A Gentle Breeze | Jon Snow | Game of Thrones

Chapter Fifty-Four

"Can't think of a worse way for him to go." Ser Jorah admitted sadly, "The Night's Watch was his life. He would have died to protect every one of those men. And they butchered him."

"I hate that he died that way." Jon said with a sigh, "My father was the most honorable man I've ever met. He was good all the way through. And he died on the executioner's block."

"Your father wanted to execute me, you know?" Jorah told Jon.

"I heard." Jon said.

Zephyr glanced up at Tormund, "Do men usually bond over what their fathers have been through?"

"Dunno." Tormund frowned. 

"He was in the right, of course." Jorah admitted, "Didn't make me hate him any less."

"I'm glas he didn't catch you." Jon told the anointed Knight.

"Me too." Jorah told the King in the North.

They kept walking, and walking, and walking. Eventually Tormund chose he'd torment the Hound for a while by talking about his undying love for Brienne while Zephyr walked at the very front, listening to everyone's conversations.

"You don't look like him." Eyepatch man said to Jon, "WHo's that?" he asked.

"Your father." Man with one eye answered. "I suppose you favor your mother."

"You knew him?" Jon asked and shrugged when Zephyr shot him a confused glance.

"'Course I did." He answered. "When he was Hand, he sent me off hunting for the Mountain. Your wildling friend told me the red woman brought you back."

"Thoros has brought me back six times." Said one eyed man, "We both serve the same Lord."

"I serve the North." Jon stated.

"And Zephyr Baratheon. Or is it Targaryen now?" the man with one eye stated. "Eitherway, the North didn't raise you from the dead."

"The Lord of Light never spoke to me." Jon told the fanatic.  "I don't know anything about him. I don't know what he wants from me."

"He wants you alive."

"Why?"

"I don't know."

"That's all anyone can tell me.. 'I don't know.'" Jon said, mildly annoyed. "So, what's the point in serving a god if none of us knows what he wants?"

"I think about that all the time." Eyepatch man admitted. "I don't think it's our purpose to understand. Except one thing... We're soldiers. We have to know what we're fighting for. I'm not fighting so some man or a woman I barely know can sit on a throne made of swords."

"So what are you fighting for?" Jon asked. 

"Life." He said, "Death is the enemy. The first enemy and the last."

"But we all die."

"The enemy always wins." Eyepatch man smiled. "And we still need to fight him. That's all I know. You and I won't find much joy while we're here, but we can keep others alive. We can defend those who can't defend themselves."

"'I am the shield that guards the realms of men'" Jon quoted, "Maybe we don't need to understand any more than that." Eyepatch guy said. "Maybe that's enough."

"Aye." Jon agreed, "Maybe that's enough."

The men, and Zephyr, came to a halt. "That's what I saw in the fire. A mountain that looks like an arrowhead." The Hound pointed out. 

"Are you sure?" Thoros asked. The Hound nodded, "We're getting close."

They continued to march in that direction. Zephyr suddenly became nervous. She'd witness what the Army of the Dead will look like very soon, and she didn't know if it would've been better if she stayed in Dragonstone with Daenerys, Tyrion, Missandei and Varys.