The Lioness Of Winterfell [HIATUS]

Chapter 22: Your Death

JON

Hard choices are everywhere, what to eat, which side should we sleep on, kill or let him live. Jon had killed a brother of the Night's Watch, not because he wanted to, because he had to - the man wanted him to. So he did. 

A bastard son of a traitor. 

It hurt him to hear them speak that way of his father. Ned Stark may have been unfaithful with Lady Catelyn, that much Jon knew - he himself was the living proof of that - but Lord Stark was still a good man, if not the best. 

"You have a lot of letters, Jon." Sam placed them all on the table, "Welcome back."

Jon didn't move a muscle, only his dark eyes moved from one sigil to the other. They were all from the same House - House Forrester -  he recognized. What could that House want with him? They were loyal to the Starks, yes, but Jon wasn't a Stark. 

"I heard you laid with a wildling girl." Sawell sat down, "Is it true?"

"Yes." Jon looked up from the letters.

"Do you love her?"

"I do." 

Jon then returned his eyes back to the the letters. He grabbed the one on the end first, wanting to read it in chronological order; it had been quite a few time since he had been gone, and there were a lot of letters from the Forresters. At first, he thought, before identifying the sigil it might be Lyanna. The last letter she sent him was from Robb's camp, never heard of her again. 

Perphaps she's dead, Jon's mind told him, but it hurt too much to imagine. That girl had been his first love, and it did not matter how many wildling girls he bed and loved along the way, Jon would always love Lyanna more than words can say. 

Jon opened the letter.

Dear Jon Snow,

I want you to know I am alive, for now. The Forresters took me in after they found me escaping the Red Wedding, you must have heard about it. Robb is dead, I saw it. Lady Catelyn is too. The rest is somewhere, either dead or suffering because that's all we do. I know you value your honor too much, so I will not ask you to leave your brothers, not again. In Winterfell we shall meet again, and fight and drink and love one another. For I havenever stopped loving you. Not for one moment. 

Lioness of Winterfell.

Jon's eyes widened, water washed them. Lyanna was alive, it really was her after all, and she still loves him. He felt sick for one moment, knowing he had bed a redhead wildling while she was suffering and loving no other than him. 

"Who is it?" Samwell spoke up, curious.

"It's Lyanna."

"Lyanna? The one you -." 

"Yes." Jon interrupted him, "She's alive."

"You still love her?" Sam asked, confused.

"A part of me will always love her." 

"I thought she would be dead by now, heard men were after her. That the king put her head on prize, didn't thought she would last this long. She must be quite a woman." 

"She is." Jon nodded, remembering she always had been. 

He moved on throught the letters, they were all from her. As he went on, the letters became more dark and full with pain. Jon could feel her change through the letters, hear her voice now so much mature. Lyanna changed, it was selfish of him to think she would not.