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Post by Snowglobe18 on Oct 9, 2017 20:03:59 GMT -7
There's a knock on the door and she opens her eyes but before she can tell the person to come in the door opens and in steps Jon. She watches as he pauses and watches her for a moment and then speaks about interrupting her. "You're not" she admits and smiles. "It was getting a little too quiet" she said and then pushes her dark hair back from her face. Amelia was asleep and she was sure that at some point the rest of the castle and their men would be too. It would be a peace that they hadn't quite known for a very long time. Katherine was content, it almost felt like the times when they would come North for a few days so her father could sit down with Ned for whatever reason.
"But you are welcome to join me" a grin pulls at her lips before she raises an eyebrow at him. Katherine leans back against the tub before leaning her head back once more, her dark hair falling around her shoulders and strands sticking back against her cheeks.
It wasn't like he hadn't seen her naked before, he had seen her like this a few times. But she understood if he meant about the quietness especially when she hadn't really had any in a very long time. But this was pure bliss, it was knowing that she could wake up tomorrow and know that they were back in Winterfell and that they wouldn't have to march next week for a war. The both of them could stay in bed for a long time tomorrow if they wanted too because they didn't have anywhere else to be. All thoughts of Rohan was pushed out of her head, this was her time and now it was their time.
"I mean if you want to have a bath, I know you Northern men like to smell" a smirk pulled at her lips as she watched him.
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Post by Ray on Oct 9, 2017 20:24:10 GMT -7
They have very rarely had moments of peace in the last six years of their lives, and Jon hadn't meant to intrude on the first time Katherine had been given to take a bath without rush. But she smiles at him, relaxing back into the water and even daring a tease. A smile tugs at one corner of Jon's mouth as he leans back against the door, head resting upon its flat surface. "It builds character," he replies, jokingly, smile cracking a little wider.
Truth be told, there hasn't been very many opportunities to get clean, truly clean. At the Wall, they'd learned how to scrape by with freezing cold water sponged onto their skin with cloths, scrubbing off the surface grime as quickly as they could before they froze to the ground. On the road for the past few weeks, it had been much the same. He doesn't think he's had a proper bath since Dragonstone, and that seems like years ago.
But more than that, it's hard to say no when Katherine is looking at him like that, her skin turned smooth and sleek by the hot water.
"We Northerners," Jon begins, pushing himself off of the wall and stepping towards the tub. He kicks off his boots, and shrugs out of his furs. "Know that the only to scare off the wolves," he continues, brows lifting a little as he places his palms upon either side of the bath, "Is to smell worse than them." With a simple jump, he gets into the tub otherwise completely dressed, sinking into the water. He grins as his knees fall on either side of her legs and he leans towards her, hands still grasping at the sides of the tub, mouth finding hers.
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Oct 9, 2017 20:44:23 GMT -7
Katherine watches as he leans back against the door. In honesty she was pretty happy here just watching him. She would get out the tub eventually. She liked it when he smiled, it probably didn't seem fair for her to say that because she knew that everyone had a right to be sad but with Jon he looked so much more beautiful when there was a smile pulling his lips rather than a frown at them.
He then started talking and then moving towards her before he removes his books and then his furs. She grinned at him when he continues to move towards where she is. He then says about smelling worse than the wolves and she had to laugh and for the first time it's a laugh that comes from her belly. A laugh that she hasn't heard in a very long time but then he jumps into the bath with her and she lets out a soft squeal as water goes all over the floor but then he puts his knees on either side of her legs and his mouth finds hers.
It was a moment where the two of them are truly happy. There is laughter and smiles and they are free for the first time. There's no war, there's no looking over their shoulders right now. They can actually be a family.
Katherine laughs against his lips before she moves her arms up and wraps them around his neck and pulls him closer to her as she leans back. More water splashes onto the floor but she doesn't care, they can clean it up afterwards. Her lips carry on moving against his before she slowly pulls back and looks over his face. "You're right, it is to keep the wolves away" a wicked grin pulls at her lips and she looks up into his eyes. She feels so happy right now that it's hard to see anything outside of this room, it's the three of them even with Amelia asleep in her crib.
"But you know what helps... when you take your clothes off" she had moved her lips up to his ear and whispered into it.
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Post by Ray on Oct 9, 2017 20:58:20 GMT -7
The hot water soaks into his leathers and splashes onto the stone floor, and he couldn't care less. It's been far too long since Jon, since either of them, have had the opportunity to be truly, happily reckless. And this is the type of mess that can be cleaned up later. He kisses her for a long moment, feeling her arms wrap around his neck, and her teasing words upon his lips. He chuckles quietly, a grin spreading wider across his face as hers turns wicked. "Our only defense in the wilds of the North," he teases in return, catching her lips in another kiss until she pulls back to whisper in his ear. He raises his brows, continuing on the charade, "If only I'd known that sooner."
He rises straight, still balancing upon his knees in the tub, and tugs at the lacing of his black leathers. With deft and practiced hands, he loosens the ties down his chest, until he can shake himself out of them, letting them fall to the water-soaked floor. He reaches back with a hand to grab a fistful of his tunic, and tugs it over his head. It falls away as well, leaving his chest bare.
"Better?" he asks, lifting a wet hand to shove his black hair back out of his face as he looks down at her.
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Oct 9, 2017 21:18:56 GMT -7
Katherine chuckles when he keeps up the charade. She wished they had had more moments like this but sadly this was the only time both her and Jon had been in the tub. Mostly because of the fact that on the road she had to get in and then quickly get back out. But here, here in Winterfell she was able to have a warm room and a long soak that allowed her to shut out the rest of the world and just have some time to herself. The new worries would be there tomorrow but they both needed more moments like this.
She's laughed, a few times but she's never laughed like she had just now in a very long time. They were reckless but they were happy and for a moment they could be that, they could be allowed that moment of normality. Jon wasn't her lover, he wasn't there to just satisfy her in bed while she waited for a husband to come along.. to Katherine Jon was her husband, Jon was the one she wanted to be with. She loved him and there was no other way around it. She knew that it probably wouldn't be liked by the other Northern Lords if they found out but she didn't care. Katherine knew who she loved and he knew she loved him and that's all that mattered to her.
Jon then started taking his leathers off and then his tunic and while he did that she leaned back and watched him, her own eyes practically undressing him herself. Once he got both of the items off and out of the tub she let her eyes look up his chest taking everything in and she smiled when he asked if it was better. Katherine found herself leaning up, meeting his skin with hers. She was up on her knees and then slipped her arms around his neck once more. "Much better" she whispered and then let her lips settle on his once more, a soft kiss happening between the two of them. Her arms then slipped down from his neck and she let her fingers wander over his skin and with soft fingers she felt every bit of his skin on his chest.
She pulled back slightly from his lips but made sure they stayed near them as she said "Does that mean now I'm going to have to start smelling so that other men won't come near me?" she said in a tease.
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Post by Ray on Oct 9, 2017 21:58:27 GMT -7
She kisses him softly as her hands trail over his bare chest, Jon letting her pull him back down with her into the warm water. Katherine teases him once more, and he laughs softly against hers lips, his smile spreading wide. "Gods, I hope not," he teases in return before his mouth finds hers again, kissing her deeply this time, relishing the scent of her skin. He grips tight to the frame of the tub, finding balance and purchase and settling a little more into the water.
A few days pass, the bliss of simplicity making even the onslaught of winter tamable. Winterfell gradually begins to feel as it once did, years ago -- the sounds of workers returning to the jobs they had before war turned them to soldiers, the chatter of children no longer stowed away in rooms and cellars from the bloodshed, the raucous noise of people who are slowly beginning to remember what peace feels like. Even Brienne doesn't seem so ruthless in her attempts to shake Tormund off, finally navigating the grounds in something other than heavy black armor. Jon watches from a pathway high up, arms resting upon the wooden banister, a faint smile upon his lips.
"Leave me alone, wildling," Brienne says, carrying a short stack of firewood towards the guard's hall where she and many of the other soldiers stay.
"I'm just offerin' my help," Tormund replies innocently, following at her heels.
"I don't need help," Brienne replies, looking back at him, "I'm more than capable of handling myself."
"Gods, do I know it," Tormund comments appreciatively, eyes scanning over Brienne's backside. She huffs out a breath and storms a little faster away from him.
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Oct 9, 2017 22:30:34 GMT -7
The last few days had actually been almost normal Winterfell was getting back to the place it had been when she was here over six years ago. There was sounds of workers and she couldn't help but hear the sound of children and Katherine knew that this was the place she wanted to be. She had come to decide to get Amelia a wet nurse and she was a pretty thing, all red hair and fiery temper... Demelza her name was.
Katherine liked her.
The scrolls kept pouring in and mostly they were about marriage to anyone they could get their hands on. Katherine. Sansa... even small Amelia when she came of age. But she knew that from now on no daughter of hers was going to be forced into a marriage with a Lords son. If Amelia or even Sansa wanted to marry for love then so be it. That was down to them.
Another scroll had come this morning but she put that in her pocket before she found Jon and followed his eyes to see what he found so amusing only to see brienne and Tormund. He really wasn't going to leave her alone. Katherine put her hands gently on Jon's shoulder and smiled softly at him before she looked down at Tormund and brienne.
"Good gods" she said and then laughed softly. "Do you think she will ever give in?" She asked and then looked over at Jon. It seemed as if Tormund wasn't going to take no for an answer and pretty much followed brienne around like a lost puppy. It was very amusing to watch the two of them.
The lady knight and the wildling... that sounded like a song and she wished that someone would tell them just how it ended because at this rate she doubted brienne would give into Tormund no matter what.
Katherine then said in a tease "Do you think that's what it looks like when Lord Glover sends me so many scrolls?" She raises an eyebrow at him.
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Post by Ray on Oct 9, 2017 22:47:00 GMT -7
"I think she's warming up to him," Jon replies in amusement, turning his gaze towards Katherine as she sets her hands upon his shoulder. Truth me told, he has no idea if the lady knight will ever be swayed by Tormund's antics. The man is more likely to drive Brienne far, far away if he keeps pestering her the way he is. But wildlings are not known for their subtlety or their charm. If they were beyond the wall, all Tormund would have to do is steal Brienne from her tent at night and they'd practically be married.
Jon thinks Brienne is more likely to pummel Tormund if he even tried.
Across the courtyard, Brienne slams the door to the guard's quarters in Tormund's face, and the red-haired wildling throws his hands up in the air in exasperation.
"Or perhaps not," Jon comments, lifting his brows a little. He smiles as he looks back to Katherine at the mention of Lord Glover, another man who has no concept of courting. "Any day now, he'll arrive to follow you around Winterfell." He comments, huffing out half a laugh as his eyes drift back to Tormund. The man must have noticed them earlier, cause he turns to face them, hands still in the air in a silent question. Jon just shakes his head.
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Oct 10, 2017 8:37:54 GMT -7
Katherine had to admit that she was a looking forward to see if Brienne did finally give into Tormund, it would definitely be interesting to see the lady knight with the wildling. She moved her eyes over to the door when she heard it slam and huffed out a soft laugh and then seen Tormund throwing his hands up in the air. "She might actually surprise you" she admitted with a smile.
Jon comments about Lord Glover and honestly she was a little bit worried about whether or not he would actually turn up, the thing is that Katherine only wanted to marry one man. The man who made her feel like she could love again, the man who a few days ago made her laugh by jumping into the tub with her, who would love her daughter as if she was his own and Jon done all of that. He loved her and she loved him and Katherine would willingly give up being Queen to marry him but that had never been mentioned. She had never said anything like that because she never wanted to pressure him.
Katherine laughed again softly when Tormund looked towards them. "I suppose not everyone can have the best luck when it comes to finding someone" she said in a soft tease before kissing Jon's cheek and then letting her hands fall away from his shoulders. She moved away from him and then down the steps going into the courtyard.
She looked up at him and smiled this seemed to be a familiar scene because of the fact that she had been looking down at him when he was practicing with his sword years before. "Do you remember when you first caught me watching you when you were practicing?" she called up to him. "I do wish that it had snowed back then because I would've done this..." she bent down and grabbed some snow before throwing it up at him. A grin pulled at her lips before a laugh escaped.
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Post by Ray on Oct 10, 2017 11:47:05 GMT -7
Jon smiles a little when she kisses his cheek, eyes turning to follow her as she steps down the stairs of the passageway into the courtyard below. He thinks about her words for a moment, about the level of luck it takes to find someone. In Jon's experience, finding the person was never what was hard. They had a habit of finding him when he least expects it, whether it was an icy cave or a long forgotten castle at the top of the North. Keeping them...that's what seemed like the difficult thing, that's what seemed to take luck. And Jon still worries that his will run out one of these days.
He's thrown out of his thoughts when a snowball crashes into his face, wet and cold and making him stumble back a step in surprise. He blinks, lifting up a hand quickly to swipe the ice away, before he looks down to Katherine a little bewildered. She laughs and grins, looking all too pleased with herself, and a slow smile begins to spread across his lips.
"That's not very Queenly," He retorts, reaching down to scrape up some snow left over on the passageway. But as he's balling it in his fists, Maester Henly appears at Jon's side, looking a little rushed.
"Your Grace, or er...Jon." The man quickly corrects himself, getting a little flustered. Jon's smile dies slowly, his hands stilling as he looks to the man. "A raven just came," Henly nods, holding out a scroll towards him. Jon sees the familiar sigil marking it in black wax before Henly even has to tell him who sent it, "It's from the Wall."
Jon swallows the sudden lump that forms in his throat, and lets the snow fall from his hands. Dusting his palms off on his cloak, he reaches out to take the scroll quickly, breaking the seal with a pull of his thumb.
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Oct 10, 2017 12:06:48 GMT -7
Katherine has to laugh again when he says about it not being very Queenly, she shrugs up an innocent shoulder and for a moment she doesn't want to be a Queen but rather a girl who wants to throw snowballs at Jon. She watches as he scrapes up some snow but it never reaches her because the Maester appears at his side and then hands him a scroll. She turns her head slightly and listens.
It's from the wall.
Her grin slides off her mouth and she moves from her spot. Katherine makes her way back up the staircase just as Jon starts to open the scroll. She now worries about what is actually written in the scroll. Whenever someone got a raven from the Night's Watch it was to ask for help or to warn them about something, that's what Jon had done when she was up there in Castle Black but no one had taken notice but now if it had come straight to Winterfell then it was going to come to the first person who would believe them because he would know what it was like up there.
Katherine moves towards Jon's side. "What's wrong?" she asks and watches him.
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Post by Ray on Oct 10, 2017 12:35:27 GMT -7
Jon scans the messy penmanship of Eddison, his heart sinking further and further in his chest with each word, a cold reminder that peace is only short-lived. Katherine joins him at his side, asking him the obvious question.
But he hesitates. Katherine had not been there in Hardhome. She had not seen the piles of bodies lying the shores, the stinking rot of flesh, the grey fog that had descended down upon them. She had not seen the dead rise, blue-eyed and grey and no longer the people they had once been. He had never talked about it with her. Never brought it up. Some things are better left unsaid, especially when it sounds like myths and monsters. Especially when it sounds insane if you have not seen it yourself. But Eddison's letter proves that that isn't so.
Jon, They're at the Wall. We see them at night, prowling through the trees. Sam says he read that they can't cross, but... I know better than to trust the dusty words of an old, dead cunt. We need you. Your friend, Edd
"We need to hold a council." Jon says, rolling the letter up quickly, feeling his heart hammer in his throat. "Immediately."
"Who shall I gather?" Maester Henly asks, face turning concerned and anxious.
"Sansa, Edric, Tormund...Brienne, even." Jon lists off, shaking his head slightly, trying to remember who all remained. Tyrion had stayed in King's Landing, overseeing the reconstruction of the city and the redistribution of money across the Seven Kingdoms, trying to keep them all from starving or freezing in their beds. And Davos... After all that had happened, he had returned home to his wife and remaining sons, making it clear that his days of fighting were over. Jon has no intention of dragging him back. Not for this. "Send word to Asher. He's a day's ride away, but...we may need him."
"Aye, your....Jon." Henly nods, stumbling over his words, before he turns and hurries down the steps.
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Oct 10, 2017 12:58:27 GMT -7
Katherine couldn't see the words but she knew it wasn't good especially when Jon said that they needed to hold a council meeting. Nothing good starts with being told they need to hold a council meeting immediately. There was something that he was keeping back from her but she didn't know what it was exactly but she was sure that she would find out in this meeting.
The Maester then says about who should be there and Jon starts naming the people and even Asher and she raises her eyebrow at him but it's not until the Maester turns and walks away does she finally speak. "Why do I feel like this is going to be bad?" she asks and watches him before letting out a sigh. So much for the quietness if it was something bad.
Katherine gave him a slight smile before she turned away from him, if she was honest she had gotten used them not having much to do, not having to solve anyone's problems or not having someone coming to them for help because of a war. It had been normal and with everyone getting back to work and the children playing and making noise it was like she hadn't been away. Sometimes war was inevitable but she hoped that this was one time where she didn't have to send anymore men to die but something told her that that scroll had a lot of heavy words in it and it made her scared because in the end she knew that Jon would go.
But after all it was the wall and the Night's Watch didn't have many men even if it had been where Jon had died..
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Post by Ray on Oct 10, 2017 13:16:39 GMT -7
"Because it is." Jon admits, sliding the scroll into a pocket at his side, looking to Katherine with a forlorn expression.
He had been waiting for the other shoe to drop, as bad it sounds. For six years, he hasn't had a moment of quiet, and suddenly Winterfell had begun to feel like peace had been all there ever was. Though the ghosts of soldiers lost, of Ned, of Robb, roamed these halls, it had started to no longer feel like a burden. To Jon, it had almost been too good to be true. A dream maybe, one he never wanted to wake from. But this letter cemented him back entirely into the present, a growing grim feeling taking root in his chest. He knows what has to be done. Despite the betrayal inflicted upon him by his own brothers, he is not a petty enough man to leave them there to die. Not when he still has friends there. Not when their deaths would solidify the deaths of the entire continent. But its a burden he does not want to bear upon his shoulders. He's already had to endure so much.
His feet carry him towards the Great Hall, almost wishing he had enjoyed the quiet more than he had.
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Oct 10, 2017 13:51:38 GMT -7
Katherine was sure that Jon would be going because in he end he did have some friends there. She knew that the quiet times were over and now they had to get back to work after all Winterfell was the nearest to the wall but she knew that she couldn't go this time there were already things she would have to do. Like making it clear to Lord Glover that she wasn't interested in marriage or anything like that, seeing as he doesn't get the hint. But he was one of their Northern Lords so she would have to be careful just how she worded everything she said to him. The last thing they didn't need was a house turning against the Starks yet again.
She walked with Jon in the direction of the Great Hall and wondered just how bad bad was, sadly they couldn't afford another war so close to having just come out of one.
When they got to the Great Hall she removed her gloves and sat down at the table putting her gloves down on the surface of the table. There had been a part of her that had hoped they wouldn't have to have an emergency meeting so soon but whatever was happening at the wall was big so it would probably affect everyone in the country and with them being close to the wall and Jon having served in the Night's Watch then of course it would come to them.
Katherine then removed her cloak and sat back in her chair as they waited for the others to turn up she would have to admit that there was a bit of her that was intrigued about what Jon had to say.
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