Cold Hands

11

Two weeks after the Ranging party failed to return, Jon returned to Izzie's home outside Castle Black.
"Where will you go?"

He had been instructed to remain out of her path and watched her continue to pack her personal belongings, moving through her home, flitting back and forth between various parts of the large room, noting her extreme aggravation. "Where is it!"

Jon stood and approached her tentatively. "Auntie, please!"

Izzie ceased her movement and hung her head, drawing a deep breath and held it momentarily.

Jon moved in a bit closer. "Auntie?"

With tears in her eyes, she turned to face him. "My marriage ring!"

He held his empty hands out before him, silently begging for calm. "If it is here Auntie, then we will find it..."

She looked deep into his eyes. "Oh Jon...Forgive me...that's not what I'm looking for at all.

"Oh. Then what are you looking for?"

"A scroll...but it's not something that you should see."

"So, it's secret, then?"

She smiled warmly, as her hands cradled his face. She nodded, her smile widening. "Yes Jon. It's secret."

Thoughts swirled through his mind as to the contents of the scroll, but he tried to think only of her, she as well as his uncle put their lives on hold for him...he didn't know why, only that they did.

After an hour of searching, she came upon the scroll high above in a tiny crevice in the rock wall near the wooded ceiling. He got a good look at the seal etched into the old red wax...three dragons in the shape of a circle...the Targaryen seal.

She inhaled and exhaled slowly and turned to him. "Forget you ever saw this. It's contents would easily cause a major war with all the houses."

He nodded and smiled. "Yes Auntie."

"Thank you."

"But if you have it..."

"I'm no one of consequence, Jon. I'm a Targaryen bastard. Nothing more..."

"That's NOT TRUE!"

"I'm afraid it is," she replied plainly.

"You're a Lady of Winterfell..."

She chuckled as she nodded. "True enough."

"If your baby is a boy..."

"Well then? He'll be a fine archer. That's about all I can teach..."

"Not true...the dodge and parry move with the two swords...the one Uncle Benjen taught me...he said you showed him that."

She sat down as she poured hot water into her cup to steep the herbs to calm her nerves. "I did, yes."

"Who showed you?"

"A young Prince by the name of Oberyn."

Jon grinned wickedly. "Oooo....a Prince..."

"We were children. I was outside playing during a visitation...killing invisible monsters with my uncle's sparring sword, hacking at everything in sight...said I wasn't too bad for a girl..."

Jon laughed heartily. "Arya would have whacked his backside for that!"

She smiled and nodded. "I tackled him to the ground...it took three guards to break us up."

"Ohhh....it was serious, then?"

"Not until he kissed me and I gave him a black eye..."

Jon nearly wet his breeches from laughing so hard.

"His punishment was to show me how to properly swing a sword. Oberyn's preferred weapon of choice is actually a spear..."

Jon's face wrinkled instantly. "A spear! Pffft..."

"That boy could make magic happen with that weapon..."

"Oh, come on Auntie..."

"My arms weren't strong enough, of course. Still aren't, probably. But he recognized that I was fast...and small in stature.."

"Small in stature! You're one of the tallest people I know!"

"I was a child...anyway, he showed me how to filet a man with two small swords. I still have them..." She pointed to a wooden trunk...the same trunk she had buried the scroll in. "Of course, I haven't wielded them in years. I don't think I can any more..."

"It's not a skill you simply forget, Auntie..."

"You're probably right," she mused.

So, where will you go?"

"Brovos, I think? By way of Dorne..."

"Taking the scenic route, are you?"

"I want my child to be a Sand...if Prince Doran allows me to stay..."

"And if he doesn't?"

"Then it'll be a short trip," she chuckled.

"I wish you'd stay here..."

She shook her head. "It's not safe here."

"Of course it is! I'll take care of you! You're the only mother I have!"

"No Jon, you cannot! You took vows barring that and I expect you to honor them." She stood abruptly from her chair knocking it to the floor with a loud clatter. "My husband is missing, my Uncle is dead and Thorne wants your head on a spike. I'm a distraction at the very least." She knelt beside him and took his hand in hers and squeezed it. "I'll send ravens..."

"It's not fair..."

"It's the way of the Black. And it's a good way. But I'm in agreement...life isn't fair." She stood to her feet and played with his hair again, thinking but for the color of it, he possessed his father's locks. "We must make do with what the gods give to us..."

"Still don't have to like it..."

"No you don't, Darling." She reached out and threaded her slender fingers through his hair once again. "Something tells me that you'll change things for the better..."

"How do you know?"

"Because you're not happy with the status quo...you never were. It's who you are, Jon. You were born to to great things..."

"I'm a bastard..."

She smiled and nodded. "So am I and I haven't done too badly...considering."

"Will you wash the herbed color from your hair?"

She nodded. "When I get further south east, yes I will."