Northern lights

61. Breath of life

The wounds inflicted on his corpse are open wide, the maroon color of dried blood a bitter reminder of what was done to him. They stare down at him and his wounds with sheer rage and sadness swallowing their ability to truly do much to avenge him now.

Tormund is the first to speak. "Took a lot of knives." He sounded almost proud of Jon as his eyebrows furrow and his gaze shifts to Davos as he could no longer look at his fallen...friend? Tormund couldn't deny that for a crow, Jon Snow was a fucking good man and in another life, they could have been friends. "I'll have my men get the wood for a fire. Bodies to burn."

Meanwhile, Melisandre secluded herself. She sat neat the fireplace, watching the flames dance before her eyes with lips pressed in a thin line when someone knocked on the door.

"Come in."

To her surprise, Davos enters.

"I'm sorry, my lady. I didn't mean to interrupt."

Quickly, she waves her hand. "You interrupt nothing."

Davos looks at the fireplace and then at Melisandre. "I assume you know why I'm here."

Unimpressed, she keeps her gaze fixed on him. "I will after you tell me."

"It's about the Lord Commander."

"The former Lord Commander", she corrects him.

Sighing, Davos frowns, "Does he have to be?"

Melisandre looks at Davos curiously, "What are you asking?"

"Do you know of any magic...that could help him? Bring him back?"

"If you want to help him, leave him be."

Ignoring her advice, Davos asks, "Can it be done?"

"There are some with this power."

"How?"

Sighing, she glances at the fire. "I don't know."

"Have you seen it done?"

Folding her hands in her lap, she looks back at Davos. "I met a man who came back from the dead, but the priest who did it...It shouldn't have been possible."

"But it was", Davos says with near excitement. "It could be now."

"Not for me."

Melisandre stands and walks away from her chair. Davos walks towards her.

"Not for you? I saw you drink poison that should've killed you. I saw you give birth to a demon made of shadows."

"Everything I believed, the great victory I saw in the flames, all of it was a lie." Melisandre looks at Davos. "You were right all along. The Lord never spoke to me."

"Fuck him, then. Fuck all of them", Davos exclaims. "I'm not a devout man, obviously. Seven Gods, drowned gods, tree gods, it's all the same."

Davos comes a step closer to Melisandre, "I'm not asking the Lord of Light for help. I'm asking the woman who showed me that miracles exist."

Staring at him with wide eyes, Melisandre swallows thickly. "I never had this gift."

"Have you ever tried?"

"No", she replies reluctantly.

"Then what do we have to lose?"

Davos, Tormund, Edd and Melisandre gathered around Jon Snow's body. Ghost didn't get up, remaining  asleep on the floor. 

The men watched Melisandre carefully as she performed a ritual on Jon Snow's body. She wrings out a wet cloth with which she cleans out the wounds covering his corpse. She cuts his hair and beard and throws the hairs in a firepit. Then she places her hands on Jon's chest and utters an incantation in Valyrian.