Ten months later...

EPILOGUE I

To the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch.

Dear Jon,

I hope this letter finds you well as it's been long since I last had news from you. As promised, I'm sending you some of my men with a shipment of supplies, weapons and clothes. I'm aware it's not much, and this is only a small part of the help you need at the Wall, but we are still rebuilding here and unfortunately still lack resources. However, I have hope that it is the first shipment of many more to come. It has only been a month that the orchard produced it's first harvest. It was a small harvest, but watching it grow delighted us all and I want you to share our delight. Please, share them with your men and tell them that Winterfell will never forget the Night's Watch. Among the provisions there is also parchment and ink for Clydas and some special herbs for Three Finger Hobb. I trust he will put them to good use in seasoning your meals. Wrapped in a woolen cloth you'll also find a special sword for Grenn. I hope you don't mind; our smith has been working without rest for the last months, and now that our weapons have been restored he has begun to forge new ones. It was Sandor's idea to order a new sword for Grenn to replace, in his own words, "that stinking rusty sword of his with which he couldn't even train a nursling". As you see, some things never change. The man accompanying the party is Doreon The Bard. I hired him last week for a little entertainment at the main hall, and since all of us enjoyed his songs, I retained him for your entertainment as well. I know you have very few distractions at Castle Black and since I can't sing to you anymore I thought your men would enjoy him. Do you know there is already a song about me? It's called The Wolf Lady and it'd be pretty good if it half of it was true. But, what song is anyway? I hope you enjoy Doreon as much as we did. Please know that I could never forget my days at Castle Black and the people I met there. I'll be forever in your debt.

It seems that Queen Selyse and Princess Shireen have gotten used to their new life at Winterfell. The Wall wasn't place for them and I'm glad King Stannis asked me to provide host for them at Winterfell. It's nice to have some female company around. As we still don't have a maester, Shireen is teaching little Rickon to read and write. You should see them together; she is so patient and kind and he looks at her as if she were the smartest person in the Seven Kingdoms. When he is not learning to hold a sword he seeks her out to play. Selyse has begun speaking of betrothals and alliances between our two families but I won't hear of it. When Rickon is a man grown he can decide whom he wants to marry, and if he chooses Shireen I'll be the first to celebrate. I won't decide our brother's fate as it happened to me.

Little Rickon… you should see him now, how tall he has grown. I still marvel every time I watch him at the courtyard, can't still believe he's here with us. The day he crossed Winterfell gates with Osha I thought my heart would flee my chest. Remember when I wrote you that Theon Greyjoy had said that our brothers were still alive? You didn't believe him, as no one in Winterfell did. Everybody thought it was a lie to avoid a certain death, but some instinct told me to trust his words. We found him and Jeyne Poole in the dungeons among the rest of the prisoners of the battle, cleaved to each other in the corner a cell, so terrified of us… Jon, if you had seen him then you would have pitied him as I did. He isn't anymore the boy that grew up with us; he looks old and lives constantly in fear. I think he and Jeyne were badly tortured during their time with Bolton's bastard, though neither of them dares to speak a word about it. Since the day of Theon's release I have wished against all hope that he was telling the truth, that the news of my return to Winterfell would reach our siblings in hiding, and that they would finally return home. It has been three months since Rickon's return and I'm still at loss to explain how happy his presence makes me.

Jeyne and Theon are inseparable now. I allow them to share a room next to mine and Rickon's. Theon now helps in the kennels as he is very good with the dogsand recently has begun to train with the bow again. As Ramsay's Bolton widow, Jeyne is the true heir of the Dreadfort but the idea of living in that terrible place scared her so much that she spent a whole week locked in her chambers crying after we told her. After doing some research and consulting with you and our high lords we came up with the agreement for Tormund to run the keep and manage the lands as Jeyne's castellan while she remains as its true owner. I believe this plan serves all involved and allows me to fulfill my debt with the Free People. Jeyne helps me at my chambers and she is slowly recovering joy. She has suffered so much since the last time I saw her at the Red Keep and there is nothing that I wish more than to help her and ease her fears. Sandor recently visited the Dreadfort and reports that Tormund and his men are doing well with the castle and the lands around. If something or someone menaces our Kingdom they'll fight by our side to defend it, because now this is their land too.

So a bastard's widow, a crippled prince, Free People, a queen and a princess without a Realm, a former Lannister man, a wild little Stark, brothers of the Night's Watch… this is our family now, Jon. Winterfell has become a place of shelter for orphans, widows and people with nowhere to go. I gladly opened our doors, and my heart, to all of them. If there is anything I've learn these past years, it's what it feels like to have nowhere to go. Now that I rule this castle andam proud to call it home, I'll not allow someone I care about to go without a roof over his head and a proper meal before going to rest at night.

As for Sandor, he is doing quite well. He hasn't been idle since the day we first took the castle. At the beginning the men feared him and his harsh moods, but as months have passed he has earned the respect of everyone at the keep. Little happens without him knowing it and his lessons in the yard remind me of when we were still at Castle Black and he helped Grenn and the new recruits. We couldn't have a more skilled master at arms. He works hard and there is no doubt that he has earned his place at Winterfell. I think… I think he is happy here. He has never said so, of course, but I feel it in the way he works and how he leads himself with the villagers and soldiers. It makes me happy, too. A year ago we were two orphans wandering the road to the Wall, looking for refuge like the people who seek us now. And now we have built a home at Winterfell. I know he feels that way about it, and for me…well, for me, he is my home.

I'd like very much for you to visit us, Jon. I know you have much to do at the Wall, and that your men need you, but we need you too. I miss you so much! I want you see Winterfell again, and to see Rickon. It would be good for you to take a rest from your duties before fighting the menace beyond the Wall. Bring Grenn, Pyp and some of the boys with you, for they also need something to brighten their spirits. Our gates will always be open for the Night's Watch. Please write back with news of your arrival. Please, I miss you so.

Your sister,

Lady Sansa Stark of Winterfell