An Inconvenient Flame [Sandor Clegane]

Chapter 1 - Winterfell

"You only have one life to live, make sure it's yours."

"Where's Arya? Sansa, Lyra, where is your sister?" Mother's annoyed voice didn't even reach me at first. When Sansa merely shrugged, I was already pointing at her. Arya came running towards us, with a shiny helmet on her head. It was way too big for her, big enough to hide the hair updo mother had done on her earlier. She properly despised it as much as I despised my own. A dull throbbing reminded me just how much she had been pulling on my hair.

I had been forced to wear half of my hair up and the rest was hanging loosely down my back, reveling the tight curls I had inherited. The dark reddish color with the wild curls usually hugged my face, bouncing wildly and freely whenever there were no obligation of me to appear presentable. This hairstyle was the compromise mother and I had come to, so that we both were somewhat happy with the outcome.

I was the first born of House Stark and barely a year older than my oldest brother Robb. He stood proudly at my side, chest puffed out and shoulders back. His curls just as wild as my own. We could easily be mistaken for twins, and had been more than once when we were younger. When I lifted my gaze to him, watching him stand proudly at father's side, he didn't even acknowledge me. He was the firstborn son and heir to Winterfell, but when he finally noticed my gaze, he managed a careful smile.

When Arya ran past Father, he grabbed her by the elbow, keeping her from taking her place between Sansa and Bran. "Hey, hey—hey, what are you doing with that on?" He chuckled, quickly taking the helmet from her. Arya groaned loudly, showing her dissatisfaction with the loss of that helmet. She had always been even less of a lady than me. Father chuckled and reached the helmet to someone behind him, making Arya look disappointedly after the object. "Go on!" Father urged her afterwards when she lingered too long.

Jon, who was standing right behind Robb and I, laughed at our sister's show of emotions. It was contagious and made me smile as well. He and Arya had always had a mischievous alliance, he would always help her if she got into any sort of trouble. Arya made no effort in hiding her disappointment as she took her place between Bran and Sansa. She would never disappoint, always doing something improper for a Lady. She was even worse than I had been at that age.

When another chuckle reached my ears, I turned my head to Robb at my side. He was also smiling at Arya, but looking at him, I couldn't help but catch Mothers gaze next from Father's other side. She was not looking pleased at all. Hurriedly, I nudged an elbow into Robb's side. His chuckle faded and he winced the moment my action sparked pain, then he frowned at me but I pointed to Mother instead.

Room followed my finger and caught Mother's narrowed eyes. He swallowed nervously and adverted his eyes forwards again, acting a child who had just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Robb then coughed once and recovered quickly. My own smiled had all but vanished when I returned my attention to the royal party now starting to arrive.