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In The Light of The Red Wanderer

Chapter 19: Chapter 19

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Hello everyone, it's been over a year since I last updated.

I hope you enjoy it xx Sorry for any spelling mistakes xx

Stay safe x Love Comet96 xx


As I settled into my bath, I thought about all the outcomes of the voting currently taking place. If it was as everyone thought, then Alliser Thorne would win and we'd have to leave. It wouldn't be safe here for us, no matter how dedicated Jon said he was.

I could remember the feel of Thorne's hands wrapped around my throat in my vision. It may have not happened, but the threat was real. I needed to think about our son and Arik. If we were in danger here, then I would leave, taking Ygritte, Olly, Gilly and Little Sam with me.

"We'll be fine," Ygritte said as if reading thoughts.

I turned my head to her and smiled at the discomfort in her eyes. She was holding Arik in her arms, and he was chewing on a piece of her hair. The discomfort she was feeling was due to Serafine resting on her shoulder, the dragon also playing with her hair.

"You should put her in the pot," I said, nodding to the cast iron pot resting over the fire. Serafine had climbed into it after Gilly cleaned out the bubbling stew.

"Nah, she likes me." It might have been true. The white dragon seemed to like everyone in our little family, even if some of them were cautious of her.

Ghost let out a huff as if he didn't believe her words and I bit my lip as Faolan kicked as if in agreement to Ghost. Rubbing my hand over my bump, I thought about how we were going to survive at Castle Black.

"Ygritte, I don't know what's going to happen and that scares me," I told her, admitting that for once I couldn't see where we were going beyond here. Once the babe was born I had glimpses of the future but they were still uncertain.

"Ya know 'ow we all feel then," she grumbled, moving away from me and resting Arik in his cradle as he drifted off to sleep. She checked on Little Sam who was also asleep in his basket before turning to face me. "Jon won't let anything 'appen to ya. You're safe."

"I don't feel safe," I muttered, sinking lower into the bath as a shiver ran through me. I knew it had nothing to do with the cold, something had just changed in our future and I wasn't sure what it was.


Jon was silent when he came back to the room. Ghost greeted him at the door and I tilted my head in concern as he quietly rubbed the direwolf between the ears. He seemed reluctant to be here as if he was about to give bad news.

"Thorne was made Lord Commander?" Ygritte asked as if sensing the same dread.

Jon looked up, his eyes piercing us both with fear and I knew then that it was true. Where were we to go now? Would we be able to go south? What about all the free folk? We couldn't leave them here unprotected with Throne in charge.

"I was named Lord Commander," he muttered. It was so softly spoken I was almost unsure of what he said.

"What?" Ygritte seemed to be taking charge of this conversation and I was thankful. If Jon was Lord Commander, then why had I had such a bad feeling? What was due for us in the future?

"Aye, they voted for me. Well, half of them did," he grumbled and I wasn't sure if he was happy about it. He seemed rather reluctant.

"What happens now?" I asked, coming to his side and taking his hand in mine. I wanted to know what he knew and from the frown growing between his eyebrows I knew he was thinking something awful.

"We move to the Lord Commander's chambers. There's an adjoining room where Ygritte, Olly, Gilly and Little Sam can stay, they'll be safe there." He nodded his head as if he was assuring himself.

"We'll be fine," Ygritte said, repeating what she said to me earlier. She believed we'd be okay and while I wanted to agree with her, I wasn't sure I could.

"This will be good for the free folk, I can let them move across the Wall to safety. They can go south," Jon said as if he was trying to convince me that this would work out.


"Things are going to change ain't they?" Olly asked, looking at me as I handed him his bowl. Sam shared a glance with Jon and I wondered what they were keeping from us.

It's as if they were agreeing with Olly but they didn't want him to know that things were going to change. I caught a glimpse of Thorne as we moved into the Lord Commander chambers and could see the anger rippling off him.

I didn't want to ever be left alone with him. I feared what he would do to me and if my vision ever came to pass I wouldn't … I wouldn't even know how I would handle it.

"Have you seen anything?" Sam asked, breaking the silence that settled after Olly's question. No one had answered the boy, as if we were all unsure of where this was going to take us. And we were. None of us knew where to go.

Before we had Mance leading us and when it wasn't him, it was Tormund. We always had someone leading us through into the next moment.

"I see us all together." I hesitated, unsure whether to share to the full extent what I had seen. "We're all together somewhere warm. I don't know where but Daenerys Targaryen was with us."

"The Dragon Queen?" Sam asked, his eyes widening at the thought.

"We were happy. There was no mention of a war, no mention of the Night King or any wights. It was like a dream, like everything we feared no longer existed."

I had thought it was a dream. It felt like a dream.

"Do you think it'll be us?" Olly wondered the hope that our future would be without all the threats.

"I'm not sure, Olly. Things change all the time. People change their minds and their actions create new paths. Like tonight, Sam nominated Jon and he ended up as Lord Commander, but why do you think Sam nominated him?"

"He's done great things," Olly said, having heard why Sam nominated Jon. He went with them to the voting.

"Jon has done a lot of great things in his life and that's due to the honourable father he had. Jon's actions have changed the course of many lives, Sam's included and in return Sam's actions tonight have changed the path set out for Jon," I explain, shifting in my seat as Faolon tried to stretch. It was uncomfortable and knew there wouldn't be many more weeks of him confined within me.

"And the things you see, do they change?" It surprised me to hear Gilly asking this question.

She had seemed surprised that Jon had moved them into his adjacent chambers for her protection. She didn't believe she was important to our family, but if we didn't have her, Sam wouldn't be who he was and Arik wouldn't live for much longer.

"Sometimes they do, but some things are set in stone. My meeting Jon was always inevitable." I shared a look with Ygritte, knowing she didn't want to know about her death, but feeling the need to share with everyone how things can change. "In one vision, we didn't make it to Olly on time and he ended up here before us. We came during the raid and Olly fired an arrow which hit Ygritte and killed her. That didn't happen because we left Tormund and helped you get here. You see us as a family now, Olly, you chose to protect us instead of fighting us."

"I would never 'urt her!" Olly shouted, rising from his seat as his cheeks flushed. He looked at Ygritte, his mouth hanging open as he stuttered. "I … I won't hurt you, Ygritte."

"I know, Olly," she said, pulling him into a quick hug as he looked ready to cry. I knew the bond they had gained within the last few days. It seemed strange to have only known the boy for days, it felt like we'd known him for years. He was a brother to us now, and we'd never see him as anything other than that.

"Watch your back around Thorne, you leave him an opening and you'll be slain within seconds," Sam warned Jon, confident that the man would betray his Lord Commander.

"Olly, you've young and can be easily manipulated," I said, earning confused looks from everyone. "It would be easy for a young boy like you to follow Thorne and question his actions. He's vain enough to think you're following him out of devotion and admiration."

"You're willing to use him?" Jon asked, unsure whether it would be a good idea. I wasn't willing to sacrifice him, but I was willing to find out more only if Olly was agreeable.

"I'll do it!" Olly shouted, interrupting before I could say anything. "I'll help out." It was left unsaid, but we all knew he wanted to prove that he would never hurt any of us.

"I guess we could make it work," Sam said, sharing a look with Jon and shrugging. "Play on him a bit, Jon, Make him First Ranger but get him to train up some new men. Stannis has a few men he brought along as a peace offering. Get Thorne to train them up and get Olly to be your steward. He'll need training too."

"And then Olly can work on Thorne," Ygritte added, nudging Olly as he nodded along.

"You'll have to play on it, Olly, suggest that he would have made a better Lord Commander than Jon. Ask for his advice on everything and ask him how Jon ended up as Lord Commander when he broke his vows," I said, sharing a look with Jon. We knew how Thorne hated that about Jon. How he married and sired a child even though he had vowed.

"He'll get angry at that," Sam mumbled, rubbing his hand over his face. I thought back to how angry Thorne had looked when we first arrived. He'd kept Ygritte away from me in fear we'd start some sort of rebellion if we weren't separated.

"It'll work," I said, confident that we could stay safe here. "We all have a part to play. Olly will focus on Thorne, Sam you'll need to learn more from Maester Aemon, Gilly will work with Davos to protect Shireen and Ygritte can help Jon with the free folk."

"What will you do?" Jon asked, his concern clear as he thought about the plan we were setting out.

"I need to be a mother to Arik and I need to start training Serafine." I glanced at the white dragon as she rolled in the fire looking content. There were things I didn't understand about her being here. Why had she come to us and not the Dragon Queen? Bran knew about her. He may not have said it but he knew she was coming and so did Danya. If I couldn't speak to Danya then I could speak to the only other person that knew about the dragon. "I need to talk to Bran."


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