End Game// Tormund Giantsbane (3)

18. Confession

"My girls havent stopped talking about you." Tormund remarked.

"They are sweet. Dont know where they get it from, clearly not from you." Caro teased as Tormund sat beside her.

"Thank you." Tormund said softly.

"My pleasure." Caro assured. "They talk a lot. They get that from you." Tormund chuckled nodding.

"Yeah, little spit fires." Tormund agreed.

+

"Dad food has never tasted like this before!" Tyanna declared.

"That bad huh?" Tormund offered reaching for her bowl but she pulled it closer.

"Its great." Tumi corrected. "Why dont you ever cook like this?" Tormund looked between them before grabbing Tumis bowl. "Thats mine!" She declared in outrage. Tormund took a bite as she jumped up on the table trying to reach it.

"Off the table. We arent animals." Tormund remarked.

"Give me!" Tumi begged reaching for it.

"This isnt the slop the rest of us are getting." Tormund remarked handing it back to her. "Where did you get that?"

"Caro." Tyanna answered.

"Of course she is bribing you." Tormund teased.

"She said growing girls dont need slop they need nutrition." Tyanna informed him. "And made this for us!"

"There any more?" Tormund countered peering around.

"Slop." Tumi corrected pointing at the back table.

"Stuff that doesnt taste like slop?" Tormund countered.

"Ask caro." Tumi suggested as she finished her bowl.

"I will." Tormund agreed.

+

"He raised his hands and they all stood up at once. Tens of thousands of them. The biggest army in the world." Jon remarked.

"It was terrifying leaving you." Caro informed him. 

"So what are you gonna do?" Sam questioned. 

"I'm gonna hope they don't learn how to climb the Wall." Jon offered.

"But the dragonglass..." Sam reminded him

"No one's ever getting that back now. It wouldn't have mattered anyway. Not unless we had a mountain of it." Jon remarked as Caro ran a hand over his back, he leaned into her feeling comfort in her gentle touch. 

"But you killed a white walker." Sam declared. "With Longclaw."

"I saw them shatter steel axes like they were glass. But Longclaw..." Jon's voice faded in the harsh winter winds.

"Is Valyrian steel." Caro agreed.

 "How many Valyrian steel swords are left in the Seven Kingdoms?"

"Not enough." Caro answered. "Or else I would have one." she added

 "The first Lord Commander in history to sacrifice the lives of sworn brothers to save the lives of wildlings. How's it feel to be friends with the most hated man in Castle Black?" Jon mused. Sam offered him a smile. "You were friends with me when I first came here. And I wasn't winning any elections back then."

"Here's to us, then." Sam agreed.

"Long may they sneer." Caro agreed toasting to them.

 "What?" Jon questioned seeing his hesitant expression.

"I wanted to ask you something. To ask something of you." Sam remarked and Jon nodded.

"I will give you two a moment." Caro whispered kissing the top of Jon's head as she got up. 

 "Send me, Gilly, and the baby to Oldtown so I can become a maester. That's what I'm meant to be. Not this." Sam blurted out. 

"I need you here, Sam." Jon corrected. "If you leave, who's left to give me advice I trust?"

"Your Aunt Carolina." Sam offered, Jon nodded softly, he did have her looking out for him. "I'd be more use to you as a maester. More use to everyone now that Maester Aemon is gone. The Citadel has the world's greatest library. I'll learn about history, strategy, healing. And other things, things that will help when-- when they come." Sam remarked and Jon knew he was right. "If Gilly stays here, then she'll die. And the baby that she named after me will die. And I'll end up dying, too, trying to protect them. Which means that the last thing that I'll see in this world will be the look in her eyes when I fail them. And I'd rather see a thousand white walkers than see that." Sam declared and Jon sighed heavily but nodded. "Thank you."

"You know that the Citadel will make you swear off women, too." Jon reminded him.

"Oh, they'll bloody try." Sam corrected as Jon laughed out.

"Sam."

"I'll come back." He assured.

"To your return." Jon agreed

"To my return."

+

"My girls love you."

"They are wonderful." Caro informed Tormund and she didn't know why suddenly she had a hard time looking at him.

She bit her lip and stared out over the courtyard, watching people, crows and wildlings alike move past. One, two, three people passed before Caro decided to go for blunt honesty. Caro turned back to Tormund, watching his jaw move as he chewed his meal. The movement was barely noticeable behind the thick scruff that highlighted his lips.

"To be honest," Caro began, shifting her eyes to his, just to find him staring at her mouth. When he looked up, he was unrepentant at being caught, setting a flutter of butterflies through her stomach.

"I was really worried about you. For many reasons but your girls losing their father was at the top of the list but I... I.. I really like you." Caro remarked. His Adam's apple bobbed around a swallow, and he sat back, pulling in a deep breath. He sat there silent, and Caro held her breath, waiting for what he would say in return. Now he stared at her as though her confession was this deep dark hole. Caro didn't expect anything to happen between them. But the thought of seeing him and feeling the tension strung tight between them had her eager to be around him. And she couldn't have denied herself that after not having felt that same excitement in so long. He finally opened his mouth, and time stood still. Before jon popped his head in

"Auntie, I need you. "

Tormund's jaw snapped shut as his head spun around.

"Coming." Caro said moving to the door and she heard him growl as she left and she couldnt atop her smile as she glanced back at him.