A Time for Wolves

Sansa II

With patience and concentration, Sansa knitted a woolen muffler, as she taught the young princess how to do it. Her student listened attentively to her instructions, and she seemed to like the activity. Her work was not as fine as Sansa's but it was more than acceptable. Sansa was almost an expert with wool, because she had worn it and knitted it many times in Winterfell, and as she knew it would be useful during the winter, she had decided to teach Shireen how to do it.

Both the queen and her people had been civil with Sansa and accepted her presence, because she knew how to behave the way everybody expected her to. She remembered her courtesies, always dressed properly, according to her status as the bastard daughter of an important lord, and she remained quiet most of the time because, though she had learned one or two things about politics in her time in the Vale, she knew it was better to keep it to herself and appear to be innocent.

Thereby the queen thought that 'Alayne' would make a good companion for her daughter and asked her to teach Shireen the feminine arts. Sansa gladly accepted the responsibility. She liked the princess, even though she was not at all pretty. She was shy and sad, but also kind and smart. As every child, she needed love, but she seldom received it. Her family often did not pay her any mind. She found in Sansa both a teacher and a friend. And the 'duty' of teaching and taking care of the princess was for Sansa much earier and more pleasant than looking after 'her step-brother'.

Shireen told Sansa of her wish to marry someone who loved her and be happy with him. She talked to her about her fears that her father arranged a political marriage for her, and that her husband did not love her, or even that he despised her because of her looks. Sansa almost wept for that girl, remembering that when she was her age, her dream had been to marry a golden haired prince in shining armor and to be her princess, as their parents had agreed. What an ignorant child she had been! And how right was the princess to be worried! But Sansa preferred to calm the young girl down, instead of admitting that her fears were well founded.

Sansa had told her about her own life too. Or either, about Alayne's. She told her she had grown up without a family until she turned thirteen, when she decided she did not want to be a septa and sought out her father, Lord Baelish. She told her that he had received her in his house, and that when her father got married, Lady Lysa had accepted her too. She told her that she had a step-brother, Robert Arryn, whom she had looked after since he had become an orphan. Shireen told her then that she had met the boy and that her father had talked about bringing him to Dragonstone as his ward, before Jon Arryn's death. At last, Sansa told her about her betrothal to Harrold Hardying and her own insecurities about her prospective marriage. And, as she talked to Shireen, she thought about Arya. She was of the princess's age, and she was her sister. But Sansa could not talk about this with her, because Arya would never share her opinions, fears or hopes about marriage. Getting married had never been in her plans.

As they knitted their mufflers, Shireen talked to Sansa about her best friend, Devan, and her new friend and playmate, Lyra. The latter had taken some embroidery lessons with Sansa, but she was not as good as Shireen, partly because she was younger, but also because she had never embroidered before. She had talked to her in several occasions, and she knew she was a curios and enthusiastic girl, but she was also a little wild and messy. Sansa had not met Devan, though, so she only knew about him what the princess told her.

Shireen also talked about little Rickon. Whispering, she told her that he had come into her room about a fortnight before, and that they had played monsters-and-maidens until dinner time. She confessed that they had done it many times after that, and that they played a different game almost every night. Last evening, she confided, they had jumped on the bed until the sheets were on the floor, as they tried to make the other one fall. And when Shireen fell, Rickon had jumped down next to her and tickled her armpits until she was breathless with laughter. She had got up then and tickled him back, and they had played 'tickle fight' the rest of the evening.

Sansa did not want to scold the young girl for such an innocent mischief, but she felt it was her responsibility, as she was the only one who knew about it and could do it. So she told Shireen that it should not happen again, that a bed was no place for playing, even less so with a boy, and that if he tried to do it again she should explain to him that it was unseemly and tell him to leave. She was telling her that when they were interrupted by the boy in question, who was accompanied by his sister Arya.

"Sansa, your betrothed is here!" Rickon shouted, excited. "He has come with an army, marching from Eastwatch by the Sea!"

"Sansa? Why did he call you that, Alayne?" Shireen asked, confused.

"Because he's stupid and forgot that her name is Alayne," Arya said, evidently angry with her brother.

"Arya! Don't insult Rickon. Insulting someone only serves to make him angry," Sansa told her, trying to avoid an unnecessary fight between her siblings. "Rickon, that was very unwise of you. Promise me it will not happen again," she reprimanded him nonetheless.

"I promise, S… Alayne," he said, staring at the floor in shame.

"Good. The damage is already done, though," Sansa sighed. "Shireen, you are a smart girl, and I don't think you will forget this. And anyway, I was going to tell you someday: I was planning to reveal myself to everybody in Castle Black. The only thing that will change now is that you will know it before the others. Can you promise to keep the secret I will tell you, and let me be the one who reveals it when the time comes?"

"I promise," Shireen said, somewhat surprised by the question's solemnity.

"Thank you. My real name is Sansa Stark," she confessed. "My parents were Lord Eddard Stark and Lady Catellyn Tully. Arya and Rickon are my siblings. And Jon, too."

There was a silence, while Shireen assimilated Sansa's revelation. "So, everything you told me about yourself was a lie?" The princess asked, surprised and disappointed.

"Not everything," she clarified. "Lord Baelish helped me escape from King's Landing some moon turns ago, and I have been living in the Vale since then. Everything I told you about what happened in The Fingers, the Eyrie and the Gates of the Moon did actually happen, while I pretended to be Petyr's daughter. And my betrothal is also real, but Harry, as well as all the lords of the Vale except for Baelish, believes that I am Alayne. Petyr Baelish's plan was to reveal my identity in my wedding, and convince Harrold to take the North in my behalf."

"It sounds like a good plan. Will you carry it out?" The girl asked, curious.

"No. I will ask Harry to command the Vale's hosts to fight against the Others first. And after that, if the men have not seen enough horror and death yet, I will ask him to declare for your father, because of all the men who are trying to win the Iron Throne he is, in my opinion, the only one who cares enough about Westeros to deserve to sit on it. However, we have yet to see if my betrothed will hear me and do as I wish."

"And why wouldn't he? If he is a good man, he will respect you and he will want to please you, because you are to be his wife."

"And that is precisely the problem. I don't know if I will be able to wed him, because I am already married. I am Sansa Lannister now, wife to Lord Tyrion Lannister. My marriage can be nullified by the High Septon, because it was not consummated, but I cannot go to King's Landing and reveal my identity. If he helps me, though, I will do whatever I can to be able to marry him."

"You can convert to R'hllor's faith. Melisandre would surely nullify your marriage, and she would wed you to him. The marriage would be accepted as valid by everyone who accepts my father as the Lord of the Seven Kingdoms." Shireen suggested.

"I will think about it. But now it is time for me to meet my betrothed. And for that, I need you to act as if I was Alayne. Will you?"

All of them nodded, and they went with her out of the castle, where Jon was greeting the knights of the Vale.

"Do you know where Alayne is, Lord Commander? Why has she asked me to bring an army to the Wall?" Sansa heard that Harry asked Jon. "It was too cold and stormy to march from the Vale, and we do not have so many ships, but I managed to bring three thousand men with me. Most of them are young knights, trained and ready to fight. But I would like to see lady Alayne, and learn what she would have me do."

"She will soon come to meet you, Lord Hardying. I am certain that she will explain everything to you."

"Here I am, my dear Harry," Sansa announced herself. "Lord Stark, I would thank you very much if you could find a place to accommodate the men of the Vale, and if you could give them something to eat and drink. They must be weary, for they have been traveling for long."

"Lady Alayne, I will fetch a steward to see to whatever your men may need."

"Thank you, Lord Stark." Sansa said with a small curtsy. "Follow me, Harry. There is much that I need to tell you."

"As you wish, my lady."

Sansa guided him to her chambers. There was a room next to her bedroom with a little wooden table and two chairs, one in front of the other. Sansa sat on one of them and motioned for Harrold to do the same. He took his seat and sighed.

"Well, here I am: with you, at the Wall, and with as many knights and men at arms as I could bring with the ships of the Vale. May I ask you then, my dear Alayne, why you have asked me to do this? Your father and I were very worried when you made this unexplainable trip to the Wall. Maester Colemon told us that you wished to help the Night's Watch, and that they were preparing to fight a very dangerous enemy that threatened all of Westeros. But when we inquired about the nature of this enemy he said he could not tell us. He claimed he knew, but could not explain it. Lord Nestor and Myranda said they knew nothing about it, but that they guessed it was the new King-Beyond-the-Wall." Hardying did not look annoyed, but rather curious and a little worried, which relieved Sansa.

"Harrold, there is something I must tell you. I am not the one you think I am. I will marry you as I promised I would, if you still want me after my confession, but you must know this before: I am not Alayne Stone. She does not exist. She is only a fake identity Lord Baelish told me to assume to save me. He isn't my father. He is just my protector."

"And who are you then, my lady, if not Alayne Stone?"

"The name they gave me when I was born is Sansa Stark. The Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, who met you when you arrived, is my brother, Jon. I asked you to come here because something terrible is about to happen, and I have heard that the knights of the Vale have wanted to fight in the war ever since it started. There is a very powerful enemy, and we will need brave men to fight it," Sansa explained him.

"Will you ask me to declare for Stannis and defeat the enemies of your House, the Lannisters? I would, and gladly, dear Sansa. But now that I know the truth, I will not be able to marry you until your husband dies," he said, sounding disappointed and a bit annoyed.

"Actually, you will not need to wait for Tyrion's death, if Stannis wins the war before that happens. I am still a maiden, and as soon as I can go to King's Landing without being taken captive I will be able to ask the High Septon to nullify my marriage. Besides, if you are not devoted to the Seven, there is a priestess here, of a god called R'hllor, who would surely agree to nullify my marriage on her own and marry us here," Sansa said, brightening him.

"I would prefer to wait until the war is won, my lady. That way we can wed wherever we want, with the witness and the blessings of the Seven. I am willing to marry you before the war is over, before a weirwood and following your father's traditions too, if you wish, but that god of fire has nothing to do with us. I am not an especially devout man, but I believe in the seven, even though I rarely remember to pray to them. I shall speak to your brother, to learn where I may find King Stannis. I will join my men with his, and we will end this war once and for all."

"Actually, Harry, that isn't what I would like you to do," she stopped him. "Stannis is trying to retake Winterfell, my House's ancestral seat. You can send some men to help him in that mission, and to swear loyalty to him in your name and in Robert's, but there is something more important here."

"And what is that, my lady? If you will always be so mysterious I will never grow bored of you, even if we lived forever together as husband and wife," Harry said, amused, and Sansa's lips curved into a small smile.

"I don't dare tell you here, where we are alone, because you will not believe me. You will say I am mad as soon as you hear me say it. But if you come with me to talk with my brother Jon, he will tell you everything."

Intrigued, her betrothed followed her to the Lord Commander's chambers. He let them in and invited them to have a seat.

"Jon, I have already told Harry who I am. I brought him here so that you can tell him who the real enemy is, to find out if he is willing to fight it. I would have told him myself, but I thought he would not believe me alone," she said, gravely.

"The true enemies of the Night's Watch and of men, Ser Harrold, are the Others. You will find it hard to believe us because you have not seen them, and you must have heard of them only in the stories they told you as a child, but they are real. And when the white walkers come this side of the Wall, the war between the kingdoms will be just a summer game compared to the constant and painful battle we will have to fight to survive this long winter," Jon explained, with the same solemnity.

Sansa looked at Harry, whose expression changed from disbelief to acceptance, and then to fear. After that, he took a deep breath and announced his decision on the matter. She smiled, thanked him wholeheartedly and prayed for true knights to be real, and for her betrothed to be one of them.