Jon
Lady Melisandre was awaiting him at the base of the Wall. The Lady was all red. Red silk dress, red eyes and red lips. Kissed by fire, like Ygritte.
"What does His Grace want of me?" he asked her, brushing away those sad memories.
The woman smiled."All you have to give, Jon Snow. He is our King."
Her words meant nothing to him, but he accepted them nonetheless. Nodding his head he shut the door and pulled at the bell cord. Soon the winch began to turn and they were hoisted upwards. Trying to ignore the Red Woman's presence Jon let his gaze wander over the distant landscape.
After a while he turned his attention back to the Lady. She smiled, even though the sharp wind was howling around them.
"Are you not cold?" he asked, lacking a topic to converse about.
She only laughed.
"Never," she replied and touched the ruby around her neck."The Lords' fire lives within me, Jon Snow."
Then she leaned closer and touched his cheeks. Her hands were warm, even hot.
"That is how life should feel. Only death is cold."
Jon swallowed hard and left her there, making his way towards the King overseeing the pattern of forests and snow.
"I bring you the Bastard of Winterfell, Your Grace," Lady Melisandre informed him and folded her hands before her.
Jon knew what was demanded of him and knelt, before the grim King.
"Rise. I have heard much of you, Lord Snow."
"I am no Lord," Jon was quick to reply and rose back to his feet, „but I know what you have heard. That I am a turncloak, that I shed the blood of my brother Qhorin Halfhand to appease the Widlings, that I rode with Mance Ryder and took a Wildling as a wife."
"I heard much more. That you are a warg that walks at night taking the form of a wolf," the King added and turned around."How much of it is true, I wonder?"
Thinking of Ghost filled him with a deep longing.
"I had a direwolf named Ghost, but I left him behind before I climbed the Wall in company of the Wildlings. Qhorin Halfhand commanded me to join the Wildlings. He knew they would make me kill him to prove myself and told me to do whatever they asked of me. The Wildling girl I lay with was named Ygritte, but I swear that I never turned my cloak
It was a lie. He cared for her and and that was the truth, but admitting it would cost him his head.
"I believe you, Lord Snow," the King replied."Most of it are lies made up by this Janos Slynt. I know him and I also knew your father. He didn't love more nor did I love him, but lying was not his way. You have his look and his bearing. I also know that it was you who found the dragonglass dagger used by Lord Tarly's son to slay the Other."
Another lie.
"It was Ghost who found it, wrapped up in a ranger's cloak and buried beneath the Fist of the First Men."
"I also know that you held the gate," the King added, ignoring his words of objection.
"Donal Noye held the gate," Jon corrected him.
A dark look reminiscent of sadness washed over the King's features."Noye was a good man and would have made a good Lord Commander, but the gods didn't seem fit to spare his life."
"Cotter Pyke and Ser Denys Mallisters are good men in their own right. Lord Commander Mormont trusted each of them."
"He did and died for his trust. Besides, we are here to speak about you. I have not forgotten that it was you who brought us the magic horn and captured Mance Ryder's wife and son.
"Dalla died and her babe didn't require much capturing. Not much of a feat," Jon replied, wondering where this talk was going.
The King sighed and straightened the brooch on his cloak. It was a flaming heart.
"As I said…your father was no friend of mine, but I saw his worth. Your brother was a rebel and traitor who meant to steal half my kingdom, but no man can question his courage. What of you?"
Jon was taken back, unable to find the right answer."I am a brother sworn to the Night's Watch."
The King grounded his teeth."Do you know why I sailed to the Wall, Lord Snow?"
"I am no Lord," he insisted, „and you came because we sent for you, thought sooner would have been preferable."
The King smiled.
"You are bold to say so, but you are not wrong. It was Ser Davos Seaworth who reminded me of my duty when all I could think of was my right to the Iron Throne, but now where my future lies," he said and let his gaze sweep over the landscape."It is here in the North where I will find the foe that I am fated to fight."
"You shouldn't speak his name," Lady Melisandre added almost gently."He is the God of Night and Terror and these Others are his creatures."
"I heard you slew one to save Lord Commander Mormont's life," the King added."Maybe you are fated to fight them as well. You might be able to help me shoulder this fate."
Jon trembled, knowing what the King meant to say, but unable to allow it to enter his thoughts.
"I swore a vow, your Grace," Jon Snow replied matter-of-factly.
"I have no need of your vows, but the North," The King explained plainly.
Jon felt liked slapped."My brother was King in the North."
"Your brother was the rightful heir of Winterfell, but nothing more. If he had stayed home instead of crowning himself he might sill be among us, but that is not so."
Jon gritted his teeth, Robb's face swimming before his eyes. It was the last memory of his brother. He as smiling and snowflakes were melting in his red locks. Farewell, Snow, he had said.
"That is not so," Jon confirmed, lifting his head to meet the King's bottomless blue gaze.
"No, but that is why I need someone to take his position as Lord of Winterfell. A loyal Lord of Winterfell."
He is speaking about me, he knew, but could scarcely believe it. The world before him was growing distant, snowflakes blurring his sight.
"I am a Snow not a Stark, your Grace," he replied all too weakly.
"A King can remove the taint of bastardy with a stroke, Lord Snow," the Lady Melisandre added softly and touched his arm.
"I also swore a vow," he replied."I knelt before the heart tree and swore to hold no lands and father no children."
The Lady leaned closer, the warmth of her hand burning on his skin."There is only one true god. A vow sworn to a tree has no more power than one sworn to a stone. Open your heart to the Lord of Light and burn…," she explained, but Jon cut her off before she was able to continue.
"I cannot burn them…the Lords of the North would curse me," he replied more sharply than intended.
The King gave him a grim look.
"The Lady was trying to be helpful, but I won't force you to burn the holy trees of your people. I have need of both the Northern Lords and the Wildlings. I may be mistaken about you or not, but you are what the Lord of Light has given me and I mean to make use of you. I killed a thousand of wildlings, took another thousand captive and scattered the rest, but we both know they will return. Lady Melisandre has seen it in the fires."
"What you say is true," Jon confirmed.
"I have spoken to Mance Ryder and I have no other choice, but to give him to the flames. Ye there are other captives like this Magnar of Thenn and this Lord of Bones. Your brothers are already grumbling about my plans for the Wildlings. I will ask of them to pledge fealty to me and take the Lord of Light as their god. Then I intend to settle them in the Gift, once I have acquired it from your new Lord Commander. Yet that is not enough. It is time to form an allegiance between the North and the Wildlings."
Father dreamed of resettling the gift, Jon knew and nodded his head in agreement."
The King seemed pleased by this and continued."That is why mean to wed my Lord of Winterfell to this Wildling Princess."
The idea was absurd, but then King Stannis knew nothing of the ways of the Wildlings.
"You cannot give her to me. The man who intends to marry her would have to steal her first."
The King scoffed."I care no how you do it, but the match is necessary to assure the loyalty of our new subjects. Now, tell me. Are you refusing me, Lord Snow?"
Jon kept his answer vague.
"I will need time to think about it," he told the King."Will you grant it, your Grace?"
The King gave him an accepting nod."I will, but know that I am not a very patient man."
The same day Jon Snow rode out to visit the heart tree where he once swore his vow. He settled down beneath the tree, listening to the whispering of the wind and the cracking snow, hoping to receive an answer. Yet in the end it was only the Lady Melisandre that came to see him in his self-imposed loneliness.
How she found her way here was a mystery to him too.
"Lord Snow," she said softly and came to stand before him."Are you not cold?"
It sounded as if she was chiding him, but Jon didn't trust her false friendliness.
"I am used to it," he replied more sharply than intended, though his rudeness didn't seem to bother her.
"What brings you here, my Lady?"
She smiled and folded her arms in front of her.
"You told the King that you are in need of time, but time is not something we can afford to waste. I watched my fires Lord Snow…I saw darkness gathering in the North, both in inhuman and human form and you and my King are the only ones able to face these dangers," she explained and kneeled down before him. Her hands felt warm on his cheeks.
"I saw more than that…I saw a brown-haired girl clad in a grey dress embellished with a direwolf…weeping and crying out for help. I saw her wedding under a heart tree in the burned walls of a great grey castle…I saw a man with the name Snow lay a pink maiden cloak around her shoulders…," she whispered to him as if he was a child in need of a lullaby, yet none of her words brought him comfort.
"Arya…," he stuttered."My sister…marrying the Bastard of Bolton."
"Did the fires ever lie to you, my Lady?" he asked in a pleading tone.
She gave him a sad smile and leaned down to kiss his cheek.
"The Lord of Light showed me these visions for a reason," she replied and rose back to her feet.
Then another smile crossed over her crimson lips."There is another matter. My King worries about elections. He fears that he will find an enemy in the next Lord Commander."
"Janos Slynt would banish him from the Wall, but Cotter Pyke and Ser Denys Mallister are both good men."
The Lady nodded her head."And who of those two good men would be more likely in favor of my King's mission?"
Jon didn't know why she wanted to know all this, but he gave his honest answer.
"Probably Ser Denys Mallister. Cotter Pyke is a good man, but he doesn't like your King very much."
"I thank you then, Lord Snow," she replied with a knowing smile and left him to himself.
Jon remained and soon his bones started to feel numb. At one point he fell asleep, until he was woken by something wet brushing over his cheek.
Opening his eyes he found a pair of ruby eyes staring back at him.
"Ghost," he realized and brushed his hand through his white fur. Then he embraced the wolf, pondering over the visions.
Arya, he thought and felt tears burning in his eyes. Arya is all that is left to me. How can I abandon her, father?
…