From the Ashes (ASOIAF) (Sandor Clegane x OC)

Chapter 46: Tess

Six years. There were some days that Tess still couldn't believe it had been six years since she arrived in Kings Landing to buy her inn. The city wasn't the same as it had been. She'd enjoyed being part of helping it slowly come back to life. They had their problems, but all in all things were happy and fair in Westeros under the rule of King Brandon the Broken. For Tess she couldn't imagine things being better, she had her inn, her home, her gorgeous husband and her wonderful children, it was more than she ever could have dreamed of having. She'd even managed to make peace with her family. Her mother hadn't been at all pleased about her match with Sandor, but all animosity disappeared as soon as her grandchildren were brought into the picture. Hardly a week went by that they didn't receive a package full of gifts from her, though she'd probably have a heart attack if she saw the state Wren left the fine silk dresses she sent in. There was a noise at the gate. Tess looked up and saw a woman she didn't recognize walking through it. It was just past noon, far too early for their evening dinner rush. She wondered if the woman was lost or looking for a place to stay. She walked up to the bar and smiled brightly at her. She was small, at least a head shorter than Tess with dark hair and huge dark eyes that almost seemed too big for her face, but she was pretty in a unique sort of way.

"I heard this is the best place in Kings Landing if you're looking for a room." She said.

"You heard correctly." Tess answered, "It's five silver stags a night."

The girl reached in her pocket and put the coin on the counter.

"I'll just be staying the one night." She said.

"You don't seem like you're from around these parts." Tess observed, looking at her green gold lined doublet vest and the gold earring in her ear, "you from Essos?"

"I'm from anywhere and everywhere." The woman said vaguely. Tess pulled out a glass and filled it with wine.

"Ah...to be an adventurer." She said pushing the wine towards her, "I miss those days."

The woman tried to reach for her coin purse but Tess shook her head.

'On the house." She said. The woman tipped the glass in thanks and took a sip.

"So what brings an adventurer such as yourself to Kings Landing?" Tess asked.

"Well," the woman said, "my sister just had her first son. Which is why I'm back in Westeros at all, but my husband has been pestering me for over a year to stop in here. Says I should check in on everyone. So I guess I decided to just get it over with and shut him up." Tess laughed.

"I find that is the best way to deal with husbands." She said.

"So I take it from your previous statement you've also had some adventures." The woman asked.

"Back in my day I did....I traveled Essos for many years, and saw many wonderful things, but then I came back here and embarked on an altogether different kind of adventure."

As if on cue a mop of copperish brown curls came streaking through the door laughing loudly. He charged past the bar almost knocking into the stool the woman was sitting on.

"Whoa! Slow down there mister!" Tess said, grabbing her son by his shoulder and spinning him to look at her. He was already a head taller than all the other boys his age and with the exception of his reddish brown curls and blue green eyes, which he got from her, he was the spitting image of his father down to his unbalanced smile, and the way his eyes crinkled when he laughed. Which he did often because he was sweet and happy boy by nature. "Where are you off to in such a hurry?" She asked.

"Sam said if I get some apples from Auntie Elle he'll go with Jon and I to feed the horses down at the King's stable!" He said happily.

"And where is your sister?" Tess asked.