The free folk and the sky person are traveling south, still getting to know each other on the way.
Verona offers more insight to her world's dynamic.
Verona's POV:
Why, why am I such an idiot.
I find myself staring upwards, contemplating my own stupidity, at my pride, that led me to this decision. After being told a smaller party was going ahead, of course I wanted to go with them, it was only logical after all. They were going south of the wall, they told her. Yeah okay, I still want to go.
But nooo, I didn't understand, they were going to climb it. No tunnel through, at least none that they could use. I obviously couldn't go with them. I remember the awkward silence when I asked why… then of course, I was annoyed. And my pride hurt a bit, not that I wanted them to know that.
So I decided to play it off, pointing out that I didn't have a problem getting around, if they didn't notice. No one had to hold my hand to guide me.
I remember Mance asking just how I was able to do that. What kind of magic I possessed that allowed me to move so confidently, how I could use that to move things with my mind? Which, everyone was very careful about not mentioning. I suppose it had to be asked at some point…
"Its not seeing but… I can sort of, tell where things are with my… feet? If its connected with the ground, then its clear to me. Not specifics but, well, like impressions of things. The closer something is the clearer it gets. And if I touch something, that's the most details I'm able to… see…?" I tried to explain.
Everyone seems to take some time to consider this. Probably trying to picture in their own heads what it must look like.
"But how?" Tormund asks, sounding confused still.
How, indeed… how do I explain the experiments done on me. I never had to before. Everyone already knew, I didn't have to say anything out loud. I don't know why it
was so different having to say it, it just was…
"After I became blind, I had to learn." I decided. Which was the truth. I had to learn because they made me.
"So, you weren't always blind?" Ygritte asked me.
"No," I said wistfully, "not always."
Another pause. They probably wanted to ask how, but I really hoped they didn't.
"How –" Mance started.
"You think you'd be able to climb?" Jon asked suddenly.
"Yup." I responded right away.
"There's something else you need to explain, before I let you go with them." Mance responded sounding annoyed. Moving around some furniture to stand closer to me.
"When you first woke up, how were you able to throw people with your mind?" He certainly sounded serious. No careful explanation or side stepping this time. I knew it had to asked sometime but still…
"It was wind, not my mind. I was scared. I woke up in a strange place, disoriented and confused… I wasn't trying to hurt anyone. I only wanted… space."
"Wind? If you control that, what else can you do?"
Goddamn asshole. As if I don't know where this is leading. Same thing everyone wants me to do for them. Which is exactly what I didn't want to happen. My eyes narrow, and lips tighten.
"And why do you want to know that? I told you before, I don't plan on choosing a side. Especially when I don't think I agree with either one."
"Don't agree? It's that simple for you, you don't agree and will just walk off when you feel like it? We took you in, you've gotten to know people here, maybe with your help, less of them will die. Maybe, you're just a coward."
"If I had known the price for your help would be you demanding me to fight for you, I wouldn't have accepted. And to put it frankly, both of you have a lot more in common than you'd like to admit or see. You kill each other all the time, and you except me to side with one of you? To fight with one of you? I'm not." As if I'm a coward for knowing what war costs. One war was enough, I don't want to get involved in another one.
"We're taking you south, that's worth nothing to you? Tell us, what are you exactly?"
The silence was awkward to say the least. If I could just leave now I would, but I'm heading in the same direction, and also I have no idea where to go… no harm explaining some of it. Before I could say anything Mance starts again.
"I suppose there's no harm letting you go ahead then… people die all the time climbing the wall, you wouldn't be our concern any longer anyway. Though, I do ask you tell us the truth before you leave. Consider that your… payment… for allowing you a place here."
Mance sounded tense and unhappy, but his heartbeat was steady at least. And, I suppose it was fair, if the wall was as dangerous as they say. I guess I do owe them for giving me food and shelter. I do owe them for that… I hate feeling guilty. I let out a breath in acceptance and nod.
"I can control wind, rain, snow, and lightning. I can use them all to create storms, unnaturally powerful and focused storms. It costs a lot though… I can control wind the easiest, but it's still… it's difficult for me.
"I was forced to have this power, by the people that captured me the month before I turned 12. A war had started then… because the president and their family were attacked and killed.
"The attack started World War Three essentially. No foreign power had attacked a president before, and the year it was… it was the tri-centennial year for our country as well, it was 'too blatant a provocation'. I was her prisoner for seven years… she called herself the lead doctor. She made me into… a weapon. The last years she used me against my own people…" My throat felt tight, it was getting more difficult to speak. I hated to even admit this part, or think about it, it always led to a downward mental spiral.
My arms were crossed over my chest… I wonder when that happened. That was answer enough for them, wasn't it?…
"If you have that kind of power, why couldn't you just… escape?" Ygritte asked me.
"I didn't always have it. It was gradual. That and, they had this sort of… helmet. That made me do what they wanted… I couldn't move without her order. I was a puppet on strings… stuck in my own head" I trailed off, remembering the unpleasant feeling that damned device gave me. I'd been so hopeless for so long. My hands went up to the two spots on either side of my head where they drilled it in.
"It was in my head. I had to break it to escape." I traced the scar in my hair to show them, leading out to my right temple.
I shook my head when I heard someone else about to speak. I don't want to explain more today. They must have understood because the subject was turned to crossing the wall again. I was told how they managed to do it, in chains of people. Mance told me that as long as I wasn't a threat, I would be allowed to go on my way… I left quickly after that.
I spent some time with Val. Explaining that I was going ahead, and thanking her for helping me after I crashed here. I would miss her… she had been kind. I probably never would see… hear her again.
So now here I am, traveling with the smaller group, not too far from the wall now. Wondering if I'm even going to be able to climb the fucking thing. Why did I feel the need to prove myself? I've never climbed anything larger than a tree… and I fell out of those a few times even when I could see. What the hell was I thinking.
While I'm having my existential crisis, I hear the others getting the fire ready. I had told them a bit more about things, while traveling with them. It was easier not being surrounded by a camp of 100,000 people, it removed some of my uneasiness at least. Jon had told me more about the war going on in the south at that very moment. Or at least as far as he was aware, he had been away a long time now. So many pieces at play, it was unsettlingly familiar…
Jon and Ygritte were falling for each other. I could hear them flirting, or rather, Ygritte flirting and Jon being embarrassed. It was nice, like star crossed lovers. Both from two fighting sides, finding each other and falling in love. I could tell Ygritte knew the truth though, she wasn't an idiot. I hope they don't end up being a tragedy…
I liked Ygritte, she had a certain spunk to her, and was always unapologetically herself. She had a bunch of funny questions for me, to lighten the mood. I usually supplied some blind jokes in return, making everyone groan at how bad they were. It was fun.
Though I tried to help out around camp, I found out I was pretty shit at it… which wasn't good seeing as a was probably going to be on my own going south at some point. But I was able to tell them which direction to hunt in, so… it felt like I was doing something. Though, I didn't always get the chance to do that, because there was someone called a warg in the group, who could look around with the eyes of bird? But if an army of dead people exist, giants exist, and this entire situation is possible, there wasn't any reason to be surprised at this point.
I should probably get up now, and at least try to help out. I needed to accept I made a stupid, impulsive decision, and get on with it. I could ask Tormund to show me the tools to use again, maybe that would make me feel better about it. No turning back now at any rate. Besides, it was nice travelling with people like this. They didn't know as much as the people back home did, they didn't walk on eggshells around me, treating me gently like I was damaged beyond repair… I could almost forget sometimes.
"So, what do you miss the most, from your place?" Ygritte was asking Verona as they walked. Jon was walking close behind her while she asked Verona questions.
The others close by had been listening to some of her questions as well, sometimes answering Verona's questions in return. Tormund had been asking about the weather where she was from. Tormund had told her that is was always cold in the far north, and how winter could last for years at a time. How it marked the rise of the white walkers too. She seemed both fascinated and disturbed.
She told them they had the opposite problem where she was from, with winters getting more and more mild as time when on. Some places where so hot they were uninhabitable, even if people had lived there 20 years before. It caused the second cold war, or the resource war, she had chuckled when she said it, it was an ironic name. Apparently it wasn't a war with armies, but economics and bureaucracy… Jon didn't realize that those things could count as a war, if it were the country would be in constant state of warfare.
"The most? I'm not sure, it depends on the day I guess. Today, I miss the music the most I think. My dad taught me a lot of older songs. He said the good ones last a century for a reason. I listened to a lot, after I managed to escape."
"Music?" Tormund booms "We have to hear that now don't we, songs from another world. What kind of stories do they tell?"
"All kind," she laughs, "I'm pretty sure there's a song for everything by now. Why don't you sing me some of your first, while I think of one for you?"
The free folk were all chuckling now, as Tormund cleared his throat in preparation. It turned out to be a ballad for a bear? Jon was laughing with the rest of them at Tormund's ridiculous song. Apparently, Jon thought, Tormund was infatuated with the beast. It was the first time Jon has heard Verona cracking up with them, asking "You did what with a bear?"
"Alright, alright, you think of one for us yet?" Tormund asks with a grin.
"Well, there's one that came to mind I guess, by a band called led zeppelin. I'm not sure how good it'll sound, without any instruments but, I did promise." She cleared her throat as well, exaggerating a bit.
There's a lady who's sure, All that glitters is gold
And she's buying a stairway to Heaven
When she gets there she knows, If the stores are all closed
With a word she can get what she came for
Oh oh oh oh and she's buying a stairway to Heaven
More of the free folk appear to be listening now, Jon noticed. He turned to share a surprised look with Ygritte, she had a beautiful voice. She looked like she liked performing too, walking almost to a rhythm while she sang, complete with small hand gestures. Tormund was grinning ear to ear.
There's a sign on the wall, But she wants to be sure
'Cause you know sometimes words have two meanings
In a tree by the brook, There's a songbird who sings
Sometimes all of our thoughts are misgiving
Ooh, it makes me wonder
Ooh, it makes me wonder
She gestures with her right arm then, growing a bit louder.
There's a feeling I get, When I look to the west
And my spirit is crying for leaving
In my thoughts I have seen, Rings of smoke through the trees
And the voices of those who standing looking
And it's whispered that soon, If we all call the tune
Then the piper will lead us to reason
And a new day will dawn, For those who stand long
And the forests will echo with laughter
She turns around then walking backwards, hands moving with the lyrics, a finger wag, a point to the distance, or something similar. She seemed to be talking more to the free folk around her now, as she continued.
If there's a bustle in your hedgerow, Don't be alarmed now
It's just a spring clean for the May queen
Yes, there are two paths you can go by, But in the long run
There's still time to change the road you're on
Your head is humming and it won't go, In case you don't know
The piper's calling you to join him
Dear lady, can you hear the wind blow?
And did you know
Your stairway lies on the whispering wiiiind?
"And well, there's a guitar solo now, and another part in a different tempo but I can't quite remember the right words… but the final line is –
And she buuyyying the stairway, to heavennn
She finishes the song, the free folk looking thoughtful. It was a strange song, but it was nice to listen to. It was an odd concept though.
"Who knew the sky person had such a pretty voice" Tormund compliments, the other free folk murmuring their agreement. Verona turn back forward, looking down with a shy smile visible, but rubbing her throat as well.
"I used to love to sing, my dad taught me his favorite songs, he was teaching me how to play the guitar…" She looked off wistfully, a small smile on her face.
"What does it mean though?" Ygritte asked. Jon was grateful she did, he was curious as well.
"I think its intentionally vague… it could be about death, fear, maybe greed, or all of them at the same time." Verona responds with a shrug.
They continue to march south, some other free folk offering some lighthearted songs for the way. Jon kept thinking about the part of the song that mentioned two paths…
AN:
So they're almost to the wall. But not yet.
It's going to still be a bit slow, trying to introduce a character and a different world.
I was going for weapon X vibes with her backstory, and her tormentor being inspired from the doctor from the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which is a great book btw.
Anyways, hope you're intrigued so far! More to come!