Zokla | Theon Greyjoy

Chapter 13

Lyarra knocked him to the ground.

Jon barely had a moment to react to her presence and dismount before he'd already been ambushed and thrown into the snow. "You're alive," she said, hugging him and kissing his cheek. "You're alive and you're here! The gods are answering all my prayers."

"You've no idea how good it is to see you again," said Jon as she scrambled up, helping him sit. "There'd been no word about you since I learned the castle had been taken. I thought you were gone."

She couldn't even tell him the things she'd thought, all the ways he might die after Maggy's prophecy. How could she say, 'I thought you'd be dead the next time we saw each other'?

"Well, I am not," she said, pulling him to his feet. "You're here now, so am I, and so is Rickon. Hother Umber arrived just before you did... he brought him home."

Jon smiled, eyes wrinkled at the corners. "And you gave us a home to return to, Lyarra. Father would be... he would be proud."

She put an arm around him, leading him toward the castle. "There's much we must discuss," she said. "I was told that Lance..."

"Yes," he said, though he seemed confused how she knew this. "He was killed by wildlings beyond-the-Wall. He volunteered knowing he wasn't ready for it. He... he never knew about...."

She nodded sadly. "It... it was better that way. All that we endured... I only hope that he was without pain. Because if he'd returned to me to keep us safe... he wouldn't have made it. Palla and Farlen..." Her gaze dropped. "It's best we speak of this elsewhere. Follow me, there are more greetings to be made."

She escorted him into the great hall, where only Rickon, Osha, and Minisa remained, the Umbers having been escorted to their chambers for some rest. Rickon ran to Jon as Osha offered Minisa to Lyarra. Once Jon had stood from kneeling to examine Rickon, cupping his little face, Lyarra approached with her daughter, the little girl clutching her mother's chest while she looked at Jon.

"Jon," she said with a smile, "this is your niece, Minisa."

He grinned, remembering the name he'd suggested. "A good thing you weren't a boy, Minisa," he said, accepting the babe into his arms. "Your mother wished to name you after me and after your... father."

Minisa was more interested in holding Jon's beard, tugging hard. He caressed the back of her neck, then kissed her forehead sadly. "I never should have left Winterfell," murmured Jon. "None of us... none of us should have gone anywhere. Not Father, not Sansa, not Arya... but how could we know?"

"We couldn't have," said Lyarra, placing a hand on his shoulder. "We just... couldn't have known."

They had a moment to themselves once Osha and Rickon had been given baths and made comfortable. Lyarra had seats set up in her chambers so that the two of them could watch over Minisa as she slept.

Jon told her about Castle Black, about arriving to serve in the Night's Watch and immediately being disliked by a man named Alliser Thorne, First Ranger. Even though he'd seen how well Jon had been at sword fighting, he'd made it his business to make Jon's time there a personal hell. Though Jon had been liked by Maester Aemon Targaryen and the Lord Commander Jeor Mormont, it didn't mean much there to be a bastard.

The men had gone searching beyond-the-Wall after their Uncle Benjen's horse arrived without its rider. Jon had not been allowed to go, named instead a personal steward to Lord Commander Jeor Mormont. It was around that time that they had their first encounter with a wight who tried to kill Commander Mormont.

Jon had made friends, eventually (one of them being Samwell Tarly, who he considered incredibly brave for his great knowledge and experience killing a White Walker, and had currently entrusted to go to Oldtown to learn about how to defeat the Army of the Dead), and had grown to be respected. He'd earned a Valyrian steel sword from Lord Commander Mormont, a sword with the newly fashioned hilt of a wolf that'd been meant to be passed to his son, Jorah, who had been exiled by their father for selling slaves to maintain his Hightower wife.