This Night and All the Nights to Come

Chapter 4

The gate was open for Jon Snow by the time he arrived at the Wall. Samwell was on watch that night and Jon was glad of it. He knew he need not explain to his friend what happened if he did not want to and Sam would not push the subject too much. But he was worried, as all friends would be, and greeted Jon with open arms. "I thought you were dead!" Sam told his friend.

Jon shook his head. He was tired and weary, but also exhilarated. He wanted to sleep and not wake until the next night, but he knew that was not possible. And he also knew that he should give his friend a little reassurance that he was alright. "The wildlings attacked and I was knocked out," Jon explained. "It took me this long to find my way back."

"Is that what happened to your head?" Sam asked.

Jon's hand flew up to his forehead, where he felt the forgotten gauze that covered his wound. "It was a good thing I had spare bandages," he lied.

"Wildlings... those animals," Sam muttered.

Jon's demeanor changed abruptly, but he caught himself before he gave an angry retort. Why was he about to defend the same people that killed his black brothers? Before he could think too hard on it, another man ran up to them and pulled Jon into an embrace. "JON! I knew you would not have deserted," the man said, "but we could not find your body."

Jon took a step back and gave the man a hard look. "Deserted?" he repeated in shock. "I took an oath, Fredor. One I do not intend to break."

o0oOo0oOo0o

"SAIRETTE! SAIRETTE, WAKE UP!"

The girl groaned while turning on her back, and saw the man who was yelling at her - shoulder length heather grey locks and blue eyes, the same shade as hers - Lieto, her brother. She threw an arm over her face to cover her eyes.

"Did you not remember breakfast this morn?" her brother asked.

She sighed. "I choose to forget..."

The man grabbed the arm that was covering her face and pulled her up, making her sit on the bed. She jerked her wrist away from him and growled. The man was unaffected and leaned down closer to her. "You could be the one to marry Alpha's son, you ungrateful girl. Do not mess this up for me!"

She scoffed at him. "You would use your own sister to gain position? You will already be the Vilkas one day, have you no pride in that?"

"And you will be nothing, if not Lairen's wife!" The man rose back to his full height, straightening out his clothes. "You look like shit, Sairette. Get yourself ready."

Leito left the girl's room, leaving a tired Sairette sitting on her bed. Her brother would not run her life, she promised herself, not anymore. She rubbed her dry eyes then threw the fur from her body and stood up, stretching her aching muscles. She walked over to her mirror and sighed. She would have to put powder on, to cover the pink of her cheeks and lips, and a white paste on her eyelashes, which were too dark to be desirable. As Sairette did so, she thought back to last night and to Jon. She did not know why her thoughts lingered so much on the boy when she already had important matters that she had to deal with presently. Like her brother waiting on her, and her father.

Her father was the Vilkas, the chief warrior, and he was already there when she arrived, sitting alongside her brother. Lieto gave her a warning look as she sat, cross-legged, on the pelt cushion next to the Alpha's son. She ignored her brother, but gave Lairen a courteous smile. It was not as if he wasn't handsome. He was, exceptionally so. And he would be the Alpha one day, but Sairette had no desire to be the Alpha woman. At least he was not much older than her. They had even grown up together, though they were never really friends. Their relationship had always been casual; a mannerly hello once in a while and polite conversation in their later years. They merely ignored each other when they were younger, as boys and girls often do.

"Diona is beautiful, no?" Sairette asked Lairen after spending half the meal in silence. Embarrassed, he tore his eyes away from the girl he had been staring at all morning. "But it is not just her beauty," she added.

"Sairette, I am not myself today. I apologize -" he began.

"Do not be sorry for what you feel." She smiled at Lairen. "Diona is a nice girl."

The man looked at her thoughtfully and sighed in relief. But he knew that though his heart was telling him one thing, it would soon be his obligation to do another. Duty over love. That was the warrior's way. Sairette saw the conflict in his face. "You forge your own path," she whispered. "You live your life the way you want and to Hell with those who seek to persecute you."

Lairen smiled at the girl, because he knew the nature of the she-wolf. She would not be tied down to anyone or anything and she would defend her conviction to the death. Just being in the presence of the girl somehow made him feel more free. Lairen knew that she spoke the words not only to comfort him, but herself as well.

"You will prove a better friend than wife," he said, placing a hand over hers. "One I will always cherish."

She sighed. "Those words shall be my legacy."