The Provenance || Jon Snow | Game of Thrones

3.03

"The Fist of the First Men," Orell responds and Jon freezes in fright of the wildling's knowledge of their position.  Of course, the bastard can only hope the Lord Commander has moved the men, but with the pack of rangers missing, he likely sent out search parties for the Halfhand.

Mance presses, "What did you see?"

Orell meets Jon's eyes for the first time, and Jon nearly shivers at the amount of loathing this man holds for him.  The man chuckles humorlessly, looking dead into Jon as he responds, "Dead crows."

Jon's saved from anger by the sudden cawing of Valyrion nearby, instead choosing to whip around in fright for the falcon's life as it circles swiftly to the ground, all while avoiding arrows stemming from a wildling's bow nearby.  Jon's heart hammers in fear for the bird, not at all appeased to see it succeed and land on his shoulder, simply because of the repercussions this bird's presence can have.  The falcon's sharp eyes land on the wildlings frozen in shock at the massive and agile bird, glaring at them all like the loyal beast he is.

Orell's the first one to recover, storming up to Jon and grabbing him by the collar of his tunic, heaving the boy up and demanding, "Who are you in contact with?"

But the man suddenly stumbles back, Jon's eyes widening as he notices a piece of the man's ear now ripped away by the sharp beak of the falcon.  Jon wants to be contented by this action, though fear still stirs in his heart as the others gaze avidly upon him.

"Southerners use ravens—even the crows," Mance analyzes the situation, before reaching out to grab at the letter on the bird's leg, only for Valyrion to draw blood by plucking at the man's finger, Mance also backing off at the feisty beast.

Knowing that this performance is not helping his cause--and praying for Gabrielle's help to manipulate this situation--Jon begins to stroke the bird into a more relaxed state, "Valyrion, easy.  That's not your enemy."

But Orell growls, "I say we just kill the bird and take the letter."

Jon glares harshly at Orell for even considering such an option, knowing Valyrion would kill this willding before letting the man see the letter.  But all the same, that would not help his situation, so Jon just roughly responds, "If you do that, its owner will come up here and kill you herself."

"Herself?  'Her' who?" Ygritte's voice suddenly rings out, almost jealous in tone though Jon is deaf to such things as these.  But her question poses the tense situation of informing these wildlings of his rather peculiar connection to power, not feeling particularly inclined to do so if only to protect that woman.  But all the same, Jon doubts he can get away with telling a lie, seeing as they'll likely force him to read the letter aloud.

So, the boy slowly responds, "...Lady Gabrielle Baelish.  She's a Southerner—"

Mance barks out his laughter for the first time, and Jon's stunned to hear the surprise and sound, turning to the man with wide eyes as he asks disbelievingly, "The Mock Queen?  You're in contact with the Mock Queen?"

"Queen?" Tormund asks.

But Jon's more concentrated at the knowledgable Mance Rayder, wondering aloud, "How did you know?

"Even some of us Free Folk have heard of the prettiest woman in the world," Mance quirks a brow, his analysis earlier revealing nothing of this boy's connection to power, and leaving him to wonder why the woman's interested in him.  "The question is how you know her...?"

"She visited my family before I left Winterfell.  We kept in contact," Jon simply responds, though his answer does not seem to reassure the group as they all look at him and glare murderously at Valyrion.  He sighs, "Look, she's been helping me try to show the king in the South that White Walkers exist and that they're a threat to the realm."