8. Castle Black

Sansa had never been so cold. She had never been North of Winterfell. She had never ventured with her brothers into the forest out in the snow. Afraid of all the stories her Old Nan had told her, she had certainly never dared to go past the woods surrounding her castle. Stories and songs were as close as she had ever been to the Wall. And now she was finally seeing it for the first time in her life. She may have been through a lot, but she was still a giddy little girl at heart.

"Mother, look! The Wall! It's huge!" she exclaimed. She grabbed her mother's hand and tugged. "Have you ever seen it before?"

"No. Your father had told me about it. It's impressive."

A massive slab of ice rose from the ground. Ice on ice. Impenetrable. Unbreakable. As high as the sky. Grey ice on the ground, blue ice at the bottom of the wall, white ice at the top, merging with the grey and white in the sky. It was almost impossible to tell where the wall ended and where the heavens began. At the bottom of that white immensity a tiny black dot could be spotted.

"That's Castle Black, my Lord" one of the riders addressed Stannis. "I will approach to advise them of our arrival."

"I sent a raven before we left Dragonstone. They should be expecting their King"

They stopped a few yards from the gates awaiting a welcoming party that never came. It was the same rider who returned with orders to take everybody inside. Sansa was ecstatic. All the songs talked about knights at the Wall slaying monsters and giants. How brave these men must be! And her brother Jon was one of them!

Disappointment was palpable on Sansa's face. Castle Black was nothing but a rundown wooden structure surrounded by a half burned wall. The knights she expected to meet looked no better, braver or stronger than the rioters and troublemakers she had seen in King's Landing. She could hear the Lord Commander as he apprised Stannis of the current situation at the Wall: not enough men, not enough fortresses, not enough weapons, the men were not good enough, they were not trained soldiers but rapers, thieves and murderers who had chosen the Wall to prison. What was Jon doing here with this lot? Jon was a trained man. He could be a knight. He was a bastard, but he was no criminal like the others. Where was he?

All the men were ushered to the soldiers' garrison and the three women were taken to the Common Room. Sansa, Catelyn and Lady Melisandre were given warm food and drink and then decided to stay by the fire. They were alone with only a few more men from the Night Watch who completely ignored them as they went about their business when Stannis walked in. Yet, it was not Stannis that caught Sansa'a attention, nor the young woman walking by his side, but the little boy holding the woman's' hand.

"Rickon!" she shouted. "Mother, look it's Rickon".

Catelyn wasted no time and ran towards her son. "Oh, Rickon, I have missed you so much!" she cried hugging her youngest son. "So many nights I stayed awake, unable to sleep dreaming of finding you again. Both you and Bran. Is he here, too?"

But the child did not return her hug, nor did he give her the warm smiles she had missed so much. "Are you Mother?"

"Yes, my sweetling, it is me, your mother" she said softly.

"You left. You all left. Even Bran, and you never returned. Osha stayed. She said she would not leave" he snapped back at her and disentangled himself from her arms.

"My lady" said Osha respectfully to the stunned woman.

"Osha" Catelyn returned the greeting. "Maester Luwin said you have been taking care of my sons. You have my gratitude."

"Maester Luwin is dead. I saw him."

"Yes, he is" Catelyn replied and closed her eyes for a second. "Is Bran here?"

"No, my lady. I'm afraid he continued North beyond the Wall with the Reed children."

"We have to go find him!" interrupted an excited Sansa.

"The North is vast, my child" said Osha ominously. "Bran had plans of his own. Plans that did not include any of us. My Lady" she continued turning to Catelyn "despite what you have just seen, your son Rickon has missed you very much. He resents having been left behind, but he loves you and remembers you fondly."

As Catelyn tried to get to Rickon, he just retreated further into Osha's arms. "Child, go to her" the wildling woman told him. "She is your mother, not me."

"Mother?" he asked and Catelyn nodded. "Sansa?" he asked again looking at his sister. "Why did you leave? Why did you never return?"

"We tried Rickon, we just couldn't" replied Sansa seeing that her mother was on the verge of tears and too upset to continue. "But we're here now. Come, you've been here for a while. Why don't you show me around the place? Are there many soldiers? Do they have swords?" and she continued asking questions as she led him out of the Common Room.

Rickon felt very proud showing Sansa around Castle Black and telling her everything he knew about the men, the castle, the grounds, the weapons, the monsters that he had heard lived beyond the Wall and even the strategies he had devised himself to rid Westeros of those monsters. Sansa listened attentively and even asked him questions. Then she turned the conversation to more personal matters.

"You know, Rickon, we all left the house for different reasons. Father was called by the King. Arya and I had to go with him. Mother left to protect Bran and Father and us. Robb left when Father was taken prisoner. We all tried to get back to you but couldn't. I was a prisoner for a while, but Mother rescued me. And now we have found you. We are a family again. We all missed you very much. You have been very nice to me showing me around Castle Black. You are the brother I remember, and I am the sister you remember. Mother needs you now. Do you remember her?"

"Yes"

"Do you miss her?"

"Yes"

"Great! She's here now. You don't need to miss her anymore. Let's go back to the Common Room so you can talk to her. She really misses you, you know."

"All right"

"I'm sure she would love to hear about your strategies and plans for those monsters"

Hours later, they were still sitting by the fire, as Rickon was still telling his sister and mother of his adventures with Bran, Hodor, Osha and the Reed children, their journey through the North and the perils they had faced. He also told them of Theon and how he had come to Winterfell but instead of playing with them like he always had, he had threatened all the men and even Maester Luwin who would never hurt anyone. He introduced Osha to his mother and sister and wished they could all be together like a new family. The women laughed and enjoyed themselves as he talked. Even Lady Melisandre joined in the conversation. Suddenly the doors to the Common Room opened and Stannis walked in.

"Apparently, there have been many sightings of a horde of wildlings close to the Wall" he said as he sat down between Melisandre and his wife. "There have been reports of wildlings this side of the Wall, as well" he said and looked questioningly at Osha "although nobody knows how they were able to cross. They are being led by a former man of the Night Watch called Mance Rayder. The Lord Commander believes they intend to attack Castle Black, destroy the Night Watch and venture South into the Seven Kingdoms. According to some of the men who have seen them, they are also accompanied by creatures of the Beyond, giants, white walkers, wargs and the like. I don't know if we are to believe this nonsense, but having seen the conditions of this place, I can safely say the Night Watch definitely needs more support than what it's getting from the King."

"A few weeks before King Robert's visit to Winterfell" interrupted Catelyn and then added to herself before our lives changed forever, "there was a deserter found in the outskirts of Winterfell. It was Ned's duty as Warden of the North to execute him. However, before he died he talked of having seen such creatures."

"In any case" continued Stannis not fond of being interrupted "we should know more when the rangers return. One of the rangers in the party is your late husband's bastard, Jon Snow. Maybe you can ask him"

Sansa could see her mother's jaw clench. Jon had always been a sore topic between her parents. Her father refused to speak about Jon's mother and in turn her mother had always resented him for it. Sansa knew her mother did not hate Jon, just what he represented. Sansa could understand that her mother would feel shamed and humiliated by the presence of a bastard in her house. But she never agreed with her mother when she shunned Jon out of the family, when she wouldn't let him join them for meals or other events. She felt for her mother, but she also felt for Jon. She couldn't say that Jon was afraid of her mother, but he certainly tried to avoid her if he could. But that was all in the past. After everything they had been through, surely they would be able to find some common ground.

When they retired for the night, Sansa and her brother shared a room with their mother. The bed was not very big, but enough to fit all three. Her mother said it was to keep warm, but Sansa knew better.

"Mother, do you think Jon will return tomorrow?"

"I don't know. I sure hope so"

"Do you really want to see him?"

"I do" she said, and after a long pause she added "he is one of the few reminders of your father that I have left."

TBC

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