"What happened?" Sam whispered as Irenya glared at the marks upon his face.
"What did he do." Her question spoken harshly enough to be a statement on sound. Jon hissed slightly as Samwell dabbed ointment softly upon Jon's swollen lip, purple check and cut above his eye, abruptly stopping as Lord Commander stomped towards the three.
"Lord Commander-" Sam spoke fearfully as Jon rose, gaze toward the ground and a slight sway in his step from the beating, Irenya watched on anxiously.
"Leave us." Samwell waddled with Irenya stooped beside him. "What did you do?"
"I followed him." Jon paused. "He took the baby into the woods, the new born..." Jon's voice faded as Irenya halted by Sam a short distance away, watching as him and Lord commander murmured exchanged words.
"Do you think Lord Commander is angry with him?" Sam's innocent voice whispered fearfully as Irenya silently nodded.
"Offerings? He's murdering his own children, he's a monster." Jon's voice raised slightly, mildly lisped from his swollen lip. Irenya and Sam looked to each other in shock, briefly over hearing their convocation.
"We leave at dawn." Lord Commander spoke before stalking away as she and Sam hesitantly re-joined Jon.
The light of dawn had shone upon the snow giving it the appearance of purity. Irenya strained slightly as she helped Samwell hauling the steel cages carrying the ravens upon the dainty sledge, pausing as she felt a tug on her thick cloak. She turned to the sparkly blue eyes and blushing cheeks of the fair haired girl. The girl giggled softly as she removed her necklace and shoved it within her black gloved hand, laughing sweetly as she ran away once more. Irenya glanced at it. Thin, brown cord tied crudely together, cradling an animal's claw. Her lips broadened into a deep smile as she placed it around her neck before continuing on with the cages.
"What was that about?" Sam asked curiously.
"Friendly gesture." Irenya snickered shortly before noticing Sam's distant gaze, following it to the wildling girl he 'saved' from Ghost.
"Go." Irenya spoke softly to Sam as he grinned and smiled to herself as he followed her.
Further in the north, Irenya shivered but marvelled at the beauty around her, scanning as mountain's erupted from the sheets of blissful white. slowly staring, mouth slightly agape at the giant stone mass of the Fist of the first men. The wind howled breaking her from the trance and pushed her to trudge along beside Sam. Slowly sinking into both the snow and Jon and Lord Commander's convocation.
"He's not here yet. He'd have seen us, blown the horn." Lord Commander rasped slightly as both he and Jon slinked on.
"When will he come?"
"The halfhand does things in his own time." Commander nodded.
"My uncle told me stories about him."
"Most of them are true."
"I heard the halfhand spent half of last winter beyond the wall."
"The whole winter." Jon's head snapped toward Commander.
"So it is possible for someone to survive out here on their own." Irenya frowned softly to Jon's statement, it seems he still has a clinging hope to his uncle's fate.
"Possible for the halfhand." Commander added as the silence between Irenya and Sam was broken.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Sam gestured to the world around him. "Gilly would love it here." Irenya grinned to Sam's mention of the wildling girl.
"There's nothing more sickening than a man in love." Edd's comment causing Irenya to chuckle as she glanced toward his unimpressed expression.
Chattering filled the air as men began to shovel within the snow as Samwell marvelled and practically pranced about the ancient site.
"The fist of the first men. Think of how old this place is. Before the Targeryans defeated the Andals, before the Andals took Westeros from the first men."
"Before I die, please, stop talking." Edd spoke not hiding his deep annoyance as Irenya smirked upon a rock but continued to observe the gleeful man child continue on his preach of history.
"Thousands and thousands of years ago, the first men stood here where we're standing, all through the long night. What do you think they were like, the first men?" He smiled brightly in thought.
"Stupid. Smart people don't find themselves in places like this." Grenn added.
"I think they were afraid." Jon spoke as he watched the horizon, his observation causing Irenya's smile to fade. "I think they came here to get away from something. And I don't think it worked." Jon turned from the edge but froze, gripping the pommel as Irenya grabbed the handle to her dagger, a horn blasting in the distance. Snapping the night's watchmen attention towards it.
"Wildlings?" Grenn questioned while grasping the handle of his sword.
"One blast is for rangers returning." Jon spoke, returning his gaze to the horizon. "Wildlings is two blasts."
"So you got to stand there waiting, wondering." Edd spoke as he, Grenn and Irenya joined Jon and Sam at the edge. "One blast for friends, two for foes."
"And three for white walkers." Sam added earning a dumb founded look from the others. "It's been a thousand years, but that's the only time they blow the horn three times."
"But if it's been a thousand years, how do you know?" Grenn puzzled.
"Well..."
"I read it in a book." Both Grenn and Edd mocked in unison before returning to their duties leaving Sam, Irenya and Jon by the edge.
"Look. It's Qhorin Halfhand." Jon spoke with pride.
"Aye, We'll live another day. Hurrah." Edd retorted monotonely.
Irenya squinted as she used the spear tight within her grasp to support her weight within the dense wind and falling snow, squinting desperately as Qhorin Halfhand painted toward nearby mountains. His voice faint under the howling wind.
"There." Qhorin pointed by Lord Commander.
"Where?"
"On that mountain."
"I don't see very well." Samwell chirped.
"A fire." Jon announced as he stood by Irenya who clutching her cloak and her light tanned skin shifted to paler than usual.
"The people sitting around it have better eyes than yours or mine." Qhorin croaked. "When they see us coming, that fire becomes a signal. Gives Mance Rayder plenty of time to throw a party in our honour."
"How many wildlings have joined him?"
"From what we can tell, all of them." Qhorin's response became unusually calm causing Irenya to frown. The men looked to on another in worry. "Mance has gathered them all like deer against the wolves." He paused. "They're almost ready to make their move."
"Where?"
"Somewhere safe. Somewhere south."
"You're saying we should fall back to the wall?" Commander questioned.
"Mance was one of us once. Now he's one of them. He's going to teach them our way of doing things. They'll hit us in force and won't run away when we hit back. They're gonna be more organised than before, more disciplined, more like us. So we need to be more like them, do things their way. Sneak in, kill Mance and scatter them to the winds before they can march on the wall. And to do that, we need to get rid of those lookouts, it's not a job for 400 men. I need to move fast and silent." Irenya glanced over in worry at Jon's determined expression. "Harker, Stonesnake, Borba." Qhorin pointed towards the men."
"Lord Commander, I'd like to join Lord Qhorin." Irenya closed her eyes briefly at Jon's request.
"You're a steward, snow, not a ranger."
"I've fought and killed a wight. How many rangers can say that?"
"He's the one?" Qhorin spoke intrigued.
"Aye, you killed a wight. You also let an old man beat you bloody and take your sword." Commander retorted as Irenya tensed and hung her head at the memory.
"Craster? In the boy's defence, that's a tough old goat."
"I could take up Jon's duties, my lord. It would be no trouble." Sam beamed as he as he waddled forward, Irenya battled inside. She knew Lord Commander will allow Jon to go but he tasked her with his protection. She would never be allowed to go, it was a blessing by whatever god or gods above she was permitted to join the nights watch and even so she had to prove her worth, she must let him go.
"Well, I hope you make a better ranger than a steward."
Irenya watched on sadly as Jon walked by and continued on, joining Qhorin's men. She watched as Lord Commander and the others turned back and went by her to begin their long journey to the wall. She snapped quickly out of her trance as Samwell gently tugged her cloak before waddling away, her gaze returning briefly to Jon's form in the distance. Goodbye, for now.
What's your name? Ygritte. I gave you my name. I'm Jon Snow.