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“We’re going the wrong way.” Jon frowned as the ship navigated into the waters of the Bite. “Why are we putting in at White Harbour?” It was the only possible reason for them sailing this way.
“Her grace bid me give you this once we reached Northern waters,” the gruff black brother said and offered him a sealed scroll. “The North Remembers, and so does the Watch.” He turned and walked away to leave the man alone.
Jon,
I, and all the remaining brothers of the Night’s Watch, hold all your oaths to Wall fulfilled. As Queen in the North and the Lady of Winterfell, I offer you a formal pardon and humbly ask that you come home. You were the sword in the darkness and the watcher on the wall. The act for which they sought to condemn you, was truly acting as a shield to guard the realms of men. You avenged the thousands of innocent lives that she claimed, and prevented untold deaths that would have come from her bloody campaign to rid the world of tyrants. Real and imagined.
You have fought and bled for the realm, sacrificed so much for people that may never know your name. The time for fighting is done. Come home. Winterfell is yours as surely as it is mine, and the wolves of winter have been apart long enough.
Lord Manderly will be waiting to greet you in White Harbour, and will escort you to Winterfell. He’s already making the trip with a shipment of provisions that are due to arrive from Essos. Help me rebuild our home and breathe life back into the North.
I know there can be no forgiveness for what I did, and I won’t ask for it again. I hope you know that I never wanted to hurt you. I was only trying to protect you, the way you’ve always protected me. I was so afraid for you, I did the only thing I could think of to try and keep you safe. There are a lot of things we need to talk about, but I hope that we’ll have that time. I’ll be marching home with the Northern Army, and I should reach Winterfell around the same time you do.
No matter what you decide to do, be safe and know that you will always be a Stark to me. And I’ll kill anyone who tries to say differently.
Yours,
Sansa
Jon leaned against the railing of the ship and closed his eyes. He could feel the regret and guilt pouring off the page, he just wished that she understood that he was the one that needed to ask her forgiveness. He’d been so wrong about Dany. No, it was worse than that. He’d turned a blind eye, refusing to see what had been right in front of him. He’d done it to try and protect the North and to bury what he felt for a woman he had no rights to. He’d been ashamed of his growing feelings for Sansa, they were wrong and unnatural. He’d lost himself in Dany out of desperation…only to find that he’d stumbled from one tangled relationship into another.
Which was worse? His desire for a woman he’d thought was his half-sister, but who was actually his cousin, or sleeping with his Aunt who’d murdered thousands of men, women, and children whose only crime had been living in King’s Landing. Moments like this he wanted to rage at Ned Stark for never telling him the truth. He knew why he hadn’t, but he had a RIGHT to know. It would have prevented so much suffering. Maybe if he’d known…no, there was no sense going down that road.
The past couldn’t be changed. Jon opened his eyes and looked down at the letter in his hands. He had a choice, maybe the first real choice in years. Sansa had made no demands, only asked him to come home. There were no orders. No demands. No pleas to his sense of duty. She’d pardoned him from the Watch, but it was clear that he was free to go and do whatever he wished.
There was only one thing Jon wanted, and that was to wrap Sansa in his arms and never let her go. She would be the Queen the North deserved, and he would stand at her side. Anything else, he’d leave in the hands of the Gods. He slipped her letter into his tunic, letting it rest over his heart. He’d keep it there until he was with her again. Home, in Winterfell.