Author's Notes: Hey everyone, glad that you liked the last chapter, as always I own nothing.
After the execution, the days seemed to blend together, with a seemingly endless amount of necessary but mundane business to attend to, from paper work to the receiving of petitioners. In addition to all this minutia there were the seemingly endless feuds between the various lords. While the engagement of Larence Snow… Larence Hornwood Sansa reminded herself as the King had sent a letter officially legitimizing the boy, per Sansa's request, to and Lord Manderly's daughter had calmed the issue of the Hornwood lands somewhat, at least for the time being, it seemed that new problems were constantly springing up.
She had always thought of the North as a unified place; however, she was now beginning to believe that the only thing that truly unified them was the fact that they were all feuding with one another. Despite the impending marriage House Manderly was still claiming part of the Hornwood lands, houses that had supported Sansa were request pieces of Bolton lands as a reward for their loyalty and it seemed that, now the immediate threat had passed, the mountain clans appeared to be ready and willing to return to their ancient feuds. Even the Wall was giving Sansa trouble.
While word was slow she eventually learned that Jon had allowed the Wildlings to cross the Wall. He claimed that it was to fight the true threat which was pursuing them and deny them bodies to add to their host, but the act still enraged House Umber, who was quick to complain to Sansa, as if she had any control over what the Night's Watch did. Matters were not helped by the news that the Golden Company would soon land, which meant ten thousand foreign sellswords on the lands of Northern lords which would have to be fed. Which led to another problem.
Winter was fast tightening its grip on the land, with snow falling nearly every day. The land had had poor harvests due to the men being away fighting and Sansa could not see how she could feed all her people even with the steps she had taken if the winter proved to be a long one. This all lead up to her greatest problem, the ever looming threat of the Others seemed to grow greater as the winter deepened. She found her dreams haunted by the creatures of Nan's scary stories, the details of which seemed to grow ever clearer in her mind as time passed. At times, alone at night she found herself wanting to bury her head in her hands and weep, an impulse she occasionally gave into. Fortunately the only one who ever saw her do this was Brienne and Sansa could trust her to keep her secrets safe, a fact for which she was extremely grateful for. She had been tempted by other means of dealing with her troubles as well.
She remembered when Father would only let them have one cup of wine, now she found herself drinking at least two at dinner and being tempted to call for more during the night. She knew that doing so would be a mistake, she had seen what drinking did to Tyrion. However; she could not help but remember that at times drinking was the only thing that seemed to make him happy and there was precious little that made her happy anymore and she couldn't stop thinking her lords still saw her as weak.
It seemed that performing the execution herself had indeed garnered her some respect. In addition to the name that Sir Massey had given her, she had heard other names as well. In addition to 'Blood Wolf' she had also heard the names 'She-Wolf' and 'Lady Iceheart' bandied about. She found she rather liked that, they made her sound fierce and dangerous. As the days went on; however, she found herself being slightly concerned. She remembered what Queen Cersei had told her during the Battle of the Blackwater that a ruler had to be feared, not loved. Sansa had denied that belief, but now that she was a ruler and had to deal with those who only seemed to respect people who were ready, willing and able to take their heads off, she found some sympathy for her enemy's point of view.
That disturbed her, she did not want to be anything like the Lannister woman, but how could she avoid it? It was her duty to protect her people and it seemed that the only way to do so was by having them fear her? Was this truly how the world worked? She had told herself that it was so for some time, ever since the Red Wedding in fact. Yet seeing it so clearly depressed her, confirming her worst fears which she had secretly hoped were not true. In her darkest moments she found herself half wishing that the Others would come.
To her tormented mind it seemed that nothing but good could come of their arrival. Either they would be defeated, in which case the danger and terror that they brought with them would be ended. There was also the hope that their defeat would bring back the spring like it had in the stories. Even if they proved to be victorious it might not be so bad. In her darker moods she found that death might not be so bad. Her missing her family had gotten worse since returning to Winterfell, a fact compounded by the pressures of ruling. In addition, if the Others destroyed Westeros then all those she hated would die with her. She knew that it was wrong of her to wish such a terrible fate on her foes, as all the innocent people would die, yet she could not prevent herself from feeling like that at times.
To lighten her mood when she could she would go out riding, Silver Fang at her side. She felt slightly guilty about doing so when there was work to be done, but she felt that she would go mad if she did not get away from it all from time to time. The air was cold, yet at the same time it seemed to clear her head from the stuffy heat of Winterfell. She would have liked to have gone alone, but Brienne would not hear of it and Sansa had given in. Upon returning from one such ride she found the castle in a state of near panic, with people running about as if the Others themselves were just outside the gate. As Sansa entered the courtyard Maester Wolkan ran up to meet them, a look of panic on his face.
"What has happened?" Sansa asked.
"My lady, the King is dead!"
Author's Notes: Hey everyone, what did you think? Did you like any of her other nicknames better? If you found her drinking and depression to be out of character think of it this way. I think ruling, especially there, would be much harder than it first appeared and she had never been trained to deal with that kind of stress. I could see someone acting like that. Do you agree? This is the set up for things to come, I hope you enjoy. Till then please pray for the people missing after the earthquake in Italy and the fire in Iran and everyone else who needs prayer. Bye and may Jesus bless you.