"This is Rosby?" From the cover of the forest, Brienne regarded the little village with disfavor. "It's hardly more than a wide place in the road. Why did you want to come here? We need a ship to Tarth."
"Aye, and we're going to need help finding one." The Hound shifted in his saddle and looked back at Sansa and Arya waiting next to Podrick. During the first few days as they traveled south from Duskendale, the young man had been very silent, except at night when the muffled cries in his sleep testified to nightmares he never spoke of during the day. Sansa made a constant effort to be kind to Podrick, Arya followed suit after a stern warning from Sandor, and after a few days he began talking again, although he still didn't mention what he heard in the Seven Swords about Ramsay Bolton and what he had done to Stannis Baratheon and Melisandre. Now he was smiling at the two sisters, talking easily with them, and Sandor lowered his voice and leaned closer to Brienne. "You know as well as I how crazy it is to be this close to King's Landing. If we're spotted, we're done. You and Podrick go into town, find the maester Melwys, see if he'll help."
Brienne regarded the Hound thoughtfully. "Is there any reason he should?"
"He took a risk once before to help me with something. If you tell him the man who bought the tombstone is here, he should at least be willing to meet with me." The look in Sandor's eyes discouraged further questions, and after a moment Brienne shrugged. "Sansa will stay with you but what about Arya? She always wants to go into town."
Sandor was forestalled from answering as the three young people rode forward and Sansa came up to his side. "I want to see that grave."
"So do I," said Arya firmly.
Podrick looked troubled. "What grave?"
"I don't remember where it is," said the Hound gruffly.
Podrick made as if to speak again and Brienne cut him off. "Pod, we're going into the village while our friends visit the cemetery. Sandor, we'll meet you and the girls back here." Her eyes met Sandor's and he blew out his breath in exasperation, then nodded, watching them out of sight before turning to the sisters.
"It's not much to see, little bird."
"I don't care." Sansa's voice trembled. "You know how Joffrey…what he did to me..." She fell silent and after a moment the Hound turned Stranger's head and tapped his side with his heel. The big black horse trotted off and Sansa asked uncertainly, "Does that mean yes?"
Arya kicked her own horse. "Yes, that means yes." The two girls caught up to Sandor, riding in silence until they reached the small field that served Rosby as a cemetery. It was a poor place with weathered wooden markers and a rickety fence and they dismounted, tying their horses to the sturdiest posts they could find and threading their way along overgrown paths until they reached one of the few stone markers.
Sansa sank to her knees in front of the stone. It was shining black with nothing on it but a bas-relief carving of three dogs and she ran her hand over the sculpture, then looked up at Sandor. He looked away and she swallowed her tears, saying softly, "I hope I have something this good when my time comes."
Arya bent to look at the stone. "I never thought about what I want. Syrio said we tell the God of Death, not today."
"It'll bloody well be today if we linger here," grumbled the Hound. "Have you two seen enough?"
Sansa got to her feet and brushed off her clothes, then went up to Sandor and touched his hand. His eyes met hers but he remained silent and after a moment, she started back to the horses, followed by Arya, the Hound bringing up the rear. None of them noticed the young gravedigger who had stopped his work to observe them.