DAGGERS TO THE HEART Part 2 - CLASH OF THE KINGS

Sansa I

A moon had passed since Jon departed Queenscrown, and Sansa felt thoroughly miserable. She longed not just for him but missed Arya and even her mother. Theon was touring the north with Ygritte, and Sigorn had gone to Castle Black to retrieve the first group of wildlings. They were expected to arrive the following day, if the raven's message from Lord Commander Mormont was to be believed. Sansa was left with Robb and Tormund.

Tormund and his quirky sense of humour provided her greatest comfort. Unlike the northern men, the wildlings didn't distinguish between men and women in matters of running a castle or sharing crude stories. To the Freefolk, it seemed more sensible to approach Sansa, believing a woman might be more capable in such matters. However, the rest of the men still approached Robb first, when permissions were required. The most scandalous stories reached Sansa's ears before Robb knew anything. Admittedly, it allowed her a freedom to learn what was really happening in Queenscrown. Knowledge which would become useful once the Freefolk took up residency.

Had Jon still been in Queenscrown, and they were approaching him, she would have understood, as he was the Lord of Queenscrown. She knew that Jon, at times, deferred to her. However, Robb was attempting to assume the mantle of Lord of Queenscrown, occasionally undermining her and Jon's vision. This situation left Sansa with the sole responsibility of navigating life south of the wall with Tormund and delving into the intricacies of investigating Littlefinger's ledgers.

Sansa wasn't entirely unfamiliar with Littlefinger's financial machinations. During her time in the Vale, she had been exposed to his grain plan. While everyone else was selling grain, he stockpiled it. Not because he wanted to hoard it, but with winter approaching, he predicted rising prices. When he eventually sold the grain, he would make larger profits by controlling the prices.

Then there were the tourneys. Sansa pondered what he was gaining from those events. Were they business deals on behalf of the crown, or were they private arrangements? Sansa only knew a few of his contacts and subordinates. How many of them had played roles in the tourneys to ensure Littlefinger made significant profits from them?

As far as Sansa could discern, King Robert had practically funded every brothel owned by Littlefinger. Her understanding of Littlefinger's financial dealings was the only reason she had been able to decipher this much. Much of the information was encoded. On the surface, it appeared legitimate, but she noticed his occasional capitalisation of letters, something she had observed him do before.

From this, Sansa deduced that, in the first ledger, Littlefinger had used one hundred and eighty-three thousand, four hundred and twenty-two gold dragons for his own purposes. And that was from financial records three years earlier. Sansa would need access to Littlefinger's personal accounts to trace the money. Records which she suspected were still in Kings Landing.

Sansa put her quill down, placed her elbows on the desk, and held her head in her hands, rubbing her temples. She was getting a headache from trying to sort out the crown's finances with only minuscule amounts of information. There was a knock at the door, and Sansa looked up.

"Who is it?"

"It is I, Maester Fell."

"Come in." Sansa called out, and the maester walked in, a scroll in his hand.

Maester Fell frowned. "Are you unwell, your grace?" he asked.

Sansa shook her head. "Headache from these numbers. I'll be alright if I have a few minutes' break." She sat back, folded her hands, and placed them in her lap. "How can I help, Maester Fell?"

The maester held out a scroll. "This came from Winterfell, your grace. I believe it is from Lord Whitestark. I thought you'd want it right away."

Sansa took the scroll from him, her heart racing. Jon hadn't written to her for a month as they'd been travelling. He must be in Winterfell or have left within the last day. "How long would it take for a raven to get here from Winterfell?" Sansa asked.