[ the truth is harsh. sansa knows that -- ordinarily -- it is the sayer who gets the swing of the axe. she's witnessed it with her own eyes. but what happens to the administrator who fails to swing at all when someone starts to speak a little too loudly? having lived in too much careful silence, she's never before contemplated these questions.

she tries to gentle her response: ] It was always going to be a challenge: harbour Unseelie shardbearers in a city beholden to the Seelie court, no matter what claims of neutrality we could try to make.