Work Text:
It had been a year since the battles for Winterfell and Kings Landing. The people of the north had worked tirelessly rebuilding what was left of their homes. Wintertown and Winterfell were almost back to where they were before the Others had arrived, and the dragons had needed to use fire to defeat them.
The Starks (Sansa, Arya, Bran and their cousin Jon) knew that they could never have accomplished so much without the help of the small folk and those who had come to the north after the burning of Kings Landing.
Sansa made it her mission to make sure EVERYONE felt appreciated for everything they were doing. It wasn’t uncommon for members of the family to bring water, wine and food to the men working on the walls and towers, or for the Lady of Winterfell to show up at their doors in Wintertown with newly sewn clothes for the entire family.
The young Lord of Winterfell regularly held classes for the children of Wintertown to teach them how to read and write, and Lady Arya and her cousin Jon taught young boys and girls sword work.
The Stark family also let it be known that anyone wanting to learn a trade was welcome at Winterfell to apprentice to any of the skilled craftsmen still there.
All in all, the north was slowly returning to the new normal, but the Starks were concerned that the new normal was much sadder, and they wanted to do something to bring smiles to the faces of the (even more stoic) north.
Arya was the first to suggest an All Hallows Eve party. When they were much younger, their parents often hosted such a party. Guests would dress in costumes as their heroes; and act out scenes from their lives at the party.
There was always too much food and drink at these parties, and for months afterwards, people would continually laugh and talk about the antics that had occurred there. Arya reasoned that why not reinstate a long dormant tradition? It would give everyone the chance to forget (at least for a few hours) all the horror they had endured for the past several years.
Her family readily agreed, and invitations were sent out to all the inhabitants of Wintertown and ravens sent to the surrounding castles.
For the next several weeks there was a flurry of activity around Winterfell. Everyone trying to decide who they would be, pulling together clothing and other things for their costumes. It seemed as if the anticipation of this event made everyone a little more joyful. There were still hardships of course, but now there was something new and exciting to look forward to.
The Starks as well, were gleefully putting together their own costumes. Arya had, of course, decided to attend dressed as Syrio Forel. Sansa had argued with her that her costume was just her regular clothing; Arya countered that she planned to speak with an accent the entire evening.
Jon planned to dress as Ned Stark, reasoning that while Ned had always been his hero, now that he knew the truth about everything Ned had done for him, he couldn’t think of anyone else he would want to dress as. Sansa’s argument that Jon too was just wearing his regular clothes fell on deaf ears.
Finally, when Bran announced that he was going to dress as Drogon the Dragon, Sansa was happy that someone was really making an effort in the spirit of the evening. While Drogon was a controversial choice, given what happened in Kings Landing, Bran argued that had it not been for the dragons, Winterfell might have been lost. Bran and Pod worked for weeks fashioning a dragon costume around Bran’s wheelchair.
What Sansa had not told her family, was her plan to dress as Sandor Clegane for the evening. Of course he had been one of the heroes of the battles for Winterfell and Kings Landing, but to Sansa, he would always be her hero from the time all those years ago when he had protected her from Joffrey. Sansa had sewn an outfit, fashioned a black wig out of horsehair and planned to use some red powder on her face to suggest Sandor’s scars.
While Sansa saw Sandor almost every day, while he helped rebuild Winterfell and assisted Arya and Jon with their training, she never even noticed his scars anymore. To Sansa, Sandor was someone who had come north to help rebuild. Someone she could trust, someone she could love (not that she had the courage to tell him that).
But, in order for everyone to know she was dressed as Sandor (instead of Ned Stark or anyone else) she had to show his scars. She wondered what Sandor would think when he saw her, would this convince him that he was someone worthy of being admired? Worthy of being loved? Sansa was nervous, but determined to see this through.
The evening of the party, the main hall was teaming with people. Everyone was having a wonderful time. The Starks emptied the storeroom and wine cellar to ensure everyone had enough to eat and drink.
There was music, dancing, singing, an area where you could vote on the best costume; it was almost as if everyone was able to forget about the past several years, and go back to the time when Lord and Lady Stark were still alive and hosting this party.
When the Stark children entered the hall, a cheer went up from everyone there. Not only to thank them for their hospitality for the evening, but for everything they’d done for the people of the area over the past year.
Sansa was eager to see how everyone had dressed. There were dozens of people dressed as Arya and Jon and even Theon. Sansa grinned when she noticed Brienne dressed as Wun Wun. Brienne reasoned that there weren’t many people as tall as or taller than her that she admired, but Wun Wun was definitely one of them and she wanted to honor his sacrifice.
Sansa looked for Sandor, but didn’t see him anywhere, she hoped he hadn’t decided not to attend this evening, but suddenly the crowd shifted and parted and there he was.
To say that Sandor’s outfit was surprising would be an understatement. A six and a half foot man wearing a dress and a red wig was not something you saw every day in the north (or anywhere in the seven kingdoms for that fact).
As she walked towards him, Sansa noticed some things about Sandor. The dress he was wearing was light blue, similar to the color she use to wear when she was younger and the wig was styled as she use to wear her hair they were both in Kings Landing. Sansa walked up to Sandor and stood in front of him looking him up and down and finally burst into laughter.
“Who are you supposed to be?”
“I would think it’s obvious Little Bird, I’m you.”
Sansa frowned, for the life of her she couldn’t imagine why he would do this, was he mocking her? She was no hero, she’d hidden in the crypts during the battle, she was the last person anyone would think of as a hero. “Is this a jape? I’m no hero”
“you’re my hero”
“what do you mean?”
“Little Bird, from the moment I met you, you’ve been my hero. You always saw the good in people, even me, and after everything you went through in that viper pit, you still see the good in people, even me. You welcomed me here, gave me a home, you look at me as if I was something other than a killer and a collection of scars. It’s taken me years to be able to get up the courage to tell you how much you mean to me, you gave me a life that I never thought I’d have, you gave me a purpose other than killing. In fact you gave everyone here a purpose and a life. You’re a hero, my hero. By the way, who are you supposed to be?”
Sansa was stunned, she looked down at her feet and blinked back tears. This was not something she ever expected to hear from Sandor, or anyone. The last thing she ever considered herself was a hero, she was really just trying to do right by her family and the people of the north. She looked back up at Sandor and smiled,
“I would think it’s obvious Sandor, I’m you.”
Sandor smiled and Sansa rolled up onto her toes and gently kissed him on the lips; as she rolled back to bring her heels back onto the ground, Sandor leaned down to continue the kiss. There they stood; six and a half foot tall “Sansa” kissing tiny “Sandor” for all of Winterfell to see.
As Sansa deepened the kiss it occurred to her; maybe she was a hero, she could be brave, she could kiss the man she loved in front of everyone. Maybe that’s what heroes did.