Author's Notes: Hey everyone, I am glad that you liked the last chapter and I hope you like this one as well, as always I own nothing.
At the appointed time a man came to Sansa's tent. He was of average height and slightly built. His eyes were brown and though he was mostly bald he had a short gray beard. He wore no armor but his clothing was not that of a lord, it was mostly brown and he wore a green mantle over it held with a silver clasp that was in the shape of an onion. When he saw her he bowed, as he did so Sansa noticed that the fingers on his left hand were shorter than the ones on his right hand.
"My Lady. I am Sir Davos Seaworth, Lord of the Rainwood, Admiral of the Narrow Sea and Hand of the King. Might I have the honor of escorting you to the King?" Sansa gave a bow, the closet she could come to a curtsy as she could in trousers.
"I would be honored Sir Davos." In truth he looked very little like a knight, but he had a kind face and Sansa had long ago lost her belief in the fairness as a sign of character. They walked through the camp she turned to speak with him.
"I must beg your pardon Sir Davos, but I fear that I am not familiar with the Rainwood."
"It is in Cape Wrath on the Stormlands My Lady. His Grace granted it to me in return for past loyal service." Even as he said it Sansa knew who he was.
"You are the Onion Knight! My father told me about how you saved Lord Stannis…I mean King Stannis," she added quickly; "When he was besieged at Storm's End." He chuckled ruefully.
"Oh, I am sure your lord father made it sound much more exciting than it actually was. Honestly, it was more terrifying than anything else. I was certain I would be overturned and drowned." Sansa laughed but then looked apologetic when she realized that he was being serious.
"Oh I do beg your forgiveness." She said hastily. He waved her apology away.
"Think nothing of it My Lady, pretty much everything that scares a man is funny afterwards." They both had a good laugh about that, though Sansa did not think it was that funny and she doubted Sir Davos did either. Before long they came to the King's Town, before Sansa could go in Sir Davos put out his hand, stopping her.
"I heard that you met with the Lady Melisandre." Sansa felt slightly uncomfortable at the mention of the woman.
"I did."
"If you would take my advice, you will not trust her, she plays her own games with her fires and I do not believe she has His Grace's best interest at heart."
"Do not worry Sir Davos, I do not trust the Lady Melisandre." He nodded and as he moved to open the door she spoke again, in a voice so low that he could not hear.
"I do not trust anyone."
In the King's quarter. A table was set for six and four were already seated. At the head of the table was the King, seated on his right hand was Melisandre. On his left hand was a woman nearly as tall as the King, thin, and had ears where slightly too-large ears, she also had pale eyes and a sharp nose and lank brown hair. Overall she struck Sansa as having an unpleasant face. Next to the woman was a girl. She looked a few years younger than Sansa. She had long hair but was otherwise a rather unattractive girl.
She had the King's Jaw and the woman's ears. But what drew Sansa's attention most was the left side of the girls face. The skin on her left side was stiff and dead and the skin cracked and flaking, mottled black and grey. Greyscale! Sansa caught her breath. She had heard of the dreaded disease. It was said that if someone got the dreaded disease their skin would turn to stone and they would die a horrible death. For a moment she froze then, as Sir Davos entered, she recovered herself and forced herself to keep walking. Sir Davos at the end of the table and Sansa found the only available seat was next to the girl.
"Lady Sansa." The King said. "You've Sir Davos, my Hand and Lady Melisandre." He indicated the woman. "Allow me to present my wife, the Queen Selyse Baratheon and my daughter, Shireen." Sansa bowed to each of them.
"Your Grace, Princess." Once she had received their acknowledgements she moved to her seat. As she did so she saw both of the women looking at her, the girl with open curiosity and the woman with disapproval. Sansa wondered what she had done to offend the woman. Her thoughts were interrupted when the girl piped up.
"Why are you dressed like a man?" Her mother gave her a disapproving look while Sir Davos snorted into his wine cup."
"You shouldn't speak such child." The woman said, in a voice which was little more than a hiss. The child looked slightly abashed, Sansa remembered all the times that she had been shamed by members of the Court and rushed to the other girl's defense.
"It is no trouble Your Grace," she turned to the girl. "When I fled from King's Landing I fear that I had only the cloths on my back. Those cloths were little more than filthy rags when your father's knights found me. My uncle has no female servants so they only one who is my size is his squire."
"Women should not dress as men." The Queen said firmly. "It is unnatural. We shall have to find something decent for you to wear." Melisandre might have smiled but Sansa was not sure.
"Father said that we are going to fight the Ironborn. My father defeated them before you know. He defeated their entire fleet and all the maesters write that the Ironborn are the best sailors in Westeros." Her eyes blazed with pride, the same pride that Sansa did when she was talking about her own father.
"Yes," Sansa replied; "My father told me and my siblings about how your father both held Storm's End and defeated the Ironborn fleet."
"How pleasant of him." The King said, an unpleasant tone in his voice; "Though it would have been better had he come to relieve us sooner." There followed an unpleasant pause and then Sir Davos quickly interjected himself into the conversation.
"Well, Your Grace, this time we shall be attacking and we shall win."
"Indeed we shall." Melisandre said. "I have seen the Bolton banners burning in the flames. The Lord of Light has promised the King victory." Sansa wondered if the Lord of Light had also promised the King victory at the Battle of Blackwater but decided that it would probably be for the best if she said nothing about it. Either not hearing or choosing to ignore the hostile tone of her father Shireen continued to talk to Sansa.
"They say that there are going to be battles. I have never seen a battle before, though I have read all about them in my books and it sounds exciting. Have you ever seen a battle?" Sansa had seen a battle, or at least, she had been very close to one, but once again she did not think that it would be a very good idea to mention that fact. Then she remembered the riots in King's Landing, which had been a battle of sorts.
"Yes," she said, thinking of that incident; "I have seen a battle. It was very terrifying Princess and nothing at all like they are in the stories."
"Her ladyship has the right of it." Sir Davos said to Shireen. "Battles are ugly things and hopefully you will be nowhere near them when they occur."
"That's enough of such talk." The Queen said, glaring at Sir Davos. "You will frighten the child." Sir Davos bowed his head slightly.
"Apologies My Queen." As the Queen got in a conversation with Lady Melisandre Shireen turned to whisper to Sansa.
"I am not scared." Sansa thought that a foolish and childish thing to say, she had been nothing but terrified, but instead she chose to compliment the other girl.
"You are very brave Princess." As the Princess beamed at the compliment Sansa felt a wave of pity for the girl. She was the old Sansa, the one which had no idea of just how cruel the world could be and who had never seen someone die. She envied the girl her innocence and grieved that it would likely soon be gone. The dinner continued for some time then Sansa departed, after promising to come and visit Shireen soon.
It was nearly a week before the army marched and the King kept Sansa and everyone else busy. She spent a good deal of time writing to her father's banner men, now her banner men, letters commanding them to honor their oaths of loyalty to the Stark family and join her in supporting King Stannis. Near sundown she would go to the archery butts and practice with Jon. It quickly became apparent that she lacked the strength for the long bow so she tried the smaller recurved bow. She practiced till the muscles of her arms hurt but still she kept at it. Her aim improved somewhat, meaning that she usually hit the target if not where on the target she was aiming at.
In addition to her aim improving she felt her arms growing stronger. It made her think of Brienne, with her muscular body, it was not attractive, but neither were people inclined to hurt it either. After the practice session were done for the day she would call on Princess Shireen. The girl was thrilled to see her whenever she came and Sansa got the idea that Shireen was usually very lonely.
The girl was a great lover of books, not just story books but books on the history of the Seven Kingdoms. She wanted to hear all of the stories of the North, even the scary stories that Bran had always loved. She was also fascinated by Sansa's hair and enjoyed attempting to braid it. Her efforts were amateurish but Sansa enjoyed having someone taking care of it again. Shireen had also noticed how much stronger Sansa was getting after her target practice sessions.
"You must be like one of the warrior women of old, like Aegon the Conqueror's sister, Visenya and Rhaenys." The thought of her in armor was so ridiculous that Sansa had burst out laughing. She decided that Bran would have liked Shireen but she was not sure Arya would have had much use for her.
To Sansa's surprise they had another companion. Shireen would go to the library of Castle Black where they met a Wildling girl named Gilly. Sansa had never met a Wildling before and had always imagined them all to be fierce and savage, but Gilly was neither. She was quiet and shy, almost fearful in fact. To Sansa's surprise Shireen was teaching the girl to read, progress was slow but the girl was clearly taking pleasure in it. Sansa was curious as to why a Wildling was in Castle Black but the answer horrified her. The girl claimed that the Others, the creatures from Old Nann's stories, were real and were coming. If something was not done they would consume the Seven Kingdoms.
At week's end the army began to move south. Sansa had been given one of her uncle's horses to ride and Jon had given her the bow that she had been practicing with. He had also given her a dress. It seemed that there was more than one Wilding woman at or near Castle Black and several of them had sown a dress from the black cloth used to make Night Watch clothing. It was not the best fit and indeed it felt strange to be back in a dress, but she made no complaint.
Shireen had asked Sansa to ride with her when they marched so she was at the head of the column. Sansa had always thought that armies setting off would be grand affairs, like the when King Robert had left Winterfell. Instead it was an almost quiet affair. The King mounted his horse and gave a signal to the man next to him. The man blew on a trumpet and the army set off. First the cavalry, then the infantry and finally the baggage train.
Author's Notes: Hey everyone, sorry it has been so long since I last updated, school has started and has been rather time-consuming. What did you think of it? Everyone likes Shireen so she was easy to write. I will admit, I liked "dark Sansa" so black dress it was. Next chapter there will be battles and more characters. Till then please pray for the victims of kidnapping and human trafficking the refugees from the wars in Syria and Iraq, homeless and sick the Americans held abroad and the Christians and others persecuted for their faith and all others who need prayer. Bye and may Jesus bless you.