The Dragon and the Hawke 45
While Marian was off saving total strangers, Sansa and Tyrion were trying to enjoy the hospitality of Stannis Baratheon and his wife. It was very difficult to connect the sweet girl that they had in Shireen with the hard man of Stannis and the obviously unhinged fanaticism of Selyse. Both, who had survived in the Red Keep of King's Landing, were at least practiced enough in the art of politics not to say anything unwise to the Baratheon royalty.
The thought being that if Stannis was willing to murder his own brother, he probably had as much a grip on human decency as Cersei Lannister, and that was a score that had gone into the negatives about thirty years ago. As a result, their interaction was one of stressful silences between drinks. Usually it was Tyrion who tried to initiate conversation, but his attempts fell flat against the harsh glare of the Baratheon Queen.
Eventually, they were happily separated from the King and Queen to go to the courtyard where they would await Sansa's brother and the Umbers. They did not have to wait long, thankfully, as they had come to Winterfell the day that the party escorting Rickon was meant to arrive.
The bannermen were seen first, holding high the standard of House Umber as they entered Winterfell two at a time. Followed behind them was Smalljon Umber, who they had not expected to see, as they had thought him killed at the Red Wedding. After Smalljon was a tall young man next to a dark skinned woman, and a direwolf.
"Rickon?" Sansa asks when the party comes to a halt, not truly able to believe that she was seeing her long lost brother.
The boy looks at her, tilts his head, and slides off of his horse. He sets down on the ground with a practiced ease and steps up to her. She holds her breath as he looks her over, eyes tracing every line of her face for some sense of recognition. He doesn't manage to find any and has to ask, "Who are you?"
Sansa, who had been hoping for some recognition from the lad, broke into sobs. She covered her mouth, sniffed to try and gain control of herself, and then tells him, "I'm Sansa, Rickon, your sister."
"Oh," the young Lord Stark nods his head, then smiles at her unsurely, "Well, hello."
"You've got to introduce yourself proper like, boy," The dark skinned woman who had been beside him tells the boy as she sidles up to them. She gives Sansa and small smile and bows her head, "It's nice to see not everyone in 'is family got themselves killed doing stupid things."
"I'm sorry?" Sansa leans her head back and blinks a few times at the strange woman
"Father heads south and gets himself called a traitor, mother goes south and takes a dwarf, brother goes south and gets married, daughters go south with the father and I see only one of them," The woman waves her hand, "By the Gods, if the Fire King hadn't taken this keep, I'd probably be dead cause of your family's stupidity too."
"Whatever do you mean by that?" Tyrion asks
"We were gonna play a trick on the Boltons," Smalljon Umber tells the dwarf as he steps up, "Would mean giving the bastards Rickon, Osha, and a direwolf's head."
"You would have…? Please, no!" Sansa breaths in
"It wouldn't have been Shaggydog," Rickon tells her, "We found a dead one!"
"Aye, lad's good at that," Smalljon agrees.
"I fear I am confused," Tyrion tilts his head and then waves his hand, "You are saying that if Stannis had not won Winterfell, you would have concocted a scheme that involves you handing over the last son of Eddard and Catelyn Stark, his caretaker, and a direwolf? And then what, expecting him to believe in your allegiance?"
"Would have waited for the Bastard to gut his father," Smalljon tells him, "Would have been easier to fool that stupid cunt."
"Yes, reports of his… well actually everything about him was disturbing," Tyrion agrees
"Why are you here, anyway, Lannister?" Smalljon asks as they watch Sansa, Rickon, and Osha try and catch up and get some sort of familial report going.
"Supporting my wife," Tyrion tells the Umber, "Myself and Marian Hawke managed to rescue her some time ago from Ramsey Bolton, and since then we've gotten to know each other enough that she can stand the sight of me."
"Oh, I don't know, you don't look too bad," Smalljon notes, "Way I heard it you got your nose taken off when Stannis tried to take the Red Keep."
"Very nearly," Tyrion sighs, "Yet another attempt on my life from the lovely hands of my sister."
"Your sister sounds like a cunt."
"Oh, you have no inclination as to how much of an understatement that is."
"Damn," Smalljon nods, "So how'd you get to Winterfell in time to meet us."
"Empress Daenerys Targaryen has in her employ a Mage of enough power that people think her a goddess," Tyrion tells the northman, "I am inclined to agree, as Marian is able to step through one corner of the world and into another with terrifying ease."
Smalljon raises an eyebrow and looks down at him, "You serve the Targaryens?"
"Just one," Tyrion corrects, "And she rules far better than any King I've had the pleasure of meeting."
"Do you include me in that number, Lord Lannister?" the voice of Stannis Baratheon asks as he steps up beside them.
Tyrion bows respectfully, "I am referring to my nephews, brother in law, and the Mad King, your Grace. You, I have not seen enough of as King in the North to know if you are as good as the Empress."
The King nods and moves towards the Starks while Smalljon snorts, "Well said."
"I try," Tyrion shrugs as he watches Stannis stop in front of Rickon and Sansa.
"Lord Stark, Lady Lannister, we must talk," Stannis tells them
"Lady Lannister?" Rickon asks, looking up at Sansa.
"I'll explain after we talk with the King," Sansa tells him with a smile, and the boy nods. It hadn't taken much effort for her and Osha to get the lad to warm to her, and even less after that to bring out some youthful enthusiasm for finding a loving sister that had been taken from him near half his lifetime ago.
Their attention turns to the king, who looked between them, "Now that a Lord Stark has returned to Winterfell, it seems that it is time for me to start moving my army south. The snows are falling more heavily and we must move before the roads become untraversable."
"Why have you waited so long, your grace?" Sansa asks
"There is a saying, one the castle servants have deemed to share with me," Stannis tells her, and then quotes, "There must always be a Stark in Winterfell. I do not know if that is true, but there is magic in the old ways, as both your god and mine have shown. Thus I wished to await the return of a Stark to leave this keep."
"Isn't Sansa a Stark?" Rickon asks
"No, Rickon, right now I'm a Lannister," Sansa tells him with a gentle smile, "I am married, and this my husband's House is my own. I am a Stark, but no longer do I carry the family name. That is your job now."
"So I have to stay here?" Rickon asks, "Alone?"
"No!" Sansa hugs him hard, "I will stay with you, as I'm sure Osha will as well, and even Tyrion."
Osha nods silently at Sansa's look, while Tyrion just smiles from his place beside Smalljon. She squeezes her little brother against her and then asks the king, "Is there somewhere private we can speak with each other."
Stannis nods, and waves for one of his men to lead them away.