"Beautiful evening, ain't it?" Thorine says and chuckles when she sees him jump at the sound of her voice.
"What are you even doing here?" he hisses, glaring at her, annoyed.
She steps slowly towards him. "I cannot sleep. Came out for a walk out here and spotted you guarding the gate on your own, so I thought I'd help you with it, or just keep you company."
His mouth opens slightly, and his beautiful blue eyes stare at him for a couple of seconds before he looks down at his feet. She cannot help but grin at his reaction. After recovering himself, he cleans his throat and speaks, "Milady, I do not-"
"Thorine," the redhead woman interrupts him, stopping in her tracks. "Thorine Giantsbane. I, by no means, am a lady. And you are?"
He snorts, but eventually replies, "Bryan. Ser Bryan of Tarth. And I do not require neither your help nor your company."
"Beautiful name, Ser Bryan. Just like yourself," she beams, ignoring the latter part of his sentence.
As a spearwife and now leader of the Free Folk now in the service of Jon Snow, Thorine has seen plenty of men in her life, from both sides of the Wall, but she has yet to see a man as impressive looking as Bryan of Tarth. She will never forget the day they first met, even though it has been only a few days ago. She was quietly sharpening her knife in the courtyard of Castle Black, still reeling from Jon Snow's resurrection, when a horn announcing newcomers made her stop what she was doing. The gates opened and when she laid her eyes on the man who first came in riding through them, she felt her jaw drop and her heart pound violently in her chest.
Bryan snorts again and looks away from her. "Right."
"You don't believe me, Ser?" Thorine titles her head to one side.
"You're not exactly the first one who says that."
"I should hope so! A man so handsome as you should have a different woman warm up his bed every night."
"Is this some kind of joke, Wildling?" Suddenly the yellow haired man turns his head back to her, and with one step closes the distance between them a little, his tone angry.
Thorine notices Bryan's right hand holding tightly the hilt of his sword, but she does not flinch. "I ain't joking, Ser. I'm being honest. You are a beauty. I've never seen a man like you, and I don't think I ever will."
The Free Folk woman takes a moment to take the knight in. She is considered too tall for a woman, which is one of the reasons why she is called Giantsbane, but the man before her manages to be a bit taller than her. His beautiful yellow hair glowing in the moonlight and his narrowed but impossibly beautiful blue eyes gazing into hers takes her breath away. She is sure she is before the most beautiful creature to set foot in this world, a true godsend man.
Bryan moves away from Thorine and his right hand releases the hilt so that his left one grips it. "Bryan the Beauty. That's how they call me. They always have. But then don't mean it."
Thorine flashes the man a puzzled look. "What? How can't they call you a beauty without meaning it?"
"Because I'm ugly! Can't you see it?" he blurts which makes him look around him, realizing he might have said it a little too loud.
Meanwhile, the ginger woman's face grows stern, shock slowly giving way to anger. Damn those Southern fucks. "No, I can't. Whoever gave you that name in mockery is either blind or a fucking idiot. Probably both."
"It's alright. I'm used to it," Bryan replies with a shrug. After a brief moment of hesitation, he adds, looking at a certain point in front of him, "As for the 'have a different woman warm up my bed every night' part, it's not that I haven't had offers; I have. I'm not that undesirable, as it turns out, but it's just that I've always been busy trying my best to be a respectable knight, and now I am Lady Sansa's sworn sword, and I really have no time for it."
"You're saying you're a virgin?" she inquires bluntly, both eyebrows raised.
He blinks a few times before confessing, "'The Virgin of Tarth' is another given name, probably because they assume I'm too ugly to… you know."
The ginger woman suspects the tall knight is actually blushing, but decides against pointing it out to him. Still, it is cute to see a man this size blush, which makes her want him even more.
After the man who gave her two beautiful daughters died, Thorine would not allow herself to be stolen again. Not that there were many attempts amongst her men, for most of then see her as a sister, and stealing her would be considered as sinful as an incest, so they usually go for a woman outside the clan. That does not stop her from wanting to be stolen by the right man though, and she is sure she has found him. Tall, strong, fierce, beautiful, and hopefully she will be his first. But since the man in question is a kneeler, why not do the stealing herself?
"I ain't judging you, Ser. After all, it's your choice and it's your right. But," she grins wickedly, "I can fix that if it bothers you."
"It most certainly does not bother me," he says through gritted teeth.
She laughs and raises her palms in defence. "Alright, if you say so."
"What's your game, Wildling? What is it you want from me?"
You. I just want you. All of you. I want to be yours, and I want you to be mine. I want to fight and rebuild the Free Folk clan with you by my side. I want to have your children, lots of them. They will be great, fierce warriors, and we'll be so proud of them. I want to tell you and show you everyday just how fucking gorgeous you are.
Thorine wants so bad to say all of those things to him, but she does not wish to scare Bryan off, so instead she replies, "Well, I wanted to tell you how beautiful I think you are, and I did just that. And since you don't need my company, I'd better be off. Goodnight, Bryan." With a nod at him, Thorine turns around and heads toward the stairway. It does not take very long before she hears his voice behind her:
"Thorine! Wait!"