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ATP
I haven't decided yet who will be Sansa's new betrothed.
For now, Catelyn thinks of a northern House. If they rather want to choose someone from the South, it would be better to wait for the end of war. (And choose from the winners' side.)
Enemy beyond the Wall
Catelyn is weary but content – and she will be perfectly happy as soon as she can finally put down her head on the pillows. But when she enters her chamber, someone grabs her from behind, forcing her arms down, and a rough hand covers her mouth.
"I'll release you," a voice whispers into her ear. "Don't cry."
As the grip looses, Catelyn steps away in a hurry, and spins around. The man holds up his hands with palms open, showing that he is unarmed. Though Catelyn is sure he has at least a knife, hidden somewhere.
He is a slender man, barely taller than her, has long brown hair turning to gray. Catelyn realizes she has seen him before. He is one of the bards from the feast.
"You shouldn't be here," she says severely, trying to seem calm, although she is trembling.
"No, I shouldn't," he admits. "But I must speak with you, Lady Stark. My name is Mance Rayder."
Catelyn's eyes widen, she inhales sharply.
"The king of wildlings."
"We prefer calling ourselves 'the Free Folk', my lady."
"And what does the King of the Free Folk want to speak with me about?"
"The enemy beyond the Wall."
Catelyn raises her chin.
"You are the enemy beyond the Wall."
Mance Rayder smiles gently and shakes his head.
"No. I'm not your enemy."
He sounds so genuine, so firm in it that Catelyn believes him for a moment.
"The truth is, Lady Stark, I admire you. The Wall is well protected thanks to you."
"Does that really make you glad?"
Mance Rayder shrugs. "Of course. It means the Wall will protect us well too." He takes a step towards Catelyn, but seeing her tense up he does not move again. "We have to pass through. I came here for that. We can't attack the Wall. We would only weaken it and that we mustn't do."
"Because your enemy will come after you."
"The enemy of all of us," he says. "We need your Wall, and you need my people."
"I can't make decisions like this," Catelyn replies carefully. "My son is the Lord of the North."
"Yes, but I think at the moment he appreciates his wife's company more than he would mine. And I have no doubt he'll listen to you."
"But why would I listen to you?"
The man looks her in the eyes.
"Just let me speak, Lady Stark. Please."
And despite being the middle of night and this being her own chamber, despite all improprieties and dangers of the situation, Catelyn offers the King Beyond the Wall a chair.
"I should take your head," Robb points out. "You're a deserter, after all."
"You would make a mistake then, Lord Stark," Mance Rayder says without any concern. "I am the only one who can hold the tribes of the Free Folk together."
"So… without you the army that threatens the Wall would spread. It would solve a lot of our problems."
"They would spread and come back, dead."
Here they are again. The dead. The man mentioned them before. Robb still does not know how he should reply.
"You believe me," Mance Rayder declares. "You didn't question the wights' existence. Not once."
"He is right. You didn't," Jon notes. He stands aside leaning against the wall.
Robb turns to him.
"Do you remember that man from the day we found our direwolves?"
"I do. I thought his words were on your mind."
Those words haunt him. It seems madness, but it cannot be denied that something is happening beyond the Wall. Something that compels the wildlings to unite and run, something they never did before.
And instead of attacking or threatening, Mance Rayder came to him to ask.
"I can't let you through the Wall," he tells the man. "I can't endanger my people's safety. You say the free folk obey to you. But you are just one man against hundred thousands. And forgive me, Rayder, but I don't even trust you."
The man's mouth twitches. "Fair enough."
Robb take a deep breath and continues.
"I'll allow some of yours to pass through. Old man who are too weak to take up arms against us, little children, women who are not fighters. They can settle down in the Gift. There is always a need for working hands."
"And the rest of us?"
"The rest can encamp at the northern side of the Wall where the Watch and the other lords of the castles will oversee them. They can't cross but they can learn to cooperate with us and there they can rely on our help. And with time, after it's proved that they are able to follow our rules, they can join the others."
"We don't have much time. None of us," Mance Rayder warns him.
"Still, that is all I can do. All I'm willing to do."
He has to wait for a while, but at the end, Mance Rayder nods.
"I accept."
