You Are Enough [Sandor Clegane]

II

❝ 'Cause I know what I've been missing

And I know that I should try

But there's hope in this admission

And there's freedom in your eyes. ❞

♔

Sansa Stark, unlike her sister, was becoming a nuisance. We have yet to converse properly with one another, but watching her follow Eddard Stark begging him to get her a new dress for when they arrive at Kingsland was becoming almost too depressing to witness. The moment my eyes settled onto my lady maid, Greer, I asked her to assemble all my dresses into the parlor room for a showcase. Once I was informed that everything was laid out and ready to be seen, I made my way to try and find the young redheaded girl.

Though finding the girl was almost too easy, as she spotted in front of the courtyard, flirting aimlessly with the young Prince Joffrey. Approaching the two children, my eyes caught the sight of the knight whose job was to protect the eldest son of King Robert. He was standing off to the side with his hand gripping tightly onto the handle of his sword as he watched the two young ones talk among themselves. In a quick moment, his eyes settled themselves in my direction. Startled, I stood straighter as I curtsied towards the man and sent a smile his way. His reaction wasn't a pleasant one, his eyes narrowed as a grunt escaped his lips that were in the form of a frown.

"Lady Sansa", I called out as I walked towards the girl after looking away from the knight, "If you could come with me, I have a surprise."

Both Sansa and Joffrey jumped at the sound of my voice, without hesitation they each took a few steps back to put some distance between one another. Raising an eyebrow, I took a step towards Sansa and laced my arm with hers.

"Come I must show you before the feast," with a sharp tug I pulled the girl away from her precious prince.

"Princess Malda. If you don't mind me asking, where exactly are we going?"

A smile settled on my lips as we reached the parlor doors I let go of her arm and turned to face her, "I couldn't help but hear you telling your father you need a new dress. Which reminded me of how I have many dresses that I have no longer use for so you can have your picking of whatever or how many dresses you want."

Watching Sansa's expression the moment she entered the parlor room caused an ache in my chest. Looking at her now made the upsetting reminder of how I have always wanted a sibling. The wanting to share my life with someone I could call my brother or sister, to be able to grow along side someone else. Father has made it so I was never without anything I ever wanted, yet the only issue with that is that he couldn't give me a companion. None of the servants that I was around on a daily basis were near my age for they were far older than myself, old enough to be my mother. The girls who lived in the city that were my age were busy with their own lives and dealing with the prospect of getting married. Only a handful of times it has been that I have left the castle, I never had a need to leave unless it was to check on the food supplies for poor to make sure they were not starving to their death or to check on the orphaned children.

"I couldn't possibly take any of your gowns!", Sansa exclaimed.

"Nonsense, I insist. Some might be too short but I will have my seamstress take the sleeves off and add them to the hem of the dress since in Kingslanding the weather is much more inviting and warm."

I couldn't help but smile and enjoy my time as I watched Sansa try on multiple gowns, seeing her twirl in happiness when she took a liking to a certain one. Though this girl could be obnoxious, the growing feeling of attachment began to grow. It wasn't until she chosen ten dresses when I invited her to sit for some wine and grapes to snack on before the feast.

"Lady Sansa, enlighten me. Who exactly is that knight who is assigned to protect Prince Joffrey."

I watch her take a small sip of wine before wincing at the taste. A laugh was threatening to escape my lips as I now seemed to remember that this child was only 13 years old and the only wine she has probably ever had must have been greatly watered down.

"He is no knight, princess. He is Prince Joffrey's dog, everyone calls him the Hound," she replied picking at the grapes.

"Please just call me Malda, no need for such formal titles. Correct me if I am wrong though. I am almost certain that his birth name is neither dog or hound."

"I was told that his name is Sandor. Sandor of House Clegane."

"House of Clegane. Well, no wonder they call that poor man a dog. His house sigil is the three black dogs, aren't they Lady Sansa?"

"Sansa. If I am to call you by your birth name then I think you should be able to do the same", this caused me to smile, "He is not a poor man. I have heard terrible things about him. That he kills for joy and he has no mercy and that-"

"Unless you don't hold any evidence of such things, I see no reason for you to be listening to gossip."

Silence fell over the two of us as from the corner of my eye I watched some of the servants finish putting the dresses into boxes for their new owner. Sansa had beautiful taste, one that was befitting of a queen, no wonder she kept trying to be around Joffrey. She wants to be the queen of the seven kingdoms, the letters I've seen from Kingslanding that fathers' spies have sent didn't talk about a heaven. Kingslanding was a dangerous place, where an innocent girl like her could be ruined. Rising to my feet I felt Sansa's eyes on my back as I walked towards one of the vases that held a variety of lilacs. Gently brushing my fingers along some of the petals I pulled out a bundle of white lilacs. Walking back to the girl, I settle to standing behind her. Feeling her tense I set some of the flowers on the table next to her as I took the remaining in my hands to start weaving in it her hair.

"The first lady maid I had was this lovely elderly woman. Who had quite an obsession with flowers, she taught me the meaning of every flower we came upon when walking through the gardens in the courtyard", I softly stated, "do you know what these flowers mean?"

"No, I'm afraid I do not."

Leaning over her right shoulder so our faces were close to each other, our cheeks almost touching, I took another flower in my hand and held it in her viewpoint.

"A white lilac means innocence. An innocence that once you arrive at Kingslanding I don't want you to lose", leaning back I began placing the rest of the flowers in her hair as I listened to her hum an unknown song to herself. After I was finished the two of us retired to our own rooms to get ready for the feast.

[UNEDITED]

A/N: Sandor will be featured more in the next and upcoming chapters.