An Inconvenient Flame [Sandor Clegane]

Chapter 4 - The Tourney of the Hand

"I survived because the fire within me burned brighter than the fire around me."

          I had been seriously injured in that incident, and it took me a long time to heal somewhat properly. It wasn't until we arrived in Kings Landing that I came to understand the true seriousness of my injuries. I had broken a few rips and gained a long scar running from my ankle all the way up to my hip, ending only inches below my navel. It was ugly, but I could hide it beneath my clothes. No one had to look at it that way, myself included. And how I had come to detest it already. It was truly an inconvenience.

Father had taken on his responsibilities as Hand of the King almost immediately after we arrived in Kings Landing. There were much work for him which made him not be around as much. So our Septa took over, trying to educate both Sansa and Arya, and me on occasions, but she couldn't control all three of us at once.

Sansa had grown up, her attitude awful sometimes and Arya was as wild as ever. The other day when she was seated at the breakfast table, she violently begun stabbing a knife into the wood. The conversation she'd been having with Sansa had ended badly because Arya was still mad at her for lying to the King about the prince attacking her friend. Not to say that I wasn't because of what it resulted in, I did not blame her for doing just that. The king was not one even I would want to stand before.

I had not been there when it happened but when the Prince picked on Arya and her friend at the inn, after a few days of boredom because we had been forced to remain there because of my accident, Arya's direwolf Nymeria had bitten the prince to protect her. It wasn't a serious bite but the Queen proved difficult.

Then Queen had demanded the wolf be put down but because they couldn't find Nymeria, they took the punishment out on Lady, Sansa's wolf, and on mine, Nox, because they had been restrained in camp. They had nothing to do with what happened and were still punished for it because the Queen didn't think a Direwolf were a pet.

I was angry at Arya for what she had done but mostly angry at the Queen for demanding our wolves be put down. It was not fair but she demanded justice for her son, pious little shit. I had been drying a few tears away from my cheeks when father then decided to grace us with his presence.

He had chosen to arrive when the air was thickest, buzzing with energy that was about to explode as my sisters glared at each other. Arya was then excused before father even sat down. He looked to me for answers but I only shrugged. Father sighed and passed on a gift to each of us after he had taken a seat at the table. I arched a brow and looked between him and the gift. Mine was small compared to Sansa's but when she uncovered the gift, I was happy it wasn't mine.

Father had not yet realized how old she was becoming. I opened my own gift afterwards, as Sansa stormed away from the table after being excused as well. She had not liked the gift either. My present was a small hairpin with the Stark house sigil. Simple but beautifully made. It was almost a twin to the one he had given me on my 16th birthday. That hair pin had belonged to my aunt and I had asked for another to wear everyday. One I wouldn't be afraid to lose. It was also one of the first times I had seen father so discouraged because he thought he had done something nice for us.