Chapter is revised and up. I hope you guys like it.
Chapter updated in 04/12/2013.
Chapter IV – Truth
| Lee POV |
Two days passed since the White Walker attack and I had been avoiding Jon ever since. I sat alone in the dining hall, I trained alone and stood on watch alone, hoping he wouldn't notice my absence.
I was sitting in a corner of the training yard, reading a book when Sam came up, smiling at me. "Hey, Lee." He sat next to me and I looked to him.
"Hi, Sam. Need something?" He looked curiously at the book, it had old tales. "Why aren't you eating and training with us anymore?" Ouch, straight to the point.
"I can't train because of my hand and I haven't seen you guys in the dining hall." I lied, not completely; I really can't train with my hand still burned.
"Oh, I should have guessed. Jon was worried too." He was? I felt something inside me grow and my heart quicken.
"I see… Don't worry. Everything will be back to normal soon. I actually am going hunting today, I think I am still able to catch something." He looked happy when I told him the news. Sam was actually one of the few persons I know that can be happy in the darkest time.
"That's great! Will someone go with you?" He looked at my hand, worried.
"I don't know, probably, because of my hand. When the time come, I will know, but don't worry; I will hunt south the Wall." Sam looked relieved and sighed shortly, smiling at me; I patted his head with my good hand in response.
"I should return to my duties. I will see you later at dinner?" He asked, getting up to leave. "Sure, I will be there." Or maybe not, but who knew? I waved before he left, then returning to my book.
When time came, I got up from my reading spot and made my way to the armory. I took a bow and several arrows, they would work better than a sword in this case, but I would take one anyway.
A horse was waiting, a steward had him ready for me and I mounted, not waiting to see if someone was going to accompany me, I wasn't in the mood to hang around a cocky and shitty ranger.
As soon as I got out of the Black Castle to the road, I saw a horse; the rider had his back to me. "Are you coming hunting?" I called, making the person turn around.
"Jon…" Good, just what I needed. I was running away from him and there he was, baby sitting me.
"Yes, I am. Your hand is not completely healed yet." I decided to just ignore his presence and get this over with as soon as possible. The faster we got something, the faster we would be back and I could hide again.
I didn't wait for him, just kicked my horse and entered the woods south the Wall, that place reminded me of home…
Once we were surrounded by the trees, I got out of my horse, tying him to a tree; I kneeled down to the ground, checking the grass under the snow. There were eaten spots; animals had been wandering around this area.
"There are animals around here. Can Ghost sniff them to see to which direction they went?" I asked, keeping my tone as indifferent as possible.
"Ghost, check the area." Jon told the direwolf, who immediately begun sniffing the ground and pointed south.
"Thank you, Ghost." I caressed the beautiful animal on the head while passing him, one hand on the bow and the other on the arrow, ready to shoot if something came in sight despise the painful protest from my right hand. I heard Jon's muffled footsteps behind me.
A few feet ahead a deer was eating the grass, not imagining that seconds later an arrow would hit his heart and he would meet the cold ground. We approached the fallen deer, poking him to make sure he was dead; we didn't want him trying to escape.
"Nice catch." Jon said, and I put away my bow. "Thanks. Help me get it." I tried to pick up the deer alone, but failed. Jon came to rescue, helping me carry the animal to our horses, luckily we had a container installed for big catches.
Ghost barked when I got on my horse and before Jon and I could react something came flying in my direction, knocking me out of the horse.
| Jon POV |
I turned to Ghost when he barked; it was not like him to make noises unless there was something really bad coming. A shadow came out of the trees right into Lee when he got on top of his horse, knocking in out on the ground.
"Lee!" I yelled, running toward him to see what had happened.
It was a wolf, not a dire, just a wolf; neither him nor Lee were moving. I was frozen, fearing the worse had happened.
Slowly, the wolf begun to move and I took my sword out, ready to cut him if it was needed to. But he fell on the ground next to Lee, still, a sword had pierced his chest, I kneeled next to it to check if it was really dead, but didn't look to Lee.
"God… What a hunt…" He groaned, but his voice seemed different… Not masculine at all and loud for the first time ever since he came to the Wall. Surprised and confused, I stared at my brother and fell back on my butt, my eyes wide open while I stared.
"What? There is something on my mask?" I couldn't say anything, I felt too shocked to speak. "Snow! What is it?!"
"You… You are a woman!" I managed to say after staring for a while, still shocked and frozen. His, her eyes widened and her hand reached for her face, touching it only to notice there was no mask or hood covering.
There was no defect, only feminine traces. Her light brown hair, shoulder length was free without the hood.
Well, I had many theories and this was not one of them.
"Jon…" She said, her voice low and really feminine, her real voice without the mask to muffle or her trying to make it huskier.
"I can't ask you to keep my secret… But if you tell… I will be beheaded…" I know, I know. What should I do?
She sighed, looking away and I saw a small scar on her left cheek. "I think I've done my share… But, please… I would like you to behead me… You can do this here and tell them a beast killed me."
What?! I can't behead a brother… A sister in this case. I can't. But my mouth wouldn't move to tell her that. "I think I owe you at least an explanation… My name is Lily… Lily Peis… I figured Lee was the closest to Lily and it was easier to remember…"
Lily… A pretty name.
"I am sorry I lied… Not only about my identity, but about not having hidden something… You are my brother, Jon… I haven't lied about that…"
"Why… Why are you here… On the Wall?" I said after a while, not hiding my surprise or shock.
"I lived in a village south the Wall… My father was a healer and I lived with him, my mother left us when I was little… One day, the village was sacked and the people killed, including my father and I received this before I could run away…" She pointed to the scar on her cheek, not looking at me.
"Many people died, innocent people and for an unknown reason I survived… Maybe it was the Old Gods' will, but from that day on, I decided to help people. So I joined…"
I stepped closer; kneeling next to her, my eyes never leaving her face, but she never returned my stare. "I can't behead you…"
"Then Lord Commander can do t…" She looked at me, but stopped her sentence when her eyes met mine. "I won't tell anyone." I know it is crazy but felt like the right thing to do. I would be beheaded too if someone find out.
"I cannot ask you to lie for me…" She replied, quietly. "Then I won't lie for you, I will lie for the Night's Watch, we need you."
"Let's hope no one else finds out… A woman… On The Wall… Only the rest of me would be executed because they would satisfy their needs before." The thought of the brothers touching her angered me, no one could find out, no one.
"We won't let that happen." I promised.
Lily got the mask and slowly got up, I copied her movements, watching as her feminine face got hidden by the expressionless mask.
"We should head back." Her voice was muffled and hoarse again. "I think we are eating wolf tonight. Good meat, nice and tasty." Ghost wined, not looking very happy about her comment, but she patted him on the head in comfort. "Not you, Ghost."
"I would like to hear more… About you, Lee… Lily…" I said while we rode back to the Wall, she looked at me. "Maybe I will tell you, now that I owe you my life."
Owe me her life, huh? Yesterday it was me who owed her my life, what a turn of events. "I did nothing but keep a friend's secret." I replied when we reached Castle Black, the gate being opened for us.
"And for that… I owe you my life." She looked at me and I could tell she was smiling, deep down, I wished I could see what her smile was like.
| Lily POV |
My secret was discovered. I panicked the moment Jon announced that I was a woman, but I always knew deep inside someone would find out one day. At least it was a friend. But he decided to keep my secret. Why I don't know.
I hoped nothing would change now that he knows who I really am.
After unloading our hunt, I went straight to my room, I needed to organize my thoughts and think about the things that had happened. Perhaps I had found a friend for life. Someone I could count on and let myself be me after all this time… But only perhaps.
When it was time for dinner, I got to the dining room, I had promised Sam I would have dinner with him, even though a large part of me screamed I should simply ditch it.
I spotted the small chubby boy and walked over him, he was seating with Pyp, Grenn and Jon. I held my breath when I saw the Snow boy looking up to me, but he just smiled.
I took a seat next to Sam, focusing on my food. They were talking about their most loved topic: Girls.
"So, Pyp. Tell me more about the girls!" Sam asked, excited, making me roll my eyes and focus even more in my meal. Pyp always bragged about the girls he used to be with when he traveled singing.
"Alright. They were all so pretty, eager for the music and entertainment, so much that they would later provide us with the finest entertainment ever seen." Ok, that wasn't so bad, nothing filthy.
"Their bodies were so warm and so pretty, they moved like snakes while their bodies tangled with our." I coughed and Sam tapped me on the back, Jon was looking and Pyp had stopped telling his tales because of my sudden noise. "Sorry, I just… Choked a bit here. Go on, Pyp."
"They did wonderful things and when we thought it was over, there was more. They never seemed to get satisfied, like broken objects that never turned off."
"Women are not objects!" Jon yelled, his hands smashing on the table as he stood up, making all of us and some other brothers that were around look at him.
"God, Jon, calm down! It is not like any of us will ever see a woman again." Sam said and I could easily see Jon punching him.
"Jon, it is fine." I said, calmly, looking directly on his eyes. It appeared to be enough, since he sat down quietly. "Sorry…" Why did he act like that? Was it because I am a woman? Maybe he is just shy… I never saw him talking about girls.
After Jon's little snap out, Sam and Pyp went back on talking about girls and how nice their bodies was. So I just got up and excused myself.
The halls were empty since all brothers were eating, so I could just walk alone calmly. But the sounds of footsteps dismissed that thought.
"Lily." Jon called and I stopped to look at him. "It's Lee." I corrected. "What was all that about?" I asked once he caught up to walk by my side.
"I didn't like the way they were talking. Men or not, we all have mothers, they are women too, we should be respectful." He looked straight ahead, but my eyes focused on his face.
"Do you know your mother?" I asked, frustration appearing on his face. "No, I don't. My father never told me who she was. And now I may never find out." That's right. His father was being held captive in King's Landing for treason, I felt bad and sorry for him.
"He will be alright, you will see. He is Ned Stark after all. Oh, I never told you. I met him once." We were reaching my room and I opened the door so he could get in to continue our conversation, it was the first time he went to my room.
"You did?" He sounded surprised and I sat on the bed, he followed.
"I did. He paid our village a visit, he was checking if we were getting enough food and supplies. A wonderful man. One of his men got injured during the trip and he took him to see my father. He stopped next to me as I helped my father take care of the wounded and told me I would make a very good healer one day, that I had the hands of a healer."
I was staring at my hands, covered by gloves. "Now I use them to murder people." I whispered, more to myself than to him, I wasn't certain if he heard.
"But anyway, an honorable man, your father." I continued, looking at his face. "An honorable man who made a mistake named Jon Snow." He added.
"You are no mistake. You were meant to live, meant to exist; you will do greater things one day, Jon Snow. One day you will be Lord Commander of the Night's Watch." I made sure to put a lot of conviction in my words.
"Maybe… But right now… I just want to sleep in a warm bed." He groaned and I laughed, taking out my mask while I did so.
Yes, I had a true friend.
