Of Lions, Wolves, and Dragons (Jon Snow)

57. King and Queen in the North

Her first few days of marriage to Jon had passed quickly, as they were both incredibly busy preparing for all of the lords of the North to be arriving at Winterfell soon.  There were many things that needed to be discussed, and Jon was hoping that the other Northern houses would be willing to still hold an alliance with House Stark, even after Jon had been the one to lead the Wildlings south of the Wall and welcome them into his ancestral home.  In order to try to ensure this, they had been doing everything they could, along with Sansa, to get Winterfell put back into order so that it would be ready to receive guests.

Joellyn was surprised by how easily she felt that she fit in at Winterfell.  Everyone there, of course, knew that she was married to Jon, but that didn't necessarily mean that they had to like or even trust her, but it seemed that word of her actions during the Battle of the Bastards had spread.  The servants that had served House Stark for years before the Greyjoys and Boltons took over, easily accepted her and were willing to listen to her when she made requests for things to be done.  Several of them had even thanked her for bringing help and fighting to get the Starks their home back, and they also let her know that they were glad that she was now going to be living in Winterfell as Jon's wife.  It was a strange sensation, being trusted and accepted, after having people not trust her almost her whole life.

As evening was drawing near the day they had set to gather in the dining hall and discuss plans for Winterfell and the North, Joellyn found herself doing some last minute organization in the dining hall to prepare.  The fires had been lit already, so she tended to the flames to make sure that it was warm and welcoming, then took a step back from the fires and looked across the hall.  Once again, she was struck by how far she had come.  This was her home now, and these were her people.  She had once accepted that this would be her life, but it was Robb who would have been by her side, not Jon, even though he was the one that she wanted.  Now, years later, she found herself here, married to Jon.  She sometimes couldn't believe all that the had gone through, separately and together.

She jumped slightly as she felt hands on her waist, but calmed when she heard Jon say into her ear, "You've done everything you can, Jo.  You need to relax."

She smiled as she turned around and kissed her husband gently.  Jaime and Tyrion had been the only people to ever call her Jo before, and meant the world to her that Jon had started calling her that as well.  It was a little like having memories of her dear brothers here with her in Winterfell.  As she pulled away she said, "I will relax when the rest of the Northern lords have decided to help you."

Jon smiled softly at her before saying, "We can't know what they're going to do, so there's no use worrying about it," then nodded his head toward a fire and said, "Besides, I doubt warm halls will convince them to join in the fight against the dead."

Joellyn laughed at him, but knew he was right.  She was mostly nervous because Jon still planned on telling them that Robb was alive.  She had doubts that they would want to follow Jon once they found out that the true heir of Winterfell was still alive, but there was nothing that she could do to fix that, so she tried her best to push that out of her mind.  Joellyn nodded then asked, "When are they all arriving?"

Jon stepped back slightly as he said, "They've all arrived and we requested they join us here in just half an hour.  They will probably begin arriving here soon."

Almost as if on cue, the dining hall doors opened and Davos came in, followed closely by Sansa.  They all greeted each other and Davos said, "Do you feel ready to convince them to join our cause?"

Jon shook his head and admitted, "No, I don't, but I don't have a choice.  Whether they decide to join us or not, they need to know what's coming."