The most imminent question
Since I'm adapting both show- and book verse elements, I decided to give you a little lore-dump of how certain family lines are for this story:
- Harrion Karstark survived and is now lord of Karhold, Alys Karrstark also survived and married Sigorn Thenn; Thenns are not cannibals
- Howland and Meera Reed survived
- Galbart Glover died before the Batlle of Bastards, Robett Glover aswell as his son Gawen (10) survived
- The last Mormont is a young child (son of Alysane Mormont, younger cousin of deceased Lyanna Mormont)
- House Umber has gone extinct, the title of the last heart is vacant
- House Forrester is: Rodrik Forrester head of house, his wife Elaena Forrester born Glenmore , Mira Forrester, Talia Forrester, Ryon Forrester; Gared Tuttle died at the battle of bastards, Josera and Elsera Snow died during the fight against the Nightking
- Asha (Yara) Greyjoy is the last member of Balon Greyjoys family
- Jeyne Poole survived, under Ramsay's rule she was slave forced to do the most nasty tasks that came up around the household, after Ramsay's death Sansa offered her to be her personal handmaid. The torture and other things that Ramsay did to her in the books did not happen here.
Winterfell, a few days after the coronation of Sansa Stark as Queen of the North
Sansa straightened her dress, it was similar to the one she wore as reigning lady of Winterfell when Jon was on Dragonstone. Slowly, she walked into the library, which for now would also serve as the gathering room for the small council. She tried not to show her nerves when she entered, today was the first meeting of her small council after her coronation. As she entered the room, all her designated small council members stood up and bowed their head. Sansa walked towards the head of the table and for a moment she stood behind her chair and took a look at her guests. On her right closest to her Lady Jonelle Cerwyn Mistress of Laws, next to her Marlon Manderly her Master of Ships, on the other end of the table sat Sigorn Thenn husband of Alys Karstark, Master of War and representative of the free folk; closest to Sansa on the left sat Maester Wolkan and next to him Robett Glover Master of Coin; Meera Reed the commander of the Queensguard stood two steps behind Sansa's chair. Sansa gave a nod and they all sat down.
Sansa asked her small council about the state of the realm and as she expected, most things were not going well. Ramsay's reign of terror, in combination with the harsh winter and the heavy losses the north suffered in the fight against the dead, had left the north with low supplies, barely avoiding a famine. The declining population had led to multiple small villages being abandoned, which now lead to multiple acres of land not being farmed. Also, most of the domestic live stock had been butchered in preparation for the fight against the dead.
Even though some clans of the free folk had decided to keep living south of the wall, starting a new life under the laws and protection of the Queen of Winter as they called Sansa, their numbers were not high enough to compensate for those who had died. But Sansa was thankful for them to settle down, most of them had settled down in the Gift, which meant the land was still farmed, also she hoped, that it would help to finally end the conflict between "wildlings" and "northeners" that had been going on for centuries. The free folk had chosen Sigorn Thenn as their representative and with his marriage to Alys Karstark Sansa was optimistic that soon House Thenn would be openly recognized as a major house of the north.
The only thing Sansa had not to concern herself with was gold, Ramsey had taken as much as he could from the smallfolk, while only using the bare minimum of it to keep the realm together and running. She had already decided to spend most of the gold that was available to ease the smallfolks problems, while also improving the norths almost non existent economy. Currently, she hadn't made her final decision on how she would use the gold and Lord Glover really wasn't helpful at all.
A sour taste was on her tongue by just listening to him talking, the man was extremely selfish and short-sighted. He always talked about how the gold would be of the best use, if it was given to the great houses to improve their castles and repair their fortifications in case another war would break out. She really wanted him gone from Winterfell, but since not all Lords had easily accepted that the north was to be rule by a woman, Lord Glover the most powerful among them had been given a position on her council to appease the lords that were still sceptical of her. Despite betraying the Stark family twice, Sansa hadn't been able to punish him as she saw fit, fearing it could lead to another civil war in the north. Instead, the only thing she had been able to do was nullifying the oath of fealty that House Forrester had sworn towards house Glover and Sansa had then taken House Forrester as direct vassals of the crown. Additionally, Robett Glover's only son Gawen had been sent to Ironrath as a ward.
To her contentment, Ser Manderly reported, that an agreement with House Greyjoy had been reached. The informal agreement between Sansa and Asha that put an end towards raids on the coast of the north would be transcribed into an official Carta. A trade agreement would also be part of this Carta, the North would give the Iron Islands wood and in exchange capable ship builders from the Iron Islands would help the North to built ships for military as well as trading purposes. Sansa hoped to build a staple alliance with house Greyjoy to protect the shores of her kingdom even when Bran was no longer the king of the six kingdoms.
She was honestly surprised when Sigorn Thenn started to speak, his common tongue had already improved a lot since his time south of the wall. To her relief the free folk were dealing quite well with the situation and the mood of the people was rather positive, living in huts, that were still more glorified tents than actual buildings didn't bother them much for now. Almost all of those free folk had spent their lives in the wilderness north of the wall and were adapted to living in a harsh region with minimal goods available. Living south of the wall at the beginning of spring was an improvement for them, but Sansa was still concerned for them, she wanted peaceful coexistence between the free folk and the northerners.
Slowly the council meeting came to an end and Sansa was already thinking about possibilities to prevent a famine sustainably. Just when she thought that this meeting could finally be closed, Lord Glover raised his voice again.
"Your grace, there is one thing left that demands immediate attention, that hasn't been spoken about yet."
"Enlighten me, please, Lord Glover. What have we forgotten to talk about?" she asked, not even trying to hide her disdain for him.
"Your Grace, while Winterfell is secure now and currently not under immediate threat, it still needs an heir."
These words made the hair on Sansa's neck stand up, she had dreaded this topic since the day Jon had given up his crown, "My sister Arya Stark is my heir of course."
Taking a look around her council was not pleased with that answer, only Sigorn Thenn seemed not to bothered by her answer at all. "Your Grace as much as it pains me to add to this topic, but your sister in on a journey she might never return from," said Ser Manderly "Lord Glover is right, Winterfell needs a heir."
"My sister will return! And I will not lay with a man again for the sake of duty, ever!" Sansa's voice was cold as ice.
"There would be the possibility of another solution." Said Maester Wolkan, his voice as calm as ever. Sansa looked at him her eyebrows raised expectantly.
"You could invoke a matrilineal marriage," continued Maester Wolkan, "whoever your grace would marry, you would keep the Stark name and all your children would be Starks by name and by blood, with undisputed claims to Winterfell."
"It would give you the possibility to choose your husband," added Lady Cerwyn before Sansa could respond, "also with a matrilineal marriage you could nullify your marriage by law if your husband would become hostile towards you."
Lady Cerwyn gave Sansa a empathic smile. Sansa knew that Maester Wolkan and Lady Cerwyn tried to make this as pleasing as possible, but still after Joffrey and Ramsey the thought of being at a man's mercy again made her almost throw up. The things that they had done to her still haunted her in her dreams more often than not. She had stopped counting how often she woke up in the middle of the night drenched in sweat, her heart beating so fast, she feared it would burst through her chest and afraid that she would be beaten, whipped or humiliated again.
She took a few deep breaths to regain her composure again, "I thank you for your council, but this is not an easy decision to make, I'll need some time to think about this. The meeting is over, you are dismissed"
She pushed her chair back and was about to stand up, when Lord Glover spoke up again. "Your grace this is an extremely important matter, it would be best to act quick about this. Also, a royal wedding could be useful to lift the spirits of the nobles as well as the small folk alike."
"Thank you for your advice Lord Glover, I will treat the topic with the urgency it deserves." she answered, her hands gripping the table so hard the white of her knuckles became visible.
Sansa stood up and walked back towards her private chambers, she trusted Meera and Jonelle that the rest of the council would not bother her for the rest of the day. When she opened the door to her rooms, she was surprised to see Jayne there sitting at a window, needle and thread in hand working on one of her old dresses.
Jeyne looked up when Sansa entered and one look into Sansa's face told her everything she needed to know, she put her work down and rushed to Sansa, enveloping her in a tight hug. Sansa was surprised for a moment, but eventually wrapped her arms around the smaller girl. They stood in her room, embracing each other for quite a while, giving each other warmth and comfort.
"What was that for?" asked Sansa gently.
Jeyne gave her a soft smile, "you just looked like you really needed a hug."
"Thank you," said Sansa and pressed a faint kiss against the crown of her head.
Jeyne smiled at Sansa again and they slowly separated. She helped Sansa to take off her very formal dress and to change into a much more comfortable and casual dress. After changing her dress, Sansa sat down in front of her small mirror and Jayne started to undo the complicated knots and braids in her hair. Slowly and meticulously Jeyne did her work, when all the knots and braids had been loosened she took a smooth horn comb and started to comb Sansa's hair. After a few strokes, Jeyne noticed that Sansa visibly relaxed. "Do you want to talk about what upset you so much?"
Sansa hesitated for a moment, but then she told Jeyne everything about the council's opinion on the heritage of Winterfell and their expectations for her to quickly marry again. Jeyne felt great sympathies for Sansa's situation. "You really shouldn't merry again, unless you fall in love with someone."
"I know and I don't want to marry someone just to appease the Lords," Sansa said determined, "but I fear for what will happen if I don't take a husband again and can't give Winterfell an heir, or even worse if I would give birth to a bastard." her voice had become more shaking.
"They would never rebel against you, would they." asked Jeyne, fearing for the worst.
"Not in the open, not in the sense of a civil war," said Sansa, "but I fear at some point they will try to force me into a marriage and once again I would be a brooding mare for the sake of my family name again."
"Praised be the old golds, that Ramsey's seed had been weak." she thought to herself.
Jeyne shook her head, "they wouldn't dare to do that. Not after the fight against the Boltons."
"Other men did and they would too, if they see enough profit for themselves coming from it. But I won't accept that, the next time I'm forced to lay with a man against my will I'll either kill him or myself." Her voice cold as ice again.
Jayne wanted to say a few more uplifting things to Sansa, but based on the turn the conversation had taken, she didn't know what else to say; silently she continued to work on Sansa's hair. When it felt the hair had been properly combed, she worked the fiery hair into a single loose braid; Sansa's preferred hairstyle when she was alone. As soon as Jeyne was done, Sansa stood up. "I'll be in my study."
Jayne nodded, "I'll make sure a meal will be brought to you."
"Thank you," Sansa turned around and smiled softly at Jeyne "for everything."
Sansa left, Meera who had been waiting outside following her. When the door had been closed, Jayne tidied up the dress she had been working on before Sansa had entered and put her needle work equipment away. Assuming that Sansa would most likely not leave her study until supper, Jeyne made her way into the kitchen to organize a light meal for Sansa.
Sansa had just finished reading about King Jaehaerys I Targaryen and his Great Council at Harrenhal when she heard a gentle knock on the door. "Come in."
A young girl entered her study holding a tray with a light meal in her hands, a small flatbread, thin slices of heavily smoked ham and a generous slice of goat cheese made by the free folk she had become particular fond of. Since it was early and she wanted to spend more time reading, the light meal was more than enough for her, later she would take a supper which would be more filling.
Silently, the young girl left the study and Sansa took to her small meal. When she had finished, she took the other book she had on her desk into her hand; it was a book about the Dance of Dragons. She started reading about the reign of King Viserys I Targaryen paying special attention to the part of the book that focused on the question of his succession.
Only when the sun went down, she realized how much time she had been spent reading. Again a knock on the door was heard, this time it was Jayne picking her up to go for supper. Sansa put the heavy tome down and went to have supper, a lot of thoughts about how the future of herself and the realm could pan out.
A few days had passed since the last council meeting that had put so much pressure on her. The meeting was relatively short since nothing had changed since the last meeting, but she had a big announcement to make.
"I took the last few days to think about the topic of my succession," she started, "I will accept the council's proposal to marry again, but only under the prerequisite that it will be a matrilineal marriage. Also, I alone will be the one choosing who my future husband might be. This is my will concerning that topic, disregarding it will be considered treason and treated as such."
Lady Cerwyn gave her a bright, encouraging smile while the other council members looked nervous, but relieved, Sigorn Thenn's look could only be described as amused and smug.
"It shall also be announced that in seven weeks a tourney will be held in Winterfell, but not just a tourney of the knights, but also a tourney of the bards and singers."
With that announcement, Sansa ended the council meeting and left the library towards the great hall to hold court.
So the second chapter is done, at this point I'm pretty confident that I'll be able to update every two weeks.
Also, if you haven't noticed yet, yes I love playing Crusader Kings.
Thank you for reading, feel free to leave a comment.