sixthiterationlogs | It All Comes Tumbling Down

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It All Comes Tumbling Down

WHO: Lyanna and Sansa
WHERE: The Woods
WHEN: July 1
OPEN TO: Sansa Stark
WARNINGS: Talk of destruction, earthquakes and injury

It was becoming a daily ritual for Lyanna to sneak off into the woods during the early morning. After claiming a bow and a quiver full of arrows, she would find her favorite tree and climb high into its branches, waiting for rabbits to cross her path. By noon, she would have a fair collection, enough to trade or enjoy for herself later. Between her and Jon, they weren't about to starve.

With the sun heavy overhead, sometimes the heat would effect her enough that she would doze in the tree, leaning against it as she slept. It would only be when someone else came trampling through the woods that she would wake and return home with her trophies. It might be a monotonous existence, but it was better than the simple waiting she had done in the Tower of Joy. She could at least enjoy the woods and trees as she had when she was in the North.

It was this thought that was dancing about her head as she napped in the tree, listening to the leaves rustle softly from the wind. There was a soft rumble in the ground, a short warning before the world seemed to turn upside down. There was a loud CRACK as several roots and trees broke, the sky vibrating violently before Lyanna's eyes. One moment she was holding onto the tree before she was toppling towards the ground, the branch falling from under her.

A bed of moss softened her fall, the large branch falling short of her legs. She braced herself, covering her head as she waited for the shaking to stop. It lasted for what seemed like hours before everything stilled. The sounds of the forest still, even the animals frightened away.

Lyanna was getting to her feet when she spied a flash of red caught in the sunlight. Her heart stopped in her chest. "Sansa?" Was she out here during the quake? Gods, but was she safe?

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While Sansa had heard stories bout how the ground could shake with fury and even split open to swallow everything above ground, she had never experienced it for herself. One minute she was making her way through the forest, wondering idly if she was making a foolish mistake by venturing in so far while looking for her aunt. In the next, the ground seemed to roll beneath her, sending her lurching forward into a tree before it shook hard enough to make her lose her footing.

She was sure she screamed too but the sound was lost in the roar after. It was a noise that she imagined could almost rival a dragon but there was no fearsome creature flying overhead. All the commotion and the power was beneath Sansa, scaring her further because she didn't know when and if the quaking would stop.

Using the tree beside her, she tried to pull herself up until the ground heaved beneath her again and she heard a loud cracking noise above. Instinct told her to throw herself out of the way but she wasn't nearly quick enough as a large branch came down on top of her. The blinding pain that sliced through her head wasn't nearly as bad as the blood that quickly stained her vision. Not that she could take stock of her injuries yet. Not when all she could do was curl up and actually pray to whatever God was listening that she wouldn't die there in the forest.

She was still praying softly under her breath when the ground went still and silence filled the air. At least until she heard a frightened call, causing her to lift her head and call back even while she couldn't see. "I'm here!"

Time stood still between Lyanna calling for the girl and Sansa's plaintive answer. She tore over the brush towards where the young woman had fallen. She pulled the branch from off of her, searching over her with a sharp bolt of terror. Gods! If something happened to her...

There was a gash on her head, the blood enough to leave Lyanna shaking in fear. Her leg as well seemed injured, but she was breathing. That at least let Lyanna calm enough to think and consider what to do. She tore her sleeve from her scrubs shirt, folding it over before pressing it to Sansa's head. "Can you wiggle your toes?" She glanced down.

"You will be black and blue, but you don't seem fatally injured." Thank the Gods. "Do you think you can sit up at all?" Should she run for Ned? It didn't seem like a wise idea. He would panic and Sansa needed to be taken to safety. However slight she might be, Lyanna could carry Sansa.

Relief tore through Sansa when her aunt came into view but she bit back any sob that might have bubbled up in her throat in that moment. She was a Stark and they were supposed to be strong. Clenching her jaw, she instructed herself to breathe slowly while watching Lyanna tear a sleeve from her shirt before kneeling down to press the cloth to the wound on her forehead. It hurt enough to make her breath hitch and the whole of her body wince but she didn't stop her. Instead, she reached up to press the cloth to her forehead while wriggling her toes in her shoes.

"Yes, I can." She swallowed thickly, looking up again. "I think it's just my head and...it only hurts a little. It's worse than it looks."

At least, she hoped that it was worse than it looked. A few bruises she could deal with since it wouldn't be any worse than being struck by lightning. When she started to nod, she found it hurt to move her head too much and so she stuck out her hand for help. "I think I can, I just need help up. Please."

Once she was on her feet, she frowned in concern. "Are you okay?"

She was careful in getting Sansa to her feet, watching sharply for any signs of uneasiness or pain. Her arm wrapped around Sansa's waist, compensating for her weight as she carefully lead her back in the direction of the village. They would have to go slowly, but she needed to be seen to by someone with more medical knowledge than Lyanna had...which was none. The cut on her brow seemed deep, or maybe that was because of the blood? She didn't want to Ned to see it, not until Sansa was cleaned up.

Whatever fatigue Lyanna had before had gone. It was a strange feeling, but even with Sansa's weight, it was almost as if Lyanna could carry her for miles and miles. Was it adrenaline? Or something else?

"We'll take you to see one of the maesters...doctors. Seven hells, it's hard to remember what they want to be called." She huffed, easing Sansa over the side of a fallen tree.

"I'm fine. I'll have a few bruises, but nothing is broken. I have never felt anything like that before."

Sansa knew better than to get up too quickly when her head was aching in such a way. All the other bumps and scrapes were something she could ignore since she had dealt with far worse in the past. Once she was upright again, she took a moment to close her eyes so that she wouldn't actually see the world tilt a bit when it felt like it did. Luckily, it was just a wave of dizziness and not the ground actually pitching a fit again.

Starting to walk when her aunt did, she opened her eyes as they started forward again. If the walk had been tricky before, it seemed worse now given some trees had fallen over in the chaos.

"I'll be fine, I can tend to myself." She murmured, pressing her lips together when they came to a tree. It took a bit of effort to get over but they both managed it. "Raleigh should be able to help me too."

"I haven't either. Do you think it will happen again?"

She frowned in disapproval. She might be younger than her niece, but she would show her all of the same authority a mother might. "You are not fine and I'm not leaving your side until Ned comes back to take a look at you himself." Gods know that he would have her head if anything happened to his daughter and she hadn't looked after her.

They weren't that far into the woods, at least. A few more fallen trees and broken brush and they would be at the forest's edge. She could see the rooftops peeking through the branches. Everything seemed to still be standing.

"I don't know who Raleigh is, but I'm with you and I'm going to look after you." She's nothing but fierce in that statement. "I don't know if it will happen again, but we will be out of the woods, if it does."

Rain pelted down on them, the deluge having started shortly after the quake. They would be soaked by the time they returned to the Stark home, but it didn't matter. "Do you need me to carry you?" Said the girl who was several feet shorter than her niece.

Sansa's mouth opened and then shut quickly as she pressed her lips together, nodding when she heard the tone of her aunt's voice. There was a flicker of something dark before it slipped away and she reminded herself that Lyanna was not actually angry but concerned. "Okay."

Wetting her lips, she thought about explaining who Raleigh was but now didn't seem to be the time as she looked ahead to where the buildings were starting to come into view. She felt a flicker of fear as it crossed her mind now that the others might have felt the earthquake too and suddenly she worried about their safety too.

"No." She shook her head, blinking rapidly before wiping some of the rain from her face. The blood wasn't running nearly as fast as before but the constant rain meant that it wasn't going to get a chance to stop completely. "I can walk. The dizziness comes and goes."

They were going to be soaked by the time they reached Ned's home. While Lyanna didn't care very much for herself, it wasn't lost on her that Sansa might become ill. She was a strong girl, but her injury and the damp clothing might be too much for her health. Benjen seemed able to catch a cold, even after swimming in the hot springs. How he managed at the Wall, she couldn't say.

"You might be able to walk, but you're not doing it on your own." She wouldn't brook any argument, practically carrying her already. Where normally she would be winded, she felt stronger, as if she were a person twice her size. It had to be the shock, there was no other explanation, save for adrenaline.

After a few minutes, they were already scaling the steps of her porch. Lyanna gave the door a kick, causing it to swig open and clatter against the wall. "Your brothers aren't here?" It was a rhetorical question. They would have heard the noise and come out if they were. They had to be safe, they had to be. "Here, sit down and let me get you some blankets."

Sansa was lucky in the fact that she didn't seem to get sick very often and so she wasn't too worried about it right now but there was no denying that her head hurt and the cut was stinging as the rain kept hitting her. She tried to duck her head as best as she could and she was plagued by needing to constantly wipe bloody water out of her eyes but she kept pushing on.

It helped that her Aunt was practically trying to carry her but she didn't argue anymore because she could see that it was pointless. They could worry about it later when they were safe at the house.

Relieved when they finally reached the steps, she battled back the waves of dizziness as best she could while trying to focus. "They could be out helping others."

At least she really, really hoped that's where they were.

As soon as they are inside, Lyanna urges Sansa to stretch out on the couch. She collected a few towels and returned to her niece, pressing one against the wound, trying to staunch the blood. Stitches were beyond her, it would mean going back out into the storm and finding help. So many others would be occupied by the damage and other injuries. There was no guarantee that she would find someone before her brother or nephews returned.

She drew back the towel after awhile, judging the amount of blood and how deep the cut ran. "I don't think you are going to die." Her best attempt at humor in this situation. "You had the good luck to get hit around your hairline. You are still the beauty of the family."

She is trying to keep calm and reassure Sansa through humor, but she is no Maester and can't tell how bad off the wound is.

Sansa smiled weakly at the attempt at humor, knowing full well that her aunt was trying to soothe her in that moment and distract her from the worry they both felt. She knew that she was worried at not knowing where her brothers and her father were. Or Raleigh.

"I'll be okay. I've had worse." The words escape her without her even thinking about them. She merely wet her lips again as she lifted a hand to touch the skin beneath the cut, wincing a bit at how tender it was but clenching her jaw in response. She was stubborn and an expert of dealing with injuries by now.

"If it needs to be stitched, there is a needle and some thread in my room. I could do it."

"I don't think it needs to be stitched." There's an evident sigh of relief. Wiping away more of the blood, it didn't seem to be that deep, not enough that would require stitches. She would need to wear a bandage for awhile, but it could be worse. Bandages were easy to look after and change, it would worry Ned far less anyway.

"Hold this against your head. I'll get something to act as a bandage. Your head might hurt tonight." It would be a painful headache, if Lyanna had to guess. Her mind wasn't scrambled and she seemed to see straight.

Once she had the bandages, she began to wrap it around Sansa's head. "We have to keep it a bit tight so it can stop the blood. I don't think the wound will leave a scar. Does anything else hurt? Arms? Legs?"

Sansa sighed with relief as well when her Aunt declared that it wasn't deep enough to need stitches and just a bandage. Yes, her Father would worry less hearing that as would Raleigh and her brothers. She didn't want them to have more of a reason to worry considering what had just happened to her when lightning had been striking people.

"I'm a bit sore from falling but it's all very minor." She could tell by the various aches that she could tend to herself later. She held still as the other woman started to bandage her head. "I am worried that no one else is home, though. Should we go looking for them?"

"No, you aren't going outside again." She found a nearby blanket and draped it over Sansa. "You need to rest and recover." Sansa's injury might have been out of her control, but if she let the young woman leave the couch, she would be responsible for further harm. "If I must tie you down, I will."

She glanced around the room, searching for signs of her brother or his sons. "They might not have been home with the quake happened. I thought I saw one of your brothers outside." The thought of Jon outside made her heart seize in her chest. She peered out the window, unable to see beyond the porch. "Jon has to be safe." It was said more to herself.

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It All Comes Tumbling Down

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