A/N: I do not own any of these characters. All proceeds go to GRRM.
Chapter 28 Sansa V
Sansa
Sansa had just finished feeding Ned a piece of bread when the stable boy ran through the door, his eyes wide and his breath gone. "Ser!" He yelled, panting and panting. "Their is a party of six Gold Cloaks outside, and a few men-at-arms. They're here looking for someone!"
"For who?" The innkeeper asked the boy.
He pointed at James and the family. "For them."
"Very well, lad," the inn keep said. "Tell them I'll be right out there to speak with them personally."
The innkeeper walked over to James and Sansa saw her brother place something into his hand before he walked out of the door. She and Daenerys looked at each other and nodded while they took the children. Sansa took a hold of her Ned and placed the knapsack over her shoulder, while Dany took Rhaella in her hands. Arya was over and talking with James before she walked back to the two women, Robert and Lyanna crouching behind her legs.
"What is the plan?" Dany asked of her while she was stuffing her knapsack with food.
"We are to escape by the back door and go up the road. James will look for the horses at the clearing."
Daenerys nodded with the shall still on, and the woman went over to the men. James, Jon, and Gendry already had their swords drawn and were about to position themselves against the doorway. They're going to fight them to buy us some time. Sansa felt nerves hit her while she thought of Jon getting hurt in the fighting. She just wanted to be in Riverrun already with her mother and Bran, Sansa hated this. All the women said goodbye to the men, and began to take the children over towards the backdoor. Sansa stood at the backdoor with Ned in her arms and looked at Jon once more before leaving the room. He was up against the wall with his sword drawn and he nodded at her before turning to look back outside.
"We need to find the horses," Arya whispered to them before they walked out the door. She had her sword drawn and both of her children were standing behind her.
Arya opened the back door and walked through, while Sansa and Daenerys followed with the kids. Sansa felt nerves when the door was opened, she feared that men would be out there waiting for them, but they weren't. The only thing there was a squirrel that was scurrying off in the distance.
"This way," Arya said once more, pointing over to the side of the inn that lead towards the stables.
Sansa and the women pushed up against the stone wall while they inched closer to the stables. They were in the front of the inn, and that is where the soldiers were at the moment. Stannis had caught up with them it seemed, and Sansa had wondered how they did. How could they have found us? We've been nothing but careful. James and Jon had made sure that nobody was following them each morning. They'd always remember to stamp out the fires before moving, and they'd never use their real names. Sansa just wondered how they could have been found, how…
The stone was cold against the back of her neck while the women were pressed up against it. Sansa covered Ned's mouth with her hand while Arya inched closer to the front of the inn, little by little. Arya peered over the side of the wall and got a good look at how many men were there. "Their are six men-at-arms and six Gold Cloaks," Arya told them. "They all have fiery hearts on their chest."
By now Sansa could hear the soldiers yelling at the inn keep. "We heard the wolf king was seen down this road!" She heard a soldier yell at the innkeeper. "Has he stopped here?"
Sansa stood with her back against the wall at attention, sweat forming on her brow, and Ned felt like eight stone against her arms. "When they're distracted we're going to move for the horses!" Arya whispered back at them.
"Our scout told us that he saw a man and his family enter here last night," Sansa heard a soldier continue. "Claims that one of them had silver hair. Now, tell me which bloody house in Westeros is famous for silver hair, which family?"
Sansa felt herself tense at that question, it was just a matter of time before they knew…the innkeeper might be killed for this. All Sansa could do was think about Jon.
"That is the fucking Dragon Queen!" Another soldier yelled this time. He barked so loud that it startled not only Sansa, but the children. "A Dragon Queen I'd like to fuck!" Another man yelled causing some of the other soldiers to bark out in laughter. Sansa cringed at the words.
She made sure to place her hand over Ned's mouth so he didn't yell. "Hush now, Ned," Sansa told him. "You mustn't yell."
The boy only nodded at her as a soldier asked, "And who is the Dragon Queen married to?"
Sansa could hear some mumbling, and now she looked to see Daenerys and Arya nervous. Rhaella was against her mother's shoulder, while Sansa peered forward for a second to see Robert and Lyanna clutching against Arya's breeches, little hands clenching at the brown leather. Sansa didn't know how the children were remaining so composed. If one of them yelled out it would spell disaster for all of them. We must get moving, Sansa thought, We've lingered too long.
"And who is James Stark?" A new soldier questioned.
Sansa heard some mumbling again, when Arya looked back at them and whispered, "The innkeeper is pointing at the inn. They're going inside!"
Please be okay, Jon. "Let's move!" Dany yelled at them in a whisper. All the women nodded to each other and grabbed the kids as they rounded the corner of the stone inn. Sansa held Ned tight and walked behind Arya and Daenerys. The innkeeper was still at the front of the door, but was facing away as they creeped past him towards the tiny stables. Arya snuck them in and quickly placed the knapsacks onto the horses. Everyone lifted themselves onto the horses, and untied the reigns that held them together. Sansa held onto Ned and walked her horse out of the stable and passed the inn with Arya at the helm.
That was when they heard the clashing of swords.
Please be okay, Jon. Arya yelled at them to not pay them any mind, that the men would find them when all was over. That the children had to be their first priority. Once they passed the entrance to the inn, Sansa, noticed through the window that a table had been thrown over, but she couldn't see any of the men. Please be okay, Jon.
"Let's gallop now!" Arya said with a whisper now. The women nodded at her and Sansa kicked her horse in the sides. She clutched on to Ned and felt her horse gallop with the wind. Daenerys was in front of her, Arya the leader, and Sansa behind. The whole time her thoughts were with Jon…it was always with Jon. Her only two men in the world were Jon and her nephew, she'd often jest. It felt good for her to be spending time with Eddard again. Sansa liked saying his name often, it had been too long since someone said their lord father's name out loud. It was like a curse to do so until James's son was born. Sansa was there when Daenerys gave birth to the twins, Catelyn, too. Dany was in labor for almost a full day, and her cries could be heard throughout Maegor's Holdfast. James never left her side through it all. Sansa was in the room with the midwives and Sam when it was time. Daenerys was sweating profusely, her face in cringe worthy pain, and the color was gone from James's hand that she was clutching. Ned was born first, by mere minutes, with Rhaella soon following him. "Eddard!" James yelled holding his son for the whole world to see, and looking just as gleeful when he held his daughter. Dany was crying joyfully when she held both of them at once. Sansa could recall when James allowed her to hold Ned, she felt an instant bond when she saw his grey eyes. Catelyn came about a week later and was so happy for them, happy that James finally gave her more grandchildren. She remembered her mother staying in King's Landing for about almost half a year, taking care of the newborn twins and Lyanna, who was just a newborn at the time while Robert was almost one. Now she hadn't seen them since Bran's wedding.
Now they were galloping down the road again, but Arya had ordered them to slow down so they could find a clearing. The road was more of a track now, the way heavily forested and the going was very slow in the gloom. When the horses slowed down to a walk, Sansa looked back and could still see the inn in the distance with its stone walls and huge water wheel. It was about another ten minutes when Arya finally found a clearing off the side of the road, "We will stop here," she had said, pointing to the side with her sword. Sansa laughed inside when she saw her sister wielding it again, wielding Needle. By now it looked like nothing but a dagger, but Arya would never let go of the sword Jon had gifted her.
They walked the horses off the side of the road and dismounted. Daenerys huddled the children over into the clearing while Arya and Sansa tied the horses up to the trees. "I told James that he should look out for the horses," Arya said when she finished tying the third one up. Sansa thought that she was doing too much for being a pregnant woman, and that Daenerys should be in charge. Yet again it was Arya….and well, it was Arya. Sansa had noticed something weird about Daenerys as of late, and it had begun before the battle. The vomiting…a bump beginning to form, Sansa knew that she was pregnant, or thought she was, she didn't know. Sansa had wondered if she told her brother, yet. And if she did, she wondered why they hadn't told her. Sansa felt she deserved to know.
They sat with the children in the middle of the clearing, all in a circle with crossed legs, the wind and spring air just whipping around them. Nobody said anything, not a word, everyone was on edge with nerves. It had been thirty minutes or so and the men had not arrived. All Sansa could do was rip the grass in-between her hands, feel the braid on her shoulder and think about getting to Riverrun. It was all that kept her going each day, and what haunted her dreams at night. All she could see when she closed her eyes was the Riverrun her mother described to her. The three sided walls, the two rivers making a natural moat around it, and the sandstone walls. Most of all Sansa saw her mother when she closed her eyes, her mother and Bran, Rickon too, even Myrcella and her baby boy, Jaime. Sansa yearned to see them again, it had been too long since the Stark family were at one table again…the last time was Bran's wedding and that felt like a lifetime ago.
Sansa mostly felt bad for them, they were apart from their family. Catelyn was apart from her grandchildren, all of them, and Sansa knew that must be driving her mad. Her mother loved them more than her actual children, and Sansa envisioned the look on Catelyn's face when she would see them again. Bran was away from his wife and child, even missed his birth, and that must have been eating away at him. Sansa just hoped he didn't harbor any feelings of anger towards James for this. Rickon and Myrcella must be the loneliest out of everyone, Sansa realized. Rickon was alone as the Castellan, no family around him but his good sister and nephew. Cella was alone just with her child. Sansa hoped she didn't hate James for this either.
Time had grown slow now and everyone was still not talking and the men still had not returned. Sansa's heart was in the pit of her stomach with each second, and nothing seemed to quell the nerves. She had tried thinking of something else, something that made her happy, but it was folly. Nothing could make her nerves recede until Jon was back in her arms.
"James told me about your plan," Arya finally said out loud. It had been the first time somebody had spoken in minutes. Sansa looked over and saw the kids playing with each other, so she could rest easy.
"What?" Sansa questioned, "Who are you talking to?"
"Dany," she replied. "I'm speaking to Daenerys."
Dany was startled by this, she cocked her head to look at Arya. "What plan are you talking about?"
Arya sighed. "You know of what I speak. James told me about his grand delusion."
Dany shook her head. "No. I don't, actually. Care to tell me what you're talking about."
"The Narrow Sea."
Sansa was confused. Does James not tell me anything, anymore? "The Narrow Sea?!" asked Sansa in despair.
"Yes," said Arya. "James told me he wants to take Daenerys and their children across the Narrow Sea. Tells me he wants to escape Stannis wrath."
"What wrath?"
"That is what I'm saying," Arya answered with a laugh. "Stannis won't go after them if Bran bends the knee."
"It is our decision as husband and wife," Daenerys finally told them. It caused Sansa and Arya to look at her at the same time. Most anybody would be nervous to have this much attention on them, but Daenerys was unnerving at this moment. She kept her head up high and her gaze stern. "We are thinking about what is best for our children."
Sansa didn't understand. "And living in Volantis would be the solution?"
"It is our choice," Dany firmly said again, her face hard like stone. "James and I have discussed this at a length, Sansa. This might just happen…"
"But why?" Arya questioned. "Why do you feel the need to leave Westeros."
"Why haven't you told us this?" Sansa asked of her. "Why hasn't anyone told me anything!"
"Because we didn't know if it was going to happen yet," Dany told her. "First we have to get to Riverrun before we decided, first I have to…"
"Have to what?" Give birth to your child...
"Nevermind," she said. "Look, at the end of the day James and I are doing what is best for our children, for our family."
"Sure," Sansa lied with a roll of her eye. She crossed her arms and gave Arya a glancing look. Both of them knew the family deserved to know this, Sansa deserved to know this. James used to tell her everything, but now it seemed he trusted Arya more than her. Sansa would need to talk to her brother about this.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you," Dany said as she looked at Sansa now. "James has wanted to, but I've held him back. He knew that you would all not want us to leave."
"And with good reason," Arya swiftly answered her. "All of us have been as one since James's coronation, and we don't want to be separated again. You must understand how close the Starks are with each other. We aren't the Lannisters."
"I understand," Dany said without a moments hesitation. Sansa could tell she was being honest. "I envy how close you are with each other." Dany sighed. "I was never close with my brother Viserys. He was cruel and a fool. I never knew my brother Rhaegar, either. I never knew my family, in fact. My mother died birthing me and, well, I'm sure you know about my father…." She cleared her throat. "I don't want to take James from you, but just let us come to this conclusion on our own. We would still visit Winterfell." Now she smiled at Sansa. "And I'm not trying to abscond Ned from you. Gods know how much he loves you…"
Sansa meekly smiled at that. She could tell how much Daenerys hid behind a polite smile and gracious words when it concerned Eddard and Sansa. Daenerys was jealous of what they had, she could tell, jealous that Ned seemed to love her more than his own mother. More than the woman who labored a day to bring him into this world. Sansa had to change that, no matter how much pain it would bring her. She couldn't imagine herself not being close with her and Jon's children.
"I'm sorry for taking him from you," Sansa apologized. "I didn't mean to take your own son from you, Dany. I'm terribly sorry about that."
"Oh no, Sansa, don't apologize," she told her while she sat on the grass. Daenerys shook her head. "I don't know what we would have done with you."
And with that both women grew quiet on the grass. Nobody said a word to each other. Sansa was angry that her brother did not speak with her about this, she was angry he was even considering it. Has he gone mad? Why would he want to live across the Narrow Sea. Another part of her was angry at her good sister. Sansa thought that Dany was putting James up to this, part of her was telling her it was so. Another issue was that Daenerys was not telling the family about her obvious pregnancy. If James didn't know, which he had a right to, it would make Sansa even more upset. Not to mention that she saw Daenerys drinking wine the night of the battle. No mother should endanger their child.
"Where are they?" Arya asked to change the topic. "It has been too long since we left the inn."
"I'm not sure," said Dany, her voice thick with concern. "My nerves won't stop receding with each passing second. Something isn't right…"
Sansa felt a shiver shoot up her spine when Dany's voice trailed at the end. Something isn't right…her mind echoed cruelly. Something in Sansa's heart told her something was wrong, she could feel it in her bones. Sansa looked over at the children and noticed that Robert was chasing some squirrels with Ned following him. Rhaella and Lyanna were trying to keep up. They were straying too far from the group.
"Stay close!" Sansa yelled over at them. They whipped their heads in unison and stopped in their tracks, nodding. Ned smiled at her with his grey eyes peering at her and Sansa couldn't help but waive at him.
That was when they heard movement in the brush.
Startled, the women all turned around to look at the source making the sound. Arya drew Needle and Daenerys called the children. Sansa scooted behind Arya and Dany with the children in their arms, preparing themselves for whatever came out of there. Sansa could feel her heart beating fast, the butterflies flying around in her stomach, and sweat beginning to trickle on the back of her neck.
James and Gendry were the first to step into the clearing with their weapons at their sides, freshly stained with blood. And that's when Sansa's eyes grew wide at the blood on their tunics, while they both were supporting a wounded Jon. Blood on the lower half of his stomach and he was pale and sweating.
"JON!" Sansa yelled in despair while she shot from the ground. She ran over to him and held his face in her hands while he meekly smiled.
"Are you alright?" She asked him. "Are you hurt?"
He only smiled again.
"We need to treat his wound," James barked while he and Gendry moved past her. Her brother placed Jon on the ground and he gave out a rich groan. Sansa kneeled on the ground beside him and held his hand.
"Give me the medical supplies!" James ordered of Arya. Their sister was in shock for a second, and Sansa noticed that Daenerys had all the children in a corner of the clearing. She was kneeling down in front of them to block their view, but she could see Rhaella staring at them from the top of her shoulder.
"Arya, the medical supplies!" Gendry ordered this time. Arya snapped to her senses and grabbed the knapsack with ease. She dumped all the contents onto the ground and James sorted them out.
"Where is he wounded?" Sansa asked, her bloodied hands looking for the source. His riding tunic had a blotch of blood on his right side, and Sansa pushed a strand of matted hair from his face.
"In the right side," James swiftly answered. "Here, help me remove the tunic."
Sansa nodded while she helped Jon up. He groaned as Gendry held him up and James took a hem while Sansa the other. They lifted the tunic over Jon's head and cast it aside, James setting him back on the ground. James unbuckled Jon's sword belt and also put that aside with his tunic. Sansa took a second to eye his torso and saw the four scars on his stomach, and a gash on his right side.
"We need to seal his wound," Gendry said. "We will need some boiling wine to get rid of corruption, but I'm afraid we don't have fire."
"-But we have the wine!" Arya yelled, throwing the wineskin at James. Her brother picked it up and asked her to go look for any logs to build a fire. She nodded and walked off into the woods.
"We need to seal it somehow, James," Gendry told him. He was kneeling next to James and was sweating profusely with the hammer on his back. "He will have lost a lot of blood by the time she gets back. We will need to sow it later and clean it out with some water, bandage it even. We can boil the wound later tonight."
James nodded. "You're right. Here, let's get this over with."
"Give me some milk of the poppy," Jon whispered. "I don't…I don't want the kids to hear me screaming in pain."
Sansa smiled at how he thought of the children before himself, even though he was wounded. Jon was going to be a great father.
Gendry grabbed the milk of the poppy and unscrewed the skin. He put it up to Jon's lips and he drank a couple of gulps. Sansa pressed her hand to his wound to try and stop the bleeding as she saw Jon drift into sleep.
"He'll be out for a couple of hours," James said once Jon was fast asleep. He turned to Sansa. "Let's clean his wound and get him bandaged. Pour some of the wine over the wound to maybe kill some infection."
Sansa took her hand off the wound while she saw Gendry pour a little bit of wine onto Jon's gash. "We're fortunate that it isn't any worse," said James. "We managed to escape once the Gold Cloaks helped us in betraying the men-at-arms. One of them claimed that his brother was killed in the sacking by Stannis men. Jon was hurt because a tip of a soldiers sword nicked him, as you can see. It isn't that deep. Once Arya comes back with firewood we will properly seal his wound. He will live, Sansa, not to worry."
Sansa nodded again while Gendry had finished wrapping fresh bandages onto Jon's wound. They were white and covered the lower half of his torso. Sansa could already see the blood beginning to stain. Jon looked peaceful as he slept, the pain having gone away from drinking the milk of the poppy. James sighed again and ran his hands through his hair, before getting up and walking over to the children. Sansa looked over and saw his children run at him while he got down on one knees to embrace them at the same time. He then got up and gave Dany a kiss while he placed a hand on her stomach. That is when Sansa knew the truth, she just didn't know what compelled her to do what happened next.
"I KNEW IT!" Sansa yelled as she rose from the ground. She stomped over at James in a few strides and narrowed her eyes at him. James gave her a startled-confused look and Sansa stood in front of him and Dany, her eyes narrowed and her brow buried. That was when she gave James a hard shove. He stumbled back a few paces. Dany was equally in shock and she noticed the children giving her weird looks.
"Are you insane?" James asked her. "What is wrong with you?"
"How dare you didn't tell me!" She screamed at him.
"Tell you what?
Sansa sighed, she was angry. "Don't you play coy with me, James Stark! You know of what I speak!"
"No I don't, crazy lady…"
Sansa shoved him again. "You used to tell me everything! Now I have to find out from Arya that not only do you intend on moving across the Narrow Sea-"
"-How do you know of that?"
"It doesn't matter!" Sansa screamed again. "You used to tell me everything, and now I have to see you hold your wife's stomach to find out she is carrying your third child!"
James now grew silent at that. He didn't say a word and now Daenerys was in shock also. Sansa could tell that she was taken aback.
Sansa glared at her. "I'm not a fool, Dany. Just because I've never had children doesn't mean I don't know the symptoms. Or the bump that is forming on your stomach."
Daenerys eyed her and then searched her stomach, she pushed back the tunic to expose the small bump that was forming.
"You're pregnant?" Gendry asked from behind.
Sansa turned to face him. "Yes, she is! And apparently we didn't have the right to know."
"Of course you had the right to know!" Daenerys yelled back. "Now can we do this in private and not in front of the children!"
Sansa turned back at her and nodded. The children shouldn't have seen her pushing James or screaming. Gendry lead the kids away while Sansa stood across from James and Daenerys, fuming in her anger. Sansa allowed herself a few moments to calm down, before she decided to speak again.
"I'm sorry for the outburst," she said in a whisper. "It was not right for me to yell at you and push you, James. Especially in front of the children."
"Apology accepted," he said with a smile.
"I was going to tell all of you," Dany whispered back to her. "I was just waiting to surprise you all at Riverrun, where I could also announce it to Bran and your Lady Mother."
"Then why did you tell Arya?"
"We didn't," James told her. "I only just found out last night when Daenerys told me, but apparently Arya figured it out first."
Dany laughed. "She told me she knew when we were standing in the middle of King's Landing, the whole city burning around us. We wouldn't tell Arya without telling you, Sansa."
"Not to mention Sansa can't keep a secret," James jested.
Daenerys looked up at him and punched him in the arm. James winced back in pain. Both of them began to laugh.
Once they stopped laughing, Sansa, glared at her brother. "We need to talk…"
He nodded. "If that is what you wish…"
"That is what I wish, brother."
James rolled his eyes while Sansa walked him over by a sleeping Jon. Daenerys went off to take care of the children with Gendry. James and Sansa knelt by Jon in silence, she knew that he'd eventually talk. Sansa wanted to speak with him about a few things, the Narrow Sea being the main one. His lack of trust in her being the second, and finally about Ned being the third. Sansa took her braid and slumped it down her shoulder. It had grown heavier over time.
"You wanted to talk, Sansa…"
"I did."
"About?"
"Your lack of faith in me for starters," Sansa said while she crossed her arms. "You used to tell me everything, and lately Arya has known more about you than me. In what world has that ever happened!"
"I'm sorry that I haven't spent every facet of my life with you," James chided.
"Don't chide me!" Sansa yelled. "I want you to explain yourself…"
"Arya and I have grown closer since the city fell," he admitted. "You should be happy for us, not chiding me about it."
Sansa rolled her eyes. "I'm glad after thirty one years on this earth, you decide to grow close with our sister. But that does not excuse why you've left me in the dark."
"I don't mean to," he said. "We just haven't had the time to talk, Sansa."
Sansa laughed. "That was an even poorer excuse than the first one. We have had plenty of time to speak since Stannis took the throne."
"Is it really?" James questioned. "Half of your day is spent with Jon, and the other half with my son. I hope you realize he spends more time with you than he does his own parents or sister."
"Oh, please," said Sansa with a waive of her hand. "Rhaella and Ned are practically inseparable. They're twins, James."
"Twins or no, I speak the truth."
"What are you suggesting?" asked Sansa. "That I stop spending time with my nephew, who I consider like a son."
James tsked. "But that is the thing, Sansa. He isn't your child…"
Sansa felt like she was slapped in the face when he said that. Ned had meant so much to her, more than James could comprehend. She was lonely before Ned was born; Willas Tyrell was to become her husband, she had thought at the time. James was almost killed by Margaery and so she had to stop talking to him. Sansa became lonely and sad, she spent most of her time crying in her chambers but masked her true emotions when around her family. She had not been too close with her nieces and nephews before James was almost killed, and that was when Arya brought her to King's Landing. It was there she took care of Ned, took care of him when his parents spent their days in Rhaella's chambers while the girl was unconscious from poison. Ned filled the void in her life that Willas left, and she couldn't forget that. She would remind him when he was twenty or thirty and three, Sansa didn't care. Even now that she had Jon she didn't care.
"He is my child."
"He is your nephew."
"Who was there when his father was almost killed? Who was there when you and Daenerys spent your days listening to pleas and worrying about whether or not Aegon was going to attack?" Sansa felt her voice rising. "Who was there when Rhaella was almost killed and his own parents forgot he existed! Who?!"
"You," he said. "You were, Sansa. And I think you will always be like a second mother to him, but that doesn't mean he isn't something Dany pushed out of her body. You can't take that from her, like you have his love."
"I didn't take his love from her," Sansa corrected. "Ned-"
"-Loves you more than her," James finished. He sighed. "You don't understand…"
"No, I don't, so tell me…"
"You don't have to hold Daenerys when she cries because her son doesn't love her. You don't have to dry her tears when she whimpers that he forgets who his mother is. You don't have to tell her that Ned remembers her and loves her. You don't have to answer why her own son chooses you over her. You don't have to hear her screams when she asks what she did to deserve it. Ned used to cling to her like he does you. You don't know, Sansa, you don't know…"
Sansa was about to reply when they heard Arya coming out of the brush. Sansa turned around to see her holding logs and twigs in her hand, her forehead glistening with sweat. James stood up from the ground and walked past Sansa, as he helped Arya with the firewood. He embraced their sister and thanked her for everything before they knelt down and began to sort out the logs. They were both talking and laughing; James even was telling her something that made her laugh and he yelled, "She is just jealous is all." Sansa felt like he was talking about her. Sansa began to feel jealous of what they had, because she knew James and her were once that way. Now her jealousy turned to anger and she wanted nothing to do with her older brother. She now turned back to Jon who was still sleeping and held his hand. Now she felt sad to think about what James told her. I didn't take his love, she reassured herself. I'm not so cruel as to do that, I'm not…
The rest of the day was spent in that clearing, they couldn't move because of Jon and so they had a lot of time to kill. Sansa decided to spend most of her time with the sleeping Jon, who had slept for hours already. She figured that he drank too much milk of the poppy. Afterwards she sorted out of the belongings they managed from the inn. Food was in abundance, as Sansa counted the sausage, bread, cheese, ale, water, wine, sweets, and meats that they managed to swipe. She noticed the bag carrying the two crowns that used to grace the heads of both Daenerys and James. They'll never wear them again. Sansa did not talk to her brother for the rest of the day, her anger was too high for her to do so. Gendry was napping when Sansa noticed James and Arya sparing. He was trying to teach her a new move that he said uncle Benjen taught him. It was a move where you parried the sword and punched them in the stomach. Arya had managed to pick it up quick, but James had gone easy on her because she was pregnant. Sansa felt jealousy hit her on two fronts, again James liked Arya more than her, but also because she wished Jon and her could just be married to have children of their own. In due time, we must get to Winterfell first.
Jon had awoken by the time the sun was setting over the horizon. Gendry had just awoken from his nap too, and Sansa was spending time with the children and Daenerys when Jon called out for them. Dany and Sansa did not speak to each other, both of them angry at one another. Yet the whole time Sansa could not help but think of James holding Dany in their bed while she wept to him about Ned. Sansa felt guilty about that much, although her mind told her not to be.
She ran over to Jon and asked how he was feeling. "Fine, now that I awoke to your face," he romantically told her. Sansa only laughed at that and kissed his forehead while James told him that they needed to clean his wound with boiling wine. "It is to remove the corruption," he said to Jon who was on the ground and groaning. Jon only nodded and accepted his pain while Gendry got a fire going. By the time the wine was boiled, Jon was on the ground and clutching Sansa's hand. Daenerys and Arya had made sure to distract the children so they wouldn't hear the muffled screams. Gendry placed a leather glove in Jon's mouth and told him to bite down hard. Jon did as he was bid while he looked up at Sansa and clenched her hand even harder. She gave him a reassuring nod while James poured the wine over the wound. Sansa heard the searing sound of boiling wine onto flesh, as the wine hit the open wound. She felt her left hand become numb, and heard Jon's muffled screams in pain. He began to sweat and his eyes rolled to the back of his head. And then it was over.
"It's all over," Sansa said in a soothing tone. "It's over, Jon." And then James lifted some wine to his lips and Jon drank eagerly. She knew he was trying to mask the pain. Sansa than spent an hour sewing up his wound with the catgut and needle that Sam had given him. "You're the best at needlework around here," James had said when he handed her the supplies. "Now take care of our cousin." Sansa didn't know if that was meant to be another chide or slap in the face, but she let it be. When finally Jon's wound was sown shut the family went over and sat around the open fire.
It was night time now, Sansa realized while the Stark family was sitting around the camp fire Gendry had made. She was eating dinner with the rest of them, and everyone was in relative silence. Gendry and Arya had roasted some meats over the fire, and James passed around some ale for everyone with the bread and cheese. The ale was a bit strong so the children had to stick with water for now. Jon was next to her, eliciting groans born out of pain every second or so, while Ned sat in Sansa's lap as she fed him. Again the words James told her rang in her mind while her nephew sat perched on her lap…her child.
"Congratulations on your pregnancy, Daenerys," Gendry finally said that brought everyone out of silence. "I'm glad for the both of you."
Sansa noticed Arya exchange a look of shock between her husband and brother. "You told them?"
"Sansa told them," he answered while motioning to her. "We were waiting for Riverrun, but apparently the gods didn't' deem it so. And by gods, I mean my sweet sister."
Sansa stared him down with narrow eyes. She could tell when James was upset with her, but she was also with him. Ned picked up on her anger because he looked up at her and asked why she was angry. Sansa only shook her head and told him that she wasn't, even though she was.
"You're pregnant?" Jon exclaimed. "Now I have two nieces or nephews on the way…"
"That is the idea," said Daenerys with a grin.
"I'd give you a congratulatory embrace, but I fear I'd reopen my wound."
James laughed. "You don't have to, Jon. I'm sure Sansa would have told you sooner rather than later."
Sansa had enough of his chiding remarks. "Will you shut up about it!" She screamed. Her voice was so loud that it startled the children, and she heard Ned began to whimper. Sansa looked down at him and saw his steel eyes reflect in the firelight with moisture in his eyes. She only hugged him and told her she was sorry for scaring him.
James shook his head vehemently and ignored her. He turned his attention back to his wife and placed a hand on her swelling belly before jesting with Arya. Sansa was livid. She couldn't let his chiding comments continue, she had to repay this back somehow.
"So when do you plan on moving to Volantis?" Sansa questioned of him with Ned's head on her shoulder. James was taken aback and she saw his face grow hard with anger. Arya was talking to him, but had stopped in her tracks to turn to Sansa. She was in an equal amount of shock.
"Volantis?!" Jon and Gendry asked at the same time. "What in the seven hells is she speaking of, James?"
James gave Sansa a harder look and turned his attention to Jon. "Again. I was going to tell the family at Riverrun, but Sansa has deemed it otherwise."
Sansa laughed. "I cannot wait to see the look on our mother's face when you tell her you're going to take her grand babies from her. The two grandchildren she hasn't seen since Bran was married. I'm sure she'll love that idea."
"You will not tell mother!" James seethed, "Or Brandon, or Rickon, or Myrcella! Daenerys and I will be the ones to tell them, if it happens! Why are you doing this?"
Sansa ignored the last question as Jon said, "Why haven't you told me about this, James? Did you not think it important to tell me that you plan on living across the Narrow Sea?"
"Of course I deem it important!" James yelled at a higher register. Sansa could see the wolfsblood begin to boil now, she'd seen it a-thousand times before. Daenerys placed a hand on his shoulder and whispered something into his ear. He nodded and Dany got up from the ground, taking the children with her so they could eat some sweets. Ned shot from Sansa's arms when he heard the words, "apple tarts."
Now it was the Stark family and Gendry around the fire, no children to hold them back. Sansa knew James was in for an onslaught of questions from them all.
"I'm disappointed in you," Jon began. "Why have you kept us all in the dark?"
James shook his head. "It was not my intent, brother." Sansa knew that was a slap. "I, again, was going to tell you all at Riverrun, when Daenerys and I were sure of our plans. Now, well, I guess not…" He shot a hard look at Sansa.
"James," said Arya now, "you know mother won't take this well. You know how over-protective she gets when it comes to her own children. Just imagine her reaction when it comes to her grandchildren. You know how much she loves Ned and Rhaella, you know how much pain this will cause her. She hasn't seen them in about a year."
"I know," James admitted now, he looked ashamed. "And I'm sorry to have to do that to our Lady Mother, but at the end of the day it is our choice. I'm thinking about what is best for my family."
"And the answer is going across the Narrow Sea?" Gendry asked in despair. "To leave Winterfell forever for some Free City?"
James sighed now. "I grow tired of this, honestly. Will none of you see my reasoning behind this?"
"I don't see reason behind foolishness," Jon spat.
James shook his head while he gave a laugh. "What future do I have in Winterfell, tell me?"
"What do you mean?" asked Arya.
"Who will be the Lord of Winterfell?"
Nobody said anything.
"Bran," he said. "I'm not going to take that from him. He has deserved it and proved himself, unlike me." He sighed. "That leaves me with nothing. Rickon will marry some high born lady, become one of Bran's bannermen, and have a bunch of children." James motioned to Jon and Sansa. "These two here will get married once we arrive and have children. Jon may even become of the castellan." Now he pointed to Gendry and Arya. "Arya will have to go back to Storm's End. Or, did you forget Gendry happened to be the lord of that place?"
Sansa had forgotten about that. She hadn't given the slightest thought of Arya having to leave Winterfell and live out in the Stormlands with Gendry. Now she realized where James was going with this.
"We don't know if Stannis will let him keep it," whispered Arya, as if it was a curse.
"Of course he will let him," said James. "Stannis has no sons to give it to, and Shireen will stay in King's Landing as his solely heir, unless a son is born to him. Gendry will remain the Lord of Storm's End, he is a Baratheon, and Stannis won't take that from him."
He makes sense. Arya will have to leave us, too.
Gendry and Arya both remained silent. Sansa looked over at them and saw Gendry looking at the ground while Arya stared into the fire. She realized both of them had come to this conclusion a while ago, and just didn't want to face it.
"And where does that leave me?" James finally asked. "Where does that leave me and my family?"
"With your family," Jon answered him. "It leaves you with your family, James. It leaves Ned and Rhaella growing up amongst their cousins, marrying for love and nothing else, it leaves you with your brothers, sisters, and nieces and nephews. It leaves you with Dany and everything you love. That is where it leaves you. And you can't get that in Volantis, Lys, Qarth, Pentos, or any other Free City."
Everyone was quiet after that answer, James most of all. Sansa saw him brooding in his stoic thoughts for a few minutes, staring into the fire. He was rethinking everything, Sansa realized after seeing his stone gaze that danced off the flames. Now his stoicism turned to sadness, she could see. His gaze turned soft and still nobody said anything.
James continued to stare in the fire when he said, "Arya, will be gone. Bran will be lord. Rickon will be gone. Jon will be castellan…I won't be anything. I might as well join the Night's Watch again."
And with that he stood up and began to walk away, but not before turning around to say, "I will do what is best for us at the end of the day. Don't think that I won't ever see you all again. I will visit all the time whenever I can. Let me just think about this."
James walked away towards Daenerys he saw, who was sitting on the ground with all the children. Sansa watched as James walked over to her and pulled her up from the ground. She stared into his eyes and kissed him before embracing, he was whispering something into her ear, she noticed. Sansa turned her attention back to Gendry and Arya, who were still speechless. Without a word they both got up from the fire, and walked away. Jon was silent too, Sansa noticed. He was bent forward and staring into the fire with his arms wrapped firmly around his legs. Sansa could tell this news had hit him harder than she expected, he was close with James. Those two having gone through a lot before James ever became the king. Now Sansa had a flashback of watching Jon, Robb, and James running the godswood when she was naught by a child of three. She visibly saw the two brothers running around, the fall leaves flying around them as they ran. Robb's auburn hair the same color as Sansa's. Now her mind fixed on Jon again, and the image before her came back. Sansa sighed and snuggled up closer to him, huddling together for warmth around the fire. Neither of them saying anything as she watched the smoke rising towards the sky.
Finally after thirty odd minutes with the fire still going, Sansa, noticed Daenerys and James walking towards them, hand-in-hand. Dany went back to sit in her spot around the fire, while James walked over towards Jon and kneeled down to squeeze his shoulder and whisper something into his ear. Jon only nodded and continued to look back into the fire again. James now looked over at Sansa and walked over to sit next to her. Sansa ignored him at first but noticed he was trying to say sorry, for everything. She sighed and put her head on his shoulder, while he looked at her and smiled.
"I'm sorry," he whispered. "You should have been the first to know about everything. I should have told you about the Narrow Sea and about Dany's pregnancy. I'm sorry for pushing you away, and replacing you with Arya."
"It's okay," said Sansa. "And I'm happy you're closer with her."
Sansa did not wait for a reply. "Are you serious about the Free Cities, James? Are you going to leave us?"
He sighed. "I don't know, Sansa. Part of me wants to, but the other half doesn't. What Jon said struck true with me."
"And what does Dany want?"
"I'm not so sure, either. We'd have to wait for our child to be born, and then we'd go."
"Will you stay for my wedding?"
"I wouldn't miss it for the world."
Sansa smiled at that. Soon Arya and Gendry returned with the rest of the children at their heels and sat down with the rest of the family.
After a few moments of silence Sansa asked, "Have you thought of what to name your child?"
"Who has?" Arya asked.
"You," said Sansa. "Have you thought on names?"
Arya shrugged. "If it's a boy we like the name, Edric. If it's a girl than we maybe wanted to name her, maybe Cassanna. We aren't sure, yet."
James laughed. "You'd name your son, Edric?"
"It's an old Baratheon name," Gendry corrected. "And was the name of a good lad."
James nodded in agreement. "I do miss that boy, dearly. He was such a good squire. Never lingered, always knew when he was wanted. I'll remember him."
"We all will," said Dany. "And we'll remember Irri, too."
"Along with Jorah," Jon added. "Let's not forget who saved Ned and Little Rhaella's life." He smiled before mussing the girls hair. She was on his lap, and only laughed when he did.
"And Tyrion," Arya threw-in. "I miss arguing with him…"
"I owed him so much," James admitted. "When I was courting Daenerys in King's Landing, he was my best friend." James laughed. "I remember in my second month of courting, he and I went fishing and got drunk off Arbor Gold."
Sansa laughed. "I've never heard of this story."
"It's a classic," said Dany with a smile. "I remember the day like it was yesterday."
Daenerys then went on to tell the story about James and Tyrion fishing along the river. She recalled how that day she was busy with pleas and couldn't spend anytime with her James. So, Tyrion, invited James out to go fishing with him along the Blackwater Rush and got him drunk off the arbor. Dany said they were so drunk when she found them that James was slurring his words and yelling things. "He kept calling me, 'his Visenya,' and referred to me numerous times as 'his rays of sun.'" Dany laughed. "He even kept asking me to let him 'unleash the direwolf,' upon me, but I didn't know what that meant at the time. I do now."
Everyone laughed at the story and kept quiet for a few moments. Soon the children were getting tired and wanted to go to sleep. Sansa had wanted Ned to sleep with his sister and parents, but the boy kept stubbornly saying no. She tried everything to tell him no that night, she firmly stared into his eyes and told him, but he refused. He wrapped his tiny arms around her neck and kept saying "No. No." Sansa looked over at James and mouthed that she was sorry, he shrugged and waived his hand. Daenerys was visibly hurt, she could see. It looked as if Dany wanted to cry.
And finally the fire smoldered and everyone went to sleep. Sansa slept by Jon with a sleeping Ned between them, and slept came easy for her. She could swear she heard whimpering from over where James and Daenerys slept. Before letting the sleep take her, Sansa rolled over on her side to find the source. She saw Arya and Gendry sleeping with their children, and then she saw it. James was holding Dany in his arms, her face pressed into his chest, with Rhaella sleeping behind her, and Sansa knew she was crying. Her brother only kissed his wife's head and gently stroked her hair, Sansa felt the pang of guilt then. Now she knew what James meant when he told her that she didn't know. Sansa knew that Daenerys didn't cry easily, the blood of the dragon, she called it, but in this moment she looked as vulnerable as any mother would.
Sansa awoke once in the middle of the night to find Jon fully awake, deep in thought. "Can't sleep?" She asked him. Jon was laying on his back with his arms behind his head, staring at the stars. He shook his head and didn't open up to her, he rarely did.
"What you did to Dany was cruel," he said.
"What?"
"I heard her cries all night, Sansa. She misses her son who once thought of her as a mother."
Sansa sighed. "I didn't mean to do that, but Ned was being stubborn."
"As if a part of you didn't relish that he chose you over her."
Sansa couldn't deny that. "I'm not ashamed to call him my child."
"You know that Robert, Rhaella, and Lyanna are also your nieces and nephews."
"I know," she told him, "but I feel a deeper connection to Ned. I love the rest all the same but he is special, you know that."
Than he motioned to the child between them and said, "He isn't your son, you know. Ned is our nephew, or my cousin…I don't know."
"He is my baby," she seethed. "I'm more a mother to him than Daenerys has ever been."
"Yet she pushed him out of her body, not you."
Sansa didn't say anything.
Jon sighed. "Ned won't be three forever, you know. One day you'll wake up and he'll be a man of four and ten. He won't be this loveable baby you refer to as your son."
That hit Sansa like a punch to the gut. She couldn't imagine her nephew as anything but that sweet-three year old boy. Will he hate me when he is older? Will he remember the aunt who was like his mother?
Sansa slept a little after that. She grabbed her sleeping nephew, or son, and snuggled him up to her chest as a protective mother would. Sansa held him like an anchor and wised he'd never grow up. She hoped he still loved her in ten years or twenty.
The morning sun broke over the horizon and a new day of riding was ahead on them. The roads they took were not heavily populated and they never saw any smallfolk upon them. The women were mounted with the children while the men lead them down the road, and it was like this everyday for the next two weeks. The time went by in a flash and Sansa did not know where it went. Each day would begin with the fires being stemmed out, breakfast served, and they would start marching. The roads were narrow and jagged, seeing as they weren't properly made, and the horses would have to be navigated around rabbit holes so they wouldn't break a leg. Sansa knew what would happen if one of the horses broke a leg. She had seen the stable boys execute some of them in Winterfell, and Sansa remembered crying for a day.
On the road she had nothing to do but hold on to whatever child she carried that day, and retreat into her thoughts. Always she spent time dwelling on the past, on her time in King's Landing living among James and the court, but also the future for her and Jon. Sansa could not wait to be back in Winterfell, to marry Jon beneath the Heart Tree like the Starks before them, and finally she imagined bearing his children. She imagined one with his steel eyes and her hair, she wanted to name their son after Robb. One of the nights upon the road, before everyone went to bed, she had expressed this to all of them. "I want to name our son Robb," she admitted. "We will honor him." They all nodded and said they would respect that. James even told them that Dany wanted to name their son, "Rhaegar," if it was a boy. Jon only laughed at that and told him he had his blessing.
The days were like a cycle and it began to pass with ease. The routine of each day made the sun fly in the sky and Sansa did not know where it went. She wondered if Bran and Catelyn knew about King's Landing falling, she wondered how Stannis was doing as king. Sansa imagined him sitting on the Iron Throne with the fiery heart upon his chest, and it pained her to do so. She thought that he would be a good king, no matter his transgressions against her family.
They arrived at the River Road during the end of the second week, but they still had another until they even reached Riverrun. The food supplies were running low at this point, but the still had an abundance in medical supplies. Everyone was complaining for an inn with each day, and James was reluctant to go. They all remembered what happened last time they stayed at an inn, but Sansa didn't care. She'd give anything to sleep on an actual bed and not the rough-cold grassy floor. James finally relented and told them that the next inn they saw would be where they stopped to replenish. Sansa was excited for that much.
Now they were on the road again, and the sun was blistering hot this day. Sansa's lips were dry and she tried to wet them with her tongue, but to not avail. Sweat was forming on her brow and trickling down the back of her neck, soaking into her braid. In the saddle in front of her, Rhaella, was looking equally as parched although Sansa tried to cover her with a shall which probably made it worse. James told her to remove the shall and to just try and cover her with shade.
The road began to narrow after another hour had passed. The men lead the horses onto a single file line, and made room for anymore smallfolk that were coming down the road, too. Sansa saw a lot of rabbit holes on the road ahead, and warned the women to be careful in steering. Arya was the best rider out of all of them and told her she'll be okay.
Suddenly Sansa's horse reared as she held onto the reigns, Jon tried to calm the horse but suddenly it burst past her into a gallop. Sansa shrieked and held on to Rhaella in front of her while the horse galloped past the group. Then she felt herself flying forward into the air, the horse had hit a rabbit hole and fell forward. Sansa clutched on to her niece and they both tumbled forward, slamming onto the dirt road on her back with brute force. Rhaella was on top of her the whole time, and began to cry when she fell. Sansa's back was on fire as she laid on the ground, her head throbbing and all she could see was the blue sky. It felt like as if someone as big as Hodor had punched her straight in the back, and it throbbed with each passing second.
Hearing the cries of her niece again, Sansa shot up from the ground and took a look at her. She was still crying her eyes out, as she tried to soothe her. Sansa saw a scrape on her knee and her arm had a tiny cut on it. Sansa got up, cringing in pain from the fall, and picked Rhaella up. She tried to clean the cut with her tunic, but it didn't help. That was when she noticed the horse on the ground, it's leg was visibly broken with the bone petruding from the skin. She realized someone would have to put it out of its misery. Sansa shielded her niece's eyes and waited for her family to catch up. It didn't take them long.
She heard the hooves pounding into the dirt as Sansa turned around to see Arya and Dany trotting towards them. Neither of them had the kids, and Sansa figured they were with the men. Both of them had looks of concern and all Sansa could do was smile as she winced in pain. Their horses both reared to a halt in front of them, sending dirty into the air. Dany flew off her horse with finesse, running over to take her daughter into her arms. She inspected her as if Rhaella was deformed and noticed the tiny cut on her arm.
"James will clean it," Arya said to her, as she walked over to Sansa. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Sansa assured. The pain was still stinging in her back. "I just don't know why the horse flew forward. It must've seen something…"
"Who knows," said Arya with a shrug. She turned around and saw the horse on the ground in visible pain. It's mouth open and eyes wide, it kept neighing with each passing second.
"Someone will have to put it out of it's misery, poor thing," said Daenerys while she looked at them. Rhaella bobbing back and forth between her arms.
Then the men came from the road, running with the remaining of the children in their arms. Their swords clanking with each running step. James was concerned most of all as he held his son, and ran over to make sure his daughter was alright. Jon was with Lyanna as he handed her to Arya and hugged Sansa.
"What happened?" He whispered into her hair. "Why did the horse take off?"
"I don't know," Sansa told him. "It just…took off without warning. Thank the gods that Rhaella is okay."
"Thank the gods you're okay, too."
"Yes. But the babies matter more than us."
He nodded and looked over her shoulder to notice the horse on the floor in pain. "Someone will have to end its pain."
"I will," said Gendry, stepping forward. Jon pulled from Sansa's embrace and turned around to meet him. "I'll end the life of the poor thing."
Jon nodded and took a step back, unsheathing his sword to hand it over to Gendry. Sansa's good brother stepped forward and kneeled beside the horse, petting its main and whispering to it.
"Look away," Jon whispered into her ear. "Look away, Sansa."
"No."
And with that she watched as Gendry slid the sword across the horses throat, ending its life. The horse gave a few more neighs while the blood flowed freely like a river, dark and red. It thrashed around a few times until it finally went limp and lived no more. Sansa wept quietly for the horse while Gendry stood up and wiped the blood off Jon's sword. He handed it back to Jon and walked over to his family.
James then asked Sansa if she was alright, and she told him that she just thanked the gods for Rhaella coming out unscathed. They spent the next hour upon that section of the road. James cleaned out his daughter's tiny cut on her arm, pouring a little wine on it and bandaging it up. Rhaella surprisingly did not cry too much, and was very brave. Down a horse, Jon, suggested that the pregnant women ride with the girls while the rest have to walk upon the road. Sansa agreed, seeing as she wasn't with child, and walked with Jon upon the road.
After a while they entered a forested area, and had to cross many streams and brooks, most with small wooden bridges across them. At mid-afternoon they halted and had a quiet lunch of sausage and cheese, washed down with watered ale. The rest of the day was cool under the forest and the road soon narrowed. Sansa grew tired of walking upon her feet, but she had no choice. She had wondered how Jon put up with this after so many weeks. Many hours later the road widened some and they came upon a large stream and a tiny wooden inn with a sign hanging from it. It sported a Tully fish springing out of the water, and Sansa knew they were now truly upon the River Road.
"Look, an inn!" Sansa exclaimed when it came within eyesight. Everyone shouted out in joy and wanted nothing but to stop there and sleep in a proper bed. Sansa reassured them that she and Jon would take the children again, all were thankful for that. There would be a bathhouse and ale and real food, they also had enough money to possibly buy some more food the road ahead. Sansa was excited to know they were close to Riverrun. Close to her mother.
They finally arrived at the inn and handed off the horses to a stable boy who was waiting just outside. Arya took the provisions and handed them out to everyone. Daenerys put her shall up and Rhaella's too before entering the inn.
The inn had a small common room with many tables and benches and fireplace with a roaring fire over which a large pot of stew was cooking. The innkeeper was a wide lady who had a charming smile. She invited them in and seemed to know they weren't just common smallfolk. Soon they were seated at tables and had mugs of strong ale and good hearty stew with bread. Sansa found herself seated between Jon and James, while they ate in relative silence. The kitchen servants offered the children some lemon cakes, and James thanked them for their kindness. Sansa managed to eat one too, loving her favorite cake that reminded her of childhood.
The innkeep lady joined them and began to speak with them about the Riverlands. She said that war was coming again, and that she had numerous refugees fleeing from King's Landing. Yet, no news shocked all of them as much as when she told them the Northern army had come down on Riverrun. "Happened a couple weeks past," she had said while she was serving James ale. "The Northmen fought the Tyrells, but were pushed back. Now they are in a land lock siege, and the Lord of Winterfell cannot relieve the castle." James grew stern at that, and Arya began to question whether Riverrun was the right choice. Jon said that Bran was still there, and that they had to head over there.
After everyone had eaten their fill, they sat in the common room for a few moments while a musician played a song. It was slow and sweet, leaving Sansa to reminisce about how much she had loved music. Now it left her with nothing but pain, bringing up memories of days past that she did not want to remember anymore. I just want to be with my family. I just want us to be as one.
Soon everyone went off to bed. James and Daenerys shared one room, Gendry and Arya in another, and Sansa was with Jon and the children in a third. The room was small, a moderately sized bed in the middle, and two tiny cots that were placed next to each other by a servant girl. James had to pay extra for that service. Jon and Sansa quickly put the children to bed, all of them slept in the bed in the middle and did not put up any resistance. All of them were tired. Sansa laid down on a cot that she put together with Jon, and they decided to just sleep. Her back was still aching from the fall, and now she felt a small bump on the back of her head.
Sleep came easy at the beginning, but Sansa awoke in the middle of the night to Jon groaning. He was laying on his back in pain and Sansa saw him tensing.
"Your wound aching?" She asked as she turned to face him.
He nodded. "It does this every night. I'd drink milk of the poppy, but I don't want to become dependent on it."
"I understand."
"I just want to go home," he said to her. "I just want to see Bran and our family again."
"I do, too."
"And now they are struggling to relieve Riverrun from the damn roses."
"If their was only a way we could help them."
"If only we still had those damn dragons."
Dragons…Sansa mused. She had forgotten about those creatures. Perhaps they wouldn't be on the run if Varys didn't' release them. Yet she also remembered Jon telling her that the dragons were useless if Aegon laid a siege, and so he did.
"Where do you think they are?"
Jon shrugged. "Not sure," he said in a whisper. "Dany's tried calling out to them, I've tried calling out to Rhaegal. But, nothing."
"Why won't they reply?"
"I'm don't know."
Sansa thought on this for a second. She thought that their might be a way to get them back. It was then she remembered her direwolf dreams when Lady was still alive. How real it felt, how oddly…
"Jon!" Sansa yelled in a whisper. "I think I've figured something out."
"What?" he said with a laugh. "Are you going to tempt the dragons with fresh cattle?"
Sansa laughed. "No, sweetling. I just remembered something about the direwolf dreams I used to have when Lady was still alive. What was it called?"
"Warging."
"Yes!" She exclaimed. "Warging! Can you warg a dragon?"
"I used to warg, Ghost," Jon admitted. "It was how I managed to stay alive when my black brothers deemed to betray me. But, I haven't warged in years and never did I try to warg into Rhaegal."
"Is it possible?"
"It could be…"
Sansa saw that he was thinking upon this now. If he could manage to warg into Rhaegal, than maybe they could get the dragons back. And then they could help in taking Riverrun.
"You need to try it."
He laughed. "I don't know how it could be possible, but I can."
"You're a Targaryen," said Sansa. "These dragons should be bending to you."
"But they aren't, and Dany has tried."
"Can Daenerys warg, too?"
Jon scrubbed his chin in thought. "She did warg into Drogon when we fought the Others. I think it could be possible…"
"Bran can warg, too," Sansa pointed out. "Mayhaps he could sense it."
Jon shrugged. "It could maybe be done. Bran can warg into whatever he wants, although I was better than him at a time. He is just a greenseer. I need to re-learn how to control it."
"Is it hard?"
He shook his head. "It's like riding a horse: you never forget."
Sansa nodded again and thought over this for a few moments, but she didn't wait long. "We could help Bran with Riverrun if we managed to warg into them."
"We could," said Jon. "And I'm sure they will be of a big help."
Sansa turned to face him again. "Dany deserves to know about this, James too."
Jon nodded. "We will tell them in the morning."
"No!" Sansa whispered, "We should tell them now."
"Sansa," Jon began, "let them be. They're husband and wife, they should spend time together. Plus we know what they like to do in the night…"
Sansa rolled her eyes. "Gods. I can still hear it now from within the walls of Maegor's Holdfast. The screams…"
Jon laughed. "Fortunately I stayed in the Tower of the Hand."
"We should still tell them."
"Aye, we should. Let's go."
Jon got up from his cot, but then Sansa remembered about the children. They couldn't be left alone at night. Jon slipped on his tunic now and shook out his now long hair. It had regrown since they last cut it, Sansa liked it long and he obliged her.
"We can't leave the kids alone," Sansa whispered to him. "Someone has to stay here with them."
"They'll be fine," Jon assured. "They're all slee-"
And with that they both sighed when one of them began to cry. Sansa immediately knew the cry was Ned. Rhaella kicked in her sleep and always hit him. Sansa sighed and walked over to scoop him from the bed. He calmed down after a few soothing words, but she figured to use him as an excuse to wake up Dany and James.
She looked back at the bed once more and saw Rhaella crawled up into a little ball, with Lyanna sleeping next to her and Robert at the edge of the bed. They've grown up so fast. Catelyn won't even recognize them.
Sansa turned and nodded at Jon before they walked out the door and closed it behind them. Jon strapped on his sword belt before leaving, and it was knocking against the walls of the narrow hallway. They arrived at the outside of James's chambers and Jon lightly knocked on the door. Their was no answer at first, so he knocked again. James had always been a heavy sleeper, Sansa knew, but she didn't know how Dany was.
Jon knocked again and this time they could hear shuffling on the other side. A few moments later, James, opened the door still groggy from sleep. He was wearing nothing but breeches and was rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Sansa peered over his shoulder to see Dany rising from the bed, she was wrapped in the sheets.
"Ned couldn't sleep, I assume?" James asked while he stood in the doorway. "Did Rhaella kick him again?"
Jon nodded. "That would be correct."
"Give him over," said James, groggy from sleep still. Sansa was about to hand him over when she noticed Ned had fallen asleep on her shoulder.
"Oh," said Sansa, "looks like he already fell back asleep."
He sighed. "Then what do you want to talk about? The Narrow Sea?"
"No," Jon said this time. "We need to talk about something else. May we come in?"
James nodded again and stepped aside to let them enter. Sansa nodded hello to Dany and placed her nephew on the bed. She took a seat with Jon on a couple of chairs that were in the corner of the room, while James sat on the bed with his wife.
"Now, explain why you decided to wake us at this ungodly hour," said Daenerys.
Jon cleared his throat. "I think we have figured out the Riverrun problem, aunt Daenerys."
James laughed out loud at that, so loud that he had to cover his mouth to not wake his son. Jon had never referred to Daenerys as his aunt, even though it is what she was in truth. He was older than her by a year, so she felt more like a younger sister to him.
"And what solution has my nephew come up with?"
"Dragons," said Sansa.
"Dragons?" James questioned. "Last I checked they're off somewhere else."
"But Sansa over here has figured out a solution," Jon told them.
"What solution?"
"Warging."
Dany and James stared at each other with surprised looks.
The sheet fell to expose Dany's shoulder, but she shrugged it back into position. "Warging? Jon, the last time I warged the Others were a threat to Westeros. I haven't warged since then."
"Neither have I," he admitted, "but that doesn't mean we can't try. You and I can try warging into the dragons."
"It is worth a try," said James. "I don't see what could go wrong."
"We haven't tried in years, James," Dany pointed out. "And dragons are hard to warg into."
"But we have a deep bond with them," said Jon. "Rhaegal trusts me, as does Drogon you. Who says they won't let us enter?"
"They might," Dany mused. "It is worth a shot."
"And if it works?" asked Sansa. "What will we do?"
"Destroy the Tyrell host," Daenerys replied with a smile. "Fire and Blood our the words of my house, and Jon's."
"Mine is actually winter is coming," jested Jon.
Dany narrowed his eyes at him and shrugged the sheet back into position, it constantly kept falling. Yet, Sansa began to think about something else. If they managed to warg into the dragons and relieve Riverrun, would they take back the Iron Throne? She needed to know.
"Would you take back the throne?" Sansa blurted.
Startled, everyone's eyes were on her. Sansa began to feel nervous, but did not wait for them to reply. "Would you use the dragons to take back what was taken?"
James shrugged. "To be honest, I don't want to be king. Stannis will be a better one than me."
Dany wasn't so convinced. "Part of me wants to, but James doesn't. The blood of the dragon doesn't run so easily, I tell him, but he doesn't see eye-to-eye with me."
Jon laughed. "And what would we do? Have Rhaegal burn down King's Landing and everyone in it? Burn Stannis alive within the Red Keep?"
Everyone grew silent after that. Nobody said anything, but part of Sansa was telling her that Jon was right.
"I took King's Landing the first time with dragons," said Daenerys.
"And you burned half the city in the attempt, the Lannister men mutinied and plundered the city," James corrected. "It did more harm than good."
Dany sighed again and resumed to her thoughts.
"So will we try to warg in the morning?" Jon asked.
They both nodded and everyone came to an agreement. Sansa and Jon rose from their chairs and bid them good night. She decided to let Ned sleep with his parents that night, so Sansa could get some sleep. Her and Jon went back to their chambers and the children were still asleep. Sansa laid down on the bed next to them, and let the sleep take her. While Jon rested on the cot.
Dawn came all too soon, and it was time to awake. They went down to break their fast in the tiny small hall. Sansa had some bacon with boiled eggs and bread that the innkeep was serving that day. James paid her for everything and she gave them food the road ahead. Whilst breaking their fast, Jon, told Arya and Gendry their plan in a whisper. Arya, who could also warg like all the Stark children, told him it was a fine idea.
Soon they were all gone from the inn and on their horses again. They stopped at a clearing off the side of the road they found, and decided that it was the best place to try and warg. Sansa could remember her direwolf dreams that she had with Lady, the way everything was so vivid and real. They tied up the horses and sat around in a circle, everyone watching as Jon and Dany stood up, holding hands while they tried to warg, Sansa guessed. She thought they looked like they were praying.
An hour passed with no avail, and Jon had grown tired of trying. He soon gave up and just sat with them, while Daenerys was persistent. She kept trying and trying.
She walked up to Jon, holding out her hand and said, "One more time, Jon. I can feel it this time."
"You've said that the past five times," said Jon. "Face it, Dany, this isn't working."
"One more," she insisted with her hand still out. "One more and then I'll shut up. Everyone, come with us."
They all nodded and stood up while Jon grabbed her hand and pushed himself up. Dany walked him over to a little hill on the clearing and stood with him once more. Sansa got up with them, as did everyone else, and watched them try once more.
Everyone watched as they held hands once more and took a deep breath. They then closed their eyes and stood there in relative silence. Five minutes passed and Dany had given up by then.
"This is hopeless," she said.
Sansa nodded to her in agreement and began to walk back until James screamed, "JON! JON! What's-"
Sansa turned around and watched as Jon had fallen to the ground, his eyes rolling to the back of his head. His body limb as if he was asleep.
A/N: I haven't forgotten about Bran and Catelyn. We will be getting an update from them and someone new...