บท 27: RoWE -Chapter 27
Chapter 27: Setting Out Again
In the darkness of the night, Aeg silently returned to his room, his heart unable to find peace for a long time.
This was a grand gamble, a massive adventure undertaken to make up for his foolish mistake in preventing Bran's fall and to clear any potential trouble he might encounter when leaving the Wall in the future. It felt like telling another lie to cover up the first one. Although he had temporarily gotten away with it, the danger he faced afterward was no less than facing the White Walkers: once both sides confronted each other, he, a mere soldier who had slandered the prince, would certainly be beheaded.
Just as Littlefinger had told Catelyn that the dagger used by Bran's would-be assassin belonged to Tyrion, Aeg's gamble now was that the Starks, upon learning of this matter, would respond quietly rather than erupt in a grand display of outrage. However, unlike Petyr Baelish, Aeg's creation of lies and suspicions was not for the sake of gaining an advantage in the chaos but to stabilize the situation enough for him to leave the Wall smoothly and find a way to eventually shed his identity as a Night's Watchman.
Given his familiarity and understanding of the plot and characters, the probability of his gamble paying off was high. But no matter how great the chance, the fact that he was risking his life remained unchanged. Now, he had done all he could, and whether he lived or died was entirely up to the nobles above him.
If he could choose his future destiny, he hoped he would never again have to rely on gambling with his life to protect himself.
***
Bran remained unconscious, just as in the original plot. Only the family of the fallen was devastated; for the other residents of Winterfell, especially the hundreds of visitors from King's Landing, life had to go on. Aeg chose a moment when there were fewer people around to return the archery targets and straw dummies from the old inner courtyard to the warehouse. In the days that followed, he stayed in his room, waiting quietly for the day of departure. After four more days, a servant brought word from Benjen. They would set out at dawn the next day, leaving for the Wall at the same time as the king and the new Hand.
The sky was barely light, with fine snowflakes drifting through the air. Aeg reluctantly left his small room on the lowest floor of the guesthouse, which had "heating" and a soft bed, a place that felt like heaven compared to the Wall. After breakfast, he went to the training ground to wait.
The king had probably not yet risen, and the master of Winterfell and the chief ranger had not yet appeared. But such was the nature of assemblies; it was the younger and lower-ranking individuals who arrived first to wait for these nobles.
It had been five days since Bran's fall, and Aeg seemed to have been forgotten, not called to any questioning or confrontation by anyone. This brought him some relief. What comforted him even more was that his message had been effective: he learned from the servants that guards had been posted day and night at Bran's door. His bold adventure had already achieved half its success. Now, as long as Bran's would-be assassin could not find an opportunity to strike, and Tyrion successfully convinced the Night's Watch leadership to let him leave as a "supplies recruiter," he could leave the Wall.
May everything go smoothly.
The king's and Hand's attendants and guards gradually gathered, and Jon Snow appeared, taking the initiative to greet Aeg. The boy had decided to follow Benjen north to the Wall to join the Night's Watch. Now, in Jon's eyes, Aeg was a fellow brother-in-arms and a senior who was about to become his comrade in the Night's Watch, even though he knew the other was trying his best to leave. He instinctively wanted to get closer to Aeg.
"Good morning," Aeg nodded to the boy. "When I was your age, I couldn't get up before dawn."
"Starting today, Benjen will be my commander," Jon replied with a smile. "Ser Rodrik taught me to perform well in front of new superiors."
"Indeed, the wisdom of those who have been there. In a few years, you'll find that sometimes doing well is far less important than appearing to do well."
"Doing well is not as good as appearing to do well?" Jon tilted his head in confusion. "Is there a difference between the two?"
"Sometimes there isn't, but more often than not, the difference is significant."
A bastard and a Night's Watchman, they chatted intermittently as they walked around the courtyard. Unknowingly, they arrived at the blacksmith's shop at the southern end of the training ground, where Jon stopped to collect the slender, delicate rapier he had commissioned, intending to give it to Arya.
"Such a small sword, it's for a girl, right?" Aeg asked knowingly.
After wiping the small sword clean and examining it closely, Jon replied, "Yes, don't tell anyone about this, and I won't tell anyone about your dealings with the Imp."
"Hey, you little brat!" Despite his belly full of worries about the future, Aeg pretended to smile easily, "Alright, deal."
"Kid, are you heading to the Wall today?" Suddenly, a cheerful male voice came from behind them. Jaime Lannister approached with a spring in his step, seemingly unaffected by Bran's fall. He was genuinely happy to finally leave Winterfell, a place where he couldn't even find a spot for an affair.
"Yes, my lord."
"Please convey my respects to the Night's Watch. With good men like you guarding the North, we are spared from the wildlings, White Walkers, and other monsters. I am grateful and thank you in advance." He extended his hand to Jon, who hesitated before shaking it.
A few seconds later, the Kingslayer extended his hand to Aeg, "And you, White Walker killer, make sure to kill a few more. Don't let those creatures pass the Wall."
"At your service." The Night's Watchman shook hands uneasily. Jaime secretly applied pressure, squeezing his palm painfully. Aeg had to resist to feel slightly better.
"Alright, have a safe journey." The golden-haired man finished his bizarre act, threw a sentence over his shoulder, and left without looking back.
Watching the man's retreating figure, Jon frowned with dissatisfaction, "What was that about?"
"What else could it be," Aeg shrugged, knowing Jaime was warning him to keep his mouth shut. But with so many worries on his mind, he had no time to bother with this frivolous noble, "These southern noble sons, with nothing to do all day, get so bored they become neurotic."
The boy nodded, half-understanding, and took the small sword from the blacksmith, "I need to say goodbye to my brothers and sisters. Excuse me."
"Go ahead."
The bastard turned and left. He had grown up here and was naturally reluctant to leave. Unlike Jon, Aeg had no relatives in the city or in this world, so he was free from attachments. He wandered aimlessly for a while until he was called by the late-arriving Tyrion. He then sat on the railing at the edge of the training ground with the dwarf, waiting and chatting about strange and interesting stories from his hometown, "Caina" while watching the group that was about to head south slowly take shape.
The sun was hidden by clouds, but the sky inevitably grew brighter. Around nine in the morning, the two most important figures finally appeared in everyone's sight. Without further ado, the people about to part kissed each other goodbye and resolutely mounted their horses, riding out of Winterfell through the Hunter's Gate, turning west onto the King's Road to begin their journey.
After traveling a few miles together, amidst the sounds of people, horses, and the creaking of the queen's wheelhouse, the king's banners, carriages, knights, and free riders turned left at the first fork to head south. Aeg, along with Benjen Stark, his nephew Jon, Tyrion, and his two guards, turned north.
The life in Winterfell for the past month and a half, filled with food and drink, dangers, and surprises, came to an end. Waiting for the two Night's Watchmen upon their return was the still-standing Wall and, to the north of the high wall, the army of the dead, which had grown who knows how much during this time.
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