It was during that same evening in which Tormund Giantsbane was displaying some unusual behaviour over dinner that the news that Ramsay Bolton, the new Warden of the North since murdering his father, now has Rickon Stark captive.

The room carried an ominous weight, a heaviness that set in the heart and the innocence of each vulnerable part of every person present.

It was Jon who spoke first, "Seven Hells, how do we handle this? We aren't handing Sansa back over to that monster that's for damn sure, but we need to save Rickon too..."

"If we just slaughtered the damn pig then all the other shit becomes easy."

"Despite that being true Tormund, we should probably focus on making sure Rickon is safe before we deal with Ramsay."

After a few minutes of silence, surprisingly it was Pod who spoke up, "Lady Brienne often gave council to those she served..." Quieting down after Brienne glared furiously at him. "So she said..."

A hopeful look spread over to Jon and Sansa, "Really? Who have you previously served Brienne?"

"Lord Renly Baratheon and Lady Catelyn Stark, ser."

"Catelyn..." A distant look shadowed over the lord commanders' face, Brienne wondered whether or not it would have been easier to lie and spare this family the pain. "What would you have use do in this situation Brienne?"

Brienne moved towards the ornate table which had recently been covered with a large map of the Northern parts of Westeros. She felt a heat come up behind her and immediately brought her hand towards the hilt of her blade once more. Brienne managed to glace at this warmth, protective heat; just to find that Tormund had approached the map as well but placed himself so that they were touching slightly, chest to back.

Momentarily stunned by the sudden intimate bodily contact, Brienne regained her composure and focused on the oncoming battle. "Logically Lord Bolton has the advantage here; he has a army which is at least three times larger than ours, they have better weapons, more horses-"

"Please tell me you are getting somewhere positive with this?"

The strong, warrior of a woman sighed, "Naturally. He may have the upper hand in aspects of those terms, but from what we know of Ramsay Bolton his greed will become his weakness. He will be impatient to get his hands back on Sansa or at least use his hands to kill Rickon."

"That's not going to happen."

"I'm aware. Alas since he will be so impatient for something to happen it means that he won't plan his attacks well. His father was the one who was in charge, who planned the attacks- Ramsay is too impulsive. Yes, he will probably be expecting some kind of ambush, he knows that you won't give up on Sansa or Rickon willingly and would do anything to protect them. He will want to set out as soon as possible, but you have to remember that those soldiers aren't Ramsay's men, they are his father's. If he tells them to do anything crazy- they may not oblige."

Jon became significantly more hopeful the more was stated, "Brienne, you might be onto something here."

"Also Ramsay will most likely have Rickon with him, so that will be the only possible time we have to get him, alive."

"Brilliant. It's genius m'lady." The softly spoken gruff voice in her ear made her seize up in shock. She had forgotten Tormund had still been so close to her, she had gotten used to his warmth. The thought made her shiver in anticipation, Brienne knew there was more important things to be dealing with at that time, but all she felt was her mind going numb from such innocent intimacy.

Her racing heart was calmed once more when Jon decided to make an announcement to the small number of people within the room. "Alright everyone, listen up. Brienne is right, we need to plan this through to the last detail, and I think that I have just the thing. For now rest up, early tomorrow we'll discuss the plan. If Ramsay wants this trade to happen soon, well, we'll give him just that."

As the crowd dissembled Brienne felt the cold return again as Tormund went to leave, she turned just as he did and both sets of eyes linked with silent approval.