𝙒𝘼𝙍𝙍𝙄𝙊𝙍𝙎 (Game of Thrones)

𝙭𝙫𝙞𝙞𝙞.

Vickon kept silent as he walked among the wildlings. Jon and Ygritte were side-by-side. Jon was deathly quiet.

They entered the wildling encampment, Vickon biting at his lip as he examined the scene. Tents of animal hide and tree branches were clustered together. Children bundled in furs ran about. Fires burned, some beneath pots of stew. Jon and Vickon froze at the sight of what had to be a giant, for there was nothing else that could be that large, carrying three entire uprooted trees. "Gods above," Vickon whispered.

Ygritte smiled. "First time you've seen a giant?" she asked Jon and Vickon.

Jon nodded, where Vickon could only let out a breath at the sight. "Well, don't stare too long," Ygritte said. "They're shy." The giant began to pound one of the trees into the snow-covered ground. "When they stop being shy, they get angry," Ygritte continued. "And when they're angry, I've seen them pound a man straight into the ground like a hammer on a nail."

Jon stared at her in shock, while Vickon quickly turned his gaze away from the creature. Ygritte left them, then. Jon seized Vickon by the wrist before he followed.

They were certainly outsiders here. As they were led along, wildlings gathered on all sides, voices harsh as they shouted, "Crows!"

Jon's grip on Vickon was tight, even as a young boy launched a rock at the pair, landing a solid hit to Vickon's head.

"You're wearing the wrong color, boys," Ygritte said with a laugh.

"Mance was a ranger," Jon replied. He dodged another thrown rock.

"In your hearts, all you crows want to fly free," Ygritte countered.

"When I'm free, will I be free to go?"

"Sure you will," Ygritte said. More rocks. Vickon dodged one, only for it to hit Jon in the side. Ygritte knocked away the boy who did it, sending him sprawling and earning laughter from the wildlings around her. "And I'll be free to kill you."

They kept walking, Ygritte kept talking. "Got no respect, this lot. Got no fathers to slap 'em when they're foul."

"What happened to their fathers?" Vickon dared to ask.

Ygritte looked back at him, her smile faltering. "Some of them were killed by crows like you." When neither Vickon nor Jon had a response, she continued, "Don't look so grim, bastards. If Mance Rayder likes you both, you'll live another day. And if he don't..." she grinned.

They approached a tent, the largest of all of them. Vickon kept his hands in tight fists as a wildling drew aside the tent's flap, ushering them inside. Ygritte took hold of Longclaw before she followed.

Inside, the tent was dark. It was filled with the scent of cooking meat, and a haze of steam filled the air. Some men sat around the fire, one of which being quite possibly the largest human man Vickon had ever seen. He was red-headed and red-bearded with small, wild blue eyes. He tore into the chicken leg in his hands.

"I smell a crow," he said.

"We killed their friends," replied the Lord of Bones. "Thought you'd want to question these two."

"What do we want with baby crows?"

"One of these babies killed Qhorin Halfhand, and the other helped him," Ygritte said. "They want to be like us."