the North, she felt a closer bond with the earth than others. Whatever the reason, she always found herself turning to the fresh air of the open world to help ease the torrent of pain she so often found flooding her soul.

When she reached her destination of the godswood, she found her cousin already sitting in the tall grass and facing the leafless tree above the reflecting pool. Her back was to Sansa, so she was not able to discern the expression on her face. Though, the slump of Amarah's shoulders spoke to her state of mind clearly enough.

"Amarah?" Sansa spoke her cousin's name, questioning whether she wished to be left alone.

Amarah turned a tear-stained face in Sansa's direction and waved a hand for her to approach. "I'd rather not be alone right now."

Sansa sat next to her and took hold of her extended hand. Amarah's fingers felt chillier than the cold, morning breeze that blew around them. "I'm so sorry." Sansa knew the words were insignificant and trite as soon as they formed on her lips, but she couldn't think of anything else to say.

Amarah took Sansa's hand and held it in her lap for several minutes of silence, not bothering to say anything in return but simply looking at the bare branches of the tree against the sky overhead. Sansa thought she wouldn't say anything at all and was content to sit in peaceful quiet. She was caught off guard by the words that pierced the silence that had settled about them like a cocoon.

"I'm with child."

Sansa switched her dumbfounded gaze from the tree to her cousin's face. Amarah's hand not grasping Sansa's rested atop her gently curved belly though she kept her face tilted upwards to the sky. "How long have you known?" Sansa asked, her mouth slack with shock.

Amarah looked at her then, the pain shimmering in her gaze even brighter now. "Only for a short time." She squeezed Sansa's hand in a painful vice as she struggled to master her emotions. "I wanted so desperately to tell him."

"Why didn't you?"

Amarah's sadness retreated for a brief moment as a smile of fondness tightened the corners of her mouth. "Because he would not have gone if he had known."

"I thought you didn't want him to go." Sansa's brow knit in confusion as she tried to process her cousin's admission. "Surely it would have been better for him to stay with you. What difference can one man make in a struggle against something not of this world?"

Amarah released Sansa's hand and stood without answering. She brushed the fallen leaves from her skirts before placing her hands again on her belly, cradling the precious treasure that was inside. "He needed to go for himself, Sansa. Jaime is a warrior at heart. He needs this, not only to help protect the kingdoms, but to prove to himself that he is still the great knight he always was. He'd never find true peace for himself if he did not go."

Sansa sprung to her feet, still unsure of the soundness of Amarah's reasoning. "But he could die!"

Another small tear leaked from the corner of Amarah's eye and she moved a hand to wipe it away. "I would rather he die still loving me than live to resent me."

Sansa wasn't certain she agreed with that last sentiment, but she decided to let the point rest for now, Jon's words still echoing in her head. Be strong for her. "I love you," she said gently, wrapping her arm around Amarah's shoulders and drawing her close.

To her surprise, she felt Amarah relax into her hold, taking the support that was offered. It was an odd position Sansa had found herself in, offering help to the one woman who had never seemed to need it, but she didn't mind. She had meant what she said. She did love her cousin, greatly. She would be strong for her and for her child, whatever the dark days ahead might hold for them all.

I debated a lot with myself whether I wanted Amarah pregnant or not, but eventually decided to go with it. I felt it made her sacrifice to let Jaime go even more meaningful. Next chapter will be posted tomorrow! Thank you so much for reading!