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Alayne is a mystery that consumes him since the day he set foot in the Vale, and moreso now that Lord Baelish is dead. Despite the claims, he knows she’s not Baelish’s daughter, not of his blood anyway. Which only compounds the mystery further, who is she and why is she here? Why does a bastard girl from nowhere carry herself like a queen? He kept a careful watch over her, trying to learn what he can, though she does not make it easy for him. He has to be careful, lest she spook, like a hunter after prey. He cannot put his finger on what makes this girl so captivating, yet he can’t bring himself to stop chasing after her.
Alayne didn’t see Jon as he stood in the doorway to the kitchens, because if she had, she surely wouldn’t have done what he saw next. Assuming she was alone, he watched as she slipped three lemon cakes into the pocket of her gown. This scene feels familiar, he thought, though it took him a moment to place why. Little Sansa in the kitchens of Winterfell, filching lemon cakes after a feast, having felt slighted of her fair share. Sansa pleaded with Jon not to tell her lady mother, begged for his silence with her wide blue eyes. Blue just like Alayne’s eyes as she spotted him now, silencing him with a finger pressed to her lips before she disappeared out the side door.
Those blue eyes haunted him, tickled at his subconscious, stared back at him when he closed his eyes to sleep. They were familiar, too familiar. They didn’t just remind him of Sansa’s eyes. It was like a blow to the heart when he put it together. They were Sansa’s eyes. Jon had long since given up hope that somehow, maybe, she was out there in the world. No one had seen her since King Joffrey died. Jon thought that it must’ve been because she was dead as well, there was nothing left of her to see, but if she was hiding here, under a false name, with her false hair, no one would ever think that a bastard girl could be the missing northern princess. No wonder Baelish tried to keep him from seeing her. Jon only felt a fool for not realizing it sooner.
“Is it really you?” Jon asked in disbelief when he was able to catch her alone. One look at her face and he could see it. How could he have missed it before? Still, he needs to hear her say it. “Sansa, why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I don’t know you anymore.”
“Know me? I’m your brother!”
“My brother wasn’t a prince, wasn’t a Targaryen. You are my cousin now and cousin Jon is a stranger to me.”
“I’m not so different than I was before.”
“It’s not how you’ve changed that worries me. I’m not the girl I was.”
“Then let me know the woman you are now.”