#ship: myrcella x sansa
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Do you have any ships in mind for your muses?
not exactly. I mean sure, but i'm also a multishipper and i'm down to ship almost anything (canon x oc or canon x canon) like me and my bestie mari began writing margaer.y and jon as just a fun political thing and now i ship it to life. so it's just a question of talking but more importantly, see if chemistry works .
#⸻ . ✷ ❛ out of character ❜ 〉the dead are coming .#look we ain't picky here#i literally have a robb x myrcella verse and a jon x myrce.lla#jon x. marg#and even robb x renly this is a shipping real state#even gendr.y and sansa !
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Who are you shipping Sansa with? Right now I’m simply Sansa x any hot girl she’s in 5 miles of 👍🏽
My favorite is sansa x Mya stone because I love the Ned/Robert and Arya/Gendry parallels. I’m not a huge fan of the show version due to Natalie Dormer being 30 when she filmed scenes with 16 year old Sophie Turner, but I like Sansaery in the books. I also like sansa with Jeyne Poole, Myrcella Baratheon, and Wylla Manderly.
The only Sansa ships I like with male characters are Sam Tarly and Quentyn Martell.
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Do you have an asoiaf ships that you don't hate but just don't understand where they came from?
i can usually kinda figure it out like usually there's an element of self insert like sansa x adult men ships or the Yaoi Urge but one that makes me go Huh what, is myrcella x robb. theres what one line in AGOT when robb walks with her to the dais? also she is eight. bruh. in fairness it tends to be a shownly thing where she's a pretty teenager but Bro what,. ig as a What If its kinda interesting but also not really LMAO
jon snow gets shipped with just about every female character (just perused ao3 and immediately saw jon/shireen) but im pretty sure those are mostly self-insert types wanting their Uber Awesome Pussy Slayer Jon Snow. sorry bro but he is organising his inventory he is too busy.
#rickeen is another that is kinda bemusing but like. well whatever floats your boat#i kinda get rickeen though. its like when straight people see a girl toddler and a boy toddler playing and go awww theyre gonna get married#its very chick lit romance too if you extrapolate. nice girl x bad boy (feral boy raised by cannibals and unicorns)#asoiaf#ask#anonymous
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4 & 17 asoiaf
4. What was the lack straw that made you finally block that annoying person?
I think I've blocked most jon//sa shippers. It has made my experience navigating Jon, Sansa and asoiaf tags much better. 100% recommend.
17. There should be more of this type of fic/art.
There should be more fics and art about Targaryens winning Robert's Rebellion because I want to see Dany & Jon interacting with the rest of their family.
Also, let me talk about my Stark unpopular ships which don't get enough attention in the fandom.
First of all, my girl Arya and the very cute crush Ned Deyne has on her. Arya spending time in Dorne! Boy named after her father! The rich history between the Deynes and the Starks! Oh, the possibilities.
Still, Arya's ship it's more popular than those of her brothers I'll list below.
Let's more to Jon Snow and Alys Karstark. Jon rescued her, she's totally his type and they flirted on the Wall. Again great potential for this one.
Finally, Bran and the adorable girls that are around his age. Bran x Shireen? Both don't fit westerosi ideal psychical appearance and both are so sweet kids. Father in law Stannis as a bonus xD Bran x Myrcella? They were so innocent when they met at Winterfell but if they ever met again they would be so much more mature due to all the stuff that happened to them. The deadly rivalry between their families makes it even more interesting to me. And unlike Rickon who more often appears in fanon pairings with these girls at least Bran is close to their age.
Thank you for the ask!
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Myrcella / Sansa Anon Here: Like Jaime and Brienne are both Beauty and the Beast, Myrcella and Sansa have the potential to be both Cinderella and the Prince/Knight. Myrcella a bastard disguised as a Princess and Sansa is a Princess disguises as a bastard. When the Starks fell, the old man could have written Myrcella as one of Sansa’s Protectors since she knows how to survive Cersei while when the Lannister’s fell from power, Sansa would give Myrcella a home. For cherry on top, Myrcella could 1/2
2/2 inherit Jaime’s sword skills and her desire to pursue that could be a way to escape being her mother’s mini-me, only valued for her looks, and toxic family as well as an attempt to gain some control over her life. I had more articulate thoughts on this but I wrote them down somewhere I can’t recall. In canon, you already have Arianne set up for the fairy godmother role and Brienne as a subversion of the typical stepmother. Either way, less creepy than any potential in-canon Sansa ships.
Honestly, anon, you persuaded me with these first two, but the absolute joy is that you came through with even more! I do wanna quickly say though that I support folx shipping who they ship and in whatsoever way brings joy, we’re all here for the love of the characters and the story after all <3
I am as ever at the moment, very late to the party, but I’m so glad you came back to share all this! A lot of what you’ve said by way of potentials has lived rent free in my head. I’m very into the fairy tale elements you’re describing (particularly noting Arianne as fairy godmother, and Brienne as a subversion of the typical (boring, sexist) fairy tale stepmother...!) and the incorporation of major themes that could be present in Myrcella’s arc (I’m poss wearing my clown shoes, etc, but I do think there’s a chance some of those could come to bear in the remaining books, with or without Sansa, so let’s hope) Your note about Myrcella inheriting Jaime’s sword skills set off a different thought in my head, that it would be interesting for her to instead pick up a lot of the knight’s code and utilizing it to her whims and needs, though without the fighting/sword skills element. There’s resonance and balancing there, then, with parts of Sansa’s arc, and also with themes in Brienne’s arc, and is again, a repudiation of much of what Cersei (and Joffrey) thinks and believes. Though am also very much here for more sword wielding ladies.
Anyway, onwards with the rest of your Sansa/Myrcella galaxy-braining:
Also, we know Myrcella wasn’t scared of Joffrey so we could have had Myrcella getting in his face to defend Sansa and having a tense stand-off. Plus, it would be a more explicit sign of Jaime and Cersei not being soulmates and gender swapped mirrors as the cruel and cowardly Joffrey being Cersei if she was a boy and brave and clever would be Jaime as a girl.
ANON. I am SO INTO playing with aligning Cersei with Joffrey and Jaime with Myrcella explicitly! It definitely could be there for the taking (that note about where did Myrcella and Tommen get their sweetness, I WONDER) but whether GRRM will take it... Things seem to be pointing Tommen-ward atm when it comes to possibilities with Jaime and his children, which is, idk, to be expected to a degree I guess. BUT ALSO, as is on the record, I’d really rather a sharp veer towards Myrcella instead (Tommen can come too I guess but centring Myrcella would be grand)
And also just: a Myrcella who takes on her brother (and by extension, Cersei) *on behalf* of Sansa would have been fucking incredible, and would absolutely have been particularly satisfying for the resonance it would have for Jaime’s later arc. And there’s every possibility Myrcella could have stood up for Sansa, or even if we frame it more as “against Joffrey”, at least at first. Also what you describe as being possible later by way of role reversal of who protects who, yes thank you please. Deeply into how that shapes Lannister-Stark relations and also honestly the potential impact on LSH storylines, in the event Sansa meets LSH in around the same time Brienne and Jaime are confronting her (I mean, that would substantially alter the timelines, possibly, but still!)
Also ALSO, Sansa being sapphic would better show the limits societal scripts have a person’s perceptions, agency, and ability to connect with others since her character is so influenced by storytelling, imagination, and societal roles. It would also expand her understanding of womanhood and femininity, paving the way to reconcile with Arya.
Into this, as well! Don’t really have much more to say than that, really XD Oh, only that Sapphic Sansa is very satisfying to say, hehe. Anon, I ask if you’ve read this excellent meta about Sansa? It’s a long read but a good one.
admittedly, Myrcella did luck out with getting the sweet, age appropriate, and non-creepy Trystane Martell as her canon love interest.
My cynical take here is that it isn’t coincidence that Myrcella lucked out with Trystane being sweet and being part of a family who (mostly?) wants her safe and happy not just because of her proximity to the Iron Throne but for her own sake, only to be almost certain to lose him, heh.
Sansa/Myrcella it could be about forgiveness, chosen families, breaking the cycles of violence and revenge, hope for the future, the importance of female solidarity, re-writing the future to include everyone.
Just here to say I am a sucker for each and every one of these themes, thank you.
Physical doubling is another shared feature of both Myrcella and Sansa’s stories. Everyone comments on how much Sansa looks like her mom and Littlefinger plans to unveil her identity using her red hair. Myrcella also looks like her mom and has a double in her cousin. Both are hurt and almost killed while in care of someone they should trust, Myrcella during the Queenmaker plot and Sansa with her Aunt Lysa.
Sansa’s themes of identity, self-preservation, perception, longing for something beyond your childhood home, the power and consequences of shaping stories through truth and lies can easily be mapped onto Myrcella.
Your Jaime and Myrcella post reawakened my dormant interest in Myrcella and Sansa, since Jaime is tasked with returning Sansa.
Again, mostly am just here for all this, particularly the potential theme sharing and how they could help one another through 😍🤩
Reading all this, I feel like you hit on one of the major things that GRRM fails with on the regular in ASOIAF, which is that women and girls... often like one another? Even when they’re, like, different from one another? 😱😱😱 And even if he didn’t want to pursue a shippy route, to your earlier point, there was plenty of room for friendship and solidarity between Sansa and Myrcella when they were both in KL, even with Myrcella being younger. There could be an added element wherein Myrcella goes behind Cersei’s back somewhat to do this, given Cersei would undoubtedly put the kibosh on it had she been aware - which again, would have had resonance later for that Jaime and Myrcella mirroring angle. Buuut that would require GRRM to recognize the power of relationships between girls and women, and I admit I remain stuck on the idea that apparently no woman or girl in Brienne’s life ever did anything but mock/deride her until Catelyn came along. I invite you to imagine that a small part of my soul is always howling to the heavens: NO ONE????????? (though this is, happily, an easily retconned detail, so my clown nose is honking that there may be even a throwaway note about some girl or woman in Brienne’s past in Winds, anyway, I digress)
I DUNNO, I’m trying to, like, contribute to this excellence but mostly I’m just picking up everything you’re putting down...!
And finally:
I don’t have a Tumblr, though I enjoy reading fic and people’s meta, so I forgot I sent that ask to be honest, haha.
Again, I’m sorry for how very, very late here, but I am so very glad you did...!!!!
#anonymoose#askbox#char: myrcella baratheon#char: sansa stark#ship: myrcella x sansa#meta: asoiaf#there's a lot here which gets to exactly the kinds of things i like about ships jfkldajhlkdaf#q'd#long post
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Hi! I just wanted to say you are a very talented writer. I would love to see you branch out and write for more ships and more fandoms. I just started shamefully shipping Robbsa bc of you. Could you write some Jonsa? Your smut isn't smut it is thoughtful and sexy and just sensuous and Jonsa could use your talent. I hate to see you writing just for crackships. U could be more popular bc Jonsa is huge but lacks sex like U write it. Please. I'll beg!
Hi Anon,
Thank you for the compliment. I really do appreciate it. I’m sorry though. I won’t be writing any Jonsa centered fics. There are nearly 4,000 on AO3 and it just doesn’t appeal to me. I don’t write for the masses. I just write for ships that intrigue me and as luck would have it they are mostly small crackships like Robbsa. I have thought about getting into new fandoms, expand my horizons, but right now I want to concentrate on the 6 WIP’s I have and get them completed (goal is end of this year to be done with all of them), hopefully start a full-length Iron Fist fic, and then take a nice long break. If it’s any consolation, I do have Sansa married to Jon in “If Love Now Reigned As It Hath Been”, but it is a side relationship since Robbsa is the main focus, and it is not romantic.
Thank you for the kind words on my… writing sex scenes. :) I try my best. .
I might dabble in other ships with one-shots or something, who knows? I never know what I am doing.
#thank you anon#anon ask#fanfic#fanfiction#jonsa#robbsa#lorsa#robbcella#ironwing#jonrya#loraery#what can i say i like the small ships#well danny x colleen is at least cannon#robb x sansa#bi loras x sansa#robb x myrcella#jon x arya#i love my crackships#i also love my otp#writing#game of thrones#iron fist#i have too many wips#but its okay
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Well.... we ship what we ship! 😄 And I shamelessly ship apparently only incestuous ships in ASOIAF.
on a scale of one to ten how fucked-up is it that most of my favorite asoiaf ships are incest?
#robb x Sansa#robbsa#jon x arya#jonrya#loras x margaery#Jamie x Cersei#Tommen x Myrcella#theon x asha#Lyanna x Brandon#a lot of my ships are incestuous#and i am not sorry#asoiaf#game of thrones
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Could you tell me who you ship your GoT muses with???
Hello Anon!
I’m not sure if this meant like personally, or rp wise, so I’m just gonna go with personally because RP wise I can be swayed
In Order
Bran Stark - Myrcella Baratheon. I’m open to Tommen Baratheon, and Jojen but I don’t really ship them? I respect Bran’s crush on Meera but don’t want them together.
Oberyn Martell - Ellaria. I’m open to exploring Cersei x Oberyn but only in a world where Elia lives.
Elia Martell - Arthur Dayne. Open to Rhaegar with the right rper
Sansa Stark - Margaery Tyrell
Margaery Tyrell - Sansa Stark. Platonic!Renly Baratheon.
Rhaenys I Targaryen - Visenya and Aegon.
Lailani - Dale Seaworth
Jeyne Poole - Theon Greyjoy. Robb Stark
Daenerys - Arya Stark, Yara/Asha Greyjoy, Daario, Irri, Doreah
Tommen Baratheon - Life and being a child
Missandei - Greyworm
Laena Velaryon - Daemon Targaryen, Rhaenyra Targaryen
Shaena Targaryen - I have discussed Stannis and Shaena and Jaime and Shaena, but I’m still not sure if either of those are romantic relationships
Ashara Dayne - Ned Stark
OCs are all interaction based. so depends
Aegon Perryn - Leona Flowers, open to Alicent Hightower
Daenys - Rhaenyra’s cooch
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Discord chat for rare pair shippers
https://discordapp.com/channels/389119038468521995/389119039009456129
Hey guys, if you ship any asoiaf/ got rare pairs, feel free to join us in our discord chat here^^^
#petyr x sansa#jon x arya#robb x margaery#robb x myrcella#daenarys x yara#daenarys x arya#asoiaf#game of thrones#shipping#otp#discord#discord chat#jon x ygritte
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Operation Stumpy Re-Read
AGOT: Arya I (Chapter 7)
We meet again, ship girl.
"Arya has the hands of a blacksmith."
Rest in peace to those Gendrya plans.
+.+
Arya thought that Myrcella's stitches looked a little crooked too
Nobody in this castle is letting Myrcella Baratheon breathe.
+.+
Sansa had the grace to blush.
x
"Beth, you shouldn't make up stories," Sansa corrected the younger girl, gently stroking her hair to take the harshness out of her words.
x
"Our half brother," Sansa corrected, soft and precise. She smiled for the septa. "Arya and I were remarking on how pleased we were to have the princess with us today," she said.
x
Everyone was looking at her. It was too much. Sansa was too well bred to smile at her sister's disgrace
George, I’m not sure you’ve made it clear enough how much Sansa conducts herself like a Queen.
+.+
"He's our brother," Arya said, much too loudly. Her voice cut through the afternoon quiet of the tower room.
Septa Mordane raised her eyes.
x
Arya wanted to scream. It was just like Sansa to go and attract the septa's attention.
Arya Stark, the original unreliable narrator.
+.+
Arya had named her after the warrior queen of the Rhoyne, who had led her people across the narrow sea.
+.+
Jon grinned, reached over, and messed up her hair.
The sexual tension is palpable.
+.+
Jon chuckled. "Perhaps you should do the same thing, little sister. Wed Tully to Stark in your arms."
"A wolf with a fish in its mouth?"
I mean...
@kalmaroth 😂
+.+
Sansa looked radiant as she walked beside him, but Jon did not like Joffrey's pouty lips or the bored, disdainful way he looked at Winterfell's Great Hall. – Jon I, AGOT
x
"Jon says he looks like a girl," Arya said.
x
Jon looked down on the scene with a frown. "Joffrey is truly a little shit," he told Arya.
George, I’m not sure you’ve made it clear enough how much Jon hates Joffrey.
+.+
You'll be sewing all through winter. When the spring thaw comes, they will find your body with a needle still locked tight between your frozen fingers.
Final thoughts:
Marcia, Marcia, Marcia.
-> return to menu <-
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Myrcella x Sansa
I can't even answer this properly because like no I don't ship it that being said I am here for it. My babies deserve HAPPINESS and if they want to give it to each other then consider me on board.
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8 , 16, 20
8) I don’t really think there’s one that I secretly ship. Some ones I ship that I don’t talk about much however for each Starkling would probably be
Robb x Meera Reed
Jon x Jeyne Poole
Sansa x Elia Sand
Arya x Myrcella Baratheon
Bran x Shireen Baratheon
Rickon x Bethany Blackwood
Theon x Arianne Martell
16) Sansa as Queen in the North, of course!
20)
Stark’s
Tyrell’s
Martell’s
Tully’s
Arryn’s
Baratheon’s
Targaryen’s
Greyjoy’s
Lannister’s
#Robb Stark#meera reed#Jon snow#Jeyne Poole#Sansa Stark#Elia sand#arya stark#myrcella baratheon#bran stark#shireen baratheon#rickon stark#Bethany Blackwood#queen in the north#house stark#house tyrell#house martell#house arryn#house baratheon#anti house Targaryen#anti house lannister#anti house Greyjoy#Sansa Stark x Elia sand#Robb Stark x Meera Reed#Jon snow x Jeyne Poole#bran Stark x Shireen Baratheon#Arya Stark x Myrcella Baratheon#Arya x Myrcella#arcella#Theon Greyjoy x Arianne martell
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Game of thrones ships as Taylor swift songs (yes I’m doing this because I’m bored and I have nothing else to accomplish)
Jon Snow x Satin Flowers - cardigan
Theon Greyjoy x Robb Stark - Love Story
Brienne of Tarth x Jamie Lannister - You Need to Calm Down
Yara Greyjoy x Daenerys Targaryen - Lover feat. Shawn Mendez
Sansa Stark x Margaery Tyrell - Marjorie
Cersei Lannister x Jamie Lannister - Bad Blood
Jon Connington x Aegon VI Targaryen - Dear John
Jon Snow x Daenerys Targaryen - Out of the Woods
Tommen Baratheon x Margaery Tyrell - Getaway car
Ramsay Bolton x Theon Greyjoy - I Did Something Bad
Samwell Tarly x Gilly - Our Song
Tormund x Jon Snow - White Horse
Catelyn Tully x Ned Stark - Tim McGraw
Trystane Martell x Myrcella Baratheon - Style
Yara Greyjoy x Ellaria Sand - Illicit Affairs
Gendry Baratheon x Arya Stark - Back to December
Renly Baratheon x Loras Tyrell - Mine
Oberyn Martell x Ellaria Sand - End Game
#game of thrones#I was hella bored so I made this#samwell tarly x gilly#oberyn x ellaria#yara x ellaria#Jamie lannister x brienne of Tarth#Sansa Stark x Margaery Tyrell#Trystane Martell x Myrcella Baratheon#ned x catelyn#a song of ice and fire
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Blood in the Rivers: VIII
A/N: I apologize for the wait (again). Thank you to everyone who read, liked, reblogged, and commented on the last chapter. And thank you for all the shenanigans about dogs and unicorns last night. You all make me smile
Pairing: Oberyn Martell x Ellaria Sand x F!Reader (Tully)
Rating: T - mentions of death, unhealthy coping mechanisms, my continued overuse of italics
Word Count: 9.2k (Don’t look at me)
Read Chapters I-VII here! Or on Ao3!
Chapter Eight: Pockets Full of Pebbles
“Raise your elbow.”
The bow was a bit too big for her little hands, even if it had been specially made just for her. But she did as her father bid and tried to focus on the target just a few feet away in the courtyard outside the keep’s armory.
“Perfect. Now loose.”
The arrow soared through the air and hit the side of the target. A shrieking giggle soon erupted from her throat as her father’s strong arms wrapped around her waist and hoisted her into the air.
“You are a natural, my darling girl! My little warrior!” His smiling lips pressed a kiss against her cheek as she continued to laugh.
“Oh, Brynden. You will have her running wild if you continue,” Vaella said, fondness in her tone betraying her love for her husband and child.
Brynden adjusted his grip on Y/N so he could hold her a little closer, little legs wrapping around his waist, and he pressed another kiss to Y/N’s cheek. “She is already wild. Aren’t you, Y/N?”
There were few rivers in Dorne. The Tullys drew their strength from the river, and it was to the river they returned when their lives had run their course. But the nearest was too far. She would not delay his soul’s rest any more than necessary. “All rivers lead to the sea, darling girl,” her father had once said. So, the Summer Sea was her only choice. It wasn’t the muddied rivers around Riverrun. It wasn’t The Trident in The Vale where her father had laid her mother to rest. “All rivers lead to the sea,” she repeated her father’s words.
She barely remembered filling a small boat with kindling and stones and small slips of parchment before carefully placing her father’s head inside, atop the makeshift body she’d made from rolls of black fabric and straw.
She would never recover the rest of his body. There had been a note shoved behind his teeth: his body was fed to a caged bear at Harrenhal. Another desecration. Oberyn had matched it by having Ilyn’s body hacked to pieces.
The words of a familiar prayer slipped by her lips as she finished, hoping his soul would find rest in the Seven Heavens and that he would be reunited with her mother. “Goodbye, papa.” The words were strangled in her throat.
Ellaria quietly stepped to her side. Oberyn soon followed. Harmen and Daisy took their places, too. Without a word, they each placed a hand on the boat and helped shove the small tender out onto the gentle waves of the sea. Her heart was in her throat as she watched it start to pull away from the shore and then Daemon was there, handing her the bow and arrow. Y/N nocked the arrow with her bandaged hand and murmured a quiet ‘thank you’ to an injured-but-healing Trystane as he lit the end, letting it blaze with orange fire. A steadying breath is all she gave herself before she pulled the bow taut with perfect posture, just like her father taught, and let it loose. The arrow hit the boat and it erupted in flames. Her hands shook as she finally let the bow drop to her side. The stitches on her palm had torn. She didn’t feel it. Blood dripped onto the sand.
The boat drifted away and she watched until it sunk beneath the water.
**
The Realm had descended into chaos. Myrcella and her Lannister guards had disappeared the night Ilyn had tried to kill Trystane and Doran. Westerland armies tried to cross the Red Mountains into Dorne on the Prince’s Pass but were largely pushed back by the House Fowler armies. House Yronwood raised their banners and fortified the Bone Way, waiting for the Lannisters to try again.
Y/N had been wordlessly invited to join Oberyn, a healing Doran, and the lords and ladies of Dorne who had been at the Water Gardens for the feast and never left. All of them were calling for retaliation. For war. The men and women sequestered in the cooled undercroft serving as a war room did not bat a lash when she joined them. Some even voiced their approval for her plans, stating that she was a natural tactician, “a woman after Princess Nymeria’s own heart!” It almost made her smile. It was a small solace, to know that her opinion was valued enough to earn a seat at the table.
But it had kept long hours. Longer still when she would hide away in Sunspear’s grand library, poring over centuries-old texts about the Red Keep or Casterly Rock, trying to find some slip of information that could be used as a tool against the Lannisters. It had almost become some sort of sad little game to wonder who would be sent in to ask her back to bed.
“You are falling asleep in your seat,” Sansa would say. “Go to bed.”
“You look ill. You will be ill if you do not sleep,” Arya would grumble.
"You must sleep, My Tully,” Ellaria would whisper as she would gently massage the back of her neck. “Come lay with me.”
And sometimes it would work. But sometimes she would wave them on. But she found a surprising companion. Obella, not yet seventeen, quietly helped her find books in the library and show Y/N her own findings—mostly battle formations that had faded from common knowledge but would be brutally efficient. They came to a soft companionability, taking turns to bring food and hot tea to the library when the night grew dark or relighting candles that snuffed themselves out.
“Why do you come here?” Y/N finally asked after their fifth night together.
“I cannot wield a sword like Obara or a bow like you—or even a lance like Elia. But I do want to help.”
She said it with such conviction that it fractured a part of Y/N’s already broken heart. She only nodded and pushed a steaming cup of tea toward her with a sad sort of smile. “You’re helping more than you know.”
Obara, Elia, and Arya were her companions at the training grounds. The two Sand Snakes seemed to innately know the anger that had infested her bloodstream and would silently bandage Y/N’s fingers when she would rub them raw with overuse against the string of her bow.
She was a fine archer and Obara had taken it upon herself to find Y/N a Martell guard who preferred the short blades she was more comfortable with to help her train with those as well.
Her hand ached. She pulled the stitches from her skin on her own, too early for the ugly, jagged wound to be fully healed. But she did it anyway in the dead of night, tired of feeling the scratch of the knots against her palm. Obara said nothing when she saw the messy work when she bandaged Y/N’s hand the morning after
Obara would stand behind her father’s chair when she cared to attend the war stratagem but largely kept to the training grounds with their cavalry and infantry.
Time had turned strange. Days and nights melting into each other without any sort of rest. Tracking the date had not been a necessity or want. She simply needed to do all she could to help. To train. To lend her voice at the stratagem meetings. She could rest later.
Just before one of these meetings Y/N noticed a shaking servant, holding a crumpled missive in his hands. The seal of the Tyrells was broken at the edge. The poor soul looked like he was headed toward the gallows. “I’ll take it for you,” she murmured.
The servant mumbled a quiet but reverent “thank you, Princess,” before all but shoving it into her hand and then pulling open the heavy door to let her in. Her thumb slid beneath the broken seal and she quickly scanned the words, stomach curling with each line of ink
Oberyn noticed the fright on her face within a moment. “What is it, my moonlight?” He asked and pressed a kiss to her cheek before she handed him the letter.
She was thankful that only Doran was present when Oberyn’s beautiful face slid into something monstrous as he read. He curled his fist around the letter as Doran lifted his head from the pile of missives from far-off Lords from the east coast of Dorne, keeping him abreast of any movement or changes in scheme they needed to employ. “Oberyn?”
“Myrcella and her guards washed up in Blackwater Bay.”
“And the Lannisters think we had a hand in it?”
“According to Olenna Tyrell, yes; Cersei thinks we killed Myrcella and she wants all of our heads on spikes.” Oberyn threw the remnants of the warning onto the table with a snarl.
While Y/N knew she would pray for the little princess’ soul to be carried off into the Seven Heavens when she was alone that night, her mind quickly turned toward how they would deal with this newest development. “They must have sailed near the Stepstones. Pirates and raiders-"
“The Lions do not care for logic, my moonlight. They have deemed us guilty.”
Her gut churned. She wanted blood, yes. But not Myrcella’s—not the innocent.
Before any other arguments or plans could be made—the door burst open and Elia was careening into the room, out of breath and dark eyes wild. “Ships! Greyjoy and Stark banners!”
Y/N scarcely recalled leaping up the stairs or dashing through the fortress and out into the dying sunlight to see the ships on the horizon—swathes of grey fabric and black wood rising from the waves like the Deep Ones of legend. Small tenders were already in the sea and rowing toward the shore. One of them had tied a bit of white fabric to their bow.
“Should we trust them?” Y/N asked.
Oberyn, at her back, sighed. “The Starks have not betrayed us yet. Remains to be seen with the Greyjoys.”
**
The fortress was abuzz with movement as the Northmen settled into their temporary lodging Sunspear was providing (the Ironborn loudly voiced that they’d rather row back out to their ships for rest). Battle plans were being drawn and redrawn. Alliances and promises made.
Y/N learned that after the Boltons had tortured and killed Theon as they took over Winterfell, Yara sent a raven to Robb. He would help her claim the throne of the Iron Islands against the claim of her uncle, Euron, in exchange for drawing the Boltons out beyond Winterfell’s walls so Robb’s men could attack them from behind and finally reclaim Winterfell and wipe out the Bolton line. They both had vengeance with the act and gained an ally.
The North was once again under the rule of House Stark. But Y/N could not delight in that bit of happy news as word was sent that Yara Greyjoy required a private audience with Y/N.
Daemon rowed her out to the Black Wind and promised to stay until she personally told him to go or she came back out to the tender to be taken back to Sunspear. “I would not have you languishing with the Ironborn longer than necessary, my lady,” he muttered before a rope ladder was thrown down.
As she reached the deck of the ship, several of the crew looked her up and down. She caught whispers of “the Mountain” and “princess” before she was led below deck by a man with a salt-and-pepper beard and cold, green eyes. He knocked twice on a sea-weathered door before a gruff, feminine voice called to let him in.
Y/N stepped inside and tried not to wrinkle her nose at the smell. It reeked of old hay and excrement—probably a holding cell. Yara was waiting, standing under the single beam of light the room had and holding a chain in her hands. It snaked across the hay-strewn floor and disappeared into a dark corner. This was the first time Y/N had come in contact with Yara Greyjoy—but her reputation obviously preceded her and was well earned. The smirk she had splitting her face was enough to warrant the rumors of callous humor and bloodthirsty nature.
“Ah, you’ve come. Perhaps you can get something out of him before I rip his tongue out. We caught him just off the Stepstones, trying to hide his hideous face under a hood.” She pulled at the end of a chain. The metal links seemed to sing as she continued to yank until the prisoner stepped into her line of sight.
Y/N nearly balked at the sight. “Lord Tyrion. A surprise to be sure.”
Tyrion looked no worse than he did all that time ago in the Water Gardens but his limbs were now all encased in heavy steel and his hair was a little more unkempt. “My lady.” He even bowed a bit.
“The Imp refuses to speak to anyone but you,” Yara said as she stepped forward to hand Y/N the end of the chain with a curled frown. “Was this the one you were intended to marry?”
Y/N bristled but was unsurprised that Yara knew of the Lannisters’ plot. All of Dorne seemed to know it, too. “It was Tywin, actually. His father.”
Yara sneered. “I guess the old lion does still have a cock.” She then left without another word and the door closed loudly behind her.
With a sigh, Y/N set down the chain and wiped her hands on her skirts. “Why have you asked for me, Lord Tyrion? Prince Oberyn or Doran would be the only ones to grant you more comfortable accommodations in exchange for information.”
Tyrion shook his head. “I do not trust them, just as they do not trust me.”
Y/N hummed. “I am surprised they kept you alive at all. The last time you were in the company of Starks, you were accused to trying to murder Bran and only survived Catelyn’s wrath by the gods’ grace and the help of a sellsword.”
“It was more the sellsword than the grace of the gods, my lady, I assure you. But it was under Robb’s instruction that the Ironborn did not tie me to the front of their ship to be pecked to death by gulls.” He pursed his lips. “I was nearly to Essos when my ship was blown out of the water and I was scooped up like some dead fish.”
“Then perhaps you should consider it luck that they found you and not your sister. She wants you dead. Robb wants leverage.”
“If you had counseled your dear king, he would have known that I will hold no leverage as a hostage. They would prefer me dead.”
Y/N paused for a moment, thoughts stirring in her mind. “You asked me here for a reason, Lord Tyrion. And it is not because you fear me the least. What is it you’re offering?”
Something crossed Tyrion’s face then. It was almost a smile. “You would have made a fearsome Lady of the Rock, you know.” But as quickly as it came, it disappeared. “Tell me, are the rumors of Myrcella-”
“Dorne had nothing to do with it. Doran and Oberyn may not care for your family but they do not kill children. They know the ache of the loss of a child.”
Tears gathered in Tyrion’s eyes and tracked down his dirty cheeks. “She was good and gentle.”
“She was,” Y/N said softly. “And I am sorry that the gods have called her home so soon. But we need your help to see this through. You have my word that Tommen will not be harmed when we take King’s Landing.”
Oberyn and Ellaria were waiting for her when she stepped back onto shore hours later. Y/N had slips of parchment crumpled in her hand and streaks of ink staining her fingers and across her cheek. “Is Sarella still in Oldtown?”
**
“You cannot believe him!” Robb snarled.
Y/N pivoted in her seat to glare at him, uncaring of the other lords and soldiers in the room. “What cause does he have to lie?”
“He is a Lannister!”
“He is hated by his family. They tried to kill him.”
Robb’s face continued to contort in rage as he stood from his seat, fist slamming against the wood of the table. But whatever words he had wanted to say stilled in his throat as Oberyn stood from his seat, too. Oberyn said nothing as he loomed at Y/N’s back. He did not move his hand to the pommel of his sword but the promise of violence was not missed.
The King in the North seemed to swallow his pride at the quiet show of strength but did not sit down. “There is no way to see if this is not a trap.”
And that was when Y/N had a smirk of her own, pulled the rolled missive, stamped with the seal of the Citadel, from the folds of her dress and unfurled it on the table. “Tyrion’s claims of the cisterns and drains of Casterly Rock have been verified, as have the rumors of Wildfire under the whole of King’s Landing.” She pushed the parchment toward Robb and watched his face as he read Sarella’s handwriting. Her findings had given Y/N hope that this war could be won without an unending number of battles. Less bloodshed. Fewer dead Dornishmen. Fewer families without sons and husbands and brothers. Tyrion had told her of how he used to smuggle his favorite girls in and out of his rooms by the way of the drains of Casterly Rock and how that flaw in the Lannisters’ fortress could be exploited and allow for an outside naval force to sack his ancestral home. He’d provided crude drawings of how the tunnels curved and turned from the cliffside up to the balustrades and towers. Tyrion’s placement of the wildfire under the capital were less precise but still damning.
“And what does The Imp want in return for this information?”
“He wants to be set free-” There was an immediate and expected uproar from the Northmen and Ironborn and a handful of the Dornish lords and ladies but Y/N pressed on. “-to live in Essos with little Tommen when this is over.”
Robb held up his hand and quieted the rabble as his lips pressed into a thin line. “We will need scouts in the Westerlands to know of any movement of their armies.”
Lady Maege Mormont, pallid face red with the heat and slicked with sweat, suddenly moved her dark eyes to Y/N and the Dornish prince at her back. “The Riverlands armies are still waiting for command.”
“The Riverlands have not declared to King Robb’s cause aside from a handful of men who still hold Riverrun,” gruffed an Ironborn who tried to hold Oberyn’s gaze but quickly wilted under the Prince’s unwavering stare.
“That is inaccurate,” Robb said, voice cutting through the room’s din without effort. “There is still a small battalion of men loyal to Brynden Tully waiting for a command just outside Pinkmaiden. It would be a sufficient number.”
Oberyn’s warm hand reached down to gently grasp her shoulder and squeeze. A quiet show of support. “Why have they not joined you in Dorne?” Y/N asked, voice steady.
That was when Robb finally sat again and he tried to look her in the eye but failed and glanced down at the maps in front of him. “Your father was waiting for my command to take the Golden Tooth.”
Y/N nodded. He had never made it to Pinkmaiden.
And everyone in the room knew it.
But Y/N’s face did not move and Oberyn’s steadying hand did not falter in its grounding warmth. “Then it seems you have your scouts.”
The meeting continued on into the night and only adjourned when Lord Stonehouse let out a snore, slumped over his plate of half-eaten supper. Y/N wrapped a bit of chicken into her napkin and set out on her own after kissing Oberyn’s cheek before he went to Doran’s side.
She was…exhausted. But, she still sought out the one frivolous activity she would allow herself. Grey Wind, Robb’s hulking direwolf, was curled on the cool marble of the grand hall and lifted his large head when he heard her approach. Ned had told her stories of direwolves during her time at Winterfell and she, a bit childishly, wanted to see one as close as she could manage. Y/N unwrapped the chicken and held out to him with a small smile that grew only a fraction bigger when it was quickly devoured and her fingers were licked clean, too. The direwolf sniffed at her hand for a little longer before pressing his head against her palm, wanting to be pet. And that almost made her laugh, this giant animal who unnerved most others he encountered was gently asking to be scratched behind the ears. (Robb had grumbled his acceptance of Grey Wind not being present in the war room because of how uncomfortable it made some of the lords and ladies of Dorne.)
“You’re just a big pup, aren’t you?”
Grey Wind whined, offended.
“My lady?” Daisy’s voice rung out in the hall and Y/N quickly gave a handful more scratches before trying to find her handmaiden. When she did, Daisy explained that Ellaria had requested Daisy get Y/N “in bed with no distractions!” when she heard the meeting had been adjourned early. So, she let Daisy lead her back to her chambers with a sigh and fuss for a moment or two before she helped her out of her clothes and into her silken nightgown with a small smile. “I feel like I have not truly spoken with you in ages, my lady.”
“I apologize, Daisy.”
“Think nothing of it. I know your heart and mind are occupied.” When she finished, Daisy lingered at her back with a nervous expression. “I know it is not my place-”
“You are my friend, Daisy. Speak freely.” She turned to softly squeeze at Daisy’s fingers before dropping her hands back into her lap.
“I worry about you. And I know others do as well.”
“I am going to sleep-”
“It is not your lack of sleep that disturbs me, Y/N. You…you are not yourself. For as long as I have known you, you have worn your heart on your sleeve. Only tucking it away when you think someone will betray you. I know your heart is broken. Let it be broken. A heart that bleeds alone still bleeds. It is easier to bear with someone at your side.”
Y/N frowned. “You are with me-”
Disappointment colored Daisy’s face as she sighed, cutting off Y/N’s words. “I know you are not this stupid, Y/N. You know exactly what I mean.”
And that poked at the festering wound Y/N had tried to seal over with brick and steel in the cavity of her chest. “When this is over, I will… I will mourn as I should. It would be selfish to do it now.”
Daisy clicked her tongue with a shake of her head. “I have been told that war makes animals of men but I did not think it would make your heart stone. It is not selfish to love your father. It is not selfish to feel.” Before Y/N could even come up with some sort of rebuttal, her friend was striding toward the door and pulling it open. “Sleep, Y/N.” And then she was gone.
But Y/N did not sleep. She sat on her bed and listened to the night’s chatter die down as time slipped by. The fortress grew dark as only the necessary torches were kept aflame. The stars glittered in the moonless sky. Even as her body yearned for rest, she could not sleep.
All she could do was stare out to the sea.
But then she was moving. Slipping off her bed and slinking out of the fortress, wordlessly passing the stationed guards who made no move to stop her but watched her with careful, curious eyes.
“All rivers lead to the sea.” The words were murmured but felt like a rock had dislodged itself from the recesses of her lungs.
Cool marble gave way to paved stone and then to cold, wet sand she let squish between her toes as she walked closer to the sea’s edge. The water was calm. Gentle waves shimmered in starlight and lapped against the shore. She let the cool water splash against her ankles before she discarded her dressing gown. She took one step, then another, another, and another until she was treading open water in just her chemise, feeling the wet fabric glide around her in the water like a curious, silken fish. She dove beneath the waves to feel the chill and rhythm of the sea settle in her bones. For a moment, she wondered if she could spend forever at the bottom of the sea, looking up at the stars through the clear water, weighed down by pebbles sewn into her pockets. But when her lungs started to burn, she rose to the surface slowly and pulled in a deep breath of warm night air as she crested like a leviathan.
Y/N had always been a strong swimmer. Edmure had once joked that she was truly part trout when she would spend hot days swimming against the current of the waters around Riverrun. But she did not want to swim tonight. She wanted to simply feel the water on her skin. To feel the waves beat in time with her heart. To know that the water would always have a place for her.
Her legs stopped pumping and she let them rise to the surface and she floated atop the waves like a wash of seafoam.
The stars were shining above her in their celestial beds, bright and welcoming even as drops of salted water managed to sting at her eyes. She followed the lines of the constellations she knew by heart and licked the salt from her lips.
With each wave, she knew the shore grew closer. She could let herself mourn until then, let the salt of her tears finally meet the salt of the water. She could let herself cry here, mourn here, in the water that welcomed her family home.
They came slowly and then all at once. Great, heaving sobs shook her entire body and nearly took her under as water filled her mouth when she let out a wail—the sounds wrenching themselves free from their hiding places within her tired soul. She cried and sobbed and wept. For her father. Her mother. For Ned and Catelyn. For Rickon and Bran and Hoster. Finally letting herself feel something for longer than a few stolen minutes. Y/N barely registered the arms wrapping around her shoulders and under her knees, the grip keeping her head safely above water.
It wasn’t until the tears ebbed enough to clear her vision that she saw Oberyn standing in the water, cradling her weightless form against the waves. His features were soft in the starlight and he said nothing as her sobs came again and she curled further into his grip.
He let her cry until she was spent and then walked her closer to the shore and helped her stand.
Ellaria was waiting just outside the sea’s reach with a stack of linen towels neatly folded near her feet. She plucked one from the pile and wordlessly started to dry Y/N off with a gentle touch before wrapping another around her shoulders. Oberyn slung one around his damp breeches then leaned forward to press a kiss against Ellaria’s temple, lingering for a moment, before doing the same to Y/N.
“The night is losing its battle with dawn, my loves. We must sleep,” Ellaria said, reaching out to tighten the towel around Y/N’s shoulders.
Y/N nodded, beyond exhausted. But her heart felt the smallest fraction lighter. And perhaps it was not the end of her grieving—it was just the start. But she knew it was a step forward. When Ellaria pushed her into the warm silk and linen sheets of her and Oberyn’s bed and then climbed over her to settle like another blanket, Y/N knew she would finally sleep. Peacefully. Oberyn climbed in after them and murmured soft ‘sleep, my darlings. We will speak in the morning’ into their skin and snuffed out the single candle on the bedside table. One hand brushed against Ellaria’s back as his other brought Y/N’s palm up to his lips to breathe in the lingering scent of salt and water as his eyes closed. Oh yes, she could sleep for eternity if they just held her like this for a little longer.
And the sound of the water, ever-present and ever-moving, lulled them into a quiet, deep sleep.
**
Morning came sooner rather than later and Y/N woke to Oberyn pressing a kiss to her bare shoulder, fingers sliding under the thin strap of her chemise to revel in her soft skin. Much like Ellaria had the night before, he was lounging across Y/N’s back, weight pressing her into the featherbed with a comforting pressure. Ellaria was sitting up, held up by her elbow to look down at her with a soft smile.
It was something Y/N could get used to seeing every morning. She breathed for a few moments, simply wondering in how quiet the room was, how gentle Oberyn and Ellaria were with her. Briefly, she thought of how her life had changed since she had sent that first raven to Dorne. Being this comfortable, wrapped in blankets that did not belong to her, in the arms of not one but two people she was not married to—the scandal of it all. It was a soft sort of loveliness, even with the hurt of her loss. It seemed the water and the forgiving touch of the couple she loved had given Y/N her soul back; fractured and hurt. But hers once again.
“How are you, my moonlight?” He asked, voice quiet in the still of the room.
“I think I will carry this ache until my soul leaves to join whichever of the Seven Heavens the gods deem fit for me. But I know it will be easier to bear with time. Just as it was with my mother. Knowing they are together again gives me a small bit of happiness.” Y/N tapped at his thigh so she could turn to face him, letting her fingers trail through his hair when he laid his cheek against her stomach as they once again settled in the mess of blankets. A handful of grey strands pulled her attention as she let her nails gently scratch against his scalp, gaining a soft groan in return. “Thank you for last night. You… you both seem to know what I require before I even speak.”
Oberyn looked up at her, dark eyes warm but sad. “We each have had our own brushes with loss, my moonlight.” He paused. “We watched you close yourself off to everything aside from the coming war. Your eyes did not sparkle. You did not laugh. We had you, could touch you, feel the warmth of your skin. But you were lost to us.”
Ellaria hummed her agreement and reached over to let her fingers roam across her exposed collarbone and the corner of her mouth tilted up when she heard the next breath catch in Y/N’s throat.
“It was never my intention-”
“You have spent too long in places where you cannot feel. You have swallowed your pride and anger and joy and grief in order to survive.” Ellaria said, fingers continuing to trail, burning her in their wake. “That is not how we live here, that is not the life we want for you.”
Y/N pushed out a long breath and let her hands drop to the back of Oberyn’s head, twisting the black and grey locks around her fingers without thought. “What is the life you want for me?”
Oberyn suddenly moved. His hands planting on either side of her shoulders to loom over her like some beautiful, terrible heavenly body. Her legs parted as he moved, cradling his hips with her thighs. “We want you to live, my moonlight. To live freely. Without restraint.”
“We want you to be angry, to be sad, to be joyful—to feel,” Ellaria said, hooking her fingers under Y/N’s chin to make Y/N look at her. “We want you to feel.”
They spoke of their hurts and anger, of their happiness and triumphs as the sun started to rise. “But none of it means anything if you do not feel it.” Oberyn leaned down to steal a kiss and sighed against her mouth as she lifted a hand to slide against his side, delighting in how he shivered. “We want you to take the day. Do not attend the meetings. Do not go to the training yards. Sleep. Pray if it helps your heart. Eat something. Speak with Sansa and Arya. Let yourself feel.” He kissed her again before Ellaria stole another, too. But they eventually all made their way out of the haven of their soft blankets and dressed unhurriedly to meet the day.
“Join me for lunch. The little ones miss you,” Ellaria said, catching Y/N’s hand before she left.
“I will find you,” Y/N promised with a squeeze to her wrist before setting off to find Sansa.
The day passed smoothly, for the most part. She let herself cry again when she spoke with Sansa and joined Grey Wind and Arya in the sea before setting off to join Ellaria and the younger Sand Snakes for lunch as promised. The afternoon was filled with a trip to Sunspear’s sept for prayer and speaking with Daisy. No plans for battle. No talk of alliances. It was not all her heart needed to heal from her loss. But it was another step toward acceptance. As night descended on Dorne, she was rewrapping the leather binding on the handle of Dorea’s Morningstar, having nearly stepped on it when she was walking back to her chambers. The leather had been ripped and torn under Dorea’s exuberant thrashing and Y/N had a bit of leather to spare, not minding to part with it. Oberyn found her as she finished and smiled as she, a little bashfully, showed him her work.
“She will love it,” he said with a warm smile and tired eyes.
Oberyn led her toward Dorea’s chambers and they found Ellaria asleep in Dorea’s bed with a book of fairytales from the Riverlands opened on their laps. Oberyn only tiptoed in for a moment to press a kiss to his paramour and daughter’s cheeks. Y/N had followed to carefully pull the book away and set it on the bedside table and made sure that the blankets covered the pair, tucking them into bed against the sea-scented night air. She placed the Morningstar atop a table before they both slipped out.
“She must have had a nightmare. She rarely lets us leave her bed if some sort of monster has creeped its way into her mind,” Oberyn said softly as he closed the door.
“Does she have nightmares often?” Y/N asked.
“They come and go, as it is with all children.” He grasped her hand and pressed a kiss to her fingers with a tired smile. “You will see when you have babes of your own.”
“You want more children?” She asked, head filling with something other than plans for war for a brief moment.
Oberyn’s smile widened and he pressed a hand over her stomach, fingers splaying. “I want as many children as you desire to give me.”
Something playful and teasing and almost unfamiliar bubbled in her chest and she smiled and covered his hand with hers. “Oh, I see. You’ve seduced me in some attempt to fill these halls with little Martells. You have no love for me—just my ability to give you more heirs.” She even laughed, quiet in the hall.
But Oberyn did not smile now and his fingers curled into the fabric of her dress and yanked her close. The heat of his body enveloped her instantly and the burn of his gaze struck at her heart. “Do not say such things.”
“It was-”
“I love you, my moonlight. Even in jest, I will not have you speak of yourself that way.” He released his grip on her dress to gently hold her face in his roughened hands and swept his thumbs across her cheeks. “But it is good to hear you laugh again. I have missed the sound.”
Y/N nearly melted into his grip with a soft sigh and closed her eyes to savor his touch a little more. But then her mind started to wander, back to when she was still untouched by war and courtly politics. “I’ve always wanted one or two.”
He leaned forward to press his head against hers and Y/N could feel him smile as he kissed her forehead. “I can give you that.”
“I want them to have your eyes and good heart.”
Oberyn chuckled and then wrapped his arms around her, dragging her a little closer. “As long as they are healthy, my moonlight, I will be happy.”
And as she curled beneath her blankets that night, mouth still tingling from the kiss Oberyn left her with, she thought of little Loreza and Dorea trying to teach two little ones how to read on the shore as the Dornish sun warmed their skin.
And the thought carried over to her dreams where Oberyn crooned in her ear some lullaby she couldn’t place, a babe in his arms.
**
“Could you throw one more?” Y/N asked.
The young squire chuckled and nodded, pulling another bruised blood-orange from the pile collected from the groves and threw it into the air. Y/N quickly pulled back the bow’s string and loosed another arrow. It soared through the early morning air and pierced the skin of the orange and ripped through before it sunk into the target. It lined up almost perfectly with the six other speared blood-oranges on the target, dripping red-pink juice across the wood.
Y/N waved off the squire moving to clean off the target and said she didn’t mind the work. “I am sure I have kept you from your duties for far too long.”
“It is a pleasure to serve, Princess. You are a formidable archer.”
“Flatterer,” Y/N mused and watched the squire try to hide a shy smile before bowing and dismissing himself. She carefully pulled the arrows from the target and licked the juice from the tips and threw the discarded oranges out into the garden to let them feed the soil. It was still too early for most others to come to the courtyard to train. The last handful of days had seen most of the Dornish armies leave Sunspear to relieve the sorties at the border and to lead an incursion into the Stormlands.
A sudden noise had her turning and ready to nock another arrow. But it was just Robb, still haggard from sleep, with Grey Wind trailing beside him. The pair stared at each other for a moment and Y/N had to will herself to loosen her grip on the bow and carefully place the sticky arrows back into a pile. Robb approached her slowly. Much slower than Grey Wind who nosed at her leather breeches before letting out a low rumble as her gloved hand found the spot behind his left ear he loved having scratched.
“We have not spoken properly, cousin.” His mouth opened and closed twice. “I have missed you,” was all he managed.
Y/N nodded. She did miss him, too. “We are a long way from Winterfell.”
Robb’s smile was small but sincere. He took a step closer. And then another. And then his arms were wrapping around her and pulling her to his chest in a tight hug. Y/N’s arms wrapped around him tightly without a thought or care. Tears gathered in her eyes and she quickly shut them in a half-hearted attempt to keep them at bay. But then she was holding him in earnest and remembering how he and Jon would laugh in the Wolf’s Wood and string blue roses behind her ears with dirty fingers and would always make her smile whenever they could. It was so strange to see him now, the burden of a bloody crown on his head and scars littering his skin. It was strange that the boy she knew, full of smiles and fond of laughter, was now so quiet and serious.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” he whispered.
The tears were coming in earnest now and she felt Robb’s own trickling onto the shoulder of her tunic.
“You saved Sansa. Arya. You kept them alive and I repaid you with your father-”
“Don’t say it,” she said, biting back a whimper. “Do not say it.”
He held her tighter. And she tightened her hold, too.
“What happened to us, Stark?” She whispered.
The claimant king shuddered in her grip, the tears continuing their descent. “I do not know.”
And the pair held each other for a little longer until they heard other guards and soldiers approaching the training ground. Y/N stepped back first and noticed the sadness in his eyes but he blinked and turned his head and it was gone. The careful mask of kinghood was back in place. “I did come to speak to you of something else, Lady Tully. If you would permit me a moment of your time.”
She nodded, her own mask upon her face, too, and let him lead her toward a quiet corner of the training grounds with Grey Wind trailing beside them. And with each step, she noticed how Robb seemed to hold his shoulders higher to his ears. “What is it?” Y/N whispered when they finally slowed to a stop, mask slipping.
“Your father’s men want to fight. Riverrun still answers to the name Tully. And you, dear cousin, are the only Tully left alive and out of bondage.” When Y/N was quiet, Robb continued. “We sent the raven to Pinkmaiden—they responded that they wanted a commander. A leader.”
“And you think that I-”
“You are a Tully. You are Brynden Tully’s daughter. You have outmaneuvered the Lannisters at every turn. Who else would I send?”
**
She had kept Robb’s request to lead the Riverlanders’ forces to herself for only a handful of hours, trying to find the words to tell Ellaria and Oberyn. She thought time alone would help her, but all it did was wear on her nerves. A nervous tittering called her attention and she turned to see little Loreza staring at Grey Wind—the direwolf had made it a habit to splash around in the cool water of the Summer Sea at least a few times a day and was currently submerged up to his neck in the water, letting the waves wash over his back.
Y/N smiled despite her heavy heart and walked to Loreza’s side, biting back the question of how she’d managed to evade her Septa’s watchful eye this time. Seeing Loreza so nervous broke her heart a little. She was too young to be so scared. “He’s very big, isn’t he?”
“He’s almost as big as a horse,” the young girl murmured, dark eyes flittering back to the direwolf. “Obella said she saw him eat a man!”
“Obella is just teasing. Grey Wind is gentle—especially to little girls.” Y/N knelt down to Loreza’s level with a smile. “Would you like me to prove it to you?”
Loreza seemed to ponder it for a moment before nodding. Y/N held out a hand for her to take and led her over to the lounging direwolf. She held out her hand for Grey Wind to sniff and quickly lick before she scratched behind his ears. The water was starting to soak through her leathers but she turned to show Loreza how he liked to be scratched.
“Give him your hand, just like I did. Let him smell you.”
Loreza held out a shaking hand toward Grey Wind who sniffed all around before licking a wet strip across her little fingers and Loreza let out a loud giggle at the sensation. Her little dress was floating around her like a pale yellow lily pad.
“See? He likes you.”
Grey Wind continued to nose at Loreza’s arm as she started to run her fingers through his dark fur. “He’s soft!”
“I heard King Robb brushes him every night,” Y/N said with a waggle of her eyebrows. Loreza smiled at that and then let out a surprised squeal when Grey Wind licked at her face. “I think he likes you more than me!”
Loreza finally pulled her other hand from Y/N’s hold and happily pushed her little fingers through Grey Wind’s damp fur. A particularly tall wave washed over them and Loreza laughed as Grey Wind licked the water from her hands. “Would Father let me have a direwolf?”
“Direwolves are of the North, like King Robb and Sansa and Arya. And they are rare there, too.”
The girl pouted at that but did not stop her petting. “Will King Robb let me pet him while he is here?”
Y/N nodded and promised to speak to Robb on her behalf before she noticed a figure standing on the shoreline. “It seems your father has discovered us.”
Loreza looked back at the shore and grimaced. “I did miss my lessons today.”
Y/N urged her gently to find her septa, promising to speak with Oberyn, and watched her dash away through the water toward the sand and dodged her father’s hand as he reached for her with a teasing smile.
Y/N eventually pulled away from Grey Wind and squared her shoulders before pushing against the water toward Oberyn who waited for her.
“It is good to see you with them. You are gentle—but I do think you let them get away with far too many follies.”
Y/N smiled. “Even I missed a lesson or two when I was her age. A little rebellion is good character.”
He shook his head with a soft laugh and pulled her close despite her wet clothes before brushing his lips against her forehead. “I’ve spoken with Doran. He wants me to lead a command of my own into the Crownlands.”
“Oh,” was all she could manage. She knew he was a seasoned commander but the thought of him leaving the safety of Sunspear had not come to her. Perhaps she had deluded herself into thinking he would always be safe.
“And the wolf king has told me of his plans for you.” Oberyn looked at her and she held his gaze, even as she felt his sigh against her wet skin. Slowly, far too slowly for her liking, he reached up to hold her cheeks in his hands. “Do you truly mean to lead them? If this is the wolf king pressing you-”
“I have to, my prince. Robb or not.”
“Does your honor demand it?” He asked, almost teasing. But his tone lacked its usual warmth.
“It does.” Y/N reached up to cover his hands with hers and keep him close, half-scared that he would walk away, too. “Just as yours requires you to do the same.”
The pair was quiet for a moment, only the sound of the waves against the sand to listen to as time stretched on. Oberyn was looking at her, truly looking at her all the while and it was the sadness and resignation in his eyes that dug straight through her heart. He kissed her softly without a word before stepping back. “I would have you safe.”
And Y/N wanted to ask what he meant but he grasped at her hand and led her without a word toward the armory. “She is an archer, she needs to be able to move,” Oberyn said as he started to dig through the careful stacks of pieces of armor and accoutrements the blacksmith had forged for the Dornish forces. He quickly found pieces of light armor; shining mail, vambraces and pauldrons stamped with Martell suns, a light cuirass which would fit her feminine form. And as she gathered all of her armor to her chest, equal parts excited and anxious, she watched Oberyn turn to her. His dark eyes held some secret sentiment. Sad and proud and something else she could not place.
When they found Ellaria, she seemed to already know their news. “Oh, my two warriors.” And then she was gathering them close and lathing slow kisses against their lips and pushing them onto the bed. “Just let me have tonight, my loves. Just tonight before the Realm rips you away from me.”
And there was nothing carnal in the way they all burrowed under the blankets as the sliver of the moon rose or the way hands roamed and lips parted with gentle sighs. It was just love, simple and soft.
**
The younger Sand Snakes filtered into her rooms throughout the afternoon to watch Y/N pack away the essentials, just enough to fill two small saddlebags. Dorea tried to give Y/N her beloved Morningstar, “to keep you safe!” but Y/N quickly and gently pushed it back into the young girl’s hands. “You have to keep your mother safe until your father and I return. You cannot do that if I have your Morningstar, right?”
Elia sniffed at that and suspiciously turned her head away.
“And your sister, Elia, she will protect you," Y/N said, acknowledging Elia's pain without making it a point of conversation. Elia did not like to dwell on emotion.
It earned another sniff and a curt, “don’t die. I like having you around.” ("I do, too!" Dorea added.)
Nymeria and Tyene arrived soon after with words of encouragement and two matching vials of poison. “Just in case! Father likes to slick his blades with it. Perhaps you could dip a few of your arrows?” And that spoke volumes, at least to Y/N, about how they cared for her in their own way.
But Sansa was near tears despite the steadiness of her voice as she let herself into Y/N’s chambers. “Must you go? It feels like I've just had you return.”
“You know I must, little one. Robb’s asked it of me and I know you would do the same if Winterfell was still under Bolton colors.” Y/N reached out and pulled the redhead into a familiar hold and said nothing when she felt tears start to wet the fabric of her tunic. “But I will come ba-”
“Don’t say that. Don’t say something you cannot know to be true.”
Y/N pulled back and grasped at Sansa’s chin. “I am coming back. The Stranger themselves could not stop me.”
Sansa nodded with a watery hiccup and pulled her close for another hug before there was a knock at the door. Y/N kissed Sansa’s forehead before calling out a welcome to whomever it was. Ellaria stepped in, a roll tucked under her arm and Sansa quickly excused herself and shut the door tight on her way out.
Ellaria was quiet for a moment before she walked to Y/N’s side. There was a quietness to her features now but tears still pooled in her beautiful eyes. She pressed a kiss against her cheeks, her nose, her forehead, before touching her lips to hers in a soft, reverent kiss that tasted like citrus and salt. She sniffled just once as she pulled back and she handed the bundle to Y/N with a single wobble of her chin.
Y/N unwrapped it and marveled as more and more of the gift was revealed. The bow was black, darker than night and stronger than steel. It was dragonbone. A rare prize indeed.
“Father said it was one of the smaller bones from Meraxes. It was meant,” she had to clear her throat. “I meant to give it to you as a wedding gift. But I would rather you have it now. I know your aim will be true.”
Y/N quickly set the bow down on the bed and pulled Ellaria close without a word, trying to somehow convey the hope that she would return through the touch alone instead of words she knew would fail. “I love you,” was the only phrase she dared whisper. I love you. I love you. I love you.
When dawn broke the next morning two Northmen Robb entrusted with her care were waiting for her at the stables. Qēlos nuzzled into her palm as the mare's tack was secured and Y/N smuggled her an apple to devour as she swung up into the saddle. Y/N was finishing saying goodbye to a tearful Sansa when Ellaria and Oberyn appeared at the stables. Oberyn was already dressed in his light armor and Ellaria had donned a fauld of four lame across her waist. A little armor of her own. Everyone around them seemed to understand the need for privacy and quickly vacated the area or decidedly avoided pointing their gazes toward them.
“We will not try to dissuade you. Your wrath is justified and glorious.” His hands reached up to cover hers on the reins. The warmth slowed the wild beating of her heart just a fraction. “But we will ask that you do not forget us.”
Y/N’s poor heart leapt into her throat and she hurried to move her grip, pulling Oberyn’s hands up to her mouth to press a kiss against his knuckles. “The gods themselves could not take you from my mind or heart, my prince. I will see you again when this is over, when the Lions are dead and the Realm can have peace.”
Oberyn untangled his hands from hers only to grasp the back of her head to kiss her, artfully stealing the air from her lungs with ease as his mouth moved against hers in slow, unyielding ministrations. As he pulled back, he pressed another kiss to her forehead, breathing in the scent of her hair for a moment before releasing her. His fingers trailed down her arms to tighten the lacings of her vambrace. “Then I shall see you again, my moonlight.”
Ellaria was quiet but kissed her soundly. “Come back,” was all she said.
“I will,” Y/N whispered in return.
And then they were off. Y/N looked back at the gates of Sunspear after every new turn on the road, watching it grow smaller and smaller. The Northmen offered no words but did give sympathetic smiles after they caught her sad expression.
But then there was a thundering of hooves against the sand-covered road and Obara was at her side in a moment, dressed for battle and saddlebags packed. “You will not fight alone, Little Fish.”
And then Arya, on a horse that was definitely not hers, was galloping to her side, too. “I’m coming, too!”
Y/N knew she should tell them no. Send them back to Sunspear and Oberyn and Robb and Safety. But one look at their determined faces left her sighing. “Your father and brother are going to kill me, you know.”
“Don’t worry, Princess,” Obara said with a smirk. “I’ll protect you.”
A/N: Please let me know what you guys think! I really appreciate it. :)
Beautiful people who asked to be tagged: @roxypeanut @lostinwonderland314 @fandomreblogsnoshame @arianawills @nyrnerosmartell @5hundreddaysofsummer @honestlystop @huliabitch @youhavemyfantasticbeasts @karmezii @thesadvampire @sarcasmisakindofmagic @alexa4040 @paintballkid711
#oberyn martell x reader#oberyn martell imagine#oberyn martell x ellaria sand x reader#oberyn martell x ellaria sand#game of thrones imagine#asoiaf
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Thank you for telling me! Do you have like, certain ships that you prefer or not?
for twilight - bella x carlisle, carlisle x esme, jake (when aged appropriately) x benjamin, kate x garrett, leah x rosalie (if handled appropriately) and anything in an au where imprints don’t exist, and i love when resume doesn’t exist, i also love poly!cullen family stuff on occasion
marvel - steve x bucky, mostly
got - sansa x sandor, jaime x brienne, robb x myrcella
star wars - stormpilot, mostly
hmmm there are many others but I cannot think of them. there are also a great many sins in my ao3 bookmarks
feel free to ask about specific fandoms tho, and i’ll have specifics for you!! my recall is just shit.
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I love ur tags on my Jeynsa ficlet 🥺🥺🥺 what else do you ship on asoiaf? 👀
Aw, your Jeynsa ficlet was so beautiful! As for my other ships, I like pretty much anything that's gay and not incest shdksh, but a few of my faves are Margaery x Brienne, Loras x Renly, Jon x Satin, Jaime x Addam Marbrand, Sansa x Myrcella, and Elia x Ashara!
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