Naveena LANNISTER :||: Queen Series #2

13) That's Nice Of Them

Naveena
"We arrived at the Fist of the First Men to find there had been a massacre. There were three hundred brothers at that camp, but we found no bodies, only the corpses of the horses. Mance ordered Tormund to scale the Wall, Ygritte and I were a part of that group. I knew I was being tested; their warg asked me questions about the numbers, security and patrols along the Wall. I mainly told them the truth but lied about the number of brothers, saying we had well over a thousand.

He paused, glancing at me, and I knew he wanted to talk about Ygritte. Reaching over, I gave his hand a small squeeze of reassurance. Jon surprised me by flipping over his hand and entwining our fingers. "She reminded me a lot of you," His eyes finding mine. "She was a free woman, wild and untamed, a warrior in her own right." I smiled at the praise. "I lay with her only once. To the Free Folk, women and children are taught to defend themselves young. Forcibly taking a woman isn't something that happens in their culture, as the women fight back. There is no custom of marriage. To them, if a free woman lets you into her bed, she is yours, and you are hers."

I nodded, my mind absorbing the information. I won't lie and say it didn't hurt that he'd been with another woman, but I imagine that's how he felt when I married Robb and blatantly stated I slept with Oberyn Martell. "So that's what you two were to each other?"

He nodded. "At least, I was. We climbed over the Wall, a feat I never plan to do again. We made our way through the Gift and came upon an elderly horse breeder's farm. I was ordered to kill him, but I couldn't. Tormund ordered his men to kill me, but I got away after Ygritte put three arrows in me."

"I'm guessing she didn't take that betrayal well?"

"No," He shook his head sadly. "I returned and told the Night's Watch everything I did, including killing Qhorin, living amongst the wildlings and sleeping with one. I also told them Mance's plans, the one hundred thousand soldiers he had at his back and that he was going to attack from the north and the south. That's when Grey Wind showed up. Edd and Gren returned from beyond the Wall and told us Lord Commander Mormont had escaped with a few of the men to Craster's Keep but that the men had caused a mutiny. They became a threat if they ever told the wildlings we only had less than a hundred men. Thorne allowed me to go with volunteers, and we attacked their camp, killing them. They had Ghost prisoner there, and he returned to me.

"We returned to news of the wildlings attacking towns close to the Wall, the band getting closer to Castle Black. Mance had said the signal for when they would attack would be 'the greatest fire the north had ever seen'. And that it was. Ser Alliser was acting Commander, and he left Janos in charge while he defended Castle Black. Slynt shat his pants and fled, so I commanded the Wall. We were getting absolutely slaughtered down the bottom, so I left Edd in charge.

I also sent Grenn to defend the inner gate, since Janos allowed them to attack the gate. We found him dead, crushed under the weight of the giant they'd protected the tunnel against. I killed the Magnar of the Thenns, and when I turned around, Ygritte was there. She was right in front of me, bow raised. I just stood there, waiting for her to kill me, but she couldn't do it. The next thing I know she's got an arrow through her chest." His eyes weren't teary, but I saw the sadness of losing her swimming in his eyes, nonetheless. "And she died in my arms. I took her body north of the Wall and burned her."

"I'm sorry," I whispered, not wanting to speak too loud in fear of breaking the moment.

"There's other news," He glanced up at me, squeezing my hand. "Sam and Gilly ran into Bran at NightFort."

"Excuse me?" I frowned. "Jon, what are you talking about? Theon Greyjoy murdered Bran and Rickon."

Keeping eye contact, he slowly shook his head. "Theon must have burned two other boys, showing them to his men after they were burnt to a crisp. He was with Hodor, Jojen and Meera Reed and his wolf, Summer. Sam offered to bring them here, to Castle Black, but Bran refused, said he had to go beyond the Wall. He also said Rickon was sent to Lord Umber."