A Time for Wolves

Jon IV

The sunlight that came in through the window woke him up. He had barely been able to sleep; the unresolved issues kept him awake most of the night. Jon had sent Val in search of Tormund, hoping to get an alliance with the wildlings that had joined him, and he was still waiting for her return. But while he tried to unite two peoples who had been enemies for centuries, his sworn brothers looked at him with suspicion. Some of them believed him a deserter, no better than Mance Rayder. Bowen Marsh and Othell Yarwick refused to accept the wildling's work, and made excuses and objections for everything.

Apart from that, there was Melisandre, who never failed to make him uneasy. She had foretold that three men he had sent on a ranging would come back dead, and they had. But she had also told him that a girl in grey on a dying horse (Arya) would come to the Wall to seek him and ask him to save her from an unwanted marriage. And that could not be true, because Arya was already at the Wall. Dressed in black, pretending to be a man of the Night's Watch, practicing swordplay, making watches and helping with whatever that was necessary, as everybody else. But he had not wanted to tell the priestess that yet, so he had had to accept her plan to send Mance Rayder to rescue her, because he had no excuse to refuse.

Arya was good at acting like a boy, but Jon knew it could not be like that forever. In a few years she would be a woman grown, and she would not be able to conceal that. Probably her breasts had already started to grow, and it would not be long before she bled. But, what could he do with her? He would love to be able to introduce her to everyone as his sister, and name her the First Woman of the Night's Watch. But if bringing wildlings to the Wall had brought problems and disagreements, allowing a woman to be a sworn sister of the Night's Watch would trigger even more rejection and disapproval from his sworn brothers. Besides, the only woman who was known to have been part of the Night's Watch was Danny Flint, the Brave. And Jon would rather be taken by the Others than let his little sister have the same fate as that unfortunate girl.

If Stannis found out about Arya's identity, he would insist in marrying her to one of his bannermen or loyal knights. And that was exactly the kind of life that Arya had rejected since Jon remembered: the one of a highborn lady who spoke nothing but courtesies and was wife to the important lord of a castle. The better option Jon could think of was to let her stay at the Wall, but as the spearwives did: working for the Watch, but without being part of it.

Aside from Arya's issue, Jon had to prepare to welcome Queen Selyse, who would arrive at Castle Black the following day. He had never seen the queen, but for what he had heard of her he was not especially thrilled to meet her.

In all of that Jon thought while he broke his fast (buttered bread, fruits and water) alone in his room. They were already eating winter rations, yet Bowen Marsh kept saying that they would run out of food before spring came.

He decided to end with Arya's problem that very day. It was what could be done more quickly. He asked Dolorous Edd to find 'Gendry' and the steward obeyed, somewhat curious about his Commander's interest in the little sworn brother.

"Here is Gendry, Lord Snow," Tollett said when he came back. Even though Jon was now a Stark, his friends kept calling him that, sometimes. Those for whom Jon was always the same, despite his titles.

"Thank you, Edd. You may leave. Come in, Gendry."

"Good morning, Jon," Arya greeted him.

"ood morning, Arya. Listen, we have to do something before they find out who you are. I have been thinking that you can reveal your identity and tell everybody that from now on you will live in Castle Black, but without being part of the Watch. That' is the best choice I can think of."

"Can't I be your sworn sister?" That question made him smile.

"You will always be my sister. And if ever things in the Wall calm down, I will remind everyone that you swore and worked the same as them. But for now, the best will be that you stop wearing black. That will be the only difference, I promise."

"I will tell them myself. I don't want them to think that you knew it from the beginning. I don't even have to tell them that I am your sister. I have already used other names before. I can say I am called Weasel, or Nan. That way nobody will think I am important, and they will not use me to hurt you."

Jon could not help feeling sad for his little sister. She had been through so much that she had been forced to change her identity more than once, and she was willing to do it again to protect him, who was her older brother. Jon knew everything would be much easier if Melisandre thought that she was a commoner, but he was not willing to deny his sister, now that he had her with him.

"I would prefer you to be my little sister. Arya Stark, of Winterfell." He ruffled her hair, making her laugh.

"Fine," she accepted, laughing. "But don't even think that I will behave like a little lady and take up needlework."

"You will not have conventional lessons if you don't want to, but I guess you'll still want to use your Needle."

"Yes. But, isn't it too small for me now?"

"It may be. But you have all of Castle Black's weapons to choose from. Surely you can find one that will do. But we were talking about your revelation," Jon went back to the serious tone. "I would like it to happen before the queen's arrival, so that she can say nothing about it. That would be this very night. Do you dare?"

"Of course I do! It doesn't scare me. And if I was afraid, I would do it all the same, because fear cuts deeper than swords," she answered proudly.

Jon wondered where Arya had learned that from, but he did not say anything. She had always been brave, and the change was not so big. She was still the girl he knew, only now she was a little older, and had seen terrible things. The same could be said about him.

Jon called Edd to take the trays from their breakfasts away. "Can I tell him? I want to see how he reacts," Arya asked Jon.

"Tell me what?" Edd asked with curiosity.

"Yes, you can. After all, it will not be a secret tomorrow," Jon conceded.

"What I have to tell you is… that I'm a girl!"

"It could be," Edd laughed about Arya's confession. "Now we have wildlings, and even a giant at the Wall. Why not have as well girls in the Night's Watch? But, if truth be told, I have never been lucky with women. Or with anything, truly."

"But I am a girl for real. I am Jon's sister: Arya."

Edd looked at Jon, whose expression confirmed what Arya had said. "Do we have a sworn sister?"

"Yes, but not for long. She will reveal her identity and stop wearing black. She will stay at the Wall, but not as part of the Watch. Edd, would you bring Pypar, Grenn, Todder, Halder and Clydas to me? I would like to tell them this now. As far as they know, my little sister is in Winterfell, married to the son of the traitor who killed my brother Robb. And we may need their help to avoid conflicts when we reveal Arya's identity, so they should know it beforehand."

When Edd left, Jon stayed with Arya, and asked her how she was doing as a man of the Watch, to which she answered that she was fine. There was no other place where she would like to be, except maybe Winterfell. But the Winterfell she wanted did not exist anymore. In the Watch they treated her well (that is, better than in Harrenhal, where they had mistreated her so much that she had wished for her masters to die.) Besides, the Wall was far more exciting than Harrenhal, she said. Here, she could even get to fight. Jon did not even want to think about the possibility that Arya fought against the Others, but he preferred to leave that discussion for another time.

When his personal steward came back with his friends and with Clydas, Arya revealed herself again, leaving the men confused, but also relieved and happy, because Jon's sister was safe at the Wall, and not a prisoner of her unwanted husband. Jon's friends were a little worried about what the others would say of this, and Clydas pointed out that they would have to fight against the Boltons in the future, because they were going to claim Winterfell in Arya's name. But Jon was no stranger to negative opinions and false accusations, and fighting the Boltons was something that Stannis was already doing, so he did not worry about it very much.

After that, Arya went to train, while Jon supervised Marsh's dispositions for the queen's arrival. When he saw that the rooms were already prepared, and that there was enough place in the stables for all the horses Selyse could care to bring, he went to the yard too. He watched his sister, who challenged many men of the Night's Watch and wildlings. The men who could fight defeated her almost effortlessly. But the old, the cripple or inexperienced perished before her, who was quick and unpredictable. She could even defeat some spearwives. She had been practicing for real, Jon knew.

That night, while they had dinner, Arya stood up and asked for everybody's attention. Curious and amused by the idea of hearing a speech from the little sworn brother, they hushed to hear what he had to say. Jon thought he was more anxious than her.

"All of you know who I am. You know that I said it, as all of you have. 'I am the sword in the darkness, I am the watcher on the walls. I am the fire that burns against the cold, the light that brings the dawn, the horn that wakes the sleepers and the shield that guards the realms of men.' I am a man of the Night's Watch, then. You know me as Gendry, but that is not my real name. I want to tell you the truth, but I will only do it if you swear on the honor of each of you that you will let me stay at the Wall, alive, after you know who I was, and am still."

Jon's hands started to sweat despite the cold, and he could hear his heart beating faster and faster. He could hear many voices, most of them from the black brothers, promising what Arya had asked. When they quieted, she continued.

"I guess that many of you have known Yoren. He found me in King's Landing, living on the streets, after I lost my father. He offered me his protection, and he gave me a new name: 'Arry.' He promised to take me to my home, in the North, and I traveled with him. But he was killed and no one from our group ever made it to Castle Black. From then on, I traveled through many places and under many names, but that is not what matters. What I want to tell you is who I was before I was Arry."

The men were really intrigued at this point. A boy who had traveled through half of Westeros to get to Castle Black, in addition to the mention of Yoren, was something that interested most of them. And the mysterious way in which she had avoided to say her true name had them almost hypnotized. Jon was tense and afraid. He prayed for his sworn brothers to keep to their word, at least this time.

"Before that, brothers, I was only a nine-year-old girl. You heard well: a girl. My name was Arya, of House Stark. Jon is my brother, and to him I went, without telling him, when I had nowhere else to go. Many of you have already seen me working, and I gave you no reasons to suspect that I was not a boy. I hope you are true to you words, then, and let me stay here, working by your side, even if I stop wearing black and am no longer of the Night's Watch."

A tense silence fell then, until Pyp dared to say 'Welcome to the Wall, Arya Stark.' His friends and Clydas echoed him, and soon others followed. Those who did not simply remained silent.