The First Snow

PART XIX: Sansa

The day had come for them to sail. Sandor had woken her before dawn and taken her to the carriage house. Instead of making love, he bathed her tenderly and helped her dress. When she tried to kiss him she turned his head.

"You can't have whisker marks on that fair skin." Sansa took his hand instead and turning the palm up kissed him tenderly. Sandor gripped her shoulder with his other hand. Throwing his head back in frustration before backing away.

Her passage, paid for in advance was luxurious compared to the berth given to Sandor and Arya. Arya had stopped speaking to either of them but Sansa knew it wouldn't be long before she recovered her acerbic tongue.

Alone in her berth, Sansa stripped out of the dress that she would have once adored. Struggling with the laces she imagined Sandor undoing them for her already mourning the loss of contact with him and Arya as well.

There was a soft knock on the door, assuming it was her evening meal she slipped a dressing gown on and started to open the door.

Something told her to look first. She opened the portal to find it was being blocked. Backing away from the door she looked for a weapon. Sandor had given her a dagger but she preferred blunt objects.

Grabbing a rock that was acting as a makeshift paper weight she approached the door again, standing clear she opened it.

Sandor stepped through the door, looking at the rock she held in her hand. She set it down looking sheepish.

"What were you going to do with that?"

"Hit whoever was at the door over the head."

" Why would you do that?"

Sansa shrugged. " I couldn't see."

"You and your sister are a murderous bunch of women." Sansa laughed but it was only for a moment before Sandor silenced her with a kiss.

She wouldn't see him again for two weeks.