A Holiday by Decree

~~ Day 3 ~~

Sansa shivered suddenly at the amount of detail she had committed to the memory of the wetness of Tyrion's clothes, the uncertain vulnerability in his eyes as he had tried to refuse to take her wine, and the half smile he almost allowed himself at telling her how happy seeing her made him feel.

Beneath the covers, a certain heat had brewed up in the pit of Sansa's stomach. The reason? In spite of all that she had been through over the years, Sansa Stark had found new feelings surfacing in herself because her fears and anxieties had begun to air and thaw in a time of comparative peace. It was in the midst of that thaw in the past year and more, that she had secretly dared to wonder (at least before one last unspeakable tragedy had crashed down upon her): What if she had it to do over again with Tyrion Lannister?

Really, Sansa Stark! She pushed back the bed covers, and took a long drink of the cool water at her bedside.

Sansa knew it was wild on her part. The thought that Sansa Stark might have enough fondness for even friendship with Tyrion "the Imp" Lannister would be enough to resupply Westerosi bards with inappropriate material for years to come.

Now, Sansa had considered whether it was just friendship that she needed the most in her privately fragile state. Certainly, Joffrey, Petyr and Ramsay's abuses had left her inclination toward intimacy with men a shambles. However, in the end Sansa had also eventually understood that all of them had been uniquely monstrous; upon further inspection years later, Tyrion's humane kindness finally came to stand out all the more in light of her most wretched experiences. She supposed that her latent attraction to him had started from there, a factor of a decent man's behavior in the midst of so much suffering.

Then again, that wasn't really giving full credit though to Tyrion. No, there's been more, and you know it, she thought… In particular, the distant echo of Margaery's unique comment about his handsomeness relating to his facial scar had curiously stayed in Sansa's mind over the years.

Pushing herself to review her most private thoughts, she finished her water and approached the window to watch the sunrise. You've had some hard years, Sansa, but there's more to your attraction to Tyrion Lannister than just kindness and friendship, and you are curious about it.

As bright orange emerged from the watery horizon, she wondered if it would matter at all though.

After Tyrion's reserved behavior last night, (though she could guess about its cause all she liked) the Queen of the North would be satisfied if they could both just finish out their vacations.

And to hope for more? Sansa knew she was not usually that lucky - and if she was, did she have any right to be, given the mounds of emotional baggage, and worse yet, her own painful secret she still struggled to face?

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