𝐆𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬 || 𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑾𝒐𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝑪𝒓𝒚 𝑶𝒖𝒕

𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑽

"Benjen tells me that Jon wants to join the Night's Watch.."

"You needn't disguise your knowledge of that fact, Father. You've known all along."

Benget states, now glancing at his Lord Father with a slightly raised brow yet a blank expressions worn.

"All the time whislt growing up here, Jon would discuss the Wall and being a Ranger, hunting Wildlings and White Walkers and whatnot beyond it. Whenever Uncle Benjen came down from the Wall to Winterfell to see our progress, he influenced Jon so much. I just wish he could see that you and Unlce Benjen have had this all planned out for him since birth."

Ned is stunned to silence for a long moment, averting his eyes from the practically glowing ones of his eldest son and heir. He's smart. For the longest time, Ned had trouble coming up with ways to answer his son's questions and whatnot without revealing anything to him. Does it make him a terrible father to withhold the truth to protect him?

"Jon's wanted this all of his life. You know as well as I that no matter what me or Benjen or anyone else could say otherwise, Jon would still want to go to the Wall."

"But he doesn't know what he'd be giving up!"

Benget turns sharply, frustration bubbling onto his features as his fists clench tightly. For someone he loves dearly, Jon can be so fucking blind sometimes.

"He has never known the love of a woman. To have them hold you in their arms like you're their lifeline, the very air that they breathe."

"And have you?"

Ned simply states rather than it sounding like a real question. Benget grows quiet after after comment. No, he had never felt a women's love. Nobody in his life had ever told him in a heated moment that they loved him. Not even in a relaxing and laid back situation, nothing.

Benget Stark simply shakes his head, looking away from his father as Ned sighs heavily.

"It's a terrible thing, really. Choosing what we do with our lives. You've had and still have so many opportunities out there in the world, Ben. Jon...he never had that. Jon always lives in your shadow. You know that he wants to join the Night's Watch so that he can have some semblance of pride that he's won on his own."

"But I can't leave him..not again.."

Benget states, holding his hands together as he looks to the floor, frustration and sadness bubbling up from the pit of his stomach.

"Choices, Ben...it's all any of us have. You can choose to go out there, lead your life the way the wind takes you, or...you can follow where you know your heart is telling you to go."

His father's words are wise. Such wise words that Benget scarcely understands how they form in his mind. He soakes in the words for a short moment, briefly reflecting on then as he nods his head slightly.

But just as Ned finishes his words, Benjen, Robb, and Jon enter the Great Hall, making Benget and Ned look over to them. Ben watches his brother, whom wears a smile as Benjen Stark is in the middle of telling him another story from the Night's Watch. He can see how much his brother wants it. Wants to be his own man. But Benget's heart is screaming at him that if Jon is left alone on the Wall, his life will forever be in danger without him. Benget cannot stand it being away from Jon for too long.