Marching Song, Part 3/?

[kimberlite8]

I wrote this for dealbreaker19 as a part of the SansaxSandor letter exchange. It blossomed from what was suppose to be one letter into a full blown epistolary romance. This is the third letter of several letters.

Title: Marching Song,
Author: kimberlite8
Summary: Sandor's war letters to Sansa while he is on campaign. An epistolary smutfic.  "It feels so sweet to fall

Comments

[appyt]

MY Heart is soooooooooooooo full.. Love this sooo much.

[kimberlite8]

Oh goodie! What a relief! I was so nervous writing this as I don't know if people wanted Sandor like I wrote him, especially the Elder Brother part which slants the man in a negative light. And all of Sandor's complaints about Sansa. Thanks for commenting, don't think I ever take it for granted :)

[westeroswolf]

Just break my heart why don't you?! The passion, fury, pride and misery are just rolling off the page and the ways it's written in a stream of consciousness makes it feel so intimate. When he wrote that no one else must read his letters I actually cringed because I felt I was intruding.
"When you were fourteen, I was your hero" gah! I just can't process how this makes me feel!
It's too perfect!

[kimberlite8]

This has been my favorite comment so far

[maroucya]

That was a very nice update, the first letter that let us really understand their history together and the dynamic of their relationship. I always wondered while reading your previous chapters that Sandor could open his heart so much even though they were not lovers but it seems something has been going on between them after all. I can picture Sansa being too shy and well behaved to make her interest in Sandor completely obvious and now, what you’ve brought with him having been slightly fucked up in the head and confused by the Elder Brother is interesting too. Also, I love the idea of Sandor being obsessed by Sansa’s purity and wanting her so much for that very reason that he’d forbid himself of having her. You can’t really get much more fucked up and unhealthy than that in regard to romantic situations and relationships but it doesn’t mean I don’t find such a twisted dynamic appealing as a spectator. (In truth, I even thought of something similar once upon a time while I was daydreaming about SanSan and now it’s giving me super

[kimberlite8]

I can picture Sansa being too shy and well behaved to make her interest in Sandor completely obvious and nowIts not just shyness, she has obligations. Marriage isn't about passion for the nobility. I've never looked kindly towards Robb/Jeyne (which even Robb was like oh fuck about) and Robb/Talisa made me want to vomit. Anachronistic portrayals of Westerosi society mores regarding marriage are something I get all peevish about. And I think her yearning for him is also tinged with a lot of ambivalence. In KL he's one of the good bad guys though still her tormentor. But he makes the kind of impression that imprints what a man should be when she's at the age where she can be sexually imprinted. In the Vale, she romanticizes him because he's not around, he's the safe crush object that cannot make demands on her sexually or otherwise. In Winterfell though, he's real, and he's real enough to be measured against men who are more appropriate suitors. As she grows up she learns to judge him the way children judge their parents as they get

[kimberlite8]

I'm so glad to read your comments zsra! They are the best!

it just seems so natural that when I'm reading it, it doesn't feel like I'm reading something that's been crafted and edited and beta'd and read over a thousand times

That's exactly what I'm trying to achieve! The cadence of natural speech. Its hard because as you know, my style is so flowery. I don't want to eliminate that but rather cover it in such a fashion where the reader could possibly imagine Sandor saying such things. In canon his diction is actually poetic at times but it doesn't call attention to itself because of the way its structured and hidden beneath a lot of crudeness.

[onborrowedwings]

I now understand where things lie between them! I love the way that Sandor has opened up and laid his vulnerabilities before her, still in a way that is entirely in keeping with his character. When you write his lines I can almost hear him speak it, picture him slaving away over his letter and cursing. As someone who finds it much easier to express myself in writing than in words, I can understand very well how he gains the courage to finally say everything to her that he's wished to, especially now when distance can make him brave, along with the knowledge he may not come back.

[kimberlite8]

I can understand very well how he gains the courage to finally say everything to her that he's wished to, especially now when distance can make him brave, along with the knowledge he may not come back.

Yes, that was my intent exactly. There a lot of uncomfortable conversations we have that are better delivered via letter (!). Not only is he laying himself bare here but he's also critiquing her for treating him as a stray dog, i.e., as someone that should be grateful for her attention. In my headcanon, the Sansa/Sandor relationship is built on a kind of hero worship. Its not about him being her pet. He would hate being reduced like that.