Author's Notes: Hey everyone, sorry that it has taken so long to update, I hope this makes up for it. As always you know who owns what.
Fortunately, the remainder of the journey to Winterfell was an uneventful one, their greatest impediment came from the snow which was growing ever deeper. For those mounted on garrons, like Sansa and her escort, the going was made without too much difficulty. For the rest; however, their progress was slowed. Sansa often wanted to ride ahead to Winterfell, but Brienne and the Spear Wives argued against it. There were many dangers that could be encountered on the road in the North.
Despite the majority of the Wildlings either returning to the Far North, or joining into the alliance with Jon and the Night's Watch, not all had done so. Some had made it over the Wall before or after the battles at Castle Black and were now subsisting by raiding farms or small groups of travelers. Before her kidnapping Sansa had been told of these brigands, though often she had not been able to do much as much of the North's strength had been bled by the war and even if had not they would have already been long gone by the time any force arrived. Nor were they the only threat. Broken men, deserters or those with their homes and livelihoods destroyed too had turned to banditry and preyed on those they could.
Ironically, the Boltons had managed to keep some control over the situation, through their usual method of killing anyone they caught engaged in brigandage via flaying them alive. With them gone they had become emboldened again. Finally, with the lose of so many men to hunt the wolves had multiplied and where attacking livestock and small groups of people. Thus, though it was far slower, it was simply the safer to stay with the rest of the group and make their to Winterfell. Thus, while they heard the howling of wolves in the distance they reached Winterfell without violence.
As they rode through the gates Sansa experienced a feeling of relief. To be back amongst her own people and to be able to influence events again rather than be forced to sit and wait for whatever was going to happen to happen. Silently she vowed to herself that she would never be helpless like that again. She was done being a piece in the game. She shook her head, enough. It was time to get back to work.
First thing she had to do was get the food situation under control. Once she had vanished the purchasing of food from the Veil had ground to a halt as Sansa had been overseeing it. She would have to reopen the commerce and resume the flow of grain. She was hindered in this in two ways. The first was that, as winter drew ever closer, the lords of the Veil were increasingly reluctant to sell, preferring instead to keep the grain for themselves and their own people. The second difficulty was that Maester Wolkan had succumbed to his injuries. Sansa had sent a raven to the Citadel requesting a replacement, but she did not know when, or even if, said replacement would arrive. Till then she would have to rely on stewards to help her, especially as she had never been very good with sums.
She spent nights starring at piles of papers and only vaguely understanding what they were talking about. It did not held that she found herself once again drinking more than she knew she should. In addition to all of this were the trips which she was forced to take. Her being seen as a helpless girl who had been stolen right out of her own castle had damaged her standing with the lords of the North, especially when compared to her brother, the martyred Young Wolf. Some had begun to mumble that she did not have the strength to lead them through what was to come and the way the King had written to her made her doubt that he would do much if they attempted to replace her.
To counter this she had gone on journeys to the castles of various potential malcontents to reassure them. She was aided in this by Lord Manderly and Jeyne, or to use her formal title, Lady Jeyne Bolton, Lady of the Dreadfort. She, as Sansa had suggested, taken the title to make her elevation more palatable to the banner men of the Boltons. Sansa had learned that her friend had named her son Domeric, after the son of Roose Bolton, as he had been popular with the people.
Due to Roose's actions during the war the Dreadfort's strength was more intact than many of the Northern lords and so she and Lord Manderly, whose strength was still great despite their loses, had both sent contingents knights to accompany Sansa and her Lady's Guard, as some were calling Brienne and the Wildling women…along with other, less kind names. These knights did more than merely protect her on the road, they were a none-too-subtle sign to the lords that the Lady of Winterfell enjoyed the support of the two largest and wealthiest houses in the North. As they traveled through the North they were joined by men from the mountain clans and other houses, such as House Hornwood. It worked and thought it took more time than Sansa would have liked the grumblings died down.
It had not all been through the displays of power. Sansa had swallowed her indignations and had forced herself to listen to the lords' complaints and fears. Most of these were the result of fears for the future once what they all were now certain to come had done so. Using all the skills of persuasion that she had observed and employed herself in King's Landing she did everything that she could to win the nobles over. She reminded them of their oaths to House Stark, while mentioning the Red Wedding and the treachery of House Frey. It worked, though she was not sure how much of that was due to her words, the show of support from the houses, or a combination of them all, but the houses returned to the fold. Another factor which might have contributed to the restoration of their faith was the way she dealt with some the various brigands.
When some of the outlaws had raided too close to Winterfell she had ridden out to deal with them. Ostensibly it was to fulfill her duty as Wardeness of the North. She let it slip to some who she knew would spread the rumor that she was going as she wanted to get away from Winterfell and the seemingly endless preparation for winter and while there was some truth in this, it was not the main reason that she accompanied the hunters. She needed the hunt to be both successful and swift and that meant that she had to accompany them to use her abilities.
To that end she also took her new bodyguards, Mally it turned out was a skilled hunter and tracker, but of greatest importance was that she was a Wildling. Jon had told Sansa that people with the ability to control animals were more common and accepted among the Free Folk, as they called themselves, though they were stilled feared. Thus, Sansa took them into her confidence about what she could do, though remembering something else that the Free Folk had told Jon, she did not tell about her controlling of people. They were, if not awed, then at least a little more respectful of her and what she could do. Knowing what she could do Mally and Sansa worked as a pair. Sansa would control animals to find the brigands and then tell Mally, who would then lead the hunting party to where the brigands. In this way they tracked and surprise several bands of outlaws.
Once the fighting was done Sansa gave those taken alive a choice: the noose or the Wall, some had urged her to have them all killed for what they had done, but Jon had told her that they needed all the help that they could get. In anticipation of what was to come and at the King's command Jon was attempting to regarrison as many of the old Night's Watch's castles as possible. Though many of the Free Folk had joined them they were still desperately short-handed and so Sansa had promised to send all that she could to the Wall.
All save one.
Author's Notes: Hey everyone, I am so sorry that it has been so long since I last updated. I hope that you liked it. Did I make her too intelligent? Let me know in the comments. I will try to update sooner next time, hit a block of sorts and have a lot on my plate. Till next time please pray for the people of Tennessee after the tornado, those effected by the coronavirus. Bye and may Jesus bless you.