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: Mentions of using chindren for political gain, mentions of misscarriage and stillborns, mentions of cheating and infidelity, mentions of bastardy, manipulation through tears, mean kids (it's Joffrey), tense father-daughter relationship, character trying to work pass trauma, characters considering murder, allusions to sex.
I think that's all.
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Lady Sansa's Tourney (part 1)
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When Sansa turned six, Jon Arryn had organised a small tourney in her honour. Lysa was certain it was more a flimsy excuse to see how willing the nobles from other kingdoms were to come to the capital without a Royal Summon. However, since it was her little girl being honoured and there were a good amount of noble children to keep her company, she did not protest too much. It had been a year since her last unsucessful pregnancy, which had been lost before the baby had quickened.
People from most of the Kingdoms have come, taking care to bring part of their offspring to meet the honoured girl. From the North, a Manderley ship brought a pair of twin girls. Cat unfortunately couldn't come, for she has just delivered another child, a baby boy called Brandon after his late uncle. Lysa's father's lands brought Edmure and Uncle Brynden, who were happy to see Sansa but neither had children. Nevertheless, they were accompanied by a bevy of Tully's bannermen: Blackwoods with two boys, Mallisters, Brackens with three girls (one of which was even called Catelyn), a whole bunch of Freys in all ages and shapes…
The Queen had tried not to be outdone, and invited some Westerlanders that had come for the celebrations of the birth of her third born and second son, Prince Tommen Baratheon, to stay until the end of Lady Sansa's Tourney, and so, they formed a retinue of Westerners around their Queen. Said Queen has decided that now that she had birthed an heir and a spare for the Realm, there was no more need to curry favour with the rest of nobles coming. She was secure in her place as the most powerful woman in the Realm and it should be them courting her good opinion, not the other way round. She was still able to enchant anyone she wanted, she just did not exert herself to do it. As such, Lysa had a much less unpleasant time around Court, and the newly arrived Lords and Ladies, less familiar and prejudiced than the usual courtiers, found Lysa much more agreeable than the Queen. She was not as beautiful, not as captivating and not as charming when the Queen wanted to be, but since the Queen was mostly not in the mood to please, Lady Lysa came out quite well-liked.
From the other Kingdoms, no representative came from Dorne, some from Houses Harlaw from the Iron Islands, and quite a few came from the Stormlands. Among them, Edric Storm, a Royal Bastard of the King by a Florent maid. Lysa still remembered what a nasty disaster that had been. Lord Arryn had almost hit the King with a hammer when he learnt about it. It had been conceived at the wedding of Stannis Baratheon with another Florent maid, Lady Selyse, but when the King's seed had immediately taken root in Lady Delena, Lord Stannis' had had more trouble, Lady Selyse had birthed two stillborn sons in the last years, and a living daughter called Shireen who has just turned one. These Dragonstone's Baratheon were also present for the festivities.
However, the great surprise was the amount of nobles from the Reach. The Tyrell's have come together with a veritable court of cousins, fosters and servants, and it seems as if their women's wombs were as fertile as their lands: All four Tyrell children of the main branch had come, together with Tyrell cousins and Redwyne and Hightower ones. Lord Tarly brought two children and left his wife at home with the youngest one. The Florents brought some of their own, as well as, although more of an age with young Renly Baratheon than with Sansa.
And of course, in a Tourney organised by their league lord to honour his daughter and Heir, from the Vale, most of the Houses were present in one capacity or the other. House Redfort brought four boys, the youngest just a couple of moons older than Sansa, and House Royce of Runestone brought another four and two cousins, with the two girls being about Sansa's age. Lady Waynwood's family came too and included some grandchildren and a ward, little Harry, who was related to the Arryns and might be Lord of the Vale if Lysa did not have any other living children and if something were to happen to Sansa before she had children of her own, Seven preserve us. Many of these had not-so-hidden ambitions of obtaining a betrothal with the daughter (and possible heiress) of the Vale, but the Vale Lords that were more familiar with Court soon made it known that unless Lord Arryn had a son who reached his tenth nameday or Lady Sansa turned sixteen, she would not be betrothed. Much more useful, they said, to befriend the child and father and mother, to court influence in the Vale. And so, all the Vale Lords and Ladies told their children to be especially kind and mindful of Lady Sansa.
It was not hard. Whereas Prince Joffrey was still proud and arrogant, Lady Sansa was a very extroverted girl and had been raised to play and make nice with as many people as possible, including ugly ducklings and wallflowers, and also younger friends, like when Sansa played with Princess Myrcella. The moons leading to her Tourney, she had been taught by her nurse a series of games for multitudes of children, and with only small supervision, she was able to show them all how to play without leaving anyone behind.
Sansa was very excited to meet all the girls and boys of whom the Vale Ladies in Court spoke so much. One day, they might be her bannermen, but at the moment they looked like friends. Being raised at Court, Sansa has learnt to like meeting new people and asking about their stories and interests. Most of the time she was genuinely interested in what they said, and even when she was not, she was being trained to be kind and polite. Her Lord Father and Lady Anya were trying to teach her how to be more detached and cold when treating people outside of her immediate family circle, but Sansa was social and easily amused and treated everything as if they were her friends soon after meeting them. It did not help that the King was quite similar and only few were brave enough to be anything less than gracious, much less curt, to her face. And to be honest, Lysa thought, if Sansa was going to imitate one of the monarchs, Lysa preferred it to be the King, for the Queen was mean spirited and Prince Joffrey, vicious and ill-tempered.
Lysa took the chance to beg for his uncle and brother to remain with her for a couple of moons after the Tourney was over, so Sansa could get to know them properly. Uncle Brynden had been uncertain, but Lysa did what she had done when she was younger and pretended to be about to cry and Uncle Brynden had reassured her that he would stay. Sansa was very happy to see them, for although there were many Lords in Court that were gentle with her, Uncle Edmure and Uncle Brynden were also family, and family was important. Sansa also knew that she had another aunt, like Aunt Whent, living in the North, and some cousins, but she had never met them. Besides, Uncles Edmure and Brynden were very kind and funny, and they even shared looks with her! Very rarely did she see a hair as bright red as her own in Court, a mixture between her father's old blonde hair and her mother's chestnut one. Sansa has once wore a yellow dress and Prince Joffrey had said to her that she looked like one of the lemon cakes that she liked so much, strawberry on top and everything. Sansa felt she should be offended, but since she liked them so much, she let it rest for once. It was usually the best way to deal with Prince joffrey: ignore the mean things he said and escape if he threw a tantrum or keep herself very still to the point where she almost became imperceptible.
But Uncle Edmure and Uncle Brynden also spent time with Lysa. She liked Edmure well enough, although he felt a bit childish and unsophisticated to her Court-living ways. She assumed that Father was keeping him coconed the same way he had Cat and her. Lysa wondered if it was wise, but then again, there was little she could do to force his father's hand and she did not think he would be too pleased to receive advice on how to raise his heir from his daughter.
On the other hand, Uncle Brynden had been, as always, a source of steady presence and wise counsel. And she had needed his council, for Petyr had written to her to let her know how much he thought of her and their childhood spent in Riverrun and how wonderful a position in Gulltown would be if only Lysa could convince her husband to appoint good Petyr. Lysa had read the letter and cried big fat tears. She had hidden it, for it did not say anything incriminating but she did not want any snooper to find it. She knew she had no desire to help Petyr, but she wondered if it was not time to look for a more permanent solution to this problem. So she unburdened herself to her Uncle Brynden, about the night spent with Petyr and the uncertain baby bastard and how he called her Cat and what her father had done. Uncle Brynden has looked murderous, but he reassured her that he was murderous towards Petyr and to a lesser extent, her father, not towards her. He assured her that he was getting bored of staying in the Riverlands and was planning on a tour around the Vale, if her husband would be so kind as to give him a letter of transit to go around the Vale.
Having spent so long in Court had taught Lysa to read between the lines, so she felt a pressure that had been bothering her for the longest time suddenly lighten up. She hugged her uncle, who did not know what to do but then hugged her back a bit awkwardly, and then she told him with a little smile "But not before the end of the Tourney. Sansa would never forgive you if you went away so soon after having promised to stay here for a whole moon". When uncle Brynden nodded, Lysa smiled.
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