Author's Notes: Hey everyone, sorry that it has been so long since I updated. As always I own nothing.
Fortunately for Sansa and rest, the attack had not seriously damaged the ship and they were able to continue on their way. Never the less, the attack had left Sansa shaken. Every day she would spend hours at a time at the railing of the ship watching the horizons for signs of another attacker. Nor was she the only one, the captain had doubled the number of crew tasked with watching for other ships and many of them went about their duties with knives or other weapons thrust into their belts.
Her companions also seemed to also have caught the spirit of unease; Brienne was never far from Sansa's side and the noble woman was prepared to swear that Brienne slept in her armor. Like Brienne, Podrick now seemed to go everywhere armed and even managed to do some scanning of the horizon himself between bouts of seasickness. Tyrion also was more on edge, though except for the fact that he kept his crossbow near him he gave no other sign. Even Sansa had taken precautions against further attacks; she watched her left arm as she raised her lifted it from the railing and moved it about, still getting used to the weight of the dagger there.
After the battle Brienne had given her the dagger, it was not long, the blade being no more than four inches in length, but that was long enough for her purpose. Brienne had explained it to her when she had given Sansa the dagger; it had to be short in order for it to be easily concealed. A longer blade would do her no good as she had no training or experience in knife fighting. The only way she would be able to come out ahead in a fight was if she were able to take her opponent by surprise. So in a fight if an attacker was able to get past Brienne Sansa would have to let the attacker get close then strike. Sansa remembered how Shae had also had a concealed knife but unlike her Sansa kept her knife strapped to her left forearm as opposed to her left leg, the thought of which made her blush. She did not enjoy thinking about her former maid, one more person that she had foolishly trusted when she thought that she had learned better.
Thinking about Shae made Sansa think about the Lannisters, which also made her uncomfortable. She kept thinking about the attack and the pirates who had conducted it. Had it been mere coincidence that they had been attacked or was there more to it? She remembered how the Queen had attempted to have her killed during her husband's trial by combat, that had failed but had she given up? Sansa could all too easily believe that Queen Cersei would not. Sansa was certain that the Queen had the resources to hire the pirates and she would certainly have no scruples about killing an entire ship's crew to dispose of her and Tyrion. She had discussed this with Brienne and her bodyguard had agreed with her assessment. She was certain that Tyrion was thinking along similar lines and she had heard people say that he was the most intelligent men in the Seven Kingdoms. She wished that she could speak to him on the matter but that was not possible. Her husband still looked on her as a child obsessed with silly romantic notions and she did not want him to change this view of her. So she refrained from speaking on the matter on the rare occasions that they talked save to state fervently, and entirely truthfully, that she hoped that there would be no more attacks. It seemed that her hopes and the crews' prayers were answered as they saw no further hostile sails and the rest of their voyage was completed without incident.
A cry from the lookout awoke Sansa early one morning. Fearing a second attack she bolted up in the bed in the cabin that she shared with her husband, the cry had also awoken Tyrion on the pile of blankets and cushions that he slept on. Before either of them could say anything there was a knocking at the door. Taking a knife in hand Tyrion opened the door slowly and peeked out. Seeing who it was he relaxed and opened the door all of the way open to admit Podrick. The squire entered and bowed to them both.
"Good morning my lord, my lady."
"What is going on?!" Tyrion asked, his tone somewhat surely from a combination of nervousness and being so suddenly awoken. "Are we under attack again?"
"No my lord." Podrick said hastily; "I merely wished to inform you that we have reached Sunspear and we will be disembarking within the hour." Tyrion thanked him and told him to get the servants to begin packing up their belongings and then to bring them breakfast. After Podrick left they both rose and quickly dressed. Shortly after they had finished dressing Podrick returned with their breakfast, after they finished eating they went out onto the deck.
As they drew closer Sansa could first make out a tower, the top of which seemed to shine in the early morning sun. As they came to the harbor she saw city walls rising up and beyond them, nearer to the harbor, was a town. It was quite small compared to King's Landing and appeared to be made mostly of mud and housing people who for the most part seemed little more than beggars. At the harbor itself a far more colorful spectacle awaited them. A company of men and a woman awaited them.
The men were clad in light armor, metal disks sown onto leather peaked out from beneath flowing colorful robes, on their heads they wore peaked helmets swathed in silken turbans. Sansa glanced behind her to look at Brienne, who stood at her back clad in full armor. Compared to her the soldiers waiting for them seemed to be ridiculously lightly armored. On the other hand, even in only her dresses Sansa had been aware of the increasing heat as they sailed south. Now that she thought about it, it was probably extremely uncomfortable to be wearing all that metal though the larger woman had never once complained.
There was nothing ridiculous about their weapons; they all carried spears similar to Prince Obreyn's, though not as elaborately decorated. They all had swords at their waists and bows on their backs. The bows looked different than the ones that Sansa had seen before. While she had never had the interest in archery that her siblings had had she had seen bows many times but none like these. They had two curves as opposed to being a single smooth curve like the bows she had seen before, they were also much smaller than many of the bows she had seen. It was the woman who stood at the head of the soldiers who caught Sansa's attention. She was a short woman, even shorter than Sansa, but there was no doubting that she was in charge. She was dark-skinned, like Prince Oberyn, indeed there did appear to be some resemblance when one looked closely. She had long dark hair that fell in curls down her back and large dark eyes.
She was clad in layers of purple silk that were, to Sansa, shockingly revealing and did little to hide her full figure. Her feet were clad in sandals made of snakeskin that went all the way up to her thighs. While she wore no armor like her escorts she wore nearly enough jewelry to count as such. As they descended the gangplank the woman came forward to meet them, her face breaking into a smile.
"Greetings!" She said with a slight bow. "I and Princess Arianne Martell, daughter of Prince Doran Nymeros Martell, Prince of Dorne! I greet you, Lord Tyrion of Casterly Rock! And your noble wife, the Lady Sansa of Winterfell! My father sent me to greet you and conduct you to him at Sunspear." Though her words were friendly Sansa thought there was something slightly mocking in her tone and her time in King's Landing had taught her not to trust fair words.
They walked through the town and towards the walls with Sansa and Tyrion walking with Arianne at the front followed by Brienne and Podrick and Arianne's escort, save for two who went ahead to clear the way. Passing through the town they came to the gates of the walls. Inside was a second town, though this one seemed to be more prosperous and they passed many stalls of people who loudly called out praises of their goods in an effort to attract customers. The people were for the most part dark like Arianne and her uncle and many wore the bright colors that she was coming to associate Dorne. Passing through the town they at last arrived at Sunspear itself. It was a castle consisting of two towers surrounded by a wall of some yellowish material, Arianne told them that the two towers were named the Spear Tower and the Tower of the Sun, the latter of which housed the throne room where her father waited to greet them. At their approach the gates of the castle opened and Lord and Lady Lannister entered the keep of a man with more cause than many to hate the lords of Casterly Rock and the gates closed behind them.
Author's Notes: Hey everyone, sorry that it has taken me so long to update. To be frank I have sort of outrun most of my original ideas so I hit writer's block. Now once again do you want me to put in spoiler material in my chapters? We are getting close to that so if you want that stuff left out till you see season 5 please let me know in the reviews and I will give warnings if there is spoiler material. Till next time please pray for persecuted Christians and all others who suffer persecution, the sick, the homeless and runaways, victims of human trafficking, those who suffer, Gail Berry, a friend of the family suffering from mental deterioration and all others who suffer from physical and mental degeneration and all who need prayer. Bye and may Jesus bless you.