A Holiday by Decree

~~ Day 5 ~~

"So it seems we're a decent mess and might deserve each other even more than I had thought - if you can accept a joke made in poor taste," Sansa smiled a bit weakly, but Tyrion was relieved she could smile. Slowly, they turned around and began to walk through the surf again.

"Well, it's a relief that apparently you want me for more than my stunning lineage and bloodline attributes - if you can take one awful joke to another," Tyrion chuckled lightly, and to his relief, it drew a light snort from her.

"That may be a joke, but you should know it's true. I have been coming to value you much more than those things, Tyrion. As you can imagine, the revelation of my infertility got me thinking about my prospects for marriage - and what instantly terrified me and what I don't want is to be forced into another joyless political marriage.

"It's had me in a frightened daze for months. However, I am starting to think that if I can figure out what to do about the succession, this is actually an opportunity for me to choose a partner on his own merit - and not by how his marriage to me can define my rule with the offspring that we'll produce or the Northern houses I need to favor. That for once, I have the chance to choose someone for my happiness, and I'm thinking that I may like it if that someone turned out to be you," Sansa finished, gazing his way with her brilliant blue eyes.

"And the reasons for that are still far beyond my ability to guess despite your references otherwise" he replied, suddenly down in his feelings of inadequacy in the shadow of the hopes and impressions she sounded to have built up about him.

"Well, aside from the fact you are the man who strategized the plan that saved most of the lives in King's Landing when Jon and Daenerys took it, you also helped in the defense of Winterfell against the Night King, you are intelligent and kind, you are even more fun to be with than I realized, you understand the strictures that I live under as a monarch, and most importantly you are patient, which is essential as I need time to solve the succession crisis but don't want to give away the rest of my best years to loneliness while I work on it."

"Then, it seems… that answers the questions about marriage and your gracious decision to give it another try with me. I'll just need to remember that as a pep talk to myself," he joked quietly, but something major still nagged at him. "All this talk about solving marriage issues and succession crises, does raise a good point - for two people who aren't exactly very available due to the demands of our apparently lofty positions, ironically solving similar issues but from different angles, how exactly do we make something like this work?"