If I Want To

Sansa

Sansa was still appalled at Arya's daring to step into the tower room disheveled and caked in mud. Perhaps if the good septa had been there to witness it, she might have finally been able to convince Father to put an end to Arya's wild ways.

If only Father would not encourage her so. Their lord father didn't exactly give his approval, but still, he accepted the flowers that Arya tended to bestow on him as she stood all muddy and dirty, grinning her horsey grin. And to Arya's thick skull, that was a sign of permission to continue on in her ways.

Beth Cassel was of age with her sister and she behaved with far more grace and dignity than Arya ever could and Beth wasn't even a true highborn lady.

It shamed Sansa so, witnessing Arya carry on all willful and wild as if she were a lowly common person. Why couldn't the Mother have granted her a sweet and delicate sister? Sansa would have liked that ever so much. For the life of her, she couldn't understand why Beth Cassel, a lesser born, was more of a proper lady than Arya.

"Your father's a dear friend of the king?" little Beth squealed. Sansa had just finished telling the story of how Father and King Robert Baratheon grew up together in the Vale under the guardianship of Jon Arryn. "Oh Sansa, what if the king requests for you to marry the prince? You could be queen someday!" Beth was absolutely beside herself, overcome with the possibility of the girl she idolized becoming royalty.

Sansa blushed prettily, although she secretly wished it herself. "Beth, I don't think it will happen, but if it did, I would invite you and your father to court when we have our tourneys. You will sit with honor in the high seats among the great ladies."

Beth nearly fainted, she clapped her hands excitedly as she squealed, "I wish it would happen with all of my heart."

"Me too," Sansa murmured.

"What will you do when you're queen?" Jeyne asked.

"Jeyne, I will have you at court too. You're my dearest friend. We will spend plenty of time together when I'm not busy doing my queenly duties. I will even make it so you're able to marry a proper high lord. If I approve it, then no one would mind that your father is simply a steward."

Out of the corner of her eye, Sansa spotted Robb, Arya, and Jon Snow drawing close. They didn't disturb the group of gossiping girls, choosing to settle nearby, engaged in their own conversation.

Beth gasped. "Wouldn't it be so gallant if the prince fought in the tourney and then handed you a rose after he won?"

"Yes, Beth, it would," Sansa agreed.

"She thinks she will be crowned the queen of beauty," Sansa heard Arya snicker, leaning close to Jon Snow.

"Princes can't fight," Jon Snow said. "They're too sheltered."

Sansa did not like being interrupted, especially by the bastard, and she made her displeasure known. "You shan't be wanted, bastard," she told him fervently.

Jon Snow went quiet as his face turned red but Arya jumped up, her face dark as thunder. "No gallant knight or prince would ever marry you!" Arya fumed furiously. "A proper knight would never put up with your simpering. Only a craven would. A craven would never care what a bore you are! And you'll probably run him poor buying all of your stupid dresses and silks. Everyone knows that you don't have a head for figures. Or anything that really matters!"

"Gods be true, Arya!" Sansa snapped furiously, "you're more like a bastard than a lady. No wonder Jon Snow likes you so much. You both lack the necessary manners to be around proper lords and ladies!"

Sansa stormed out of the room, the humiliation heating her face, only cooling once she had settled on her bed with Lady dutifully cuddling at her side and licking her face. "I shouldn't have lost my temper in front of everyone. It wasn't proper," she admitted to Lady.

But Arya infuriated her so! She couldn't ever just be good. It would have been better if Arya was born a bastard like Jon Snow, Sansa decided. Even that would have been more bearable than having a trueborn sister who behaved so disgracefully.

I would have liked a sister like Jeyne, but Jeyne's only a steward's daughter.