for this night and all the nights to come.

[cardon131313]

     (for Sasha)




       Stephen Streindhall looked through his pack one last time. Supplies, bow, hunting knives, arrows, everything needed for the patrol. He neatly rolled it all back into the bags, and shouldered them over his black cloak and furs, and left his cell. A few brothers nodded to him as he crossed them in the darkness of the corridors, but those who were not asleep were mostly working outside. From one of the few windows, he saw the blizzard that was flinging snow against the walls in the dark of early morning.
     -"Stephen." The captain of the shadow tower greeted him at the gate. "You are going alone again?"
     -"As I allways have, sir."
     -"We can't afford to loose good rangers, Stephen."
     -"Then don't send anyone out except me. I will not walk with anyone else, sir. I have done so three times, and I have allways returned alone."   
    The captain considered for a moment, as he allways did. Men like Stephen were scarce in the Night's watch, awfully scarce. Yet it was true he had lost six men trying to proctect one who never seemed to run any risk out there.
     -"Then be careful."
     -"As allways, sir. My patrol will last five days, and I will return by the seventh day. If not, then do not expect me to return."
     -"Good. Be wary, wildlings have been reported moving around in the woods."
     -"Yes sir."
    He got to the great gate at the foot of the wall, which opened before him. The guards nodded a greeting, muffled by their heavy coats and scarves. Stephen himself was barely reckognizable, protected as he was from the snow. He walked through the long tunnel beneath the wall, escorted by one of the guards with a torch. At the end of the corridor, two more guards, who pulled open the heavy door.
     -"Be safe out there."
    Stephen looked out into the dark storm before he spoke;
     -"Night gathers, and now my watch begins. It shall not end until my death. I shall take no wife, hold no lands, father no children. I shall wear no crowns and win no glory. I shall live and die at my post. I am the sword in the darkness. I am the watcher on the walls. I am the shield that guards the realms of men. I pledge my life and honor to the Night's Watch."
    The three guards completed it with him. They were used to his antics by now. Often in the mess hall they would jest about it, but every time, contemplating this lonely ranger, faced with the harshest conditions known to man, reminding them of their solemn duty to protect the millions living in blissful ignorance. And in the cold of the night, with the very real, cold, dangerous north in front of them, they took it with the utmost solemnity.
     -"for this night and all the nights to come."
    And with that said, Stephen strode out into the dark. When the sun rose, and shone across the untouched snow, the sky clear once more, the wall was a distant memory, far out of sight. He was in the majestic valleys of the white-cloaked mountains, and he had packed his black cloaks in his bags, wearing only his white wolf furs.
    

[sasha]

    A man was walking in the snow. She could see him, but not his face. He was wearing white furs, that was the only thing she was able to know at the moment. She was hiding on the mountain, behind a rock. The snow was slowly covering her, as she didn’t move at all, so the man would not notice her presence. Sitting on the ice-cold ground, the wind was freezing her pale face. She had allways lived behind the wall, but she didn’t know the winter –the real winter- which according to her friends, was coming, and meant to be terrible. Her long blond curls were tucked in her grey fur hood, and she was heavily breathing. She could hear the stranger’s footsteps in the snow, he was approaching. Did he saw her ? Alarel couldn’t tell. If she moved, he would hear her. If she didn’t, he would find her. She was stuck behind this big black rock, and she was alone. What if he caught her ? What would she do ? Will he hurt her ? Will she be able to escape ?


    She decided to stay quiet, unmoving. After all, maybe he would just walk straight. He was still getting closer, and closer. So she slowly grabbed her bow, trying not to make any sound. An arrow. She bent the bow, and aimed at him. In case he discovered her, she was ready to kill him, and run as fast as she can. He was alone. She could have her chance to survive. But she was hungry, and she needed some food to eat. And right now, she couldn’t hunt because of the man, who was a potential danger. She was weak, she was frozen, and she was helpless.

[cardon131313]

No animals around for hundreds of meters. Nothing. Literally nothing. Stephen remembered the last time the valley had been this deserted. How far would the wildlings be? He wondered. Animals did not flee without reason.
He surreptiously eased his shortsword in it's scabbard. Anywhere was the obvious answer. They could be literally anywhere. He kept his pace steady, trying to focus on the sounds around him, excluding that of his feet crunching in the snow.
Stephen knew this valley like the palm of his hand. The pile of rocks just ahead of him had been caused by a minor avalanche a few months ago. He slipped between two rocks, and darted into the maze of cracks and turns between the huge black facades.

[sasha]

    The man was still walking, and approaching. Her hiding place was not safe anymore, she needed to move, quickly. Her bow still bent, she began to move backwards, slowly, really slowly. The wintery wind was freezing her to the bones, and as she was still walking back, she didn’t notice what was behind her, and she hit another rock.


    She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and focused on her target. Now she didn’t have any choice but to face him, the sound was too loud for him to not hear it. Right at this moment, she knew she was lost. She was lost, or she had to become a killer – but murdering people was not in her veins. And as allways, she had no choice. She stood straight and kept aiming at him.

[cardon131313]

Stephen heard the bump to his left. He turned to see where it came from. A wildling girl, her bow pointed straight at him. He remembered very similar circumstances, seven years ago. He had been in a patrol, that day, their captain had them corner a wildling. It turns out that a cornered wildling is a whole lot more dangerous than one you leave alone. He came home alone that time.
- "Are you going to shoot me with that?"
At this range he had very little chance of survival. If he could delay her long enough her arm would tire from keeping the bow taught. Then he had a chance. His other stroke of luck was that he had allready taken off his Night Black's. He didn't look anything like a crow. Probably.

[sasha]

For a while, Alarel kept staring at him. She didn’t move, she didn’t say anything, she was focusing on him as he was talking. She was weak, and she couldn’t keep that position for a long time. The silence was not bearable anymore. And it was getting colder.

“Where are you from, stranger ?” She asked quickly, but loudly.

She waited a few seconds, and added :

“Doesn’t really matter after all, do you have something to eat ?”

She slightly released the string of her bow, but she did not put the arrow back in her quiver. In case the man would attack her, probably. He didn’t look like the other men she saw once. They were all wearing black cloaks, but this man facing her, he was wearing white furs. She pulled her hood back, to hear his response. Her long blonde curls floated in the wind, as it blew strongly aroung her.

[cardon131313]

     -"I live further up in the valley, and go down by the sea every month to buy food and supplies." He climbed up to her position on the rock, and took a bread from one of his sidepacks, handing it to her. "What are you doing around these parts? Haven't seen many freefolk adventuring around these parts. The crows usually deter us from living around here." He stayed wary of her. Wildlings had never been reknown for their harmlessness, and he was one of the first to know that.

[sasha]

“As you can see, I was hunting.” She said, hesitating to grab the loaf of bread he was holding.

She was looking at him, it was the very first time she spoke to a stranger. She didn’t really know if she needed to be kind or not. But she finally took a step forward and grabbed the bread.

“I’ve never seen you before.” She whispered to him, as she was close to his face. “Do you live alone ?” She asked.

She was starving, so she didn’t really paid attention to his response. She was only concentrating on eating the food he just gave her. It was a new kind of pleasure that she discovered, when she tasted the bread. She had only eaten that sort of food once in her life – the day her father came back from the south. But she was young, and she didn’t remember everything about that day. Only the big white loaf of bread, and the delight it was to eat something new.

[cardon131313]

She had avoided answering his question, he realized. Yet he played along, even though she seemed more intent on the bread than on his answer.
-"Yes, alone. I hunt what I can for a living and bring some herbs down to a witch who lives by the water. She recieves bread from some fishing fleets that come up from the Iron Islands. Are you with a hunting party?"

[sasha]

She wasn’t sure if she could trust him.

“Yes, I’m with a hunting party.” She said, moving backwards, just to let some space between them, in case he would try to harm her, then she could reply.
This of course, was a lie. She was on her own, but she just took some precautions, for her safety.

“So you said you go to the south, to get your supplies. How do you get to the other side of the Wall ?” She asked, because she had never even seen this great iced Wall
they were all talking about. But according to what she had heard, it was the most stunning sight ever to be seen.

[cardon131313]

-"There are allways ways." Stephen said evasively. "I need to get going, you can come if this is your way." He started to move north, without waiting for her answer.

[sasha]

She hastened to follow him, picking up her bow and eating the last piece of bread that she was holding. They walked for a while, she was following him, so she had all the time she needed to examine this strange man wearing white wolf furs. He didn’t look like the ordinary people living beyond the Wall. He had something, something special, but she couldn’t find out what.

“Well, she said. You said you were living alone. And you also said, you just went beyond the Wall, like you do every month. How is it possible that I didn’t notice you before ? And why would you live in such conditions, knowing that you could have a better weather in the South ?”

[cardon131313]

-"Too many kneelers south of the wall. Obligations, lords, obediences, laws, privileges left and right 'till you can't breathe without offending some "great" man. Weather isn't everything. And I usually travel faster and more to the west, along the coast." He stopped briefly to turn back to her. "And I might ask you the same questions. You look an awful lot like you're questioning wether I actually live around these parts. You think you'd be alive if I were a crow?"

[sasha]

“I’d be alive, because I saw you first.” She said naively, looking right into his eyes, with kind of a provocative touch in her gaze. But she knew she was wrong, because she was too weak to shoot correctly, and she was not confident enough to try something that dangerous. Moreover, she needed to find someone to protect her.

“Can I trust you ?” She asked. “I mean, we are probably going to stay together for a long time, I haven’t planned to go back to where I’m from. Do I need to be afraid that you may cut my throat in the middle of the night ?”

[cardon131313]

That made Stephen's thought dash. However was he going to get out of this one?
-"I'm not into playing nanny for girls. You should stick to your family and friends, you know. Aren't you strong enough to protect yourself? No one ever taught you how to fight, defend yourself from wild beasts? Wolves, men, bears?"

[sasha]

“Oh, they taught me that.” She said, stopping in the middle of nowhere, watching her feet. “Hunting, and everything. But I just don’t want to be alone, and I’m alone.” She raised her head.

She didn’t say anything else until the man started to walk again.

“Hey, did you hear me ?” She shouted. “I have no family, no friends left. Wouldn’t you feel guilty about leaving a defenseless human being lost in the nature ?”

[cardon131313]

Stephen thought back for a while. He remembered when he had been in the same situation. It had been in warmer climates, but nonetheless...
-"Keep moving. We need to get to my house before nightfall." There was in fact a small abandoned hut up the valley that he knew. It was practically empty except for some furs he had left there, and some lumber he had scavanged from nearby trees. "Since no one seems to have taught you to fend for yourself, I'll try to do that in the little time I have. I swear, I've met some pretty submissive free folk girls in my time, but you top it off. Can't even survive in your own bleeding territory?"

[sasha]

She glanced at the sky, it was getting darker, and darker. They had to hurry up now.

“Oh I can survive on my own, as I told you, I just don’t want to be alone. There are some situations in which you can’t manage to get out if you don’t a have a little bit of help.” She said, almost running to catch up on him.

“Why do you live alone ? Don’t you want some company, sometimes ?” She asked him, looking at his face.

[cardon131313]

Stephen turned around exasperated. He slipped one of the knives he had out of his sleeve, and pressed it against her throat.
-"If you knew how to survive, you would have blocked me. And you would know it is allways possible to survive alone." He let her go, and resumed his walk upwards the valley, putting the knife back in his long white coat. "I live alone because it avoids having to answer annoying questions. And tie myself up in loyalties. You don't live long when you're indebted to a fool who wants to attack the wall."

[sasha]

Alarel tried not to bring to light that she was afraid. Because she was, and she really feared what could happen now. She didn’t reply anything to this strange, unpredictable man. But he still let her come with him to where he lived. She wasn’t sure what to think about him : was he only annoyed by her questions ? Or did he not really care to harm her ?

For a while, she really thought she was stupid. She wanted to tell him that she was sorry, but she thought she’d better stay quiet, as he didn’t want to hear any more questions. Then she kept on following him, and she didn’t open her mouth again.