Chapter 1: Into the Sea

The ship they traveled on was cramped, ugly and dirty, to say nothing of the smell. Sansa hasn't seen many ships in her life, but she knew at once that this vessel was wholly unsuitable for ladies and she wouldn't be surprised if it was in fact the worst ship in the whole of the Seven Kingdoms. Their voyage was supposed to be a long one, and every single day of it was promising to be miserable.

It all started when king Robert returned from the hunt, grievously wounded. She was forced by the father to leave the Red Keep in the middle of the night.

"But we were supposed to leave tomorrow", she complained.

"I haven't packed yet, Jeyne was supposed to help me on the morrow"

"You're going now, and you're not taking any baggage. Jeyne will get to sleep longer", her father said in a tone that allowed no dissent.

"Jeyne isn't going? I can't leave my best friend!", she cried but received no quarter.

"It's only you, your sister and Septa Mordane. This is not up for discussion. Septa will explain the situation to you later", her father responded and she thought him heartless then.

They left the keep wrapped in dark cloaks, quietly and with minimal escort. In the port, they boarded the Swallow, an ungainly cog set for Gulltown.

It only took her a moment to learn that the Swallow wasn't even supposed to carry any kind of passengers, yet alone noble ones.

"Rotten fish? It's full of rotten fish?", she cried in terror after learning the source of the overwhelming smell that assaulted her nostrils.

"It's not rotten, it's fermented. It's kind of a dish, A delicacy, just like your lemon cakes", Septa Mordane tried to paint a more positive picture but Sansa found her comparison outrageously offensive.

"I'll smell of rotten fish for months", Sansa complained.

"That'll be an improvement", Arya quipped.

Oh yes, Arya. She knew how to made a bad situation even worse. It would be a sin, and unladylike to hate your sister, so Sansa stopped short of that. However, she couldn't deny that she misliked her. Arya got Lady killed. Arya was jealous of her engagement to Joffrey and did everything to ruin it. Arya, judging by the injuries she received in her training, was the worst dancer in the world. Arya was a stupid little brat.

Now it turned out that due to the limited sleeping place available they would have to share not only a room, but also a bed, or berth as they sailors called it. It was a nightmare. Her sister thought nothing of turning their sleeping quarters into a pigsty. She brought bread to the bed and left breadcrumbs. She befriended the ship's cat and allowed it into a cabin, spreading cat fur everywhere. And finally, she ruined Sansa's dress, her only dress (for they were not allowed to pack) by throwing greasy food at it.

After that, she had enough. She ran off to Septa Mordane to complain, hoping for some consolation. Instead, she got rebuffed.

"Being a true lady is not only about perfect embroidery or knowledge of court etiquette. It's also about being unflappable when faced with hardship"

"Do you know why we are here? Your father spend a lot of gold to send us away, and he wouldn't have done that if he didn't suspect that something terrible was going to happen. He might well have saved our lives"

"You're almost woman grow, you should start acting as one, not as a petulant child. I don't say this often, but your sister is dealing with the situation better than you. This one time, you should act more like her", Septa concluded her devastating lecture.

Sansa kept a brave face and walked away calmly, if only to avoid further scolding. However, that night she cried her eyes out, feeling hurt, betrayed and humiliated. It was so unfair. She was always required to be a perfect lady. Her mother used to say that she was one when she was three years old. If she did a single thing wrong people around her acted disappointed and punished her. Arya, on the other hand, was almost never a lady and almost never did things right, and nobody cared. She had all the freedom with no expectations.

Next morning, she found out that Arya cleaned up her dress.

"It's no perfect, but I tried", her sister said.

"Olly and Pate helped".

Of course, even the uncouth, burly sailors loved Arya.

"I heard you crying, and I figured out it was because of me. You know I don't hate you right? Well not really."

"Thank you", she responded, not wanting to sound ungrateful, but in true she was feeling even more humiliated. Arya was acting more ladylike than her.

With that, they signed an uneasy trust of sorts, and maintained it by mostly keeping to themselves.

Arya was out for most of the days, playing with the cat and joking around with sailors more intimidating than the Hound. Staying in the cabin, Sansa played make-believe to keep busy. Sometimes she pretended Jeyne was with her, and told her the tales about knights and princesses that she read in the books or made up on the spot. Sometimes she even pretended that Arya was here, though she knew that her real sister would make fun of her if she attempted to tell her the story of Florian and Jonquil. Then she would try to fall asleep before Arya returned, to save herself from her snores.

That's how they spend their days until the 7th night of the journey, when everything changed and their old problems suddenly become insignificant.

In just a few short hours, previously calm weather changed into a storm. Soon, Sansa learned what seasickness was. She hasn't got any sleep that night, and instead spend that time vomiting out what seemed to be the entire insides of her body. At one point, she hit her dress.

"I'm not cleaning this one out", Arya proclaimed.

It was around the time they were usually breaking their fast (though they didn't have much appetite that particular day) when through the rain and wind they heard massive thunder, followed by something heavy hitting the deck and pathetic shrieks and cries of men.

They sat listening but not saying anything, while around them hoarse voices were giving orders or cursing in pain.

"I can't stand this", Arya said suddenly.

"I've to check what's going on".

Sansa wanted to stop her from leaving, but sickness left her too weak to mount an effective protest.

Soon Arya was gone and Sansa spend the next agonizingly long moments completely alone. She was actually ready to follow her sister when she returned.

Arya closed, and then barred the door. She then started looking for something among the heavy cloaks they discarded the day they entered the ship.

"What are doing?", Sansa asked.

"The lighting took the mast, and Pate said that that the ship is done for", her sister responded.

"Then shouldn't we be getting out? To the lifeboats?", Sansa questioned her, though truth to the told she didn't even know if the Swallow had any lifeboats.

"Pate said no", Arya responded and turned to her, displaying her treasure.

" A sword", Sansa said, horrified.

"Pate said that other sailors, they talked a lot about cursed gold and cursed women. Of wenches bringing bad luck. He said they might be dangerous", Arya explained calmly.

"But don't be afraid, I'll defend you".

My little sister wants to save me from men four times her size. It seemed absurd, but she actually felt reassured.

Arya moved closer to show her the sword.

"It's called Needle, Jon had…"

Once again, the sound of thunder and lighting striking the ship.

Maybe we're really bringing bad luck, Sansa thought. Then she remembered.

"Arya, Septa Mordan. We can't leave her alone. The sailors might want to hurt her too"

Her sister bit her lip, then nodded.

"What about you, can you walk with me? Not long ago you were puking all over the room."

"I feel better now", Sansa declared, and it wasn't even a lie.

"True lady grows stronger in the face of adversity".

Arya looked at her like she was mad, but then slowly opened the door while keeping the sword – the Needle – in her hand. Sansa followed.

They walked onto the deck, and were greeted with horror. The storm was raging on. The mast must have been broken in half, and around its sorry remnants there were bodies, people who were dead or dying. On the starboard there was fire.

They tried moving forward but the rain and the wind hit them like a sledgehammer. Sansa almost fell, but then steadied herself. Suddenly, she noticed a younger sailor, one of Arya's friends. Olly. He didn't look like he was hurt, but he might as well have been dead. He was leaning on the edges of the deck, dangerously close to the water, while looking at her absentmindedly.

That's a man that lost his senses, she concluded, but nevertheless she pointed him out to Arya.

"We have to save him!", she called through the storm.

Together, they moved toward Olly, though the weather was making every step difficult.

They were so focused on their target, they didn't saw a mighty wave coming at them.