Crossing Worlds (A Sandor Clegane fanfiction.)

Awkward

Sandor turned Stranger away from King's Landing and rode off. His arms were still caging Aurora in and the young woman was grateful for it. As they rode, the adrenaline from their escape began to wear off and Aurora could feel her eyes getting heavy. Before she knew it, she'd slumped back against Sandor and fell asleep.

He looked down at the sleeping woman and shifted uncomfortably. The only time he was ever this close to a woman was when he paid a whore and Aurora was certainly not one of those. Sandor felt his own eyelids drooping after a while and decided it would be best to stop for the night. He found a secluded area of the woods and pulled Stranger to a stop.

Sandor slowly dismounted, one hand on Aurora's back to keep her from falling. He chuckled to himself as he thought about how gentle he was being with her. Once he was down, Sandor carefully slid Aurora off the saddle and laid her down on the ground, using his cloak as a pillow for her. If anyone saw him, they'd wouldn't have recognized him as the Hound. Aurora mumbled something in her sleep, but didn't wake. Sandor kept an eye out for a moment to make sure they weren't followed before laying down to sleep himself.

Aurora was up before Sandor in the morning. She sat up and stretched, cracking her sore neck. Aurora groaned as she tried to get up, only to have her dress get tangled around her legs causing her to trip. She landed ungracefully in the dirt, but got up and dusted herself off. Taking a peek at Sandor, Aurora breathed a sigh of relief. He was still asleep. She did not want to get on his bad side by waking him up.

Aurora walked over to Stranger and reached in her bag. She took one of the changes of clothes from home from the bag and hummed happily. She couldn't keep travelling in that dress. With one quick glance to make sure Sandor was still sleeping, Aurora began to strip off the dress and pulled on her old clothes.

Sandor just happened to wake up at the wrong time. His eyes opened and he nearly choked at the sight before him. Aurora was standing there, changing. Although her back was to him, Sandor could see every curve of Aurora's back and hips. He saw the raven tattoo on the upper right portion of her back that was quickly covered by the long locks of curly red hair followed by Aurora's shirt.

"A raven?" Aurora nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of Sandor's gruff voice behind her. She turned to face him, her cheeks now red from embarrassment. It wasn't that she was a prude. Far from it. It was just that there'd only been one guy to see her naked or close to naked before. "Ya have a raven on yer back?" Aurora nodded, refusing to meet his gaze and Sandor let the matter drop the time being.

There was silence between the two of them as they repacked everything and climbed back onto Stranger's back. There was nothing Aurora hated more than awkward silence, but she just couldn't bring herself to say anything. Sandor was no better. All throughout the day, the imagine of Aurora's bare back wouldn't leave him. He'd seen naked women before, but for some reason, this was different. It made it impossible to speak to her.

So, nothing was said until they stopped for camp again. Sandor pulled Stranger to a stop and they climbed down. "There's a river over there where ya can get clean," Sandor muttered. He didn't really care whether she was clean or not, but he could see that she needed to get away from him for a while. Aurora nodded and turned to walk in the direction he'd indicated. "Wait!" Aurora turned back and Sandor tossed her whistle from her bag.

She looked at him with wide eyes. She was surprised he remembered what it was. "Thanks," she whispered before turning around and walking toward the river. Sandor watched her go before turning back to unburden Stranger. Not long after that, Sandor had a small fire going and had gone about catching something for dinner. Aurora still wasn't back when Sandor returned and he was beginning to worry. He was about to go find Aurora when he heard the shrill sound of the whistle piercing through the dusk.