𝙒𝘼𝙍𝙍𝙄𝙊𝙍𝙎 (Game of Thrones)

𝙭.

Lord Commander Mormont was gathering men to go on an expedition beyond the Wall. All the rangers would be going, as well as Jon and Sam.

Something was happening beyond the Wall. Something that no one could explain. Wildling villages were deserted. Reports of white walkers were becoming frequent. Men went out on rangings and never returned. Lord Commander Mormont wanted to find explanations. And he wanted to find Benjen Stark.

The yard was full the day they were to leave. The men were loaded with weapons. They carried torches.

They rode out on a clear morning, uncaring of the harsh, biting cold. No one knew how long they'd remain in the Land of Always Winter. No one knew who would survive this great ranging. Perhaps none of them, perhaps all of them. This was a time of mysteries that certainly needed solving.

Vickon didn't know how long they'd been riding before they reached Craster's Keep. Up overhead, a red comet streaked across a white sky. Vickon's eyes lingered on it as he slowed his horse to let Jon stop ahead of him. He only looked away from it at the sound of Jon's voice. "Having a rough time of it?"

"Nothing's killed me yet," Sam said.

"Your ass killed the sledge," Grenn stated.

"You offered me a ride," said Sam indignantly.

"I just wanted you to shut up about your damn blisters."

Vickon let out a snort as Grenn tried his best to pull the sledge from the rut it was caught in.

Craster's Keep was bustling with activity. Vickon had no love for the wildling that maintained the home, but he had to admit that the old man ran it well.

A shiver passed over him as he climbed from the back of his horse. Seventeen, nearing eighteen, years since he had left King's Landing, but still not quite used to the cold of the harsh North.

"I was born in a place like this," noted Eddison Tollett, known by most of the men as Dolorous Edd, a steward whom Vickon would consider himself to have a good rapport with. He was speaking to Jon. "Later, I fell on hard times."

Sam climbed from his horse, looking around the keep. Vickon moved to join the small group of men.

He watched Sam's eyes linger on the fur-clad women before them. "Are those girls?" he asked.

"Aye," said Vickon. "Craster's daughters."

"I haven't seen a girl in six months," Sam said.

"I'd keep on not seeing them if I were you," Edd said.

"What, he don't like people messing with his daughters?" Grenn asked, stepping forward.

Edd's reply was simple. "He don't like people messing with his wives."

Jon's eyes went wide. Grenn turned to face Edd with a stunned expression. Sam looked like he wanted to be sick. 

Vickon was not so surprised. "He marries his daughters, they give him more daughters, and so it goes," he said.

"That's foul," Sam said.