Jon Snow is dreaming. He watches the world through Ghost’s eyes, as the direwolf runs through a black wood beneath the Wall. Ghost can sense his siblings: Shaggydog is tearing through the flesh of an enormous goat, and Nymeria is howling at the moon alongside a hundred grey wolves. Over and over, the moon calls out “Snow”. The direwolf recalls that only three of his siblings are still alive, one of which he can no longer sense. The dream is interrupted when a raven lands on Jon’s chest screaming “SNOW!”.
Jon rises and shoos the raven off. He is lodging in Donal Noye’s modest rooms behind the armory. Dolorous Edd Tollet is at the door asking Jon if he wants breakfast. Jon declines and inquires about the stockade: a thousand wildings are penned up beyond the wall, the captives Stannis Baratheon had taken when his knights had routed Mance Rayder’s host. Many of the prisoners are women, and guards have been sneaking them out to bed. There has been no trouble at the stockades, Edd replies. He also tells Jon that two wildings, a mother and daughter, turned up last night to surrender; the mother was carrying a dead babe in her arms. Wildings who had fought in the battle at Castle Black have been returning to the Wall seeking refuge. The mother and daughter were fed, and the babe burned. Jon recalls the words spoken by one of the queen’s men, as Maester Aemon had cleaned his wounds: Two kings to wake the dragon. The father first and then the son, so both die kings.
Jon washes and dresses, and sets out for the King’s Tower. Before he leaves the armory, he fetches the grant that the king has presented him for signature. The grant hands over to Stannis Baratheon two forts belonging to the Night’s Watch, Queensgate and Oakenshield – Jon has not signed it. Iron Emmett, Castle Black’s new master-at-arms, is training new recruits in the yard. Two of the recruits, Horse and Hop-Robin, are sparring. Horse has the makings of a good fighter and presses Hob-Robin back toward a well. Jon directs Horse not to drop his shield too low when pressing an attack. Ser Godry Farring, one of Stannis’s knights, calls out after Jon, challenging him to spar. During the battle beneath the Wall Godry had slain a fleeing giant – the queen’s men call him Godry the Giantslayer. Jon declines and continues toward the King’s Tower. Halfway up the winding steps of the tower, Jon encounters Samwell Tarly. Samwell is returning from delivering a letter to Stannis; some lords trust their maesters to read their letters and convey the contents, but Stannis insists on breaking the seals himself.
Outside the king’s solar Jon surrenders his weapons to Stannis’s guards and enters the room. Lady Melisandre is seated near the fire, while Stannis stands behind a table covered by a large map of the north. Stannis has just received a letter from Lyanna Mormont, Lady Maege’s youngest daughter, who has rejected Stannis’s claim to the iron throne and pledges allegiance to the Starks. Karhold is the only northern house that has recognized Stannis’s claim to the throne. Jon tells Stannis and Melisandre that he is sending Gilly and her babe south on the next ship out of Eastwatch. Stannis asks Jon if he has signed the grant. The Night’s Watch has ceded Stannis the Nightfort and allowed him to settle wildings on the Gift, but Jon refuses to hand over the forts. Jon proposes to appoint seasoned commanders of the Night’s Watch to each of the abandoned forts and to fill out the garrisons with Stannis’s men. Stannis reluctantly agrees to leave the forts alone, but declines Jon’s proposal to hand his over his men. However, Stannis promises that if any of the forts remain empty by the end of the year, he will seize them from the Night’s Watch.
Melisandre escorts Jon from the King’s Tower. They cross the yard together and the red priestess takes Jon’s arm. She tells Jon that within her fires she can see the truth within men’s souls, speak with the dead, and see far into the future. She tells Jon that she has seen him in the flames: in the storm, hard-pressed, with enemies on every side; ice and daggers in the dark; blood frozen red and hard, naked steel. She tells him that it was very cold in her vision, to which Jon states, “it is always cold”. Melisandre replies, “you know nothing, Jon Snow”.
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