"My father used to tell me the most amazing stories." Sam wrapped his cloak around your arms as you spoke, his spirits had not been favourable as of late and having to hide out in the decrepit, damp and dingy abandoned cabin had not been good to him. Your stories had been a way to at least put a small smile onto his face, even though most of the time was spent babbling and trying to fill gaps because you had forgotten what happened.

"I've heard and read hundreds, maybe thousands of books and even more stories, but I've never heard anybody tell 'em like you can." Whenever you told your tales, Sam listened with intent, hungering eyes lingering on to every word, every syllable.

"Well, I was told this one that I think you might like." Sam nodded and smiled, he moved ever so slightly up the bench to you, you didn't know if he enjoyed listening to the stories or just hearing your voice.

"I would like nothing more than for you to tell me a story, but it has been a long day-"

"I'll make it quick." You raised your finger to his lips and without putting up much of a fight rested his head on your chest, tucking himself into your side.

"It starts with a peasant girl, she rescues her father from this big abomination; half man, half beast. In her attempt to save her family, she is taken instead and kept in his keep, but they slowly fall in love with each other, it all starts with a gift when he reveals the castle library to her in an attempt to win her-" Sam's face lit up, he lifted his head and his mouth stood agape. "Did something catch your interest then?"

"Can you tell me about the library?"

"Imagine the biggest library that you've ever seen."

"Well, I've seen the citadel's library, that's bigger than anything I could even imagine."

"You're going to have to, this library put the citadel to shame." Sam had faced incredible hardships on his life, he had a few tough years behind him, but it was never too hard to entice out his childhood sense of wonder.

"Impossible."

"The shelves climbed so high that you couldn't even see the top. Books on every possible subject, if the maesters knew they would have travelled from Westeros eons ago. Tomes that you've never even heard of before. All of the maesters in all of the lands couldn't even begin to document them all, never mind read them!"

You had never seen Sam glow so much, it had been a good few months since you had seen him smile so much, and all it took was talking about books.

~*~

Written by Aaron.