Just as an FYI, don't assume that characters are the exact same as in the show.

I'm saying this now because I goddamn KNOW at least someone is going to complain about this, and that's going to be bloody annoying. So yes, I understand that certain characters might not be acting exactly as their canon counterparts would, and that's for a few various reasons, the main one being that stuff changes.

Chapter 2

Glaring at Violet, Karina avoided her fist, kicking her leg out and catching the older girl in her stomach.

"You fucking-" Capitalizing on her distraction as she stumbled back and swore, Karina moved forward, snatching ahold of her wrist and yanking her towards herself. As she yelped and made to hit her, Karina ducked down and slammed her body into Violet's midriff, winding her. Finally, she pivoted and hooked her leg behind Violet's knee, prompting her leg to fold and sending her to the ground.

As she impacted, Karina immediately dove towards her, slamming her fist into the side of her head, which incidentally sent the other side of her head slamming against the rock-hard frozen ground. She got off two more punches before she heard the words of their father. "Alright, don't fucking kill her." Immediately she hopped up and moved away from the bloodied and barely conscious girl, submissively dipping her head towards her father.

It had been about two years, maybe three, since she had woken up for the first time in the quarantined cabin, and life, while not exactly pleasant by any means, was better than she could have hoped for. Craster never made any kind of sexual move on her, probably because the latent fear of greyscale still lingered in him, even though it was completely inert and now basically just a skin condition. What he did do was put her to good use training her body and learning how to be useful. From a young age she had shown her intellect and drive, and while some of the women and girls believed she was possessed by some kind of spirit, Craster, despite being a disgusting rapist of his own kin, was a pragmatic man.

So, she spent her entire childhood learning and training. First, she was given to the woman who trained all the younger girls to survive, who put her through training of her body to be stronger, since she was still literally a fucking child. Alongside that, she learned how to survive in the True North, how to forage for edibles, what kind of animals she could possibly trap, the best ways to snatch a carcass from a predator, and how to avoid wildlings.

Thanks to this, she spent a fuckton of time outside in the freezing cold, to the point she honestly wasn't sure she'd even survive for a year or if she'd get sick and die. But, maybe through her innate connection to the cold owing to how much she loved it, or maybe thanks to some fucked up evolutionary shit of Craster living beyond the wall for so long, or just magical Game of Thrones bullshit, she never actually got sick, not even a cold, despite her young body being subjected to the cold for long and arduous periods.

But, if the fight she just went through was any indication, it really paid off. While she didn't like the idea of being his little attack hound, it was better than being forced to go out hunting animals constantly and risking dying in a completely pointless and forgettable manner. Plus, it meant she had a chance of badgering Craster for a weapon, even a knife would be good enough for her to feel safer.

As he stepped beyond her and stared down at her sister, Karina wondered whether he was going to kill her. Craster had a pretty short temper, something she already knew from experience, and while Karina had beaten the shit out of her, it was because Craster had told her to for some reason. Maybe it was training, or maybe she slagged him off when Karina wasn't there to hear it, but whatever the case was, she was the one now lying dazed on the floor with blood splattering the snow around her.

Karina waited patiently as Craster stared down at the girl before muttering something she wasn't able to make out and turning around, affixing her with his beady-eyed gaze. "Violet had three years and ten kilograms on you, and she's now on the floor bleeding from every hole on her mutt face." It wasn't even a question, just a pure statement, and it still made Karina uncomfortable being under Craster's scrutiny, his eyes trying to peel back what made her so different to his other, far less useful and diligent daughters. She was confident that he wouldn't just kill her for no good reason, but being under his gaze wasn't something she enjoyed.

Karina nodded, hating more than ever that she couldn't even begin to try and speak out with excuses or rationalizations. It wasn't that Craster didn't want her speaking to him or anything like that, it was that she physically couldn't. Every time she tried to speak, all she got was the whistling of air, no matter what she tried to do or how she tried to contort her throat. It probably had something to do with the greyscale grasping her throat, since the greyscale on her cheek was mirrored inside of her mouth, leading her to believe that there was also greyscale inside of her throat, an uncomfortable thing to even contemplate.

Craster stared at her for a moment longer, then turned to look back at Violet. He spat on her and gave her body a kick, then turned and left, prompting Karina to follow along behind him, the girl she had beaten the shit out of being left to whatever fate awaited her. They entered the main longhouse, all those present having already made a path for Craster to reach his chair, Karina practically attached to his shadow.

She didn't need a hint to tell her that pretty much nobody in Craster's Keep liked her. They all hated and envied the fact that she was pretty much the only one there who Craster didn't have eyes for, and was even under his direct protection owing to the fact that she was basically his bodyguard. She certainly didn't hold any illusions that she'd be able to outfight him if it came to that, since he had decades of experience over her, he was still in the prime of his life, and he was well-equipped thanks to the offering from the Night's Watch.

Maybe if he was at the old and weakened age of the show and was drunk she'd be able to beat him, but she doubted it, not at her age. Given a decade to grow, get stronger and train her body to at the very bare minimum her old peak standard, only then would she be willing to challenge him directly. Thanks to the fact that she possessed her adult willpower and drive in the body of a child, she'd be able to make sure her body was as good as it could be, and would be able to spend the 'boosted' years of childhood to learn as much as she was physically able to.

Sure, she still planned to run the fuck away from the White Walkers, but honestly, men scared her more than the White Walkers did.

"You what?"

Glancing at the woman she was using as a mouthpiece, she nodded at her. "Karina...I think she wants to learn how to use a sword." She immediately shook her head, then parted her hands to about the length of a dagger. Following that, she made short stabbing motions. "Sorry, I meant a dagger. I think she wants...I think she wants that." Nodding, she patted the woman on the shoulder, rolling her eyes as she shivered.

It wasn't like it was a fucking hard thing to do, but getting someone to act as her mouthpiece, especially since she couldn't write anything down or else she'd be heralded as an actual witch owing to the fact that nobody was literate in Craster's Keep, was fucking impossible. "So, you want to learn how to knife-fight?" Karina met Craster's gaze and dipped her gaze, nodding at him. "Well, I don't see how you plan to do that. I never bothered with knives except for cutting my meat, and none of the others knows a fucking thing about knives neither."

Lifting her head up, she met Craster's gaze again, then gestured at herself and made a stabbing motion, before shifting back her leg and making a swinging motion. "You want to try and learn it on your own?" Nodding quickly, she ducked her head, her posture reverting to utmost submission as she awaited his verdict. She didn't like stroking his ego so much by being so submissive around him, but to reach her goals, since she couldn't use her words or her body, at least in that way, she had to come up with alternatives, like fully displaying her submission to him. "Alright, fuck it. But try to stick me with a knife and I'll nail your hands to The Wall and leave you there to freeze to death, got it?"

He stared at her with a knowing gaze, making her suppress a shiver. She nodded, looking up for a moment to see him getting up off his chair, still staring at her. After a moment, during which she honestly wasn't sure whether he was deciding to do as he threatened as she was too much trouble, he turned away and walked towards his private room. She trailed along behind him, ignoring the glares she was receiving from the others.

In the time since she'd beaten Violet and left her to her fate, she had ended up beating down several other girls who Craster thought were getting too big for their boots and were entertaining notions of escaping from the Keep, or even of assassinating him and freeing all his wives. Some of whom, including Violet, had died from the beat-down she gave them, whilst others survived and now entertained positions of either pure terror towards her...or pure loathing.

To Karina, it honestly didn't matter. Sure, it sucked being so hated by her kin, but the alternative was refusing Craster's orders, and she knew he was cruel enough to do exactly what he had threatened to do to her, or worse. There were definitely worse fates available to those who truly infuriated Craster. One girl had once run away and spent two days out in the wilderness before running back and begging for forgiveness from Craster, though the way she went about it, trying to emphasize her non-existent value to him, just pissed him off more.

His idea of forgiveness was to have Karina beat her down in the longhouse until she had boxer's fractures in several of her fingers from hitting her so much, then he took her into his room and tormented her for hours while Karina had to stand guard and watch him torment her, before finally he gave her his final 'mercy', impaling her from her groin through to her throat on a thick wooden spike which he jammed into the ground outside the keep for all to see and fear. The message was incredibly brutal and clear: You do not escape from Craster.

Shivering slightly, Karina pushed Craster's brutality out of her mind and followed as he entered his room, shut and locked the door behind her, then went and unlocked the chest he kept his spare weaponry in, many of which came from the Night's Watch, their tribute in return for his services. There were axes, swords, daggers, even a warhammer and an old scimitar. Alongside them was a mixture of weapon-maintaining equipment.

He grabbed two of the daggers, a honing rod and a handful of whetstones, all of which he placed on his table, before affixing her with his gaze. "Alright, let's get this out of the way right now. I like to think of myself as a smart man, and a smart man never gives those who dislike him a way to harm him. Karina, you are a smart girl, smarter than any of the dumb-fucks out there." He gestured at the closed and locked door, making her blink in surprise, not quite expecting to see this side of Craster.

"I am not a stupid man, I know there are times you've considered stabbing me in the back and fleeing. I know that there have even been opportunities for you to do exactly that, and yet, you haven't taken them, even the most obvious ones." Her eyes widened as she realized that those opportunities she had seen had been traps laid by Craster. "Good. Yes, I was right about you, you aren't nearly as stupid as those bloody brood mares out there. So, I'll make a deal with you."

Immediately Karina was on guard, wary of exactly what kind of 'deal' a man as prudent as Craster would make. "These knives, this honing rod and these whetstones will be yours, to do with as you please. In return, I want you to be a...a lookout of sorts for me. If you find out something about those outside this room, I want you to alert me to it. I know you don't speak, whatever, if you can't then you can't, I don't give two shits. But, if you find something significant, I want you to inform me. Exactly how, I'll leave up to you."

Blinking, she looked down at the two knives sitting innocently on the table, then up at Craster. When he said he was going to make a deal with her, she was honestly terrified that he would tell her to be his bedwarmer. But to think it was something as simple as that. Pulling her lips into a smile, she pointed a thumb at herself, then flattened her palm out and feigned a running motion, then pointed at the door.

Craster looked at her for a moment, prompting her to tap her chin. After a moment, she pointed at him in an exaggerated fashion then feigned the same running motion and pointed at the door again. A moment later, he made a noise in his throat. "So, when you find something out, you plan to demonstrate it as such?" She nodded, her grin still on her lips. "So I presume that one would be informing me that someone wants to try and flee from me?" She nodded vigorously, glad to have at least some basic way to communicate. "Alright. It's not a very detailed or reliable way to convey information to me but whatever."

He gestured at the daggers, to which Karina stepped forth and lifted them, hefting them in her hands with her smile still plastered on her face. Said smile faded slightly as she looked at Craster, then took the daggers and placed them against her hips, prompting him to shake his head. "Bring me useful information three individual times and I'll give you the two sheaths. For now, you can make do."

Resisting the urge to frown, she nodded, shifting both daggers into one hand and picking up the honing rod and whetstones, which she put into a small pouch she had managed to make from leather to carry odds and ends she found useful. She contemplated the daggers for a moment, trying to figure out what she could do with them, before grinning. "Oh? Did you think of something perhaps?"

Craster had just finished relocking his chest of weapons and turned to see her face. She nodded, stepping back another step and dipping her head, not forgetting her place in front of him. While he had acknowledged her now, she didn't forget that he still had an ego the size of Jupiter, a superiority complex to match that, and a temper about as short-fused and explosive as a stick of dynamite.

He unlocked the door and let her out, to which she pointed at the door. "Alright, go do whatever it is you plan to do." Dipping her head further towards him, she quickly exited the longhouse and went around the side, dropping to her knees beside one of the log pillars. She pressed her fingers against the ground and scraped away at it, eventually unearthing her little stash, inside of which was a handful of leather strips she had kept, alongside other items she had saved and needed a place to hide them.

Picking a few of the leather strips up, she reburied the stash and got up, dusting her knees and hands off, before focusing on the leather strips. She took one strip and tied it around the base of the dagger where there was a flat edge section, then pushed up the clothing on her arm and placed the dagger flat against the topside of her arm, with the point facing towards her elbow.

Wrapping the leather around her arm, she then tied it together and made sure it was firmly tied there before taking ahold of the handle of her dagger, pulling it and carefully watching to see if it'd cut the leather. Thanks to the fact the knife tapered, as long as she drew it straight and didn't push it too far to one side, it would draw out without cutting the leather.

Karina allowed her lips to pull into a grin as she then put the tip of the knife into the loop left in the leather, slowly and carefully reinserting it into the makeshift swordfrog-esque creation. Repeating the process on her other arm, she waved her arm around to test how well the knife was being held in place, frowning as they both slipped out and in the process cut grooves into the leather.

Well, it was a good first attempt at least.

"Karina, come here."

Blinking, she turned her head to see Craster watching her. It had been a good six months since Craster had given her the daggers she was training with, and in that time she had managed to overhear and inform Craster of multiple of his girls doing things he wouldn't approve of. One of them had been hoarding food with which she planned to escape. Another, one of the girls who did hunting, planned to find an opportunity to kill Craster, using a bronze sword that she presumably had gotten from a wildling.

It helped that she was small and already well-versed in how to be stealthy, so evading their detection and creeping around to overhear things wasn't very difficult. Thanks to this, Craster had given her the sheaths she wanted, both of which were now well-bound to her arms and hidden under her clothing, her daggers always ready for her to draw and attack with, an action she had just been practicing.

While she was ostensibly Craster's bodyguard, after the show he had made of the last girl that tried to attack him directly, she hadn't come across anybody entertaining thoughts of escape, nor of trying to attack him. Instead, it seemed that with his actions, his 'wives' had given up on thoughts of escape or revenge. Though nobody had ever caught her eavesdropping, everybody knew that Craster had to have a way of getting information, and since she was very often attached to his shadow, it wasn't rocket science to make the connection, leading her to be ostracized by literally everybody else.

Paradoxically, that just meant Craster favoured her even more, owing to the fact he knew she wasn't tied to any of the others and wasn't likely to band together with them to take him down. Plus, the fact she was dutiful, reported anything she found out to him, and never tried to fight him when he punished her for mistakes, meant he probably thought, after half a year of obedience, that she had accepted her lot in life.

That wasn't quite true obviously, she was just waiting for the opportune moment. She was confident enough that she could find a way away from Craster, but she wasn't confident in being able to survive in the north yet, not alone. If she came across a group of wildlings, she'd probably be able to kill some of them, but nobody, not even Jaime Lannister, could win if their enemies simply dogpiled them with sheer numbers. She was definitely not Jaime Lannister, and she didn't want to imagine what fate she'd end up with if she did come across a group of wildlings while travelling.

Dipping her head, she headed over to Craster, at the same time sheathing her daggers under her sleeves. "There's going to be a ranging soon, and their first stop is always here. I want you to keep an eye on those fucks, make sure none of them get too close to my wives. I always give 'em a warning, and male eyes will naturally drift, so I'm not expecting you to gouge their eyes out for looking, my words will do enough, but if any get any foolish notions, well, you're strong enough now to put them in their places, ain'tcha?"

Looking up at Craster, Karina nodded, surprised when he reached a hand out and tapped her head. "Heh, I must be getting sentimental in my old fucking age. Normally I'd have strangled a brat like you in your crib, which would save me the risk of being stabbed in the back. How long has it been now since I had you guarding my room? Bit more than a month I reckon, and not once have I felt you contemplating stabbing me in my sleep." Dipping her head down again, she smiled despite herself.

It was true, she hadn't actually thought about killing him in his sleep, though him saying that he hadn't felt it did give some rise to exactly why he trusted her more than any of the other girls. He had some connection to the White Walkers, otherwise they wouldn't bother with his offerings. Whether he had a bit of the greensight to him, or was partially a warg or some other weird mumbo-jumbo, it didn't matter.

What mattered was that he obviously had some notion about her mindset as well. It was probably related to time spent around others, as he definitely wasn't aware of Karl Tanner stabbing him to death, but it quite neatly helped explain why in the show his wives didn't kill him and leave beforehand. He probably made examples of any who tried, made easier by Karina assisting him this time around.

"Do you know why I treat my wives as I do?" Jerking her head up, Karina stared at Craster, who was looking out into the endless snow-covered forest. "Survival. I don't know how you know, but you know, or at least have an idea, that there is more out there to fear than shadowcats and wildlings. if I don't bring them offerings, male offerings, then when the time comes, I will die, and so will all my wives. It's never been about anything other than ensuring that, when the time comes, they will be satisfied enough to leave me and mine alone."

Craster looked at her, shaking his head. "Selfish, yes, but I never cared for what others thought about me. Am I a rapist who impregnates his own children? Aye, I am, and I don't mind speaking the truth of it. Am I a man who would prefer to survive with indignities than die with an unmarred reputation? Fuck no, I'd rape my way from here to the Summer Isles to ensure my survival." Mildly surprised at the honesty Craster was showing her, she tipped her head to the side, then shrugged. It really didn't matter to her what Craster thought about himself. If he wanted to believe his cock was the god's gift to the world and that he had to share it then that was on him.

As long as he didn't try sticking it in her, he could do whatever the fuck he felt like.