LIMERENCE | XVIII.
ELINOR MARTELL
King's Landing | 300 a.c.
TEA TIME IS FILLED WITH CHATTER AS Olenna answers the many questions that Mariah had about why they were in King's Landing, how long they'd be there, and why she was to be on her best behavior.
"You two are awfully quiet," Olenna says, lifting her gaze away from Mariah as she looked at Margaery, then Elinor, "I thought you'd be excited to see one another."
"As did I," Elinor answers.
Margaery sighs, "I was happy to see you."
"Really? It was hard to notice with you insulting me," Elinor asserts, and Margaery rolls her eyes across from her.
"I didn't insult you!"
"By speaking as though I had no clue how dangerous the Lannisters are, you were insulting me," Elinor says, lowering her voice as people pass by their table in the gardens, "They had my aunt butchered along with her children. I'm aware of what they're capable of."
"Elinor-"
"Then you went on to insinuate that I need your protection, as though I'm some damsel!"
"Maybe the two should hash this out at some other time," Olenna says, reminding Elinor that this was not the time or place to air out her grievances with Margaery.
"You're right," Margaery says forcing the prettiest smile, "Perhaps we can resume this later?"
Elinor scoffs, "There is nothing to resume."
"If you two are finished," Olenna says with a flick of her wrist, "There is still the fact that we don't know what has that Stark girl so shaken up."
"Really?" Elinor says surprised as she looks at Margaery, "She hasn't spoken to you?"
"No," Margaery answers, "I know she trusts me, but I think she's fearful that if she speaks the truth, then we might call off the wedding and she'll have to marry Joffrey."
"Then I'll handle it," Elinor says, "I'll find out if Joffrey is more than you can handle."
"I can handle anyone," Margaery responds, a challenge in her blue eyes, but Elinor doesn't entertain her. Instead, she glances at Olenna who held Mariah on her lap.
"Will you keep an eye on her?" Elinor questions and Olenna nods.
"Though I fail to see how you'll be able to get Sansa to open up. She worships Margaery. If she won't tell her, then she won't tell you."
"We'll just have to see then," Elinor states simply.
To her luck, she notices the lonely red-haired girl alone for the first time since her arrival. She sat on a bench that was near the port, watching as merchant ships docked and left
"So, you're Sansa Stark," Elinor said glancing at the young girl. Sansa's blue eyes shot to Elinor and widen in surprise.
"Princess Elinor," Sansa said, causing Elinor to laugh.
"Please just call me Elinor," Elinor took a seat beside Sansa, glancing at the ships leaving the port, "This place is horrible."
There was a hint of a smile on Sansa's face, "You just got here."
Elinor shrugged, "I know, but I can see it in your eyes that this place is horrible."
She looked over at Sansa and saw that her smile was no longer there. Fear filled the girl's eyes and Elinor wondered what kind of abuse she had suffered at the hand of the Lannisters.
"I – I love it here in King's Landing," Sansa attempted to lie, but Elinor saw through it.
"No, you don't," Elinor said softly, "I know they took your father's head. I'm sorry for your loss."
Sansa seemed surprised at the sympathies and Elinor wondered what they had truly put this girl through. Sansa didn't say anything as her gaze fell to her lap. She was clearly frightened of saying the wrong thing.
"Sansa, I mean you no harm," Elinor says, "I too am scared to be in the capital."
That caught Sansa's attention, "You are?"
Elinor leans back on the bench, "All my life I was taught not to trust a Lannister. And until recently, my husband's family hated mine. If you ask me, I'm at the heart of enemy territory. As are you."
"Why are you telling me this?" Sansa asked, her eyes curious. In a matter of minutes, Elinor had learned that Sansa was very expressive. Everything could be seen in her beautiful blue eyes.
"I can see that you need a friend. One that sympathizes with your struggle," Elinor tells her, "I know what it's like to fear for your life. Afraid to say the wrong thing."
"How'd you get over your fear in Highgarden?" Sansa asks though Elinor knows what she's really asking. She wants to know when Elinor knew that she could trust someone else, the moment she knew that she was safe.
Elinor laughs softly, "I had a friend."
"Lady Margaery," Sansa says, with a hint of a smile, "She told me you were her best friend."
The past tense felt appropriate. What Elinor had once thought to be one of the most important relationships in her life had evaporated into nothing. They still spoke to one another, they really had no choice on that, but it wasn't in the way that they were used to. Elinor kept her distance and Margaery did as well.
"Did she?" Elinor asks and Sansa nods.
"When Margaery becomes queen, she'll do her best to make sure that you are taken care of. She may even be able to arrange for you to be sent back to your family," Elinor says and Sansa lights up with hope. Elinor truly hates that Sansa has ever been hurt.
"Really?"
Elinor smiles at Sansa, "All I ask in turn is that you tell me the truth about Joffrey. Margaery protected me in Highgarden, and I want to protect her here in King's Landing as best as I can."
There's a storm of emotions on Sansa's face and Elinor can see it that she wants to tell her the truth, so Elinor decides to give her a little push.
"I know what it's like," Elinor says, "To lose a family member at the hands of a Lannister. Tywin Lannister ordered the death of my aunt and cousins. Who ordered the death of your father?"
"Joffrey did. He promised that he would be merciful, and he cut my father's head off. He called that mercy. And then he took me on the walls and made me look at it," Sansa says, her voice filled with anger and pain.
"Go on," Elinor says, but Sansa shakes her head.
"I've said too much."
Elinor places a reassuring hand on Sansa's knee, "There's no need to be terrified. It is just us. I won't let anyone hurt you."
Sansa looks up at her with expressive blue eyes filled with nothing but rage, "He's a monster."
He was something that Margaery would not be able to handle. Wonderful.
"I figured as much," Elinor sighs.
Sansa places her hand atop hers, squeezing tightly, "Please don't stop the wedding."
Elinor chuckles, "Have no fear. The Tyrells have their hearts set on marrying Margaery to the king."
"Oh," Sansa says softly.
"Thank you for your candor," Elinor smiles reassuringly at Sansa, "I know you've been alone since your father's death, but no more."
"You and Lady Margaery are lucky to have each other," Sansa tells her, "A friend that will protect you no matter what."
"You have two. Margaery and I," Elinor reassures her.
Sansa smiles so widely, Elinor's heartbreaks. There's a chance Sansa may never see her family again.
She shares her finding with Margaery later that afternoon. They speak in the privacy of Margaery's bedroom; a location Elinor hadn't seen since her arrival to King's Landing. Margaery sits on her bed, lifting her head as Elinor enters the room.
"He's not something you can handle," Elinor informs her, "He cares little for consequence and he cares even less for your feminine wiles."
Margaery rolls her eyes at the words but sighs, "Well it's been lovely knowing you. I fear my head shall find its way onto a spike."
"I won't let that happen," Elinor answers. She notices as Margaery lips quirk up in a small smile as she looks up at her.
"Feeling protective, are we?"
Elinor scoffs, "Not of you. If your head is on a spike, that means that some poor girl in the Seven Kingdoms will have to become Joffrey's second wife. Better you than them."
"Ouch," Margaery mutters, though Elinor knows Margaery isn't actually hurt by the teasing smile on her lips.
Elinor shrugs, "This is what you wanted, right? To be queen no matter the consequences?"
"You cannot be angry with me," Margaery says standing from her bed, "You always knew what the plan was."
"The plan never included marrying you off to a lunatic. I know you think you can blink and smile your way out of every situation, but that isn't the case with Joffrey," Elinor asserts, "Apologies if I wish to spare you an awful existence."
"It isn't your job to spare me of anything," Margaery tells her firmly, "You are my brother's wife, nothing more."
"Don't act like you're above everything. You're the one that got us into this mess."
"What mess?" Margaery asks.
"This!" Elinor says motioning between the two of them, "You fell in love with me when you should have kept your distance."
"Do you want me to apologize?" Margaery asks, "Because I won't. Loving you is the only decision I ever made for myself. I will never regret that."
Elinor softens considerably at Margaery's words. Margaery glances away from her and they're both silent, neither knowing what to say.
"I should go," Elinor says.
Margaery nods silently, probably not trusting her tongue to say anything else. Elinor opens the door and leaves.
/***\
Elinor's plan to get Sansa and Winterfell involved her brother. Since Sansa had been tossed aside by the Lannisters, she was now an available young lady in the capital. There was no doubt that the Lannisters probably had a plan, but Elinor would act first.
She wouldn't allow her brother to openly court Sansa, which would raise their suspicions and only force them to act sooner. So, Elinor invited Sansa for a walk in the royal gardens where they would stumble across Arthur and Nymeria. From there she'd be able to tell if Sansa liked her brother, or was at least attracted to him.
"This is a bit much, don't you think?" Arthur asked her.
"No," Elinor answered, "This is called taking necessary precautions."
"Do I even get a say in this?" he asks, "If you're going to marry me off, shouldn't I be able to pick my bride?"
"No," Elinor repeats, "I did not pick my husband. You do not get to pick your wife."
"But didn't it work out for you?" Arthur asks, "I mean Willas didn't work out. But Margaery did."
"Keep your voice down," Elinor hisses, "Sansa is a beautiful girl and extremely kind. I think you'll like her. Besides, if you go North, you'll finally get to play in the snow."
Arthur strokes his chin while pointing at his sister, "That is quite a compelling argument."
"You are a child," Elinor insists, "Now where's Nymeria?"
"Probably with some girl," Arthur answers.
"Rude," Nymeria says as she joins them, "I was actually speaking with some of the Dornish guards. They haven't heard anything too compelling."
"Tragic," Elinor says, "Now Sansa and I will be walking. Try not to make it look so obvious when you bump into us."
"As you command," Arthur says with a mock bow, and Nymeria slaps him on the back of the head. Elinor rolls her eyes as she heads to Sansa's chambers on the far side of the castle.
She knocks on the door and Sansa opens it. Elinor smiles at her, "I do hope you received my invitation."
"I did!" Sansa says happily.
"Will you allow me the honor of escorting you to the gardens?"
Sansa nods eagerly as she closes the door to her room and the two of them walk.
"So, your daughter, Mariah is it?" Sansa asks and Elinor nods, "She's here in the capital with you?"
"She missed her aunts and uncles and I simply could not deny her the pleasure of seeing them," Elinor tells Sansa, which was mostly true.
"If you ever need your day brightened, Mariah will do just that. Though as of late she spends most of her time with her great-grandmother."
"The Queen of Thorns," Sansa mutter under her breath and Elinor laughs.
"Yes, well don't let her hear you calling her that. Olenna is a difficult woman, but she understands the value of family. Isn't that the words of your mother's house?"
Sansa nods, "Family. Duty. Honor."
"I know our situations aren't exactly the same, but I understand what it's like to miss your mother. It's been fifteen years and not a day goes by that I don't think about her."
"May I ask what your mother was like?" Sansa asks and Elinor laughs.
"You may ask, but I'm not sure I can give you a very in-depth answer. My father said she was beautiful. Stubborn. He tells me that she was the only woman that was worthy of being his wife," Elinor says with a faint smile, "That alone tells me that she is special."
"She sounds special," Sansa says kindly, "Seeing my father and mother, I always thought marriages we're built on love, but after living in King's Landing I know that isn't true."
"There are a few situations where people marry for love. I grew to love Willas. Perhaps you can grow to love your husband someday," Elinor tells her with a tiny smile.
She notices Arthur and Nymeria walking and grabs Sansa's arm, "There are my brother and sister. You wouldn't mind me introducing you, would you?"
"Oh of course not," Sansa says, allowing Elinor to guide her over to her siblings.
"Arthur. Nymeria. This is Lady Sansa Stark of Winterfell."
"In case you were wondering, I'm Arthur," her brother says, and Elinor wants to sink into the ground in that very moment until she hears a sound that she's never heard with Sansa.
She giggles. Sansa giggled at her brother's terrible joke.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Prince Arthur. Princess Nymeria."
Nymeria shakes her head, "I'm no princess. Though I do like the sound of it."
"Shall I continue to call you that?" Sansa asks and Elinor shakes her head.
"Please don't," Elinor says with a smile, "Nymeria's ego is already quite large."
It was a strange sight. The way that Sansa naturally fell into conversation with Nymeria and Arthur. She'd hardly expect a girl from the North to be bold enough to speak so openly with the Martells of Dorne, but it seemed that Sansa was bold when she was comfortable.
"Can you tell me more about Winterfell?" Arthur asks as she and Sansa walk ahead of Nymeria and Elinor, "I've always wanted to visit."
"It's beautiful!" Sansa exclaims, happy to speak of her home, "Especially when it snows."
"I've never seen snow," Arthur tells her, "I've always wanted to build a snow village or a snow house!"
"My siblings and I used to do that all the time. Perhaps," Sansa pauses, "Perhaps we could build a snow village together one day."
Arthur smiles genuinely at Sansa nodding his head, "I'd love that."
Elinor shares a look with Nymeria, her sister smirks at her. If Elinor had anything to do with it, Sansa Stark would be marrying into their family very soon.