In The Godswood Part 5 Conversation On The Battlements

In The Godswood

On the night of Winter Solstice, the longest night, Jon stood in the Godswood. Tormund stood beside him. The path from the castle to the Godswood was lit with flickering candles. Snow was just beginning to fall in large flakes that hung in the air and glimmered in the candlelight. Jon paced in front of the tree. What if she changed her mind? What if she saw the madness in this or….

Then she was there. At the entrance to the Godswood in a grey dress embroidered with a red wolf on the bodice surrounded by white snowflakes. There was Sansa, escorted by Ser Davos. From behind the tree, someone thrust a new white fox cloak into his hands. He heard a young but forceful voice.

“Did you forget the words? You forgot the cloak!”

“Who comes? Who comes before the gods? “Jon asked.

Ser Davos began. “Lady Sansa of House Stark, Princess of Winterfell, Wardeness of the North, The Red Wolf, comes here to be wed. She is a woman grown and flowered, trueborn and noble, she comes to beg the blessings of the gods. Who comes to claim her?”

“I, Jon Snow of House Stark, Bastard of Winterfell, King in the North, Lord of Winterfell, Warden of the North, The White Wolf. I claim her. Who gives her?”

I, Sansa of House Stark, a woman grown, do give myself freely to this man, Jon Snow of House Stark.

Jon stepped forward. In accordance with the ancient ritual they chose to follow, he placed the white fox cloak over her shoulders, his hands trembling. Sansa took his hands in hers. She met his gaze and they stepped forward to the heart tree and knelt in front it. This was when they were supposed to pray, but instead Sansa spoke aloud.

“What I desire is your desire. Love, each for the other is a rare thing in this world. Let me lay my hand on your heart to know its beating. Let me hold your soul.”

“You hold my soul in your hands, given freely. Let my arms encircle you steady and strong. Let me keep you in safety, every day of your life. Know that winter is here, and we stand in this sacred place to bind ourselves to each other. I am yours. I can belong to no other. You are mine, if you will have me.” Jon replied sensing they were making their own ceremony.

“I will have only you and keep faith with you alone. I am yours, with all my sorrows and scars, if you will have me. You are mine, you are my home, my comfort and my love beyond the bounds of reason.

“Know that I would tear the kingdoms of this world apart for you. I would pull the stars from the sky and I would bend the course of time, just to kiss you.”

“Will you please kiss your queen, Your Grace!” giggled Lady Mormont from behind the tree. “I’m freezing!”

The King in the North Commands Part 4 Conversation On The Battlements

The King in the North Commands 

Ser Davos heard the determined pace of the Lord Commander’s boots coming toward his solar. Jon threw open the door. No, all that was in the past. Jon standing in his solar was real though. How things had unfolded for them all.

“Yes, Your Grace, what is it?”

“Ser Davos, find the Maester. Let the ravens fly, summon all my bannermen. I have a task at hand.”

“And tell them what?”

“I don’t care what you tell them but, to come, if they wish. The King in the North must have his queen?”

“What queen?”

“I am to make Lady Sansa, my queen, in the Godswood on Winter Solstice. With them or without them.”

“Wait, Your Grace, what are you saying?”

“I am saying, I’ve lost my mind but, found my soul cradled in her hands.”

Confession In The Lord's Chamber Part 3 of Conversation On The Battlements

Confession In The Lord's Chamber

Maybe it was a trick of the light, but something in Sansa’s eyes changed. Their blue seemed to shift like water caught in a current, then lay calm. She looked wistful as if she was remembering something precious. Sansa seemed to be about to speak. Jon reached up and touched her cheek. Her hand intuitively covered his, their fingers intertwining.

“Come my Lady, it is too cold for even us Northerners.

“Yes, you are right. Come with me to the Lord’s Chambers. We have much to say to each other.”

Sansa tightened her grip on Jon’s hand and pulled him inside through the dimly lit halls toward the chamber he had insisted she claim as Lady of Winterfell. Inside the fire was mere embers.

“Allow me to rebuild the fire. You should never be cold.”

Sansa reluctantly released his hand and went to the table in the middle of the room to pour some wine for each of them. Jon added logs from the stone hearth and stoked the fire until it roared. When he finished, he turned back to Sansa. She had removed her wet cloak and was standing there in his favorite dress, the one with the embroidered Dire wolf on the bodice. He shrugged off his cloak and hung it onto a hook next to hers. They matched. She handed him the goblet and motioned for him to sit beside her near the fire.

“Your eyes belie you. What is troubling you, that I may challenge it?”

“Jon… I believe we must speak our truths now, before I am unable to say this to you and the moment is lost, never to be recovered. We both want what we should not have.”

“It is undeniable and we must speak it. You know, I wish never to hurt you. I would die over and over at the hands of every traitor before I let anyone touch you. I challenged Ramsey, man to man, sword to sword, bastard to bastard just to have the satisfaction of killing him to avenge your honor.”

“I know along of the cords of my heart what you need to say to me. It is in mine as well. Are we not beyond right and wrong, after all we have endured? You are all that I have. Yes, we have our home. You have defied the world for me.”

“You speak true. What I need to say to you will escape me, if I do not let it out. Sansa, you alone are my Winterfell. I am your warrior. I am yours. You hold the world in your hands as well as my heart.”

“And you rebuilt my broken heart piece by piece. So gently. I am lost to the depth of my need for you.”

“Need you say…..? What of family, honor, duty? What of love? I am your brother, though only half. Snow, Stark none the less. Blood.”

“Fate makes fools of us both.”

“How can I love you? Is that what you ask? Have I not rode with you into the battle to face Ramsey? Have I not been with you every step of this journey home? Have I not stood beside you as your Lady, my King? You are home to me. It is your presence, your promise to protect me, that makes our home again. Not just the hanging of our sigil. The banners are hung now and the Direwolf flies from the battlements. If there's any place in this world where I can be safe, it is here with you. Not just with you, but in your arms. Remember the way it felt when you held me at Castle Black? That was the first time in so long, that I felt safe. I could hardly admit it, not even to myself. I didn't know how to allow myself the luxury of thinking I might be safe. And I didn't know how to tell you, that only you could keep me safe. I didn't have the words.”

“Do you not realize, you are my Winterfell? Without you, everything I have done is meaningless. I will never leave you. I promise. You have given me a reason to rise up and live, to love you. True born you are, MY Lady of Winterfell. I know you made me King in the North. Only love makes a bastard into a king. I can do nothing without you. You must give me your hand before the heart tree. Swear to be mine as I have sworn every night, through all of this, that I am yours.”

“All this time, all I wanted was to be yours.”

“So, it shall be, fates be damned.”

Cherry Blossoms