4 Months before the Death of Jon Arryn

Cenn

It had been eight months since Cenn had left his home on his southward trek. Since he had left home, Cenn had learned so much about the world south of his home that challenged everything Cenn had ever believed. Cenn knew now how isolated his family and his people had been from the rest of humanity. Cenn knew now how false their beliefs about their reason for existence were, as well as their notion of keeping the world safe from the Walkers. Cenn knew now that the Old Ones were real. And today, Cenn had learned his father had been wrong about the Wall.

The massive structure standing before him was no thirty foot barrier with a size vastly exaggerated by legend and word-of-mouth. Before Cenn was a wall of ice that stood over three hundred feet in height. Cenn knew now his plans would have to change.

Before Cenn now was an obstacle beyond which he could not see. He knew nothing about what was waiting for him on the other side of the Wall. Cenn was not thrilled about climbing over the Wall without knowing what he could expect when he got to the other side.

"It is not yet time for you to cross" a voice said behind Cenn. Cenn spun, spear arcing over his head, to leave a shallow cut on the cheek of the same Old One who had startled him a month prior.

The Old One did not flinch, nor did it seem particularly perturbed by the small wound Cenn had inflicted.

"You have to stop appearing behind me" Cenn said. "Next time, I am going to take your head off."

"You need to listen to me" the Old One said, "and then I will stop appearing behind you."

"I will listen to you" Cenn began, "when you start telling me what to do instead of planting a series of incoherent visions in my head and expecting me to figure it out on my own."

"I told you that you would find four of those necessary here beyond the Wall, and two more south of it. This is all that I can tell you."

"All you can tell me? As in, you know more, but you will tell me nothing more. What good does that do anyone?"

"If you only knew, Dealmaker. This fight has been fought before, by your ancestors, and their ancestors, and their ancestors before them."

"What is that supposed to mean? And why do you keep calling me 'Dealmaker'? And how is 'north of the Wall' supposed to help me find a boy in black, a woman in ice, a bloody axe, and an eagle? Could you be any less specific?"

"If you take not but one step in the right direction, will the next not become clear?" the Old One asked.

"No" Cenn shouted in frustration. "I could take a step in a hundred different directions at this very moment and none of them are going to seem any more in the right direction than any other if you do not tell me what I am looking for!"

"If you keep shouting, you are going to attract the Night's Watch" the Old One observed dryly.

"Maybe I want to attract the Watch. Is that where the boy in black is?"

"No" the Old One said. "It is not yet time for you to confront the Watch."

"Let me get this straight: You not only want me to find the people I'm supposed to gather, but you give me visions that don't even tell me where to look? Where would I look for a boy in black, except in the Night's Watch? It seems the most likely place by far, unless my father was wrong about this too, and the Wall is guarded by literal crows. Either way, the boy's not here, and you know full well where he is, but you still won't tell me."

"He is north of the Wall" the Old One said simply.

Cenn, quickly tiring of the Old One's company, slung his spear over his shoulder in the sling he had made for it, drew two of his four obsidian daggers, and turned to face the Wall.

"For some reason it seems incredibly important to you that I don't go over this Wall right yet" he said over his shoulder. "It also seems to be important to you that I survive, though you won't tell me why. But here's the thing: I want to go over the Wall and you have not given me a good reason not to. So unless you give me two concrete answers about what I should be doing instead of these vague warnings, I am going to climb this thing. So either I am going to go over the Wall, which you seem to think would be bad, or I am going to fall off the Wall and die, which we both agree would be bad. The only way to stop me is to tell me what you want."

Cenn began climbing the mammoth wall of ice, digging his blades into the ice and pulling himself up. By the time he was a dozen feet off the ground, Cenn knew he was going to have to rethink his strategy. He would be too tired to continue long before he ever reached the halfway point of the climb.

But the Old One would have to have known this too. Cenn was sure the Old One knew Cenn would not make it. And so Cenn kept climbing, hoping the Old One was more concerned about Cenn's life than it was about keeping its secrets.

Cenn had made it thirty-five feet off the ground before the Old One finally broke.

"I can't tell you where to go next. But I can show you."

"You'll take me to where I need to go?" Cenn asked.

"No, but I can show your mind's eye."

"Not good enough" Cenn answered as he pulled himself up another three feet. "I need the next two specific steps."

"I can't do that" insisted the Old One.

"I tire of fighting with you" Cenn said. "If you want me to come down, I need to know the next three steps you would take if you were me. This is the last chance I'm giving you."

Cenn had climbed another dozen feet before the Old One finally spoke.

"If I were you I would first kill Craster, then meet up with Mance, then head up to the land between the forks."

Though Cenn was less than satisfied, he began to climb down. "Why?" he asked.

"Why was not part of the deal" the Old One said harshly.

"Why is it you so desperately need my help, but you're so determined to be less than helpful?" Cenn asked.

"Because I can tell you only what I know, and the Three-Eyed Raven does not tell me everything he sees."

"So why doesn't the Three-Eyed Raven help me?"

"Because the Three-Eyed Raven does not know everything. The Night King is very powerful, and the Night King obscures the Raven's vision."

"So do you know why you chose three things you did, or were just supposed to tell me to do them?"

"Craster gives his sons to the Walkers; Mance can help you get over the Wall, and the Eagle lives between the forks."

Cenn finally reached the ground, but before he could respond to the Old One, it grabbed his head. Cenn saw in his mind eye the way he must travel if he were to go to Craster's home. When the vision disappeared, the Old One was gone.

"The next time I see that Old One, I really am going to cut his head off" Cenn thought. But he began his trek toward where the Old One had directed him. As much as he distrusted the Old One, it was more to go on than Cenn had now. And anyone who sacrificed children to the Others deserved to die. That was simply an undeniable fact. Once Craster was dead, Cenn would once again consider his options. But Craster came first.