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Sansa hadn’t planned to spend any of the day at the festival by herself, but here she was, walking away from her family with her dad’s cell phone tucked into the small leather pouch she had found in one of the shops near the fair’s entrance. She had decided not to bring her own phone, because she wanted to be as accurate as possible with her costume, even if the rest of the family wasn’t. But if carrying a phone was what she had to do to get to see the fair’s Royal Court, then it was worth it. She was not about to miss court. Not when “court” here was a full-scale play, with royal proclamations and court cases being tried and everything.
Sansa understood why her mom wanted to stay with Bran, but she was a little annoyed with the rest of her family for being unwilling to go to court with her. She supposed she shouldn’t be surprised. It made sense that the boys wanted to go see the joust and - well, it made sense for Arya to want to go see the joust, too, but would it really kill her sister to take her side just once? They all knew Sansa had wanted to go see the court, but she’d spent most of the day waiting in line for turkey legs and looking at weapons and watching her siblings try every fighting game at the fair. And now Rickon was almost asleep in Bran’s lap and they all knew they wouldn’t be able to stay at the fair until the last show, but they’d all decided to go to the joust instead of the middle court session anyway.
Well, that was fine. She didn’t need them. And if she ended up feeling bad later about the things she’d said, she’d apologize when they all met up again by the camel rides. But she didn’t have to think about that now. Not even if she had called Arya a “stupid little girl carrying a stuffed cat like a baby’s blanket.” Arya’s costume might not be as historically accurate as Sansa’s, but her sister was really proud of her Alanna the Lioness cosplay, and Sansa probably shouldn’t have criticized it, even if being Alanna the Lioness was a stupid excuse for not going to court when both of them had read the books and knew that while Alanna hadn’t loved court functions, she’d still gone to them.
When she made it to the court, held in an elaborate model castle that she couldn’t believe they’d built for a fair that was only here this month, she forgot all about her fight with her sister. For a moment, she stood in front of the drawbridge, not sure she was brave enough to go in. What if she looked dumb here by herself? Almost everybody at the fair was with friends or family. Could she really go in alone?
"Are you going into the castle?" asked a voice behind her. Sansa turned to see another girl behind her, a few years older than herself and wearing a dress that Sansa couldn’t help being a little scandalized by. It had a decollete neckline and cutouts in the side. She was alone, too, but that wasn’t what Sansa thought about first.
"That can’t be historically accurate.” The words slipped out of her mouth before she was really aware of them, and she blushed furiously when she realized she’d actually said them out loud.
The girl laughed. ”Can’t it? People weren’t always so prudish, you know.”
Sansa frowned. ”I’m not prudish.”
The girl laughed again. ”No, of course not. You just walk around with a dragon for a day and then call other people historically inaccurate.”
Sansa blushed harder. ”I wanted to make Bran’s wheelchair a horse, but a dragon was easier, and anyway everybody else outvoted me.” She realized that she sounded like a stuck-up kid, but it just kept coming out that way, anyway. She shut her mouth, determined not to open it again.
"You did a good job with it, though," the girl said.
Sansa looked down bashfully, but found herself gazing into the other girl’s cleavage that way, which was even more embarrassing than not knowing how to take a compliment. ”Th-thanks,” she stuttered, looking back up and realizing she couldn’t quite meet the other girl’s eyes.
"You’re welcome," the girl answered. "Did you make your dress, too?" Sansa nodded, keeping her eyes carefully on the other girl’s this time. "It’s nice," the other girl said reassuringly. "I really like the bell sleeves."
"Thanks," Sansa said, managing more confidence this time. "They took forever to get right, but they just made me feel so princessy."
"You should feel princessy," the other girl answered. "You’re beautiful."
Sansa blushed again. She couldn’t think of exactly what to say, but she could make herself look the other girl in the eye, even if she still felt a little embarrassed.
"I’m going to be a princess in this court next year," the other girl said decidedly. "Maybe even the queen, if Cersei ever retires or they pick someone young enough for king after Robert leaves next year. I’m already working on my speech for tryouts."
"I’m - I’m sure you’d make a great princess," Sansa managed.
The other girl laughed again, throwing her head back in a way that made her neck look even longer than it already was, “Princess Margaery has too many syllables. Queen Margaery is much better. But if you live nearby, you should try out for princess. You’d be Princess…”
"Sansa!" she finished the sentence. "My name is Sansa."
Margaery slipped her arm around Sansa’s waist and said, “So come on, then, Princess Sansa. We’re going to miss the show if we don’t hurry up.”
Sansa wrapped an arm around the other girl’s waist in response and realized, suddenly, that Margaery’s dress was backless in addition to the side cutouts. Her hands went suddenly clammy with sweat, which was the most embarrassing thing that had happened so far.
As they walked into the castle with their arms around each other, Margaery turned to meet Sansa’s eye with a smirk that made her look like she knew a secret, or maybe like she was planning a murder. ”And don’t blush so hard, Sansa. It’s perfectly fine to look. Everybody else does.”
Sansa pretended she didn’t know what Margaery meant. She could tell that Margaery didn’t believe her. Maybe she really should try out for princess next year. She could probably talk her half-brother Jon into trying out for a guard position, and then she’d have a ride to rehearsals. She snuck a glance sideways at Margaery, but she could tell by the glint in the other girl’s eye that it hadn’t been sneaky enough. She was definitely going to have to talk to Jon.