"King Joffrey is dead."

Catelyn collapsed onto the floor the moment she heard those words from Robb. Messengers from across the Seven Kingdoms must have rallied everywhere to deliver the news. The boy who took her husband's life was dead. Relief washed over her, a sense of calm returning to her. It was as if her soul had lightened dramatically, and she could finally breathe at ease.

"That's not the end of our worries, Cat," Brynden Tully told her, helping her to rise. "If those blasted Lannisters can put a boy-king up on the throne, they can surely put another there." Cersei Lannisters had two sons, after all. Catelyn had no doubt seen little Tommen Baratheon before, a sweet boy who had nothing of his older brother's cruel streak.

"As long as it's one of Cersei Lannister's spawn, we're not out of danger," Robb proclaimed. "We will fight until the North is recognized as an independent, sovereign nation." He would no longer risk his people to the whims and fancies of other Kings. If it was the love for his people that Torrhen Stark bent the knee to Aegon the Conquerer, it would be the same love he had to his that would make him found the Kingdom of the North once again.

"Obara, Nymeria, any word from Oberyn?" Robb asked the Sand Snakes.

"Only that Jaime Lannister has returned to King's Landing and Brienne of Tarth is now sworn to Princess Sansa a..." Obara said, almost forgetting not to mention Ellaria to Sansa's family. It was a formal plea from her father's wife, that she would tell her family herself that she would be permitting Ellaria in her marriage. Nymeria gave her sister a light pinch to remind her that as well. "Oberyn has taken a seat on the Small Council and has Lannister spies flying all over him. It would take a little more... effort to get word out."

Robb nodded in understanding. "Do what you can then," he said. He hated to admit it, but the Sand Snakes were very capable lieutenants. He'd kept them close, but ever since they arrived, everything was kept in tip-top shape, despite the trail of... indiscretions they left behind. None of his men could seem to resist them, for they were certainly exotic rarities for the Northmen and Rivermen. After Oberyn's daughters had left, Robb turned to Catelyn, "Mother, I have something to discuss with you."

Together, the two of them walked towards his writing table. There laid a letter in Robb's scrawling, but legible handwriting. It was a proclamation. Catelyn read it and looked at her own son, eyes widened in shock. "You would legitimize Jon Snow?" she demanded.

"I can and I will," Robb said. "Kings are dying left, right and center. Rickon and Bran are dead and if Sansa inherits, the North would be passed to the Martells. There must always be a Stark in Winterfell." Jon was raised next to him, even if his mother despised him. Ned Stark had always said that Jon was of their blood, and that made him a Stark. "Mother, I don't even know if Talisa is carrying a son or not. If anything happens..."

Catelyn sighed. The Starks were a powerful family, but they were running out of family. With their grandfather, uncle and father killed by two separate mad kings, their aunt and two three other siblings dead, Robb and Sansa were the only ones left. They needed Jon. "He's joined the Night's Watch, Robb," Catelyn reasoned. "He's sworn an oath. He cannot inherit even if you made him a Stark."

Robb knew this. Starks have joined the Night's Watch for generations. "Then he'll be another Stark there just the same," he said. "Mother, I know that this is hard for you, but... we can't shut Jon off because of what Father did." Seeing so much death and war changed his perspective. The fact that he was soon to be a father changed his perspective. The past few years had taken such a toll on him that he knew that he could not go on without holding all that he held dear as close to him as possible. "That's Father's mistake and the Gods know that he's been punished enough for it before he died."

Catelyn knew that she could not change Robb's decision. He was as stubborn as Ned was. "Fine, do whatever you like," she said. Stark or not, Jon was never going to change the fact that Robb not only had to shoulder the responsibility of reasserting the independence of the North, but also to recreate the Stark dynasty. She knew that she should not be angry at her son. He meant well, and he was at a difficult time in his life. He could not have known about the... sheer injustice it was to her to see Jon Snow being raised side by side her own children. A son of her own husband that was not hers. Her husband could have had him cared for, far out of her sight even if he acknowledged him, but her husband brought him home to Winterfell.

"Mother..." Robb groaned, but Catelyn was already out the door before he could say anything. Before long, there was another knock on the door and he said, "Come in."

"Your mother stormed out rather quickly," Talisa said as she came into their chambers. "Did you show her the..."

"Yes, but I didn't know that she'd take it so badly," Robb replied, covering his face in his hands, his elbows resting on the table. "I don't understand... Jon's like a brother to me."

Talisa put her arms around her husband comfortingly and asked, "Well imagine if I had a son with another lord, a kitchen-boy even. Would you be willing to raise him as your own?"

Robb groaned again. "I wouldn't," he said, knowing that Talisa's example was a very good one indeed. "But..."

"I know that you mother is not the easiest one to talk to," she said. "But give her time. She isn't one to easily trust and relent, not when what you're doing seems like such a slap to her face." She spoke from experience. When Talisa first appeared in the camps as a healer and Catelyn sniffed out the growing tension between her and Robb, Catelyn had refused to speak to her beyond the bounds of courtesy. When Catelyn found out that she and Robb had wedded in secret, Catelyn had openly scowled at her. In short, Catelyn Stark was an overbearing woman who would fight against everything that went against her until she could no longer fight it. She would fight for the sake of fighting and would only stop until it suited her. Talisa was an outsider, and of course, she would have an outsider's view of her mother-in-law. It was true that she loved her children and her family. A loving mother was never vengeful.

"Are there bastards in Volantis as well?" Robb asked her. "What do wives do with them?"

"Wives would do what they can do protect their own children," Talisa told Robb. "As your mother would have done." It was not an entirely false statement. But the truth was that Volantene men married many women if they were rich. When concubinage was rampant, there were few bastards, save for the children of slaves that their masters had taken to bed. In whatever case, wives and their children would scheme against the concubines and theirs. She was lucky that her father had only one wife and she and her brother were loved.

Robb took an exceptionally long draw of breath and passed the letter to Talisa. "Give this to the maester. Tell him to send this proclamation to Oldtown, so the Citadel can pass the news throughout the Seven Kingdoms," he instructed Talisa. "Mother won't like it, but Jon's family. We can't leave him out in the dark, Knight's Watch or no."

Talisa nodded and gave him a kiss on the cheek before she left to see the maester of Casterly Rock.

"Princess, why didn't you want to join the Prince and Ellaria?" Brienne asked Sansa as they walked back from the Godswood of the Red Keep.

"Oh, whatever they're doing doesn't... interest me," Sansa replied. She knew precisely where Oberyn and Ellaria were going. They had been invited by Littlefinger's new majordomo, Olyvar, to attend an orgy, an arrangement with several other nobles and of course, choice employees of the pleasure house. Since she was still inexperienced in these matters, she decided to decline her invitation.

Brienne sighed. "It must be hard for you, having to put up with your husband's lover," she said.

"Please don't say that, Brienne," Sansa pleaded. "Ellaria's only been sweet and kind to me ever since I met her. Quite frankly, I'm the one that's intruding on their relationship. They've four daughters together, you know." She had meant every word that she had said to them, that once she had become Oberyn's wife, she had considered Ellaria part of her family as well. She would not have it any other way, and she did hope that one day, she would be able to admit them both into her bed, not only because they were clearly very beautiful and seductive creatures, because she owed so much to them.

Brienne could only obey Sansa's wishes although she did not understand them. "Most women would see this as a great injustice," she continued. "Even your lady mother would."

"My mother was furious when my father brought our bastard brother back home from the war," Sansa continued. "She resented Jon, and never wanted him in her sight if she could. But Father loved him as much as he dared to. Ellaria's a bastard too. Seeing her for the first time... it made me sad because I remembered how poorly I treated Jon in Winterfell, because I only thought to follow Mother." If she could have another chance, she swore to herself that she would make things right with Jon Snow. She would apologize to him and she would embrace him as a brother.

Brienne sighed. "You are too kind, Princess," she commented. "But, I think that kindness is not a bad thing to have. It's just that..."

"Mother won't have expected me to have this kind of marriage," Sansa finished for Brienne. "But, it's the one I've got." On the surface, she might have entered this marriage because she had no choice, like all the other high-born brides since time immemorial. It was for the alliance between her brother and Dorne, some people would say. It was so that the Lannisters could well be rid of her, others would say. For whatever reason, she personally felt that this match had been a blessing of the Gods.

"Do you love them?" Brienne asked her. "If... if you don't mind me asking, Princess..."

Love? Did she love them? They brought her into their arms so openly, even when she had nothing to give them. They welcomed her into their lives. Did they love her? Was it love or was it duty? Was it even politics? No, she could not answer. Not right now.

"I... don't know," Sansa replied, truthfully. "It's all jumbled up right now."

Brienne sighed. "Well, I suppose that you'll have your whole life to figure that out," she said. "Take things one step at a time."

"Yes, that would be a wise thing to do, I suppose," Sansa concluded. "Mother and Robb though..."

"They'll come around, Princess, don't worry," Brienne told her. "Once they know that you're safe and happy, all they'll be asking is when you're going to have your baby."

Sansa gulped. "I... don't think I'm ready for a baby just yet," she said. She was only 16, and for whatever reason, she did not feel as if she wanted to have that kind of responsibility yet.

"I understand, Princess," Brienne reckoned. "Trust me, I do. People think that women should all wear pretty dresses and dance and flounce about ballrooms. Look at me. I was never that kind of girl, but I've found my footing. Maybe you can be a different sort of Princess when you've found your way."

"Maybe..." Sansa mused. She had spent her whole life dreaming of what she had now, although she would have never wanted such a fate for herself upon hindsight. Yet, now when her father's killer was already dead and the stalemate between Robb's and the Lannister armies ensured that there was a watchful ceasefire for the time being, she could not help but feel more and more... alive.

"Ah, there you are!" Turning around to find Oberyn and Ellaria not far behind her, Sansa smiled and walked towards them. Oberyn was all smlies, and even twirled her around for good measure. Once she had her feet on the ground, Ellaria gave her a kiss on the cheek and the three of them were walking hand in hand again, with Brienne a respectable distance behind them.

However, after the seemingly joyful reunion between them, Sansa saw that Oberyn's brow had become furrowed. There was a certain tightness in the way he had laced his fingers through hers. "Is there anything wrong?" she asked her husband. "Oberyn?"

"Lord Tywin visited us halfway through our... festivities," Oberyn explained. Although he had openly told Sansa what their afternoon agenda had entailed, he still felt he needed to dance around the subject. "He told me that his son Tyrion Lannister was suspected for the murder of King Joffrey. He wanted me to sit on the trial as one of the three judges." There seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary. Oberyn had represented Dorne's neutrality on the Small Council, and it would be a logical choice for him to be one of the judges. "He has also informed me that you will be called up as a witness in the trial."

Sansa blinked. "Me?" she asked. "But I've nothing..."

"He says that you've seen much of the interactions between the Imp and Joffrey," Oberyn continued. "They would listen to what you have to say in the trial as well."

Nodding her head, Sansa knew what must be done. Since Tywin Lannister had so blatantly asked for her, there was no way that she could have shirked from being placed into such a predicament. "This trial will be a farce though," she commented. "The Queen hates Lord Tyrion as much as Joffrey liked torturing small animals."

Ellaria chuckled at her analogy. "You are more talented in playing this wretched game than you think you are, my love," she told Sansa. It was not the first time that anyone had told her that. Oberyn had suggested that she should try to speak to Robb to being his advisor, but she had told him that she had no wish to be a player at all. "You will be fine."

"Will you be attending, Ellaria?" Sansa asked.

"Unlike you, I have no real interest in these matters," Ellaria answered. "I will spend the afternoon with Brienne, I think. She seems like an interesting girl, no?"

The silence that surrounded them was affirmation enough. "When is the trial?"

"Two days from now," Oberyn answered.

"I can't wait," Sansa rolled her eyes in mock excitement.

In the evening, Oberyn decided out of the blue that he would spar with Brienne. After all, he had to see for himself her prowess with the sword. At six feet and two inches, Brienne was taller than even him. She was built differently than most women. Her body was built for strength, but years and years of cowing others into submission with it has left her without style or finesse. There was no wonder now that she had defeated Ser Loras Tyrell back in the day. She simply beat him up until he yielded.

"You are in severe need of retraining, Brienne," Oberyn told her after he had her lying flat on her back, his spear pointed towards her neck. He helped her to stand and continued, "You have the skill, but not the style of a proper warrior."

"I'm sorry if I don't dance about the ring like you do, Prince Oberyn," Brienne replied, trying not to let his comment get under her skin. "Do all you Dornishmen fight like you do though?"

Oberyn smirked. "Not as well as I do," he replied. "Nevertheless, you interest me, Brienne of Tarth. We should spar more often. Maybe I can help you knock out all the bad habits you've had training with men who obviously had less skill than you." Brienne was now Sansa's sworn sword, charged to protect herself and Ellaria. If the lives of his wife and paramour were in her hands, he would have her become a better fighter than she already was. Besides, he needed the exercise anyways.

"I am your humble servant, Prince Oberyn," Brienne said, bowing as she consented to his suggestion. There was no harm in getting more practice, after all.

"Maybe after some time, you will be able to truly best the Kingslayer, Jaime Lannister, in a fair fight," Oberyn added. Sansa had recounted to him a tale from Brienne that she had overcome Jaime Lannister on a bridge, despite him being one of the best fighters in Westeros. "How you've managed to keep him in chains for so long is a marvel in itself, I assure you."

"I simply never let him out," Brienne explained. "There's nothing much to it, really."

"The very fact that you can listen to his golden tongue singing his Lannister songs and not be swayed is very impressive," Oberyn elaborated. "They have a gift for trying to talk themselves out of every difficult siutation, I assure you." Brienne tried to smile at his remark, but in the end, the smile had vanished. "You should smile more, Brienne," he said, adding more to a list of things that she should do from him. "You're a fair lady when you do."

"My prince, I'm not a lady," Brienne emphasized. "I've never wanted to be, nor can I ever will."

Shaking his head, Oberyn replied. "You are Brienne of House Tarth. Denying that is like me denying that I'm a lusty Dornishman from the south. Others might not have treated you with grace like a proper lady but you need not turn yourself into a stoic man just because don't see you as one. That would make those fools right in what they say about it. My daughters are all trained for battle and they wear beautiful gowns when they need to." He placed emphasis on the word "need" because Obara was the least feminine of all his daughters, but even she would put on a dress if she was required to by duty. "You can be a knight and a lady at the same time."

"I... I've never thought about it that way, my prince," Brienne stammered. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it," Oberyn replied. "Now, we must see what my loves are up to. They'll be plotting the death of me if we're not careful."

HAN: I'd like to show some family dynamics in this chapter. We have the Starks, where Catelyn is sub-consciously acting as an overbearing mother, and Brienne, wondering all sorts of things about Sansa, Oberyn and Ellaria. And no, Oberyn is not trying to seduce Brienne. He's just being a good human being and boss.

For whatever reason, because Roose Bolton was not in Harrenhal in this fic, I decided to keep Jaime Lannister's hand.

Yes, Sansa will be involved with the trial, but she's not a suspect.

I'm not sorry that I skipped the orgy, but it was completely unnecessary in a fic where Sansa's in the center. Don't worry, we'll have others to make up for it. I hope.

Enjoy!