Queen Sansa Stark, Queen of the North, and Lady of Winterfell sighed as she entered her private quarters after a long day of ruling or at least what passed for ruling these days.
These days, ruling mainly consisted of either hearing some useless peasant's complaints or calming the fears of some of her remaining loyal lords, which rapidly decreased every day. Because while she was technically Queen, her rule barely extended outside of Stark Lands, and even that was optimistic.
She snorted derisively to herself, sitting in front of her vanity mirror and staring at her reflection. It had only been twenty years since her ascension to the throne but she lookedike a woman of fifty. Her once beautiful face had suffered the ravages of time and stress. Her face was now filled with wrinkles and her eyes now had a lifeless sheen to them. Her Tully red hair, once so lively and full of life had started to prematurely grey and was now listless. While some of the changes could be attributed to age, most of them were caused by stress and worry.
As she looked at herself, she felt all the years of stress and worry start to collapse onto her. All of her life choices and decisions, those made on the spot and calculated, were making themselves known to her. The consequence of those decisions was now starting to make themselves known to the world, and try as she could, there was no escaping them. While some were good, most were most decisively... not.
She hated the look of fear that started to make itself known on her face. After she had made it to the Wall, she had vowed that she would never let anything make her feel that kind of fear again. She had vowed that she would be on top of anything that came her way. She hated the way that fear used to warp her because it reminded her of King's Landing.
She had never been so jaded before. When King Robert had visited Winterfell, she had been so full of life and vigor. Life had been a song. She had rejoiced when she had been betrothed to Prince Joffrey. She had been on top of the world and when she had left Winterfell, she had thought to herself that nothing could go wrong.
Poor Girl, Naive Girl, Stupid Girl
They had not even made it to King's Landing when things started to go wrong. Arya and that idiot Butcher's boy. In order to make sure that Joffrey's reputation was intact, and to make a good impression on her future in-laws, she had lied about what had happened. Her reward: her sister's hate and the loss of Lady.
Poor Girl, Naive Girl, Stupid Girl
She had thrown a tantrum when she found out that her Lord Father wanted to leave King's Landing, in a hurry and in secret. So defying his orders, she had gone to Cersei in the early morning and had spilled the beans to her, expecting a reward. What happened was the opposite and for the first time, the consequences of her action included people that she loved. Poor Septa Mordane.
Poor Girl, Naive Girl, Stupid Girl
When her father had been arrested and placed in the Black cells, she had done everything that Queen Cersei had told her to do and begged for her father's life in the throne room while the onlooking courtiers berated and insulted her and her family, calling them traitors. She had gone down to her knees and had believed that Joffrey would do the right thing until he called for her father to be executed.
Poor Girl, Naive Girl, Stupid Girl
She had been humiliated and beaten every time Robb had won a victory. She had been threatened with a public rape in the throne room and had almost been gang-raped in public before being saved by the most unlikely person in the world. A true knight, he had been though he didn't call himself one, yet she had refused to leave with him when Stannis had attacked.
Poor Girl, Naive Girl, Stupid Girl
She had become friends of a sort with the Tyrells, her naive self had believed that all efforts at being friends were genuine and she had fallen for their sugar-sweet traps, hook line, and sinker. She had believed their talk and plans to remove her from King's Landing and in her happiness had told the wrong person.
Poor Girl, Naive Girl, Stupid Girl
She had been married to the imp in a public fashion and as she later found out, she had been disinherited because of it. The irony of marriage to the imp was that it was the best thing that had happened to her in that accursed city. She had attempted to make the best of things until she found out what her father-in-law had done at a wedding.
Poor Girl, Naive Girl, Stupid Girl
In the wake of the Red Wedding and being overwhelmed by a series of subtle and not-so-subtle taunts regarding it, she had almost taken her life but had chosen to not do so. She had simply floated by until Prince Oberyn died. In the aftermath, she had chosen to escape with an agent of Lord Baelish. From the frying pan into the fire.
Poor Girl, Naive Girl, Stupid Girl
She had taken the guise of Lord Baelish's bastard at the Vale. Her stay had been relatively peaceful. Her only complaints were her idiot cousin, her strongly opinionated (mad) aunt, and Lord Baelish's advances. When she had seen Lord Baelish kill her aunt, she finally decided to play the Game of Thrones, in order to one-up Baelish. She had basked in her victory over him. In her joy, she had failed to realise that she was a novice and that Lord Baelish always played three steps in advance. He had then suggested a trip north.
Poor Girl, Naive Girl, Stupid Girl
She had been taken to the Dreadfort and had no choice but to courtesy to her family's killers and had been introduced to him. He had been relatively charming, a little weird but nothing she couldn't control or so she thought. He had married her at Winterfell and had then proceeded to show his true colors. She had found out what true pain and suffering were.
Poor Girl, Naive Girl, Stupid Girl
She had made it to the Wall, half frozen and half dead, hoping to meet her bastard brother, and had never been as happy as she was, when she had been hugged by him. She had vowed right there and there, that she would never let fear take a hold of her ever again.
Her idiot brother had been provoked by a letter sent by him and he had made immediate plans to take the attack to him. Her brother was many things; kind, cheerful, affectionate but most irritatingly he was honorable. He had a belief that all the people he would ever encounter would be like Ned Stark. But she had seen what being honorable led to in this new world. It led to death.
She never believed that Rickon was even in Bolton's captivity and seeing his body had been a shock after that battle. She had chosen to keep the news of the Vale army quiet and secret from Jon. It had given her plausible deniability, if Jon won, she could say that they came spontaneously in response to a general plead for help, if he died, then they would finish what was started and she would gain Winterfell. A perfect plan.
Jon's declaration as King had been a hurdle. She had expected the lords to merely grovel and swear her in as Lady of Winterfell and Queen, but she had been blindsided by their declarations. She had smiled but on the inside, she had seethed. It had been a huge hurdle but one that could be overcome.
That idiot immediately began his rule by being honorable and letting the rebel lords off. Jon had always looked like her father, much to her mother's consternation but the fool was basing his decisions, the same way that her father used to do, by expecting everybody to be honorable. She knew and had seen what being honorable could lead to.
He had left for Dragonstone after receiving a raven from the Dragon Queen. She had warned him to think with his correct head and to not trust or fall in love with anybody. She had used the example of Robb, but like most Northmen, her words had bounced off his head. .Men.
She had received periodic ravens from him and they had left her speechless. They had gone from regular updates to something about a mission at the Wall and then to King's Landing. She didn't need Baelish to tell her to read between the lines. The fool had fallen in love and he was bringing the queen and her horde of barbarians to fight, but at what cost?
Speaking of Baelish, she had finally been able to get even with him, by giving the impression of still being the naive girl that she had been. She had been able to get him into a trap of her own making. His face had been a sight to behold and she had made eye contact with him, as he bled out. She hadn't felt so happy since she had let the dogs devour him.
She had received notifications that the barbarian horde had crossed the neck and was making itself up north. She had woken up one morning to see black lines on the horizon, She had dressed and made herself outside, in time to see the two dragons fly by. Everybody was awed by the sight. But she knew what it was
A show of force
She had been introduced to the Dragon Queen. The Dragon Queen was as beautiful as the stories described, a beauty with flawless white skin, purple eyes, and white blonde hair. Unlike Cersei, her beauty was matched by her strength and perseverance. In front of Sansa, was a person who had managed to conquer the Bay of Dragons, get the loyalty of the Dothraki and Unsullied, and have two dragons. Sansa immediately hated her.
She was also in love with her idiot brother, and judging by his stupid face, he clearly reciprocated. They went about flaunting their love, ignoring or choosing to ignore the dark looks they had received from everybody. She had overheard their plans to bring down the Game of Thrones when they finally beat Cersei and the Dead. Hearing those plans made her laugh.
Stupid Idealistic Fools.
There was no stopping the game. It had been going for millennia before them and would continue for millennia after them. It had been concentrated in different regions till Aegon had shown up and united the kingdoms. The small game became one large game. The stakes became larger, but the rewards had become larger. One didn't even need to play for the full stakes. Manipulation behind the scenes led to paupers becoming rich overnight and vice versa. Baelish had been one of those paupers, and while he used to drunkenly tell tales of his work, Sansa had absorbed every word.
After the dead had been defeated, she had made up her mind that Northern Independence was going to be her only goal. One way or the other. Whether it was with Jon as king or any other way, she was going to accomplish it and finish what Robb had failed to complete. Familial connections were nothing but dirt inside her fingernails. She had hardened her heart, and she had decided that any choice to accomplish her goal was now on the table.
But in order to do so, she had to get rid of the Dragon Queen. When Jon had made her swear in front of the heart tree about his parentage (a major shock it had been), she had immediately broke the vow and told Tyrion. She knew that he wouldn't be able to resist and she had let things snowball from there.
She had decided to destabilize whatever mutual consensus there was and drive subtle wedges between Jon and Daenerys to the point that they couldn't be in the same room as each other. Looking back, she didn't even need to bother, they were destroying their relationship by themselves. She had advised them to wait for two weeks to let their armies recover. The others had agreed, that Sansa had made sense.
In truth, Sansa was playing for time because she needed to ensure that the ravens reached King's Landing. What Cersei did with their war plans, was her decision. The Dragon Queen needed to suffer setbacks and if she went and took out Cersei as well, it would be brilliant.
What had happened was beyond her expectations, the mad Kraken was taken out, two mad queens were dead and King's Landing was destroyed. She had not expected the destruction to be so ... thorough. She had always known that the Dragon Queen was mad, she may have tried to hide it, but apparently, the apple hadn't fallen far from the tree.
In the council that had followed, she had finally gotten her wish. She got to be Queen. Her thirteen-year-old self would have been so happy. Brandon had been elected King of the remaining kingdoms. The Starks had control over all the Kingdoms and she had led them to their greatest achievement. The insult of Torrhen Stark being forced to kneel had been avenged. She had fought for Jon to be sent to the Wall and while she had apologized, she found that she couldn't bring up any feelings. She had encouraged Arya to go west, and while a part of her was happy that they were happy, another part was glad they were gone because it removed all challenges to her authority.
At first, things had gone well, but as always things had gone to shit
Within a year, Brandon was dead. Killed by a thief, while he was warging. Her beautiful omnipresent brother who could see the past and glimpses of the future, couldn't predict his own death. It would be funny if it wasn't tragic. Things had gone well... south in the South afterward. Without a central authority, the kingdoms split and went their own ways.
Dorne which had kept to itself after the tragedy of Princess Elia and her children had broken away, without a spear thrown, and had taken the Dornish Marches, as cool as could be.
The Stormlands had as always taken offense and had attempted to take it back. Without waiting for allies or reinforcements, Lord Gendry had led an army into Dorne in a punitive campaign. He had led an army of 20000 into the desert and had disappeared into the sands. Only the Gods truly know what happened to them. The mortals had to make do with rumors, which got more and more outlandish as time went by.
The Reach had suffered relatively lightly. They had overthrown Tyrion's pet mercenary, and rumors spread on how exactly they had gotten rid of him but a popular rumor was that he was thrown from a window into a shitpile where he had then proceeded to drown in it. Snickers and guffaws now enveloped Bronn's legacy. People still talked of how he met a 'shitty' end. There had been an attempted coup led by some of the High Sparrow's remaining followers in Oldtown but it had been put down harshly. However, the aftermath of the coup led to a splinter in the Faith which still reverberated throughout Westeros. The Reach was now led by a Redwyne Lord who had married a Florent and had united the last of the major Gardener claims. The Reach was hence relatively stable. All things considered.
The Westerlands had been led by Tyrion before he had supposedly died of 'natural causes'. Ser Daven Lannister who had earlier been a lower-rung Lannister had taken over as its Lord. However, Ser Daven had inherited a broke Casterly Rock which had run out of Gold and other resources. Ser Daven, while he meant well, didn't have the cunning of Tyrion and the ruthlessness of Tywin, so in the meantime, he was on a perpetual tightrope trying to rule and prevent civil war and coup attempts from the other lords, who could smell blood in the water and didn't have to worry about a Lannister Army.
Speaking of blood in the water, the Iron Islands had taken offense to the death of the Dragon Queen. Their 'Queen' Yara had taken offense to the 'kangaroo council' and had demanded Jon's execution. At first, Sansa had been confused about what a kangaroo was, but she soon got the gist. Queen Yara now spent her time raiding the kingdoms, that she had felt were responsible for the Dragon Queen's death. She had taken Bear Island without a fight, as she knew very well that Sansa couldn't afford to take it back.
The Eyrie had been stable for a while, until Lord Arryn's tragic death. There had been a share of rumors regarding it. But the most popular was that he had been thrown out of the moon door, by a whore who had been threatened by him. At first, Sansa doubted it, but when she found out that the whore had died, the rumors were all but confirmed. The embarrassed Lords tried to close ranks to protect the legacy of the last Arryn. Their unity lasted just long enough for them to form factions and lead the Eyrie to a neverending civil war.
The Riverlands had been broken up and divided by the Eyrie, Westerlands, and Crownlands much to the horror of Lord Edmure but he had been ignored by everybody.
The Crownlands, much of the Narrow Sea lands, and the lands around Cracklaw Point had been taken over by Lord Velaryon. Kings Landing was abandoned and a new central point had been made at the reconstructed High Tide. Lord Velaryon had made a pact with Queen Yara which had resulted in mutual neutrality and had married Desmera Redwyne to create an alliance with the Reach. Sansa had nothing but respect for him, for the shrewd way he played the game.
The North had been relatively stable under her rule. Things had been well, even great for a while. Until things seemed to go wrong. Sansa had found out that there was more to ruling than wearing pretty dresses and sitting on a throne. It involved hard work and maintaining a balance between stubborn and petty Lords.
The North had come out of the wars heavily depopulated and on the verge of famine. Winter had been truly hard and strict rationing had been the order of the day. In the middle of this period, Bear Island had been taken without a fight and Sansa couldn't do anything about it.
Things had started to improve slightly and she had been able to get grain from the Reach and Essos, however much of the trade terms were unfavorable. It turned out that when the North had been independent, it had been poor for a reason. The lands were poorly mapped for resources and there was only so much that their trade partners could do with Timber and poor iron ore.
And then came the blight, as if they hadn't suffered enough. the blight had all but annihilated their wheat and potato yields and their trade partners simply started to propose more and more unequal agreements much to the North's disadvantage.
The blight had started relatively small and could be contained, but two years ago, there had been a massive breakout all but dooming the North. The Reach and Crownlands had then quite strangely not provided enough wheat and food, as per their own treaties, and had then decided to stop all shipments altogether, much to her horror.
Essos was also out of the question, it had always been a last-ditch choice for food because of their own conflicts. After the death of the Dragon Queen, her armies had gone back. Those who had been liberated by her had imposed a boycott on any item going to the Sunset kingdoms, which they had held responsible for their Queen's death.
The Dragon Queen's armies on the other hand without a common liege had gone their own ways and had proceeded to try to liberate Essos from slavery in their own way. What followed was another Century of Blood. There were slave rebellions in Volantis and the other free cities. The rebellions had spread like wildfire throughout Essos and had resulted in anarchy and chaos, only Braavos still stood but it was only just holding on. Braavos had stopped food shipments relatively early and the last message, she had received from them had been, about outstanding debts as well as a subtle threat of what they could do.
While she should have been relatively concerned about the threat, she had her own local threat to deal with. In all came back to her brother/cousin and what happened when he left for the Wall after he had been exiled.
It turned out that he had chosen not to swear his oath and had accompanied the remaining Wildlings back to the frozen areas that they had come from. Only it wasn't so frozen anymore.
She had received reports that the lands beyond the Wall had become green and fertile. At first, she had assumed that it was a tall tale spread by people who were bored and had nothing to do. But as multiple reports saying the same thing started to filter in, she had been forced to acknowledge it.
She had attempted to send a force in the early years to attempt to claim the lands beyond the Wall as part of the North, but she had been thwarted by what remained of the Night's Watch. They had used legalese and old crumbling documents to show that they were a buffer between her and the new lands and that an invasion would be unwise.
She had been particularly irked by the new commander, a Reach bastard. There was something in his voice and the way he radiated smugness that irritated her. The final straw had been a raven from Brandon asking(commanding )her to not intervene. So at first, she had let it go.
Other rumors started to filter through, that the Wildlngs had formed a permanent settlement in their lands and had made Jon their leader. The only thing which stopped her from disregarding that news was that Jon had been quoted as saying 'I Dun Wan Et'. That sounded like Jon all right. Besides she had nothing to worry about in a small settlement.
She had heard that he had gotten married to a blonde wildling and had children. Another blonde. Her brother certainly had a type. the facet of children had worried her slightly because they technically had a legal claim to Winterfell. However, she had chosen to disregard it because in what world would a half-wildling be able to rule after her?
That had been her mistake.
Around three years ago, she had gotten news that Jon had died. There was no news on how he had passed. She had announced the news to the North and beyond and had announced plans to publicly mourn him. In private, she found that she didn't have the tears or effort to mourn him. There was only a sense of relief that her last obstacle to ruling the north was gone and her rule was secure.
But as usual, nothing went the way she had wanted it to go.
While Jon had been content to live a peaceful life and had had his unfortunate Targaryen blood diluted by proper Stark blood. His son was a full raging Targaryen and had no intention of just sitting and wasting away in a glorified village. He intended to get claim the birthright and privileges which Jon had refused to claim.
Daeron was his name, and he crowned himself as Daeron the Third. the first Daeron had conquered Dorne in a year and had been betrayed in a horrible fashion. The second Daeron had been betrayed by his family and had fought wars to legitimize his reign. This Daeron intended to fight the wars necessary, legitimize his rule and stay for the long run, by any means necessary.
Daeron had been a whole lot smarter than his ancestors, he had gotten help from some unknown people who had fueled his ambitions and had helped helm his ambition and determination to take back what belonged to his family.
The stories told about him made him sound like a legend. There were stories about he had been able to unite three different Khalassars who had blood feuds against each other and had been able to unite them to defeat a roving bunch of mercenaries who were threatening Pentos. There were stories about how he had seduced the rulers of the Sistermen and had made them loyal to himself. They were stories about how he had gained the loyalty of the remaining Unsullied. There were stories of how he had charmed the rulers of Yi Ti. There were stories about how he had claimed the last dragon. He had even been able to charm Yara and wasn't that a feat, being able to charm that old radish?
Much of the stories originated in Essos and she was content having him on the other side of the narrow sea. But then he decided to turn west. Unlike his father, Daeron knew how to play the game, and what he did later on stunned her.
Backed by a loyal army and help from Braavos, he decided to take Westeros. Unlike his ancestors, he had decided to use words and diplomacy to get his way through. He had earned a reputation for having a silver tongue, she didn't know whom to curse for teaching him to home that dangerous tool, but she had suspected that it was Aurane Waters, who she later confirmed had been his mentor and had been a loyal advisor. Apparently, where a Targaryen went, a Velayron(sort of) followed.
He had then married the daughter of Lord Velayron, a niece of Aurane, thus getting the support and allegiance of the Crownlands. Because his wife's mother was from the Reach and was the only sister of its rulers, he had gotten their support too. All it had taken was one raven to Ser Daven promising him aid and support in return for his allegiance and Daeron had managed to take most of the South without even leaving Fair Isle.
He had intervened in Eyriesh succession battles and had somehow managed to get them to support his candidate. Apparently, twenty years had softened any opposition to the Targaryens. There were rumors of course on how he had done it. Some say he had charmed them, some say that he had appealed to their chivalric nature, but history agrees that they were mostly persuaded by being confronted by a snarling dragon.
He had been able to even reach a concord with Dorne, she suspected it had something to do with rumors of his good looks. Yes, no wonder he had Dorne in his grasp. He had even gotten Yara to name him as her heir, ensuring that the Iron Islands would be absorbed back into the six kingdoms. He had managed to do all of this, without one soldier unchaining his sword.
If it wasn't for the fact that she was next, she would have been impressed.
He had chosen to not attack her directly. This startled her until she found out that he was spreading stories and rumors that she had broken a vow before a heart tree. It was utterly brilliant. The north was a bastion of the Old Gods and to break a vow before a heart tree was as blasphemous as one could get. In the old days, oathbreakers were executed with their entrails draped on the heart tree. While she had no reason for religion nowadays, she had forgotten that the North took it very seriously. Apparently, she had forgotten to remember.
An old maid who had heard the stories remembered that she had been standing with Arya when Jon had revealed his parentage. She had immediately spread it around and it had spread like fire. She had no choice but to execute the maid for treason and slander. However, the execution had only served to confirm the allegations made against her. The repercussions had begun almost immediately.
The region of the Neck swore allegiance to Daeron. In response to Sansa's furious demand for information, Lady Meera had said that she was making up for an old mistake and that she and any army were not welcome and they wouldn't be able to enter the neck. All further expeditions to bring the neck back into the north were failures, as they had received a crannogman 'welcome' and were never seen again.
Other regions started to defect, as they found out that honor didn't keep their bellies full and there wasn't much of it swearing allegiance to a known oathbreaker. Daeron had swiftly rewarded the regions by sending over necessary food and other materials earning him, their eternal gratitude and allegiance.
He had then managed a masterstroke by flipping Lord Manderly, by following his wretched Valyrian custom of polygamy. He had married a granddaughter of Lord Manderly, thus ensuring ties to both the North and the South. Family ties thus cemented his alliances.
By flipping the Manderlys, she had been reduced to merely Queen of Stark Lands and even that was being optimistic. She had then received word, that Daeron's Wilding army had invaded from the north and his main army had come from the west and had annihilated the army of Lord Glover, who had been her last loyal Lord.
She had attempted to receive religious relief by going to the Godswood to pray but she had found no relief. When she was small, she used to be scared of it, much preferring the Sept. The air in the Godswood was cool but somehow it got even colder when she entered it. Almost like it was angry that she had trespassed with her heretic self.
As she came to the Heart Tree, she found that the face had somehow changed from one of a pained groan into a smile, but it was a cruel smile, that was almost mocking her. The wind had then picked up and it had made the branches move. the movement of the branches made it sound as if it was whispering. She could have sworn she heard words
Traitor
Blasphemer
Oathbreaker
She hurried out of there as fast as she could.
This brought her, back to the present, she sighed to herself and blew out the candle, and dressed for bed, for sleep which wouldn't come. She had been outplayed by a new player who had used the conditions to his advantage, had taken a massive risk, and was now in a prime position to get the reward. She had in her arrogance assumed that the game ended with her, it never stopped, it had simply just moved on from her.
Daeron was coming for her like Winter and with Fire & Blood, as per his last raven. There would be no mercy for her, she had burned all bridges and there wasn't anybody to save her. There would be no escape.
This was now the culmination of all the decisions that she had made, everything was collapsing in on her and her legacy was burning like the logs in her fireplace and would be ash, like in the morning
Poor Girl, Naive Girl, Stupid Girl