**Spoiler alert: contains spoilers through Season 8, Episode 4 of Game of Thrones.
The feast was well underway at Winterfell. The Dornish wine was flowing freely. The living had defeated the dead once and for all. Arya Stark, the heroine of the battle, was off practicing archery. Daenerys Targaryen was standing alone, looking queenly. Jon Snow (aka Aegon Targaryen) was drinking and laughing with the wildlings and the Northmen. Tyrion and Jaime Lannister had convinced Brienne of Tarth to play a drinking game with them. Podrick had been spirited away by a spirited Northern lass.
Sansa Stark, the Lady of Winterfell, moved elegantly among the crowd, quietly offering her personal thanks to the soldiers.
"Why are you standing here alone when others are celebrating?" she asked a handsome, obviously shy young man.
He turned quickly and gasped, almost losing his wine cup. "L-L-Lady Stark!" he stuttered, falling awkwardly into a deep bow.
"No need for that, Ser," she reassured him. "This is a feast. I don't stand on ceremony. In fact, I'm still becoming used to being called Lady Stark." She gave him her own shy smile. "I have seen you looking at me. Do I know you?"
"Well, My Lady," he murmured, embarrassed at being caught out, "it was a long time ago, and I was but a boy. I was a squire for one of the Knights of the Vale during your time at the Eyrie." He bowed his head and declared, "I am Roland, of House Falconer."
Sansa recognized him now, though she remembered him as looking younger than her. He was definitely now a man!
"Your face is familiar to me," she said, giving him her trademark half-smile. "But how can that be? You now look older than me."
He quickly dared a look at her, in her heavy grey velvet gown and fur collars, with her long red hair spreading over the animal pelts. "I-I-I-...I believe we are close to the same age. You know, of course, that women mature earlier than men."
Now she graced him with a full smile. "Well, Ser Roland of the Vale, since I find myself unaccompanied, come and sit by the fire with me."
A look of astonishment and panic spread over his face as she turned to walk away, clearly expecting him to follow. He made his way through the laughing, drinking crowd of revelers, following her across the Great Hall.
She had swept her skirts around her as she settled onto a bench before the merrily roaring fire. She had to pat the bench next to her to indicate that he should sit.
He looked around the Hall in confusion before he was able to say, "You truly want me to sit with you?" His voice rose to an amusing squeak at the end of the question.
"Yes!" she insisted, chuckling as she tugged lightly at his leather sleeve.
"But you are the Lady of Winterfell, and I was born of a much lesser house," he whispered.
"I told you we don't stand on ceremony here." She smiled as he gingerly sat on the bench. "We are in the North. I don't remember people behaving much differently at the Eyrie."
"That was because you were a high-born lady, and the niece of Lady Aryn. And of course, Lord Baelish was always looking after you," he said, watching her smile fade. He jumped to his feet and bowed again. "Oh no, My Lady, have I said something to displease you?"
"Lord Baelish turned out not to be a friend," she said crisply. "Now please, sit down."
He wondered whether he should ask the question, but had blurted it out before he could catch it. "Is it true that you put him on trial and your sister, Lady Arya, executed him?" His eyes grew wide, afraid he should not have spoken.
She turned to him with a ghost of a smile. "Yes. Does that make you afraid of me?"
"N-no, My Lady. It puts me in awe of your strength. You may not look much older," he gulped, "but you seem to have gained great power since I last saw you."
Again he noticed her mysterious smile as she quoted to him, "Some are born great. Some attain greatness. And some have greatness thrust upon them."
They were silent for a few moments as each sipped their wine. Then Roland again found the courage to speak.
"I wish to thank you," he said, bowing his head.
"What do you have to thank me for?" she wondered.
"You were very kind to everyone at the Eyrie, not just the high-born. And tonight I have seen you speak with all manner of folk, from the Knights of the Vale to the wildlings. Oh, not that I have any disrespect for the wildlingsβthey fought valiantly," he rushed to add.
"I suppose my aunt was not very pleasant to much of anyone," she admitted, "even before she tried to kill me."