ᴍᴇᴇᴛ ᴍᴇ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴀʀᴋ, ᴋɪꜱꜱ ᴍᴇ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴏᴏɴʟɪɢʜᴛ

xiv. maiden to be saved

┌─── ∘°❉°∘ ───┐

Jon awoke feeling just as terrible as he had for the past five days. He did not want to get up. He wanted to wallow in self-pity, mourning every bad decision he had made in this past month. And there were many.

But eventually, he did get up.

Mormont knew something was wrong with him, but Jon had quickly explained it away by pointing to the wight and his father. That also did the trick with his friends.

Throughout the day he went over the list he had made in his mind to remind himself where he was standing.

One, Elle was a princess.

Two, Jon was in love with said princess.

And three, he could never be with her. So he best learn to live with that.

That evening he wanted to prepare himself for bed, when a knock sounded from the door. He quickly put his tunic back on and went to open it.

His breath hitched. Across from him stood Elle, with her usual braid, a nervous smile on her lips.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey." Jon opened his mouth, wanting to say something else, but he didn't know what.

"I wanted to apologise for what happened a couple of nights ago." Elle didn't look him in the eyes. "What I did was completely unacceptable and I hope you can forgive me for it."

But I don't want to.

"Of course. But only if you can forgive me as well."

"You know I do."

They stood across each other in uncomfortable silence, neither of them knowing what to say.

"Would you-" Jon started. He knew it was a bad idea, but he couldn't stop himself. "Would you like to come in? I know my rooms are not the best, but we can talk inside better than here."

A myriad of emotions crossed Elle's face. Jon almost thought she was going to refuse when-

"I would love to."

He stepped to the side, allowing her to enter.

Ghost was on her in an instance, rubbing against her legs and letting his head be petted by her hand. She smiled softly, and Jon wished she would direct it at him some day.

He should truly stop thinking about her.

Elle sat down on the window sill, the direwolf rolling up at her feet. Jon took a deep breath and joined her.

Their gazes met for a moment before she averted her eyes and instead stared outside, at the clear night sky. He wanted to look away as well, but he couldn't bring himself to.

"How is your hand?" she asked quietly.

He looked down at the bandages.

"It's getting better, but it still hurts." His fingers stretched instinctively. "I'm afraid I'll never be able to properly use it again."

"If you feel something, even pain, that means it is healing. Give it a little time."

She played around with her necklace, pushing the pendant around on the chain, pulling it down, letting it run through her fingers. If she did this every time she was alone, he wasn't surprised the chain had broken.

"You never told me where you got it from."

Elle stopped, and looked at him. He almost regretted asking her, readying himself to apologise to her, when she answered.