The Provenance || Jon Snow | Game of Thrones

9.03

She had always been jealous of Sansa's hair, from the first time she met her to this moment now. The red tresses gleam softly and intermittently in the light of the fire and candles, sending off a rosy glow that basks the wall opposite their backs as well as Gabrielle's face in a light of rebirth. Brushed out into long and wavy strands only broken by the braids that run across the woman's head, Gabrielle thinks the woman looks like a vision of her past in this future as she places tiny white flowers into the crevices of the tight northern hairstyle. And on this night—as Sansa moves onto another chapter of her life—Gabrielle thinks it is only fitting that they remember the past in the context of the future.

Looking at the beautiful woman in the mirror, sat upon the vanity chair as Gabrielle finalizes the look, Sansa's blue eyes meet the blue of Gabrielle's, and there's a sense of true love between them. Smiling softly at her, the adopted Stark looks to the woman's white gown that matches Gabrielle's hair, pure and soft and lined with a crackle of gloss. A wedding gown...the first one that is meant-to-be in this third try. It is simple and yet beautiful with the intricated embroidery of Sansa's true skill, showing her station and classical beauty to the small crowd which will see her this night.

And as she stares at her sister, Gabrielle cannot help the excess of feeling in her chest as she remembers that, after tonight, Sansa will trust another person truly and completely. She will give herself to Stannis Baratheon, in body, mind, and spirit. And yet, Gabrielle knows nothing will change in this marriage from the state in which they currently exist—just a title added to a relationship that few knew of. But moreover, Gabrielle wants everything for Sansa that neither of them have ever found.

Sansa too seems struck by emotion—such a strange thing nowadays when she's perpetually so strong. And knowing the girl to never want to linger in pain, Gabrielle remembers something that is sure to give her humour, "You know, I've seen Stannis without his pants before?"

From the reflection in the mirror, Sansa's eyes grow comically wide as she shifts her posture on the bench to hit Gabrielle lightly in the stomach, the target grinning with both potent happiness and mischief. Asking in due cause of slight panic, Sansa questions, "What? How?"

"At Castle Black, I had to treat his leg for the stab wound he suffered during the battle with the Boltons. It was on his upper thigh," Gabrielle responds wisely yet winks at Sansa as they both stare...before revolving into laughter at the changes since that time, the problems they have overcome, and the trouble they have made. But to the same extent that it puts Sansa to ease, it reassures Gabrielle that nothing will change between them...even as Gabrielle and Stannis march south against Cersei.

But as the fear fades from Gabrielle's eyes in the mirror, Sansa is drawn to look inward to their history together. From the first look she had at the woman—at Robert Baratheon's welcoming feast when Gabrielle marched in ahead of four prostitutes—to the first time they spoke—when Gabrielle protected her from Cersei on the night of Lady's 'slaying.' From the first time Gabrielle saved her—on the ramparts following her father's 'death'—to the last time Sansa needed saving—in the forests outlying Winterfell when she fled from Ramsey. But as the woman stands there, doing her hair, it means more than it ever has...that she moves in such a way as to protect her and pamper her as an older sister would. She saved Sansa in the riots, taught her deception, whisked her away, returned her to Sansa's home, and saved the Starks.

But—on such a side note to the rest of the story—Sansa remembers the one conversation as she stares at Gabrielle in that mirror, "Back in King's Landing, you told me that I had a choice to love my husband. I couldn't love Tyrion. I hated Ramsey. But perhaps, I knew neither would last because your words have echoed through my head for years...Thank you for giving me the courage to pursue such a reality, for giving me faith that not all men were bad."