AN: Nothing you recognise is mine. Mostly it belongs to GRRM. Apologies for any mistakes regarding form, but I think I got practically everything.

TRIGGERS: Extremely biased narrator, mention of baby-betrothal, awful descriptions of a misbehaving infant (it's Joffrey), MISCARRIAGE AND BABY DEATH, grieving and depression from the mother, mentions of possible child-betrothals, MENTIONS OF MISCARRIAGE, STILLBIRTH AND INFANCY DEATH, mentions of recommendations of emotional detachment, pregnancy and mentions of birth, mention of uninterested parents and parents' unhappy with their baby, canon typical mysoginy, married couple fights, frosty marriage, allusions to domestic violence and maybe marital rape ALTHOUGH IT IS NOT TRUE AND JUST SPECULATION, mentions of marriage unhappiness, mentions of EMOTIONAL DETACHMENT TOWARDS A CHILD, mentions of orphanages, allusions to sex,

I think that's all.

.

Toddlers, pregnancies and miscarriages

.

.

Sansa has turned three less than a moon ago, and each day she seemed to become more and more ladylike. She sang and prayed to the Seven with her septa, knew her courtesies and could identify most of the Houses of the Vale, Riverlands and Crowlands, and treated everybody with as much kindness as a three-year-old remembered. Although a bit forgetful at times, she tried her best when playing or learning and rarely a cross word passed her lips (and usually after taxing her patience greatly). She made friends with ease, a bunch of energy and prettiness wanting to be told every confidence and letting pearls of laughter fall from her lips. Lysa enjoyed tremendously all the time she spent with her daughter, and so did most of the ladies, maidens or matrons. The Vale ladies took turns telling her stories about their houses, both the ones they had been born into and the ones they married.

But if Sansa was the apple in someone's eyes, it was her father. Although not young anymore, Lord Arryn has been seen carrying her on his shoulders or back sometimes, and he had set some space in his office in the tower of the Hand, so she could stay there to write or draw while he was reviewing the new cases that would be addressed by the King or the Hand the following day. He even kept on a place of honour in his desk a drawing she has done of the Arryn Falcon and Moon, although the moon might be a bit looped and the falcon mostly resembled a scared chicken. Lord Arryn also took time to tell her stories about the Vale, the Eyre and his own life, and a wide-eyed Sansa was always asking questions about the valour of knights and justice of Lords, although none were as good as her dear Papa, not even the King.

The King. He has been an issue. He found Sansa everything charming, and was heartily glad Lord Arryn had a daughter to spoil. He had at one point made a comment about baby-betrothing Sansa and Prince Joffrey, but Lysa had shot it down saying that she wished to keep her daughter to herself for as long as possible. Besides, Lysa argued, at the moment, Sansa was the heiress of the Vale, and she could not govern it from King's Landing more than live far away from her husband. There was time, Lysa said, to form a betrothal later on, but at the moment, let Sansa and the Prince be children.

The Prince. Lysa hadn't shuddered when thinking about the King, but she did now at considering Prince Joffrey. He was an ill-tempered kid, prone to tantrums and moody. He was a delight when in good humour, but Lysa has seen it turn in a heartbeat into a kicking screaming little monster and just as quickly forget about his anger and be confused when people approached with fear. The Court seemed to gravitate towards the Crown Prince, and his mother seemed so proud of him that Lysa thought she resembled more a peacock than a lioness. She certainly was puffed as one. Joffrey played with Sansa at times, since they were some of the highest ranking noble children in the castle. Young Renly Baratheon also played with them sometimes, especially now they could run after him, but overall Joffrey seemed to have inherited from his mother the preference for bootlickers who always claimed he was always right.

But Lysa couldn't judge Queen Cersei too much, for Lysa herself was quite partial to the perfection of her own daughter. If Lord Arryn was the best ever in Sansa's eyes, Lysa and Sansa were the best of friends. They did their hair alike when possible, shared candy and games, and walked around the gardens together in the sunny middays to watch the birds fly. Lysa enjoyed being the older and wiser woman in the duo (unlike with Catelyn) and showing Sansa new thighs. She was even planning to teach her the secret language she had created with Catelyn when Sansa was old enough. Lysa had always wanted many children, but the Seven didn't seem willing to let her keep them for long.

Since Sansa's birth, Lysa had suffered a miscarriage in the first month of a pregnancy, and then the birth of a small boy, Jasper Arryn, who had only lived for three moons before the Seven called him back into their halls. Sansa had enjoyed being an older sister, telling everyone about her brother, and when he died, she had been sad about losing her favourite toy, but when she had seen how crestfallen her mother was, Sansa had gone to the gardens together with her nurse and collected flowers for her mother. Lysa had held her tightly, being grateful for at least having one of her children alive in her arms. Lord Arryn had been unhappy about losing his heir, but he also seemed content that Sansa was so healthy and active, with her curious mind. He also seemed determined to keep Sansa unbetrothed until he had a son who had surpassed the first eight years of life, just in case she was the heiress of the Vale and needed to marry a second son.

Day by day, Lysa's surroundings became less grey and she returned to the activities that had given her pleasure in the past. She went back to horse-riding, although not as much as before her pregnancy with Sansa, but she took her daughter on small day trips outside the city's walls. She also took her shopping into the city for ribbons and sweets, and she organised adventures in the Red Keep and its gardens. Lysa knew that Sansa had saved her from a life of misery, and she would do everything possible to pay her back.

Another measureless source of support had come from the matrons. Most of them had lost a child either during the pregnancy, had had an stillborn birth, or had seen their children die when they had already been blessed and had learnt to walk, talk and sometimes even write. Maesters suggested parents should not get too attached to children before their fifth year, but it seemed illogical to Lysa. How could she not love a child from her body and blood, who she had already loved before it was born? Even if about one of each three children died at one point or other of their infancy, Lysa was certain she could not stop herself from loving her children more that she could stop the sun from rising in the sky or the winds from blowing. Her Aunt Whent, who had suffered several stillbirths in her later years, had told her that the best she could do was wait between pregnancies, be moderate with her food and drink and generous with her exercises, do things that made her happy and then rest with the knowledge that after that it was all in the hands of the gods. Lysa's soil would be at its best for the seeds, but if they were bad seeds or the conditions weren't appropriate in the planting, it was out of Lysa's reach to do anything else.

The one seed that had taken root was the King's, for the Queen had barely a sennight ago birthed the Realm a little Princess that had been named Myrcella. Blonde of hair, she seemed like a portrait of her mother, a little lion. Prince Joffrey hadn't been happy when he couldn't see his mother for a whole day, and neither when she would not play with him due to a boring baby. King Robert, on the other hand, seemed quite content to have a daughter to spoil, although after the novelty of Sansa as a baby girl, he did not seem overly interested in watching again the same process of girl growing even if the girl this time came from his loins. The Queen was also content, but Lysa detected a certain coldness in her eyes and suspected it had to do with the fact that Myrcella was a girl and not a spare boy. Once the Queen had birthed an heir and a spare, she could reasonably hold the King from visiting her bed too often, but having just birthed a girl, she would have to try again with the King for a boy as soon as she was recovered from childbirth.

Another field that after some years of silence had also been cultivated was Lady Stark's. Two moons past, a formal letter had been sent to Court to inform of the birth of Lady Arya Stark, daughter of Lord Eddard and Lady Catelyn. According to the Court's rumour mill, Lady Stark had been so irate at Lord Stark for bringing his bastard home and intending to raise him with his trueborn children that she hadn't shared her bed with him for a year.

Lysa knew more about the issue than most of the Court, but she had no interest in sharing it with the gossip mongers. Edmure liked to spend time with both his sisters, so he often visited one of them for a moon, returned four or five moons to Riverrun and then went the opposite direction to visit the other sister before going back to his father's side. Lysa enjoyed having her brother close for those brief periods of time. Her father and uncle rarely came to visit her. On the other hand, having Aunt Whent and the Vale Ladies was a priceless fountain of advice.

Last time Edmure visited, he commented to her that things in Winterfell were less frosty than years back. Almost warm, Edmure had joked. According to the servants, two years after the end of the Rebellion, Lord Stark had taken both sons to the crypts. Lady Stark had gone to look for them and after that, they had had a row that had made the children run away and was strong enough to have awakened the ancestors of House Stark buried in the Crypts. For three days they didn't talk and then Lord Stark asked his Lady to ride with him around Winterfell.

When they came back, Lady Stark's eyes were red and her voice was hoarse. Word was that he had taught her to respect her betters. The fact that Lord Stark also came with red eyes and dropped shoulders was something that took Edmure weeks to uncover.

After that moment, Lady Stark started to treat the bastard boy better, although she was still chilly towards her husband. Edmure had seen her smile when Robb and the bastard (she had started calling him Jon) were playing or practising swords. Even when the bastard won, Cat's smile remained. Lysa was happy her sister was no longer so miserable. She considered visiting the orphanages in King's Landing, but it felt wrong to get attached to children she could not adopt. She would instead make a donation. Perhaps she could set more play dates for Sansa with other kids of Court, but then again, most of them had mothers and Lysa could not adopt them. It was frustrating for Lysa, but she looked at Sansa and realised that as long as Sansa was alright, everything else was less important.

Back to the Starks, thought Lysa scanning again the letter she had received from her sister. After all those years of cold shoulder, either Cat had desired for another child of her body or Lord Stark had worn her down. Shortly after, Cat had become pregnant and now Robb and Jon had a little sister. According to Catelyn's letter, she was brown of hair and grey of eye, a pure Stark. She also seemed to be screaming and nosy, and promised to be a mischief maker. Cat had asked Lysa for advice on raising a girl, but Lysa honestly didn't know what to tell her, for Sansa had always been gentle and smiling, with none of this bellicosity.

On the other hand, Baby Arya seemed at the moment to be the apple in her father's eye and Lysa knew a thing or two about how to keep your daughter's love even if she preferred her father. Lysa wrote about bonding over common interests, about teaching her daughter to be kind especially to the second fiddles and ugly ducklings of Court, but also about standing up for herself when somebody was being mean to her.

Love her, Lysa wrote to her sister regarding the advice to raise a girl. Love her however she is and whatever she does, and let her know that you love her even if you have to punish her. Never let your love for her be in doubt.

.

.

.