3rd Month of 300 A.C. King's Landing
Queen Sansa Targaryen nee Stark
The Red Keep was slowly becoming home, there were times when she missed Winterfell, and there were times when she did not, but there was one thing she knew above all else, Aegon was her home, wherever he was, she wanted to be there. And so, slowly but surely King's Landing and the Red Keep were becoming home for her. Being Queen was an interesting experience, it was somewhat different to how Cersei Lannister had portrayed it, there was a lot of work in it, and there was also a lot of fun to be had, and so Sansa was determined to use her new found powers for good, as much as she could. Then there was the fact that she now had another lady to share her husband with, Daenerys Targaryen, her husband's aunt, a woman who was in her own way strong, but often did not know the right thing to say or do, Sansa knew that there was a lot of tension between Daenerys and their husband, and that was mainly because they were both coming at this from the wrong angle, and therefore, it was up to Sansa to try and make it work, for all of their sakes, and especially for the child growing inside of her. She would not let Daenerys Targaryen threaten her child, never.
That was why she had asked her fellow wife to spend some time with her in their solar, Lady resting at her feet, whilst the other lady's dragons rested in the Dragonpit. Aegon was dealing with the Dornish and their other guests, and so Sansa and Dany were allowed to spend some alone time together, free of their ladies for the nonce. Sansa looks at the woman sitting across from her and asks. "I know that Aegon asked you this before, but truly, how are you finding King's Landing? You need not lie to me."
Daenerys seems unsure of how to respond to her question, she bites her lip, a gesture so reminiscent of Arya that it makes Sansa's heart ache for her sister. "I… truth be told it is somewhat difficult to get used to. I grew up in Braavos and then we wandered around Essos, before coming to Pentos and moving from there to the wanderings of the Dothraki and back to Volantis. I have never truly seen a place like King's Landing."
"It can take some time getting used to." Sansa concedes.
The other girl looks at her for a moment before asking. "You came here when your father was named Hand of the King to the usurper did you not?"
Sansa nods. "I did, I was to marry Robert Baratheon's son, and ensure that the marriage pact that my grandfather and Robert had agreed to was finally fulfilled."
Daenerys seems to be hesitating with a question, but eventually she asks. "Why did you father come to serve in the south? Aegon has told me that your father despised Robert Baratheon and was always planning on putting him on the throne."
"He was." Sansa nods.
"Why then did he come south?" Daenerys asks.
Sansa thinks over the question, trying to decide the best way to answer what will surely be a loaded question, eventually she settles with simply giving the truth. "He came to find out who was behind the murder of his foster father."
"I do not understand." Daenerys responds, and Sansa looks at the other woman and thinks that of course she could not understand.
Taking a breath, Sansa thinks through all she knows about her father and Jon Arryn, and once she has found an answer she is happy with she says. "My father might not have liked or cared for Robert Baratheon anymore, but he had cared for Jon Arryn once, and it was that that motivated him to come south. He wanted to find out who murdered Jon Arryn, the man who was like a father to him."
"Petyr Baelish and Lysa Arryn?" Daenerys asks tentatively.
Sansa sighs, thinking of her aunt, and how despondent she had looked as Aegon had passed judgement over her, Robert Arryn, Sansa's cousin now serving as a squire within King's Landing. "Yes. He did not know they had done it though, and so he came to look and investigate, and he died because of that."
"I am sorry." Daenerys says, sounding sincere.
"It's fine." Sansa says. "He died fighting, as he said he always wished to go. Besides, he helped pave the way for Aegon to take the throne."
"What did you make of King's Landing when you first came here?" Daenerys asks.
Sansa laughs, thinking back to the girl she was back then. "I thought it was something interesting, it was very different to Winterfell, it was bigger, more noise, more sound, more people. I loved it, and then my sister died, and I wanted to go home, but still, I cared for King's Landing."
"Do you miss Winterfell?" Daenerys asks.
"Sometimes I do. It was my home for a long time, but now this is my home, with Aegon." Sansa replies.
There is a brief pause as they both consider her answer, eventually Daenerys speaks once more. "I am not sure whether Aegon likes me."
That piques her interest. "Why do you think that?"
"He always seems very brusque with me, and never seems to take what I have to say seriously." Daenerys replies.
"He's brusque with almost everyone, he bears the weight of the world on his shoulders, it is not an easy burden to bear. And I think you might not help yourself sometimes." Sansa points out.
"What do you mean?" Daenerys asks, sounding genuinely confused.
Sansa hesitates for a moment, knowing that whilst they are both Aegon's wives and are both Queens, the woman in front of him is a Targaryen, and they are prone to tempers. Eventually, she replies. "You sometimes say things; I think without thinking. Take for example the burning of Dorne if they had done what they did to you. That is something I think Aegon does not like."
"Why though? They need to be shown who is in charge." Daenerys says.
Sansa sighs. "Yes, but reducing them all to ash would not do that. That would only make you look like a tyrant, and considering the Mad King, that is not something the family needs right now."
Her fellow wife hesitates at that, Sansa knows that mentioning Aerys Targaryen is a bit of a sensitive subject for the girl, but still, it is an issue that needs addressing at some point. "How would you deal with them then?" the girl asks.
Sansa thinks for a moment and then says. "I would handle them the same way our husband is. Inviting them here and showing them just who is in charge through diplomatic means. There is no need to use the dragons on the Dornish. They are not fools; they will know who to listen to after speaking with our husband."
"You seem sure of that." Daenerys points out.
"I am." Sansa says simply.
"Why?" her fellow wife asks.
"Because I believe in our husband." Is the response she gives.
Silence follows this and Sansa spends her time looking through some of the notes she had made after speaking to Grand Maester Gormon, she notes how there are some items that they shall need to purchase once more, and in bigger quantity this time around, and just as she is about to make a note, Daenerys speaks once more. "I spoke to Margaery Tyrell a few days ago."
Sansa stiffens slightly, the Tyrell girl is one Sansa is not sure she can truly trust. "And what did you speak of?" she asks.
"She was very interested about you." Daenerys replies, Sansa looks away from her notes to see her fellow wife looking at her. "She wanted to know more about what it was you do during the day, and at night."
Sansa looks at the girl and says. "She's trying to find a weakness."
"I think so." Daenerys acknowledges. "Or at least someone in her family is instructing her to look for them."
Sansa thinks for a moment and then says. "Her grandmother, no doubt the old harridan is still trying to get her granddaughter to be Queen." She pauses then, before asking. "What did you tell her?"
"I told her that if she is so curious about you, she should simply ask you herself." Daenerys replies with a mischievous glint to her eyes that causes Sansa to laugh. Then after a brief silence, her fellow wife speaks once more, a question in her voice. "Isn't your brother marrying her?"
Sansa nods. "Yes, Bran is marrying her, and I do think they like one another. Perhaps, we should speak to Aegon and get him to move Mace Tyrell into moving his mother away from the capital."
"I think that would be a very good idea. Margaery seems like a nice girl, there just seems to be a lot of things going on in her family that seemingly stops that coming to be." Daenerys observes.
Sansa finds that she quite agrees with that statement. "You're not wrong. I would say that the sooner the Queen of Thorns dies or leaves, the better things will be for all of us."
A strange look passes over Daenerys' face then, and eventually she gives voice to the thought brewing inside her head. "I remember when Viserys was alive, he would always tell me that the Tyrells would rise for him when he returned. I think he still believed the tales that Ser Willam Darry told him when we were children. I think he clung to them, I think he might've been crushed had he realised the truth."
Curious as to where this is coming from Sansa asks. "And what truth is this?"
"That the Tyrells were like so many other houses in Westeros, they abandoned our family at the first sign of trouble. They deserted us and went to make their bed amongst the shelter the Lannisters provided, then they changed when the Lannisters and Baratheons faltered. I think for all his madness, Viserys wanted the story to be real." Daenerys says a hint of sadness in her voice.
Sansa leans across the divide between them and takes her wife's hand and asks. "What do you think?"
Daenerys looks at her and replies. "I do not know what to think. I want to be angry, I want to be mad that these people who were sworn to my family so readily abandoned us when we needed them most. But at the same time, I now realise that people will do what is best for them, my father was mad, and well Rhaegar does not seem to have been better. I do not know."
Sansa squeezes her fellow wife's hand and says. "It cannot be easy for you, having to come home after so long and learning things that you once thought were false were actually true."
She is surprised when Daenerys shakes her head. "It's not that. I think on some level I always thought they were true, otherwise my family would never have been overthrown, but I think, coming to terms with how things are now is difficult."
That surprises Sansa and so she finds herself asking. "Difficult? How are things difficult?"
Daenerys sighs. "I came home expecting things to be as I always imagined them to be. That people would be willing to accept who I was, and that there would be some sort of process for all of it. But I find that people look to Aegon instead of me, and they like him, for who he is, not what he is. I do not know how to deal with that. And I worry that I might never understand."
Still holding Daenerys hand, Sansa says. "Just give it time, and try to make an effort, it will happen."
Daenerys looks at her with barely concealed hope. "You think so?"
"I know so." Sansa replies with conviction.