20. Red Carpets, Green Flames and Golden Statues.
The auditorium of the Dolby Theatre was still mostly empty, except for the guest that were already starting to enter and full the upper seats, the cameras, and the security personnel. Half of them were there for the cinema stars that would be soon filing those empty seats. The other half was there for Joffrey.
As the fiancé of one of the nominees for Best Actress and also Best Original Song, he had been invited to be a guest during the ceremony and accompany his future wife during that important day of her life and her career. But after the attack that he had suffered back in King's Landing, no one wanted to take a big risk of having him being attacked again; the US definitely did not want a Governor and possible future President of another nation killed within it's borders, hence the excessive security that day. Instead of walking by his fiancée's side down the red carpet, he had arrived early and he had been amen immediately inside the Dolby Theatre so that he wouldn't be out in the open where it was dangerous. He had been assigned one of the front line seats, next to where Sansa was going to sit down, and he was waiting while surrounded by security for the time being. Later they would leave to different corners of the auditorium and only Sandor would stay there to personally guard the Governor. He had been assigned a seat next to him and Sansa so that he would be right there if his services were needed.
He hated waiting. He was a very impatient man, but at least he was handling the wait better than Joffrey, who wouldn't stop protesting.
"What is taking so long?!" he exclaimed, irritated.
"The actors have to walk down the red carpet and pose for the cameras. I think," Sandor rasped, bored.
He had never liked that kind of extravaganzas, he thought that they were stupid, a waste of time, pointless, and ridiculous. However, Sansa was going to be there and that ceremony was part of one of her dreams. The ceremony that night as something that was only hers and not Joffrey's or the Lannirter's. Being nominated was something that she had earned herself with her own work and no one could take it away for her, and Sandor knew how important that was for Sansa. Just because of that resin he was happy to be there, sharing the moment with her in the only way that he could.
All the upper seats were already filled with people and the auditorium was full of chatter. The stars would start arriving soon. They waited.
Ten minutes later the furs actors and actresses started making their appearance and finding their seats. Sandor turned his head around to see if he could find Sansa among them, but she was nowhere to be seen.
She must be arriving later, he thought.
Joffrey also notices Sansa's absence from the group of people that were entering the auditorium and grunted, irritated.
"Dog, go outside. See if she's already there," he ordered, unamused. Joffrey hated being there, in a place were Sansa was going to be the center of attention instead of him. "Keep a close eye on her when you see her."
"Aye, boss," Sandor rasped as he stood up and started walking towards the entrance. There he followed the way out until he reached the grand carpeted staircase of the Dolby Theatre, and he made his way down to the bottom, walking then into the hallway outside, where the red carpet was.
The place was batshit crazy. It was crowded with screaming fans and viewers on one side, cameras constantly flashing on both sides, reporters, important cinema people, guests, bodyguards, and actors.
He distractedly looked around, observing the people in the red carpet. He knew that almost everyone in that place was fucking famous, but he had absolutely no idea who any of them were. There was a couple posing for the cameras; he had blond hair and she was brunette, with big red lips and high cheekbones. Behind them was a young girl with huge blue eyes and long blonde hair, smiling to the cameras excitedly. Not far away was a middle aged man with dark hair and eyes and olive skin that wore sunglasses and had an extravagant air about him. The only person that Sandor recognized in that place was a white haired man that seemed to be in his early seventies; Sandor didn't know his name, nor did he care what it was, but he remembered seeing the man in some movies that used to watch when he was a kid before his life became hell. They were some movies about outer space knights and a guy that went around on adventures. Sandor remembered bitterly the time when he wanted to be like the people in those movies, until he stopped being a stupid and foolish little boy and grew up to understand that the world was cruel and not a fucking movie.
He was starting to feel uncomfortable there, near all those people in fancy clothes and fake smiles. He hated the flashing cameras. He didn't fail to notice the horrified looks that some people were giving him as soon as they started noticing him and the scars on his face. He was completely out of place in that picture.
It's all pretty faces in here, he growled in his mind as he looked around, trying not to look as uncomfortable as he felt in that sea of fame and flashes. Little bird, where are you?
Just as if she had heard him, a black limo pulled over in front of the red carpet at that precise moment. A dozen cameras were already waiting expectantly for the star to come out, wondering who it was. A man walked over to the limo to open the door.
"It's Sansa Stark!" someone in the front shouted, and the cameras started flashing immediately, eager to get a good photograph of the young and foreign beauty.
Sandor's breath caught in his chest when he saw Sansa coming out of the limo. He had always known that she was the most beautiful woman that he had ever seen, but in that moment he could swear that what he was looking at wasn't a woman but a goddess instead: a goddess from the wild old North of Westeros.
She was wearing her bright auburn hair in a loose braided updo; she wasn't wearing a lot of makeup, but her eyes were bright and wild. They looked like ice glaziers that contrasted with the fire of her hair. Sandor found himself staring at her wide-eyed, unable to look away, and he felt a shiver going down his spine.
Nobody else was wearing a coat, but Sansa was. She, like the other Westerosis that had travelled with her to the US, found the weather to be very cold in contrast to the incredibly hot summer of King's Landing. Sansa was wearing a long grey wolf fur coat that only made her look even more like a goddess of the wild North. The fur became her, really; it fit her like a second skin. Sandor stared at her with admiration, and suddenly he thought that there was no way that Joffrey had allowed her to wear that coat. The wolf was the symbol of the Starks, and Sandor knew Joffrey perfectly well; now that the young politician was in the middle of a political conflict for power with Governor Stark, he wouldn't want his fiancée wearing anything that might identify her as a Stark or link her to them. But there she was, wearing the fur coat proudly like a true Stark.
But Sansa wasn't done impressing Sandor. He saw her about to take her coat off, but she stopped and bit her lip, looking down nervously. He frowned and looked at her, and when Sansa raised her head her eyes met his. She seemed surprised for a moment to see him standing there, at the other end of the red carpet staring at her. Sandor smiled an awkward half smile, being extremely self conscious of the way his scars twisted and pulled in a grotesque way, but Sansa didn't care about that. She just cared about the look of encouragement in his eyes, that finally convinced her to take her coat off and reveal the dress underneath it.
The cameras went crazy after she took her coat off, and with good reason. Even Sandor was unable to not stare in awe with his mouth wide open. Sansa stood tall and proud in a magnificent long silver satin gown, form-fitting and backless, with a train behind her. It's most impressive feature was in the bodice, that embrace Sansa's body flawlessly; it had a halter neckline, and the strap represented a wolf that encircled her neck. The wolf was made of pearls sewn into the sheer strap, with red rhinestones for eyes; the pearls were mostly white, but some varied in both size and color to create the shape of the wolf, the shading and the contour. The head of the wolf rested on Sansa's right side, and the tail on her left side. Apart from that, Sansa only wore white pearl earrings and a dark pearl bracelet, nothing else. Not even her horrible engagement ring.
Sandor gulped. He couldn't believe it; Sansa was beautiful, she was marvelous... But he knew what she was doing. She was defying Joffrey. She was defying the Lannisters. The wolf fur coat could have maybe sent a small message, but this dress... This was a completely shout out statement. The rest of the world might not notice, the people of Westeros would think that this was just a tribute to her roots, but Joffrey and his family would know perfectly well what she was saying with that dress. She was giving them the finger in the most subtle way in which she could do it, and she was doing it out in the open by wearing her family's colors and symbol during the event of her life.
She was being brave in her own way... and Sandor loved it. As much as he was suddenly worried for her because of Joffrey's possible reaction, he absolutely loved it. He recognized the bravery in Sansa's move, and he didn't even bother fitting off the smile that his pride cause him in his mouth.
That's my little bird..., he thought approvingly.
He was actually able to forget about the cameras and the flashes as he watched Sansa step forward in the red carpet and joining the other stars, posing for the reporters and for the cameras and answering to questions for interviews when they approached her. She smiled and said hi to other actors and actresses, and she thanked everybody who congratulated her on her dress. She was blushing, and Sandor thought to himself that he had never seen her so happy and at the same time so nervous before. He took a few steps forward, approaching her, and noticed the bodyguard that was following her on the red carpet. He was one of the new ones employed that Joffrey that Sandor hated.
"I'll take it from here," he growled to the bodyguard. The man looked at him and recognized him, and he left to let Sandor take his place.
Sansa saw the exchange and smiled briefly at him before turning her attention back to the reporter that was trying to ask her some questions.
"Sansa! This are the first Academy Awards for you, right? Are you excited?"
"Yes! I am so excited! I am very nervous too!" she said, blushing.
"Will you be performing tonight?"
"Yes, I will!"
That was news for Sandor, he had not known that Sansa was going to be singing. He immediately remembered the night he met her, when she was singing in her concert and he was watching her from backstage, and he thought that he really wanted her to sing again. She had promised him a song while they were in Tarth. Tonight she would be singing for millions of people all around the world that would be watching her on television, but he could pretend that her sweet voice was just for him to hear. Her sweet, sweet voice...
"Did you see your co-star Anthony already?"
"He isn't here, sadly he couldn't make it today. I'm sure he would have loved it, but duty calls!"
The reporter made a comment that Sandor couldn't quite hear, and Sansa laughed.
"Who did you bring with you?" the reporter asked then.
"My fiancé, Joffrey," Sansa explained. "He's waiting for me inside already"
"Oh, wonderful! Is he excited too?"
"Of course!" Sansa giggled. She was a wonderful actress, Sandor had to give her that. "It's a nice break from him from all the stress and the politics back home. I'm always loving in his world, now he can take a look at mine!"
"That's very nice. Have a great night, Sansa, and the best of luck to you!"
"Thank you!" Sansa waved goodbye to the reporter and walked away.
She posed for more photos, showed off her magnificent dress, smiled and looked sexy at the same time, answered more questions, waves to the fans that were watching from afar, and greeted fellow actors and actresses. Sandor quietly followed behind her, enduring the walk along the red carpet all the way until the end while he just observed her. He felt his face glued to all of her splendor that night. He wondered how in seven hells he would manage not to get caught by Joffrey or anyone else looking at her like that, like a hungry animal mouth-watering over a piece of the most delicious piece of meat in the whole world. But she was more than that. Sansa glowed that night with her own light. She was so happy and so... confident. So strong. So focused on doing what she wanted. She had left her fear and her pain and her sorrow behind for one night, and Sandor could finally take a look at what she was in all of her glory.
When Sansa was finally ready to go inside the Dolby Theater Sandor followed her towards the grand staircase and walked a few steps behind her, constantly looking around to make sure that everything was alright. Then he escorted her to the auditorium; before reaching the entrance Sansa turned her head around to look at Sandor and smiled at him once again. He smiled back briefly.
"You look beautiful," he said, making her blush even more than she had blushed before. "He is not going to like that dress, though," he looked at the pearl wolf around Sansa's neck.
She lowered her blue eyes to look at the wolf of the head and smiled. Sandor had never seen her smiling like that, with so much confidence and satisfaction. He was deeply enjoying it.
"I know," Sansa said with a faint smirk in her lips. "I won't be his tonight. This night is my night, and I will be a Stark."
She looked at the front then and, holding her head high, she entered the auditorium.
Joffrey was still sitting in the front seats of the auditorium, waiting for her impatiently, but as he noticed that the seats around him were starting to be occupied he turned his head around to look to the entrance and he spotted Sansa walking towards him. He smiled at first, putting up his fake facade of the perfect fiancé for the cameras and the people around him, but then he noticed what Sansa was wearing.
Sandor could tell the precise moment that Joffrey saw the dress and he could also tell exactly what he was thinking just by looking at his expression. In a matter of two seconds his smile disappeared completely from his face, leaving behind a shocked expression that then proceeded to become utter and complete fury. Sandor had known that Joffrey was going to react like that, and so did Sansa. It was a very daring move from her part, but he admired her boldness.
Joffrey soon realized that he was in a very public place and, though mere seconds before he seemed like he was about to explode and go into one of his furious rants, he manage to compose himself and adopt a calmer attitude. As soon as Sansa reached he seat by his side he stood up and wrapped his hand around her arm, holding her while glaring at her with was apparently for everyone else around them a lover's gaze.
"What. Are. You. Doing?" he hissed under his breath, barely audible. Only Sansa and Sandor were able to hear him.
Sansa didn't lose her daring and confident attitude and look. She smiled sweetly at him, tilting her head to the side a little bit.
"I'm going to my seat, what else if not?" she said in a low tone, feigning innocence. A vein in Joffrey's neck pulsed dangerously.
"You are going to be sorry," he hissed while they both say down on their seats. Sansa was still smiling.
"Am I?"
Had they been in King's Landing, Joffrey would have slapped her right then and there. But they were not in the Red Keep, they were not in King's Landing, they were not in Westeros. They were thousands of miles away from home, in Los Angeles, in another country, and Joffrey had no power over Sansa in front of all those people and cameras. He clenched his jaw and didn't say anything else, feeling awfully bitter and hateful because of the little game that his fiancée had played on him. He tried to put on a more cheerful smile so that other people wouldn't be suspicious, but he was finding it incredibly hard. Sansa, on the other hand, was finding it very difficult to stop smiling from ear to ear.
Sandor went to take the seat that had been assigned to him as Joffrey's personal bodyguard. But the young man stopped him before he had the chance to sit down.
"Clegane you are going to go backstage. Tell Meryn to take your place here."
He frowned. Sansa looked confused, but tried not to show it.
"May I ask why?" Sandor asked.
"Your face is going to scare people watching TV," Joffrey said rudely, and Sandor felt like smashing his teeth in. Sansa looked at Joffrey completely scandalized by his rudeness, but he didn't care. "And I'm sure that these people don't want to see your ugly face either. Tell Meryn to come here, his face is much less ugly than yours."
"Meryn is in the back seat, guarding the entrance," Sandor explained between gritted teeth. He had his hands clenched into fists.
"I don't care were Meryn is, being him here. Or Boros, or whoever you want, but get out of here. Go to the backstage I said, there's going to have to be someone later there to watch Sansa."
It was pointless to argue. Besides, waiting backstage until he could see Sansa there, and spy her from behind the drapes meanwhile, seemed like a very good option. He had not cherished the notion of sitting next to Joffrey the entire buggering night listening to his incessant chatter during the ceremony. Sandor nodded his head and stood up to start heading towards where Joffrey had sent him.
"Don't get too excited, Sansa, you aren't going to win any stupid awards tonight," he heard the little shit saying to Sansa in a cruel and mocking way right before he left their side. He felt his blood boil. Couldn't he leave her alone for one single moment? Was the little bird asking too much with that?! He thought that the whole ceremony was stupid, but it was very important for Sansa. She wanted this, she was excited to be in that place, and she was determined to own the night. He wanted her to enjoy the night and he wanted her to be successful.
It was the first time he wanted that for anyone ever in his life. He had never cared for anybody, he had never wanted anything for them or wished them anything good. Now, however, he wanted Sansa to have absolutely everything. The sole thought of her happiness being constantly shattered by Joffrey almost urged Sandor to turn around and punch him.
What the fuck is happening to you, dog?, a voice asked him I the back of his head.
He told Meryn to go join Joffrey and then he followed the rest of the orders and went backstage. He waited standing there, bored to death, while everything got prepared for the start of the ceremony. He watched Sansa from behind the drapes meanwhile. She was laughing during a conversation with the blonde actress he had seen before, who was seating behind Sansa; he also saw her waving hello to Shae Lannister, the actress wife of Tyrion Lannister. It surprised Sandor to see the Imp there, he hadn't noticed him until then. But yet again. If his wife was an actress in a successful film then of course that he was going to accompany her to the Oscars.
He didn't have to wait long, and once everyone was seated the ceremony started. It was hosted by a man in his early fifties, with short grayish hair and warm brown eyes. Sandor though he looked familiar, but couldn't remember his name either. He did not care about those famous people. But whoever the man was, all the females in the place seemed to be delighted to see him.
The ceremony started quickly. After a musical spectacle, they presented the Award to the best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role. Some young man in his twenties won it and went to the stage to pick it up. Then, a few awards later, came the Award for Best Foreign-Language film, which was won by a movie in which Shae had worked. She was also nominated for best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role for her role in the movie Gunslinger, Sansa's movie. She didn't win it though; she lost it to a plump actress a little bit older than her.
Sandor was still standing in a place hidden in the shadows, just at the side of the backstage, hidden from everybody but able to watch everything that was happening in the auditorium. He could see Joffrey and Sansa; Joffrey seemed to be finally a little bit entertained, though not much, and Sansa was the face of pure nervousness. Sandor wondered why, until after three awards more were given and they announced the nominees for Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score. The music for the movie Gunslinger was one of the nominees.
Is this it?, Sandor wondered, and he focused on Sansa as they were opening the envelope to announce the winner, who was...
...Not the movie Gunslinger. Sandor felt bad for Sansa then, and he felt even worse when he saw the look of satisfaction on Joffrey's face.
Little fucker...
Sansa's expression wasn't sad though. She still looked as nervous as before, perhaps even more. Sandor knew why as soon as they announced the nominees for the next award. Best Original Song.
As they were opening the envelope that contained the name of the winner for that award, Sandor could see Sansa in her seat, trying to look as calm as she could but at the same time biting her lip and with her hands turned into nervous fists.
The woman that was giving out the award room the paper out of the envelope and read it silently before smiling and exclaiming:
"Gentle Mother!"
That was it. That was Sansa's song, she was the winner. The auditorium broke in applause after the announcement, and it took a moment for Sansa to process that she was the winner. She smiled from ear to eat full of joy and covered her mouth with her hand. Her eyes wet wide open in awe as she stood up from her seat, and then she took her hand away from her mouth and put it over her chest. She was still smiling, until Joffrey also stood up at her side. She looked at him confused, but then Joffrey kissed her full in the mouth. Everyone around them applauded even more because of it. When they parted Joffrey sat down and Sansa's face was red; everyone thought that in she was blushing adorably, when in reality she was furious.
She immediately went back to her overwhelming happiness as soon as she started walking towards the stage to pick up her Oscar for Best Original Song. The people on the stage gave her the golden statue, and Sansa stared at it amazed, not able to believe that she had actually won. She moved to stand in front of the microphone to give her acceptance speech. She was shaking a little bit, incredibly excited and nervous. She hadn't expected to win the Oscar, but now that she had it meant so much for her...
She looked up to look at the audience staring at her in the auditorium of the Dolby Theater. Not only them were watching her, people all around the world were watching her in that moment, waiting for her to speak. They were also admiring her, her beauty, and her dress. She truly liked magnificent on that stage, holding her golden statue, dressed in that incredible silver dress with the white pearl wolf. She gripped the statue more tightly and got ready to talk. Joffrey was watching her closely from his seat, wondering what she would say. She knew that she had to be careful, but that wouldn't stop her from saying what she truly wanted to say. Sandor watched her from his hidden place in the corner.
She took a deep breath, smiled again, and finally spoke while looking both at her Oscar and the audience.
"I... I don't know what to say!" she exclaimed, and she chuckled. "I wasn't... Wow, I really wasn't expecting this... I'm so honored! Thank you for this, thank you to the Academy, thank you to all the people who worked with me and helped me get here, where I am now..." She took another big breath before continuing, "I want thank my friends and my family for always believing in me and convincing me to chased dreams and getting me where I am now... My mother, Robb, Arya, Bran, Rickon, Jon... And I want to thank... my love."
She cringed then, almost imperceptibly, and she looked at Joffrey. He was staring at her with a smug smirk on his face, and she shuddered with disgust. No one noticed, only Sandor. He was watching her very closely, noticing her every move. He had gotten to know her so well in the time he spent with her that he knew what was going on in Sansa's mind. She had to mention Joffrey; otherwise it would look very bad and strange that she didn't mention her fiancé, who had travelled there with her to accompany her. Sansa had to mentio him, but she hadn't said his name, though. She had left it very open to interpretation,
For a fraction of a second she looked towards her right- towards were Sandor was, right in the corner. It was only for less than a second, but Sandor noticed her movement just like he noticed the small smile that appeared in the corner of her lips.
"I want to thank my love," she repeated with more confidence this time, "for being there when I needed him most, for being the rock that I needed, my confidant, and for giving me the strength to carry on and not give up."
As she said those last words she locked eyes with Joffrey again, and this time she looked at him in an intense and defying way. He continued fake smiling, knowing that those words were meant as a defiance towards him; what he did not know was that those words were not fake, there were real, but they were directed towards another man.
After a silenced of about two very long and very tense seconds, which everybody mistook as a silence filled with passion, Sansa spoke one last time, wanting to address a new person. She looked down and gulped, and her blue eyes filled with tears. The bright lightening of the stage made her look radiant in that specific moment.
"And last but certainly not least... I want to dedicate this to my father," Sansa whispered, though everyone was able to hear that. "He always told me to chase my dreams, and he supported me and told me that he couldn't wait for this day to arrive someday. Now he's gone and I miss him a lot, but I know he is with me somehow."
The whole auditorium was in complete silence. You could hear a pin drop. Sansa's eyes were complete full of years by that moment, but she was still able to smile and hold herself together.
"This is for you, Dad," she said, looking at the golden Oscar in her hands. "I love you."
She put a kiss in her hand and blew it to the air softly while looking up above her, and then she smiled again and walked away from the microphone. She hugged the people who had given her the award and the whole auditorium started applauding again as she left the stage with her Oscar in hand.
There was a commercial break right after that, which everybody used to get ready for what was coming later. Sandor was yet again backstage, getting bored and checking that everything was in order. He was in a corner that was completely solitary, with no one around but himself, when suddenly Sansa approached him in a hurry. She was holding the long skirt of her dress so that she wouldn't trip and fall or rip it, and she looked once again nervous. Some years were lingering in her eyes from when she had ended her acceptance speech, but her blue irises shine brighter than the pearls of the wolf in her dress.
"Sansa," he murmured, surprised by seeing her there. "Congratulations, little bird."
She smiled, silently thanking him. Then she made sure that there was no one around them, no spying eyes, not cameras, and she looked at him in the eyes.
"I'll sing for you tonight," she whispered.
She walked away then, rushing to get to the place backstage where she was needed. Sandor watched her go until she disappeared, and stood there until he was called by one of the other bodyguards to replace one of them in the entrance of the auditorium. That worked for him, since from that place he would be able to watch Sansa as she went onstage.
This seems to be my lucky night, he thought, feeling indeed lucky to be able to watch Sansa at that moment.
He had heard before that she was going to perform that night, and she had just told him that she would sing for him. Would she sing the song that had won her an Oscar? He had read about that song, she had written it herself. Sandor didn't know anything about music or writing, but he could guess that Sansa had put a piece of herself in that song. When he listened to her singing it he would not just be hearing her voice, he would be hearing her, what she had to say, as well. He remembered her voice and how it had bewitched him in a matter of seconds. He needed to hear her sing again.
The commercial break ended, Sansa's song was introduced, the lights went off, and the music started.
The first note was from a flute. It came out of the darkness that engulfed the auditorium at that moment and allowed no one to see. The note was long and soft, and when it stopped it lingered in the air. Sandor was a tough man, not sentimental, but he had to admit that that note was the saddest thing that he had heard in his life.
The note was followed by more flute notes in different tones, all soft and lingering. It was a heartbreaking sound. It was music that, in such a simple way, told a story of heartbreak and tears and sorrow. The notes that came from the flutes didn't sound like just simply notes anymore; they were distant soft cries lost in a long, cold night.
The flute faded, and lights appeared. At first, while the last flute note was still playing, the only light that appeared was a very faint blue light that illuminated Sansa in the middle of the stage. She was standing alone in front of a microphone, surrounded by deep darkness. Her only company was the pearl wolf encircling her neck.
Before the sound of the flutes disappeared completely, a single violin started playing, continuing that string of notes that was melting the hearts of everyone listening to it. The sight of Sansa standing there in all of her glory, with her eyes closed and looking beautiful and delicate like a porcelain doll only added to the sentiment. The feeling of the music slowly started to change to add a feeling of loss, of saying goodbye to something dear...
There came a very short pause, merely a second long, before the violin started playing again joined by a delicate piano this time, and also by Sansa's voice.
"Gentle Mother, font of mercy,
Save our sons from war, we pray.
Stay the swords and stay the arrows,
Let them know a better day..."
The darkness behind her have way to a big screen with images. The image was showing a night sky filled his stars, but soon those stars were covered by shooting arrows that were slowly raising from the ground into the sky. Thousands and thousands of them, flying into the night all together, like a flock of wild and deadly birds. They started coming down to the ground again, and as they did they became bigger because it seemed like they were getting closer to the screen. Closer, closer, closer... The screen was the ground to which the arrows were flying, ready to attack.
The music became stronger but continued being soft and sad at the same time. So did Sansa's voice. It was slowly picking up a little bit more of rhythm, starting to give out a sense of hope mixed in between all the sadness and loss portrayed in the music.
"Gentle Mother, strength of women,
Help our daughters through this fray.
Soothe the wrath and tame the fury,
Teach us all a kinder way."
The arrows "hit" the screen, and suddenly green flames appeared in the screen. They were at the bottom of the image, slow-burning at first, but as the music continued the became bigger and stronger. More violins and pianos joined the music, making it stinger not only in sound but in sentiment as well. It was no longer a song about fear and pain and sorrow and loss, it had become a song about hope and strength and courage. Sansa's expression changed too. The lightening over her changed from blue to the same shade of green as the flames that now completely engulfed the image behind her, and it looked that she herself was being engulfed by that same green fire. Her expression was strong and confident, and she raised her hands into the air as she readied herself to sing the rest of the song. Her eyes looked like they were filled with wildfire.
"Gentle Mother, font of mercy,
Save our sons from war, we pray.
Stay the swords and stay the arrows,
Let them know a better day."
Sansa's eyes found Sandor then, all the way from the stage to the entrance of the dark auditorium. As she sang her last note, soft and lingering like the flute had been at the beginning, green flames started coming out from the floor of the stage around her, illuminating her in a supernatural and eerie way.
When the green flames disappeared and the music stopped, the light came backago illuminate the auditorium and everybody rose from their seats and applauded. Sansa looked at them smiling proudly and left the stage after thanking them.
Sandor was still as a statue, unable to move. He had been staring in horror at the flames, the real ones. They had frozen him in place, but seeing Sansa standing there lookintalkie that in the middle of those flames made him feel much lesshorrified, and a thousand times more amazed. That had been... He couldn't quite describe it. It had been a very strange sensation and a strange experience for him, and he did not quite know what to think of all of it...
But her voice, oh, her voice...
It took him a long moment to realize that he was crying. He hadn't noticed it until then, but he felt the wetness in his cheeks and lifted his hand to touch one of them, and his fingers became wet with his tears. He stared at his wet fingertips frowning, and then he wiped the rest of the tears away from his face, being careful that no one saw him.
Seven buggering hells, what was wrong with him? Did Sansa Stark really have that much effect on him?
He had to admit it, there was no denying it... Sansa Stark completely owned him, in every way possible. The tears that simply her voice had provoked in him, tears that no one and nothing else had ever in his life provoked in him, was all thproof he needed. It wasn't like he didn't already know it, but that was the ultimate confirmation of the truth.
The rest of the ceremony went on quickly for him. He was waiting only for one more moment, the moment that he knew that Sansa was waiting for too. Her movie had won some other awards that had been granted to other people, and now the time had come to announce the winner for Best Actress. If Sansa won that award, then it would be her ultimate victory that night. Sandor wanted that for Sansa, she served it more than anyone. She deserved a little good after having endured so many of her dreams being broken.
"And the winner is..." the woman said while she read the name, "Sansa Stark, for Gunslinger!"
Sandor felt proud. The whole auditorium broke into applause again for her, and Sansa stood up for the second time that night to go to the stage. She didn't kiss Joffrey this time, she was quicker and too happy to actually notice him at her side. She had a massive smile on her face, and when she looked back to look at Sandor for one brief second he nodded his head, showing her his support. She blushed, and hurried to the stage to pick up her second and much deserved Oscar.
Sandor wasn't sure that he was supposed to do it, but he didn't care: he applauded.