A Time for Wolves

Jon VI

He walked by the Wall, watching the builder's incessant work. With some luck they would be able to increase the size of that huge barrier that would protect them that winter, because it was not likely to weep and melt, with the cold years that would follow. The Citadel's white raven had arrived some days ago, announcing the beginning of the first winter Jon would ever know. He had sighed in frustration when he saw the raven. It was a black raven he wanted to receive from the Citadel, telling him of Sam's progress at Oldtown, and not a white one to tell him that winter was coming. He was a Stark, and the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch besides; he already knew that.

Fortunately, now he did not have to worry about the resources and food they would need to survive the winter, because the Iron Bank's loan had already solved that problem. Of course, that would create a new problem later, when he had to pay the debt, but he would see how to solve that when the time came. Now he was more concerned about Stannis and his war. Jon had sworn to take no part in any conflict between the Seven Kingdoms, but then he had broken that oath to make another one: to help Stannis with his cause, in return for his help at the Wall.

And Jon had helped Stannis: he had told him how to recruit the mountain clans for his cause, and he had called the banners, of which the Umbers and Mormonts had answered. He had also recruited Karhold's forces, by means of Alys Karstark. Now they had found Rickon, and he had ceded to him all the rights and titles he had previously accepted for himself, the only exception being the title of 'Warden of the North'. Jon had accepted to keep that one until Rickon was of age, because a boy could not have the duty and responsibility of commanding an army. Then Jon was going to be the one who dealt with the issues related to the war in the North and who commanded the armies of the bannermen that remained loyal to House Stark.

But his alliance with Stannis compelled him to answer Ramsay's offensive letter. Sansa's arrival was the only reason why he had not yet marched to Winterfell as he had announced he would. Jon had decided to put off his departure for a week in order to speak with his sister and find out what had happened to her and what she was looking for at the Wall. After that he had received a raven from Stannis, from which Jon learned that the King was alive, but that he had not been able to take Winterfell because the snow did not allow his army to move. Thus, Jon decided to wait even more: until the ice storm stopped, or until Stannis succeeded in his conquest without his help. Sometime later, when he had established another date for setting off, the letter of the betrothed of 'Alayne' arrived, informing that he was sailing to the Wall with a small army from the Vale. It was then that he decided to postpone his setting out once more, until Harrold Hardying arrived.

During that time he had tried to care for his family, helping his siblings with their important decisions and spending some time with them when he could. They had dinner together in Jon's chambers once a week and they also joined Rickon regularly with his dinners with the queen (except for Arya, who could not stand the queen and grew bored in her company). Jon had started to train his little brother in arms, and they had learned to trust in each other as they spent time together. Arya practiced with him once in a while too, and when they were together he felt almost as if they were back in Winterfell, and sometimes he could even forget for a minute everything that had happened since then. With Sansa it was harder, because they were together only when they had dinner, and Sansa pretended to be Alayne when she was with the queen. But that was soon going to be fixed.

Jon spent a long time in the practice yard, to train both himself and Rickon. But he also devoted time to the study of maps and battle strategies, because he lacked experience in those things and the time of his departure was drawing near. In his free time he wandered around Castle Black, supervising his sworn brothers' and the wildlings' work. That was what he was doing then. After checking on the builders' work he started walking to the armory to evaluate the progress in the fabrication of new weapons, and in his way he found his sister with the princess. They were sitting on a bench in a gallery, outside the castle, because it was a relatively nice day and, considering that now it was winter, it was too infrequent to waste staying inside. The girls were embroidering a fabric while they talked. Jon approached them and asked them how they were.

"We are fine, Lord Stark. How nice of you to ask. Lady Alayne is teaching me to embroider my House's new sigil."

"Very well, princess. I think I am going to leave you then, so that you can continue," Jon said, starting to leave.

"There is no need, Lord Jon. Your presence does not bother me. Besides…I wanted to ask you something," Shireen told him shyly.

"As you wish, Your Grace," he agreed, sitting beside them. "Ask me whateverquestion is on your mind, and I will answer you as well as I can."

"I was wondering whether you had talked with my mother about a betrothal."

"I haven't, my princess. Getting married is not my main priority at this time, and the queen has not offered me any engagement," he replied, confused by the question.

"She doesn't mean a betrothal for you," Sansa intervened. "Shireen wants to know whether she will be betrothed to Rickon."

"Well, I haven't talked about that with the queen, either. We just agreed in that she will bring him up as her ward. Of course, in the future she may try to arrange a betrothal between you, but for the moment we have not discussed that possibility. Would you like to be betrothed to my brother, Your Grace?"

Shireen blushed and looked down. "I'm not sure. I want to get married someday, to someone who loves me and is kind to me. Few people have ever been interested in me, and Rickon is one of them. I might be happy with him, if he is also happy with me. But if he did not love me, I would not want the betrothal either."

"Well princess, you will have plenty of time to know each other and find out if you want to join in marriage or just be friends while my brother is your mother's ward. The decision is yours and Rickon's."

"May I ask you something, Lord Jon?" He nodded. "Please, don't tell Rickon I have asked you this."

"Don't worry: I will not tell anyone about this conversation we have just had. Fare well with the embroidery," Jon said. He said good bye to Sansa and rose again to leave.

It was not his business, but he really wished Shireen would find somebody who cared for her. He would prefer it to be someone other than Rickon, but if he was the one who loved her most, Jon was not going to oppose their union.

He resumed his way to the armory, which was in the same tower as his chambers. There were many stewards and rangers working there, because Jon had decided they needed more weapons, now that the Free Folk would fight with them. Though the common weapons did not work against the Others, they were useful against the wights. They showed him the work they had done, and seeing that it was noticeable considering that they had only been working on that for a few days he let them know they were doing a good job, told them to keep working, and left.

He went to his room and was welcomed by Ghost, who approached him silently, and Mormont's raven, which flew to him and landed on his shoulder, screaming "Snow" repeatedly. The bird did not know that he was now a Stark. Sam had trained it to say "Snow", which had been his surname when they met. Jon wondered what had happened to him, maester Aemon and Gilly, the wildling girl that had gone with them. If everything had gone as planned, they should have arrived in the Citadel a long time ago. But Jon had not had news of them since they departed, and that worried him. He hoped that their ship had not sunk, and that they had journeyed safely to their destination. He patted his direwolf softly and then sat on his desk, picking a history book he had previously taken from the library.

He browsed and searched for successful battle strategies. If he was lucky he might find any that could help him retake Winterfell. In this case, Jon supposed that the best thing would be a quick attack, because it would be impossible to siege the castle for enough time to make the enemy yield. After reading for a while without finding any interesting information he decided that he would make an attack plan on the go. Surely Robb had done it that way, as he had not had time to make a research about attack strategies in a library. And Robb had won all the battles he had fought.

Thinking about Robb made him sad. Jon remembered the last time they had seen each other, before he left for the Wall. "The next time I see you, you'll be all in black," his brother had told him. They had been so sure that they would meet again!

Jon set those thoughts aside, because brooding about what he had lost would not take him anywhere. He thought of the family he had left, and in their future. If the gods were good, Sansa would marry her betrothed and rule the Vale by his side. Arya may stay at the Wall, or leave it, if she wanted. She could get married, or she could go back to Winterfell, after the war. Or, if she stayed, she could actually join the Watch, as she had wanted from the beginning. But she would not be a ranger anymore; Jon would not allow it. She could be a steward, though, or even a wandering crow, when the war ended.

And Jon, he could also get married, but he had not thought about that very much. He had not thought of any girl since Ygritte. Stannis and Selyse wanted him to marry Val, but Jon knew that a marriage between them would not change the wildlings' minds, and Val would not like it one bit, because she did not believe in political marriages, so he did not find any reason to do it.

He heard someone knocking the door, and told them to come in. It was Satin, his steward, who had come to tell him that a raven had come from the Citadel. Jon was relieved, because at last he had word from his friend, and eagerly took the letter Satin handed him.

The would-be-maester wrote in his letter that he had not been able to write previously because the archmaesters had not allowed him to send ravens from the Citadel to the Wall. That prohibition had been imposed on them because of the Watch's alliance with Stannis, which had led the archmaesters to think that Sam was going to intervene in the war, which was something the maesters were not allowed to do. In the end he had been able to send the letter by letting the archmaesters read it and check it before sending it. Sam had arrived in Oldtown, and he had already forged two links of his chain, while Gilly had been accepted by Sam's mother, and she was going to bring up Mance Rayder's son in Horn Hill. But not all the news were good: Daeron had deserted, and maester Aemon was dead. Sam also said that he had talked to a maester and a novice about the problems at the Wall, and that they had believed him, but he did not dare tell anyone else yet, because he was afraid of them believing him to be a madman.

Receiving the letter with all those news relieved him, but he could not rejoice in his friend's achievements. Aemon's death, of which he felt responsible, did not allow him that.