Book 1: Chapter Four

Lady Sakura is something of an enigma to her. As her bannermen had drifted away, back to oversee their smallfolk and livestock, bored of the new arrival to the castle, they had stopped hosting feasts every few evenings. Instead, they eat at a long table in her private quarters several times a week. The lady had inched closer to her up the table, until she was only separated by a few people. At this proximity, Eunbi can freely observe her without being accused of playing favourites, and she takes the time to watch the noblewoman. Her time is so taken up by affairs of the kingdom that she sees Lady Sakura only at mealtimes and occasionally catches glances of her across the courtyard. Yujin provides her with regular updates, but he is more concerned with what they did rather than what the lady is feeling. At the very least the letters from her mother have stopped, which leads her to believe Lady Sakura did what she asked and wrote her.

The fair haired girl sits a few seats down the table from her, and has been pushing her food around her plate for as long as Eunbi has been looking. Though she has fire when she and Eunbi converse, Lady Sakura appears drawn and sad whenever Eunbi catches sight of her at the table, or in the castle. Whenever she thinks no one is looking. According to Yujin, Lady Sakura has managed to befriend Hyewon and a woman from the blacksmith’s forge, but she cannot seem to find any happiness in Winterfell. Eunbi imagines it must be very different to Highgarden, having never visited herself, and though she grew up in the cold of the north, eating rabbit and venison, she wonders whether Lady Sakura had a childhood different to her own.

“- and so, your majesty, the crop supplies will simply have to last until next year.” Beside her, Yunho is talking, and she gives him a sage nod, as if she is listening.

Around the table, close to her feet, the direwolves sit. Honor is at her side as always, Patience lounging upon her feet. She lives up to her name, happy to wait for Eunbi to toss a bone her way, rather than fight over it as her siblings Valour and Liberty are doing in the corner. She clicks her tongue and the two wolves break apart, still growling. Valour, victorious, snatches his bone up to gnaw it in the corner, while his sister whines and settles near Eunbi’s chair. Faith, she has noticed, is at the other end of the room, closer to Lady Sakura’s seat and though she sits a good pace back, she is clearly watching the noblewoman closely.

The time drags on, Yunho monopolising the conversation despite all polite attempts to dissuade him, and Eunbi is so focused on Lady Sakura that she barely realises the sun is long set, the night drawing its dark curtain about the castle. With a slight clearing of , Lady Sakura looks down the table at where Eunbi sits at its head and says, quietly.

“I hope you’ll excuse me, your majesty. I am very tired.”

“Of course,” Eunbi stands as Sakura does and it causes a flurry of movement around the table as everyone hurries to follow her lead. Lady Sakura stares at her in surprise, and Eunbi tries to cover her embarrassment by nodding her head when the noblewoman curtseys. “Good evening, Lady Sakura.”

“Good evening, your majesty.” Lady Sakura steps uncertainly around Faith, eyeing her with caution, but the wolf merely watches her go with big, blue eyes and Eunbi feels similarly enamoured, somehow unable to pull her gaze away from Lady Sakura’s departure. It is only when the door is shut behind her that she falls back into her seat, the rest of her table hurrying to do the same.

“How rude,” Yunho mutters below his breath, and before he can say anything else, Eunbi asks him.

“Yunho, how is negotiation with the Iron Bank going?”

“The Iron Bank, your majesty?” Yunho blinks at her in surprise. It’s not often that she wants to talk to him about their relationship with the largest bank in the known world, across the sea in Braavos, and he almost bites her hand off at the opportunity.

When their meal is over she stands, nodding to her guests and thanking them for their company. She watches them leave her quarters, but instead of retreating back into her chambers she steps out into the corridor. Lady Sakura’s plate had been left full, and the thought of her going to bed hungry and lonely drives her onwards until she is in the warm, cosy kitchens of Winterfell. The smell of the kitchens is warm bread baking, and wood fire, and a great meat stew cooking. It is as familiar to her as her own name- as the child of a lord for most of her life, not the heir to a throne, she had spent much of her childhood between the courtyards training and the kitchens begging for scraps. Her Master Cook Leanne looks up and at the sight of her frame in the doorway clears . The rest of the kitchen staff startle up at the sound, and offer her hurried bows as she moves inside.

Leanne waves a hand at them. “Carry on,” Meeting Eunbi’s eyes, she smiles and bobs a small curtsey. “What do we owe the pleasure, your majesty? It’s been some time since you visited.”

Eunbi thinks of tugging on Leanne’s apron strings and feels a pang of heartache. “It has, I’m sorry.”

Leanne shakes her head, goes back to kneading bread as they talk. “You’re busy now, your majesty. What can I do you for?”

She hesitates, wondering how to explain. “I am… concerned about Lady Sakura.”

“The Tyrell lady?” Leanne’s eyes run over her, curiously. “Yes, she sends back everything I give her almost untouched. I’ve tried everything- venison, beef, mutton- she’s havin’ none of it.”

“She is sad,” Eunbi only feels comfortable admitting this to the woman she has known for so many years, with only loyal ears around her. Though it is no crime for Lady Sakura to be sad, there is something telling about her concern for her feelings. “I think she’s not eating because of it.”

“Mayhaps you should try to make her happier then, your majesty.” Leanne suggests, with a raised eyebrow and Eunbi sighs.

“I'm trying my best but I can't do that if the girl starves to death.” She casts a hopeful glance to Leanna, whose eyes run up and down her curiously.

“You want something to give her.”

“Please,” Eunbi’s shoulders sag with relief and Leanna thinks for a moment, kneading the dough beneath her hands with rigour.

“Lemon cakes oughtta sweeten her up,” She gestures to one of the kitchen hands, “Freddy, a plate of lemon cakes and a cover.”

“Yes, that's a good idea,” Eunbi can feel her lips turning up in a smile.

“I'll have Freddy take them up your majesty.”

“No,” The word is out of before she can stop it and under Leanna’s gaze she feels compelled to continue. “No I mean, I can do it.”

Leanna’s eyebrows shoot up and her chest rises as it does when she's preparing for a lecture. “You certainly may be capable of it your majesty, but it's not your job to-”

“I know, I mean-” She draws in a deep breath, “I want to.”

Leanna looks at her for another second, before nodding and reaching for the plate to pass into her arms. She accepts it gratefully, fumbling for a moment until it is steady and making her way to Lady Sakura’s rooms. They are up the spiral staircase, at the very top of the east tower. Eunbi chose them personally, as the warmest rooms in the castle they offer the most protection from the northern winds, the hot springs warming the walls. A luxurious suite of rooms had been set up for the Lady of House Tyrell, with heavy fur pelts and beeswax candles set about the rooms. At the top of the stairs, Eunbi find Hyewon Snow stood beside the doors. The girl plays with her dagger absent mindedly, until she spots Eunbi and startles to attention, sliding the dagger back into its scabbard on her thigh.

Eunbi hesitates, unsure how to approach the girl. She is well trained, and keen to prove herself- or so Sooyoung says- but most valuably she owes Eunbi her life, and so it was on Sooyoung’s recommendation that Eunbi had appointed her to protect the Tyrell girl. Though the castle is safe, there is many who still bear ill will to the southerners.

“Your majesty,” Hyewon bows so low that her nose almost touches the ground. When she leans back up again, her eyes flicker curiously to the platter in Eunbi’s hands. “Can I be of service?”

“I…” She isn’t sure how to explain herself, isn’t quite sure how she even arrived here, but the platter is heavy in her arms. “I brought these for Lady Sakura. I was hoping you could deliver them to her.”

“Deliver them to her, your majesty?” Hyewon’s brows are furrowed, obviously unsure why Eunbi would walk all the way up these stairs to not give her gift in person.

“I must… attend to other matters,” Before Hyewon can see any further through her mask, Eunbi shoves the platter into the girl’s arms, and marches back down the stairs at a pace that brings sweat rising to the back of her neck.

---

The mare before her is a docile, gentle beast. With a coat speckled with brown and white, and a long mane and tail, she looks nothing like her lithe, white mount from Highgarden, but as Sakura circles her thoughtfully, she admits that there is something in the horse’s stance and gaze that is pleasing to her. The mare whickers softly, and she smiles, pausing near her head to a hand down her long face, laughing when the mare nuzzles at the folds of her cloak and mouths at her hair.

“She’s hopin’ for an apple,” The stable boy supplies, and Sakura’s fond smile doesn’t leave the horse. There is something about her that is warm and comforting in the heart of the frozen north, and she rubs at her nose apologetically.

“I’m sorry I can’t be of any help, perhaps next time.”

“Is the mare acceptable, m’lady?” The stable master asks gruffly and she nods once, deigning to look over at the tall man.

“Perfectly acceptable,” She admits, hands reaching to rub between the mare’s ears. “She seems to be of great stock.”

“She is,” The stable master reassures her, patting the horse’s flank affectionately, “Bred from one of the queen’s own warhorses.”

“Really?” She is impressed despite herself, gazing down at the horse’s strong legs and back. The mare doesn’t like her inattention and swings her great head around to nuzzle at her ears and face again, snorting. Sakura laughs, rubbing at her nose again. “Alright, you impatient beast.”

She nods to the stable master, “Have her saddled and ready for me promptly, I’d like to see how she handles.” Glancing back at where Hyewon waits a few paces away, she rolls her eyes and adds, “And I suppose you ought to have a horse saddled for my guard, as well. It doesn’t seem fair to make her keep up on foot.”

Hyewon gives her a painfully false smile and says, her voice too sweet. “Very kind of you, my lady.”

They wait as the horse is readied, Sakura sending a boy running to her room for her riding gloves and a warmer cloak, and the activity around them bustles, horses led out into the courtyard, saddled with fine leather and gleaming as if they have just been newly brushed. Sakura watches them all, her annoyance rising as the boy returns with her cloak and Hyewon helps her shrug into it. As she pulls on her gloves, she catches the arm of the stable boy rushing past and has the pleasure of seeing his eyes widen at the sight of her.

“Boy, where is my horse? I asked for her to be saddled an age ago.”

“I- I’m sorry, m’lady, the horses are being- I mean to say, not your horse but other horses-” The boy stumbles and trips over his words, his cheek darkening under her unimpressed gaze.

“Spit it out,” She demands, after listening to him garble for a few moments, but the voice that answers her comes from behind, and is infinitely smoother.

“I apologise, Lady Sakura, the fault is mine.” Sakura turns, so startled that she almost jumps, and her breath catches in at the sight of the queen behind her. Queen Eunbi is dressed in a dark jerkin, embroidered with silver wolves, and diamond pins glitter in her hair, keeping it pinned neatly out of her face. Her cloak sits about her shoulders, dark with fur lining its edges, and a single dagger strapped to her side are the only weapons Sakura can see. To her side stands Yujin, who is smiling at her welcomingly, but his friendly presence is sharply contrasted by Lady Chaewon, gazing down at her with cold eyes from the queen’s left. Several direwolves linger at her feet, in grey and black, but the white wolf is nowhere to be seen.

“Your majesty,” Sakura bends her knees just slightly, h