𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐲, 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞; 𝐣. 𝐬𝐧𝐨𝐰

i'll be home for christmas

 With warm, paper cups of coffee snug in their clutches and Christmas music blasting through Sansa's busted speakers, the pair were off towards Sansa's childhood home.

"How long is the drive to Winterfell?" Alys asked, leaning her temple up against the icy pane of Sansa's car.

"It's a few hours," Sansa said, turning the wheel to veer the car off of the interstate. "You haven't been this far north before. Look at the scenery."

Alysanne sipped her coffee, which had turned lukewarm, as her eyes followed the greying grass of the moors and the snow capped ridges far off in the distance. "There's a lot of grey." Just field. Lots of wide, open fields.

"Oh, you southern girl," Sansa laughed. "You can take the girl outta the south, but you can't take the south outta the girl."

"I'm not saying it's bad!" Alys defended. "I wasn't expecting flowers and everything, but maybe just not so much grey and white." Alysanne shivered, even though the heat was blasting on her arms. "Is it always this cold?"

"Not always. But, it is winter in the North, so it's going to be a bit nippy," Sansa responded, drumming her fingers against the wheel as they cruised down a straight dirt road.

"Winter is coming, then," Alys sighed. She really wasn't made for the snow, or the cold.

"Winter has already arrived, if you can't see the snow on the ground," Sansa laughed.

Alysanne rolled her eyes at her friend. "How big is Winterfell?" she asked, sitting straight up in her chair and downing the rest of the cool coffee in her cup.

"It's pretty massive. Been in the Stark family for generations. Built by an ancestor gods know how long ago. There's even a family crypt deep below it," Sansa said, her eyes dancing. "The boys like to play down there, they say it's haunted. Robb and Jon liked to scare us when we were young, hiding in the tombs and jumping out at us."

"I'd lose my shit! Is it kinda like the people interred in the Sept of Baelor?" Alys asked, trying to compare it to something she knew well.

"Sort of," Sansa responded.

"You know, I'm growing pretty excited about this. Better than sitting in our dorm," Alysanne said.

"True. I bet you're excited to see my cousin. Jon is truly lovely, I swear you'll adore him. He'll certainly adore you too," Sansa said, smiling like a foolish girl.

"I guess we'll have to see," Alys responded. The prospect of meeting someone new, especially someone Sansa knew well and said was a truly good person, seemed a little more enticing to her. She needed to get out of the sullen mood she'd been in since Loras decided to dip.

"So you're willing to try and talk to him?" Sansa asked excitedly.

"I don't know. I've been sulking over Loras for far too long," Alys sighed.

"Finally you're realizing it! He left over the summer and you've been miserable ever since," Sansa said, looking at her friend from the side of her eye.

"Is he nice? Jon, I mean," Alys asked, looking the other way to avoid Sansa seeing the blush kissing the apples of her cheeks.

"Oh, yes. He's not very shy, but awkward when it comes to girls," Sansa said, rejoicing at playing matchmaker. She'd been trying to set Alys up with a number of guys. Edmure Tully was a senior at WHU, White Harbor University, when they were freshmen. Him being Sansa's uncle was a good thing, she could talk to him and try to set the two up.

He lingered in White Harbor after he graduated, working some odd jobs here and there. The two went on a date one night sometime in September, yet Alys came home and didn't have anything positive to say about it. Edmure said she was the most dull person he ever met. Sansa knew happy Alys was full of life and hilarious, but she couldn't seem to shake the funk she was in.