End Game// Tormund Giantsbane (3)

39. One Great Love

"I Dont want you to go to the wall." Caro shouted. "Is that so wrong?"

"No its just-"

"Just what? You came and act like you like me but living here. Being here with me having a home stability does that scare you so much that I finally get home back and you want to run?" Caro demanded.

"Its not that- Its just-" tormund didnt know. Yes he liked the thrill of his life but he did love her. Why was he running?

"And the girls? You want to bring them to a dangerous place? The wall and beyond. Its not safe! Winterfell is the safest place for them! With me!"

"Do you love me or my girls?" Tormund pondered and Caro stared back at him.

"Both." She answered after a long moment. "But if you leave..."

"Its for Jon." Tormund reminded her.

"I know and I love jon but you jumped at the chance to leave. I thought... well Im mistaken of course right? I got my one great love story. I dont get another." Caro remarked as she stomped off.

"You are my sister, but I am king now." Jon reminded Sansa.

"Will you start wearing a crown?" She sassed

"When you question my decisions in front of the other lords and ladies, you undermine me." Jon breathed back in agony.

"So I can't question your decisions anymore?"

" Of course you can, but--"

"Joffrey never let anyone question his authority. You think he was a good king?" Sansa hissed and Jon stopped walking. SANSA walked past him, then turned to face him. Everyone was fighting at winterfell it seemed.

"Do you think I'm Joffrey?" Jon rasped.

"You're as far from Joffrey as anyone I've ever met."

"Thank you." Jon whispered.

"You're good at this, you know." Sansa remarked.

"At what?"

"At ruling." she clarified. But Jon sighed, no he wasn't. He was a bastard he wasn't meant for this.

"No." he corrected.

"Better than most." Caro agreed leaning into him.

"You are. You are. They respect you, they really do, but you have to--" Sansa began but he chuckled stopping her. "Why are you laughing?"

"What did father used to say? Everything before the word "but" is horse shit." Jon informed her.

"He never said that to me." Sansa corrected.

"He my often when I was trying to get my way through compliments and contradictory statements." Caro agreed.

"No. No, he never cursed in front of his girls. Just caro and the boys." Jon remarked. "Then auntie started telling us the same."

"Because he was trying to protect us. He never wanted us to see how dirty the world really is, but Father couldn't protect me and neither can you. Stop trying." Sansa begged

"All right, I'll stop trying to protect you and you stop trying to undermine me." Jon agreed and Sansa scoffed.

"Does that undermining go for me too?" Caro mused. "Im sorry about earlier I am blunt to a fault." Jon shook his head as she kissed his temple.

"I'm not trying to undermine you." Sansa declared grabbing his arm and turning him to face her. "You have to be smarter than Father. You need to be smarter than Robb. I loved them, I miss them, but they made stupid mistakes, and they both lost their heads for it."

"They were kind and didnt see the dangers of the world. Ned was a smart man. He was a good father and a good brother. Don't define their lives based off of those mistakes because they did a lot of good. They tried to do a lot of good sansa " Caro declared.

"Auntie-"

"They were smart. They were brave." Caro rapsed.

"And how should I be smarter? By listening to you?" Jon spat back at sansa seeing the pain in caros eyes. His aunt had always been his biggest supporter always loved him it was sansa that had hated him but he forgave because he had a soft heart.

"Would that be so terrible?" Sansa hissed.

"A raven from King's Landing, Your Grace." Maester wolken remarked. He handed a bound note to JON, then bows and left. Jon sighed as he unraveled the note.

"Cersei of House Lannister, First of Her Name, Queen of the Andals and the First Men, Protector of the Seven Kingdoms--" Jon read off.

"Queen. Dear Gods they made her queen." Caro grumbled.

"What does she want?" Sansa countered

"Come to King's Landing. Bend the knee or suffer the fate of all traitors." Jon remarked.

"I will go and rip her head off." Caro agreed.

" You've been so consumed with the enemy to the north, you've forgotten about the one to the south." Sansa informed him pompously.

"I'm consumed with the Night King because I've seen him. And believe me, you'd think of little else if you had, too."

" We still have a wall between us and the Night King. Theres nothing between us and Cersei." Sansa spat.

"There's a thousand miles between us and Cersei." Caro corrected. "Winter is here. The Lannisters are a southern army."

"Plus They've never ranged this far north." Jon agreed.

"You're the military man, but I know her. If you're her enemy, she'll never stop until she's destroyed you. Everyone who's ever crossed her, she's found a way to murder." Sansa remarked confidently.

"As if I dont know her?" Caro countered. "You fled and I was there. I know her too."

"You didnt suffer as I did." Sansa corrected

"I have suffered. It wasnt daisies and rainbows. I saw her at her lowest when she lost her child. I saw her broken and depressed and all alone." Caro remarked.

"She conquered to get to the top." Sansa declared.

"You almost sound as if you admire her." Jon realized.

"I learned a great deal from her." Sansa offered.

+

"Where is your aunt?" Tormund demanded.

"Playing in the snow with your girls." Jon remarked nodding to the courtyard. "What did you do?"

"None of ya business." Tormund barked back.

Brienne and Podric were sparring, but Podric being Podric and Brienne being a skilled warrior every mistake Podrick took left him easily open. She hit him on the back and he grunted out.

"Nope." Brienne offered simply.

They reset. Pod advanced and they exchange several sword blows but Podric missteps again and Brienne tags him on the behind. Pod grunts again.

"Nope." She answered simply.

Tormund approached, Brienne glanced slightly to Tormund. Podric saw his opening and caught her off guard and tags her shoulder with his blade. She punched Podric in his gut and tosses him in the snow. Tormund stared back at Pod in the snow before his gaze shifted to Caro and his girls.

"You play dirty, you should go against Caro." Tormund remarked nodding to Brienne. "She will land you on your ass."

"Doubtful." Brienne countered glancing to Caro. Smiles on her face as she played formed snowballs with Tormunds girls, throwing them up in the air for Ghost before one broke on Tormunds face.

"Getting slow pops." Tyana remarked smugly. Caro glanced to Tormund and her smile fell.

"Can we talk?" Tormund questioned getting closer.