Her Name Isn't Snow

Chapter 20

They weren't leaving as soon as Jon hoped they would. He wanted to leave for Winterfell as quickly as they could. Sansa convinced him however that they needed to plan before they did so. Jon didn't want to plan. He wanted to go to Winterfell and stick his sword in Ramsay's belly for what he's done. He wanted to get to her. But he knew he could be putting her life at risk if they acted too quickly. 

So they sat in the dining hall around a table, calling together a war council. 

"We need men, men that we don't have" Jon stated from his seat at the head of the table. 

"What about the Wildlings? They'll stand with you won't they?" Sansa asked.

"Aye, they will. But it's not enough, we need an army" Jon replied. 

"And we're going to get one," Sansa said determinedly. 

"Or you could just let me go in alone. Let me sneak in and get Rhaella and Rickon and then we can talk strategy" Jon suggests. 

"We can't! You can't! He'll catch you, Jon, he'll catch you and kill you. He'll kill you and Rickon and Rhaella" Sansa states firmly. Trying to make him see, Ramsay didn't play by rules. Jon stayed silent. He didn't want to snap at her, here in front of the others. But he had to make her understand that she would die there if they didn't get to her quickly. 

He knew the dream he had the other night was of the present version of her. But how could he tell his sister that a dream told him he had to save her? 

"The minor houses will rise up with us. Lord Brynden has already retaken Riverrun and I'm sure he'll join up with us" 

"Where did you hear that?" Jon asked. Brienne gave Sansa a hard look before she answered. 

"I saw it in one of the scrolls Ramsay was sent. But it doesn't matter. What matters is that the North Remembers, and they'll join us you'll see" Sansa urged. 

"I'm sorry we can't help you. But the Men of the Night's Watch need to be here. We'll have a hard enough time fighting off the White Walkers by ourselves" Ed said. 

"After we retake Winterfell we'll send more men here. However many we can, I promise" Jon told his friend. 

"So when do we leave?" Tormound asks. 

"As soon as we can. We'll make for the other houses and rally them to our side" Jon says with a sign. The meeting ends with that and everyone gets up to pack their things. 

"Jon? Can we speak a moment?" Sansa asks, keeping her seat at the table. Brienne falters for a moment but Sansa tells her to go as Jon takes a seat across from her. 

"You don't have to tell me about Ramsay and what happened if you don't want to" Jon begins.

"No, it isn't that" Sansa mumbles, picking at her fingernails, trying to urge the words to her lips. 

"The last time I saw Rhaella...I betrayed her. She told me she was going to leave King's Landing and try to go to Robb before the baby was due. She kept going on about how the father needed to be there and how she had to leave. I didn't know at the time that she was talking about you" Sansa says. Jon could feel his heart skip in his chest. She had tried to come. She tried to leave. 

"But, as soon as she told me, I left her chambers and told the Queen. I was scared at the time that she would get hurt on the road or kidnapped because she was going to travel alone. I knew that she couldn't handle the cold and I was afraid that they'd both die trying to make it. It's my fault she didn't escape in time" Sansa explain with a shaky breath, tears in her eyes. That day had haunted her for years. She blamed herself for Rhaella and the child's death. Even though she was, in fact, alive, Sansa blamed herself for her capture at Winterfell. She should have been there.