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fandomweekly2022-10-01 10:53 pm
m_findlow) wrote in fandomweekly2022-10-01 10:53 pm
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[#152] BIRTHRIGHT (GAME OF THRONES)
Theme Prompt: #152 - Honesty
Title: Birthright
Fandom: Game of Thrones
Rating/Warnings: PG. Spoilers for Season 8.
Bonus: Yes
Word Count: 1,000 words
Summary: Sansa has a secret that could tear down the Seven Kingdoms.
Tyrion had no intention of disturbing the Lady of Winterfell as he passed her chambers on his nightly wanderings, yet something drew him to it. His knuckles rapped on the wood before he could do otherwise, and a gentle reply from within admitted him entry.
‘You look troubled, my lady,’ Tyrion said, watching from the doorway where Sansa sat in the high back chair by the fireside. Her chin rested in her hand in a way that was both unladylike, and yet appeared regal as it left her elegant face in profile against the firelight. She was not pretty in the way that some girls were, yet she had a queenly air about her that Tyrion was drawn to. More careful thoughts went on behind those grey eyes than would ever be spoken aloud.
Tyrion approached slowly, taking a seat beside her at the small table and pouring himself a cup of wine, but making sure to first pour one for Sansa. He sipped patiently from it as the fire crackled in its hearth.
‘I may no longer be your husband, but you are free to tell me your troubles as if I still were.’ He paused and swirled the wine around in its cup. ‘I fear it must be a lonely task to sit her as the Lady of Winterfell, without true friends or counsel.’
‘I have my family here,’ she replied, hands clasped in her lap as she continued her pensive gaze into the flames, as if trying to divine some meaning from them.
‘And yet you sit here alone.’ He reached across the table and laid a hand on her arm. ‘Talk to me, Sansa. Even a fool can see that you are burdened.’
She reached across to pick up the goblet he’d filled for her and placed it between her hands in her lap. ‘Have you ever known something that you were sworn never to tell another soul? Something that could bring down an entire kingdom?’ She turned to look at him and he could see the sadness and fear in her eyes.
‘I knew that my brother Jaime was fucking my sister, who at the time happened to be the wife of the King, and who sired three illegitimate children and not a single true heir. Does that count?’ He meant it as a flippant comment, but he could see that whatever was bothering her was far more serious than he’d assumed. What kind of dangerous secret could Sansa possibly know? ‘Sansa,’ he pleaded.
‘If I tell you, you can never un-know it.’
‘That is true of everything that has ever been told,’ he replied.
‘Bran… he says he sees things now. Things that have happened in the past. That the Three-eyed Raven can see all things that have ever happened, and some that have not yet come to pass.’
Tryion leaned forward in his chair. ‘What did Bran see?’
She brought the wine to her lips and swallowed deeply before replying. ‘He saw our father, travelling to Dorne, to a tall tower where his sister Lyanna Stark was being held captive by Rhaegar Targaryen. He was going there to rescue her.’
Tyrion wondered where this was going. Lyanna Stark never survived being kidnapped by the Targaryen prince. It had driven Robert Baratheon mad with hatred for the Targaryens, knowing that they’d stolen away his bride to be. Sansa was quiet for a long time. ‘What did Ned Stark find in that tower?’ he asked, almost dreading the answer.
‘Lyanna was there. Barely alive. She’d just given birth to a baby boy, but the blood loss was too great. She told our father that the baby was to be named Aegon Targaryen. That father should take him and protect him.’
‘To return home to the North and to raise him as a Stark,’ Tyrion said, the words turning to ash in his mouth as the awful realisation of what Sansa was telling him hit home. A bastard by any other name; not a Snow at all. The last true heir of the Targaryens, and rightful king of the Seven Kingdoms was a bastard son in disguise. ‘Does Jon know?’
Sansa nodded, then fixed her gaze upon him. ‘I know you love your Queen but how can you say that she should be Queen? Even if Jon claims he doesn’t want it?’
Tyrion shook his head. ‘You are asking the people of the Seven Kingdoms to believe a story told by a crippled boy who has visions. That’s not a reasonable thing to expect. Daenerys is a Targaryen by birth, the last of her line. No one would deny that. You need only look at her to know her lineage. Jon may have the better claim, but…’ But who would believe it? He scarcely believed it himself.
‘We both know that Jon would make a better King,’ she replied. ‘Daenerys has her dragon and her army of Dothraki and Unsullied. Tell me she doesn’t rule through fear. She’s no better than Cersei.’
‘The people will come to love her,’ he assured her. ‘They haven’t seen what she’s done to free the most downtrodden. It will take time, that’s all. She wants to break the wheel, not to take it over.’
‘And what will she replace it with once it’s broken?’ Sansa challenged him. ‘They already love Jon. They trust him because he doesn’t aspire to power. Tell me honestly that you don’t agree?’
Tyrion felt torn and now he knew why Sansa was so deeply troubled. This was a secret that could truly tear apart everything they’d already sacrificed. What would Daenerys do if she found out the truth, that her claim to the throne would be displaced by a better claimant? The son of the last prince and heir took precedence over a sibling. Wars had been fought over less. His silence gave her his answer. You make decisions, you have to live with the consequences. It was a secret that could kill them all.
Title: Birthright
Fandom: Game of Thrones
Rating/Warnings: PG. Spoilers for Season 8.
Bonus: Yes
Word Count: 1,000 words
Summary: Sansa has a secret that could tear down the Seven Kingdoms.
Tyrion had no intention of disturbing the Lady of Winterfell as he passed her chambers on his nightly wanderings, yet something drew him to it. His knuckles rapped on the wood before he could do otherwise, and a gentle reply from within admitted him entry.
‘You look troubled, my lady,’ Tyrion said, watching from the doorway where Sansa sat in the high back chair by the fireside. Her chin rested in her hand in a way that was both unladylike, and yet appeared regal as it left her elegant face in profile against the firelight. She was not pretty in the way that some girls were, yet she had a queenly air about her that Tyrion was drawn to. More careful thoughts went on behind those grey eyes than would ever be spoken aloud.
Tyrion approached slowly, taking a seat beside her at the small table and pouring himself a cup of wine, but making sure to first pour one for Sansa. He sipped patiently from it as the fire crackled in its hearth.
‘I may no longer be your husband, but you are free to tell me your troubles as if I still were.’ He paused and swirled the wine around in its cup. ‘I fear it must be a lonely task to sit her as the Lady of Winterfell, without true friends or counsel.’
‘I have my family here,’ she replied, hands clasped in her lap as she continued her pensive gaze into the flames, as if trying to divine some meaning from them.
‘And yet you sit here alone.’ He reached across the table and laid a hand on her arm. ‘Talk to me, Sansa. Even a fool can see that you are burdened.’
She reached across to pick up the goblet he’d filled for her and placed it between her hands in her lap. ‘Have you ever known something that you were sworn never to tell another soul? Something that could bring down an entire kingdom?’ She turned to look at him and he could see the sadness and fear in her eyes.
‘I knew that my brother Jaime was fucking my sister, who at the time happened to be the wife of the King, and who sired three illegitimate children and not a single true heir. Does that count?’ He meant it as a flippant comment, but he could see that whatever was bothering her was far more serious than he’d assumed. What kind of dangerous secret could Sansa possibly know? ‘Sansa,’ he pleaded.
‘If I tell you, you can never un-know it.’
‘That is true of everything that has ever been told,’ he replied.
‘Bran… he says he sees things now. Things that have happened in the past. That the Three-eyed Raven can see all things that have ever happened, and some that have not yet come to pass.’
Tryion leaned forward in his chair. ‘What did Bran see?’
She brought the wine to her lips and swallowed deeply before replying. ‘He saw our father, travelling to Dorne, to a tall tower where his sister Lyanna Stark was being held captive by Rhaegar Targaryen. He was going there to rescue her.’
Tyrion wondered where this was going. Lyanna Stark never survived being kidnapped by the Targaryen prince. It had driven Robert Baratheon mad with hatred for the Targaryens, knowing that they’d stolen away his bride to be. Sansa was quiet for a long time. ‘What did Ned Stark find in that tower?’ he asked, almost dreading the answer.
‘Lyanna was there. Barely alive. She’d just given birth to a baby boy, but the blood loss was too great. She told our father that the baby was to be named Aegon Targaryen. That father should take him and protect him.’
‘To return home to the North and to raise him as a Stark,’ Tyrion said, the words turning to ash in his mouth as the awful realisation of what Sansa was telling him hit home. A bastard by any other name; not a Snow at all. The last true heir of the Targaryens, and rightful king of the Seven Kingdoms was a bastard son in disguise. ‘Does Jon know?’
Sansa nodded, then fixed her gaze upon him. ‘I know you love your Queen but how can you say that she should be Queen? Even if Jon claims he doesn’t want it?’
Tyrion shook his head. ‘You are asking the people of the Seven Kingdoms to believe a story told by a crippled boy who has visions. That’s not a reasonable thing to expect. Daenerys is a Targaryen by birth, the last of her line. No one would deny that. You need only look at her to know her lineage. Jon may have the better claim, but…’ But who would believe it? He scarcely believed it himself.
‘We both know that Jon would make a better King,’ she replied. ‘Daenerys has her dragon and her army of Dothraki and Unsullied. Tell me she doesn’t rule through fear. She’s no better than Cersei.’
‘The people will come to love her,’ he assured her. ‘They haven’t seen what she’s done to free the most downtrodden. It will take time, that’s all. She wants to break the wheel, not to take it over.’
‘And what will she replace it with once it’s broken?’ Sansa challenged him. ‘They already love Jon. They trust him because he doesn’t aspire to power. Tell me honestly that you don’t agree?’
Tyrion felt torn and now he knew why Sansa was so deeply troubled. This was a secret that could truly tear apart everything they’d already sacrificed. What would Daenerys do if she found out the truth, that her claim to the throne would be displaced by a better claimant? The son of the last prince and heir took precedence over a sibling. Wars had been fought over less. His silence gave her his answer. You make decisions, you have to live with the consequences. It was a secret that could kill them all.
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