for Leah

[tooktheblack]

When the island changed back after a moon of dusty, dry desert, Jon was relieved. He was much happier with what he knew, after all, even if it wasn't the snow and ice that he would have preferred. He decided the best thing to do would be to head to the jungle to hunt once more, Ghost at his side.

It was much easier to bag game when he left Ghost to his own devices and, as such, Jon stripped down to swim in the pool beneath the waterfall while Ghost roamed the jungle. Usual game was monkeys and boar, occasional snakes and birds, and Jon fully expected him to show back up with a muzzle darkened with blood.

Until then, he was content to swim.

Comments

[tooktheblack]

"Not at all," Jon said softly, meeting her eyes. It sounded fascinating, a people who came from wolves and he wondered if the Starks had done that. Certainly, all the legends said they descended from the First Men and perhaps that was true - but the Children of the Forest were there first. Who was to say they hadn't turned wolves into men?

"Tell me more, then?"

[genetic_deadend]

Leah felt a quick flash of warmth spread across her face and neck, but she did her best to ignore it; it just felt odd, to share these stories with anyone, especially someone outside of the tribe.

"Q'wati declared that the Quileute tribe would always be brave, like the wolves," she continued softly, resuming her place on the edge of the pool to dangle her feet in the water. "We would always be strong. We have...magic in our blood." Magic sounded better than 'genetic quirk', didn't it? "Some of the warriors of the tribe could even take the shape of a wolf again, to protect our lands from our enemies."

[tooktheblack]

"No wonder he likes you," Jon said, looking from Leah to Ghost and back again. Someone who had magic in their blood, wolf magic...that was almost like being a skinchanger, in a way.

"Before, back in Westeros, I was able to put my mind in Ghost, experience life through his eyes. They called it warging."

[genetic_deadend]

Yeah, Leah thought, glancing over at the big guy with a soft, barely audible sigh. No wonder.

The simple and disarmingly forthright declaration brought her attention back to Jon, and she studied him for a moment with interest. "I guess you can't do that here," she replied after a moment, half a statement and half a question.

[tooktheblack]

"No, not any longer. We used to be a seamless team," Jon said, "And I sort of miss that. I used to feel a lot more connected than I do now. But there are other things that make the island better than being back home. The weather's nice and warm."

He softened a bit. "I have my brother. He's dead back home."

[genetic_deadend]

Leah winced a little, but it didn't seem right to say 'I'm sorry' again. Sometimes people died. It sucked, but at least they had time together here, or whatever. She wasn't sure she'd be able to appreciate it, if her dad showed up, but Galahad wasn't her, his situation wasn't hers.

"The only thing I miss about home is my brother," she admitted, huffing a little and easing into the water. "My mom sometimes, too, but mostly Seth."

[tooktheblack]

"How old is your brother, then? You're not all that old yourself."

Maybe by Westerosi standards she was but that was because people tended to have a short life expectancy in a war. Leah would last longer than most. She had a fire in her that most ladies of the court simply didn't and that was one of the main things that he'd admired about Ygritte.

[genetic_deadend]

"He's almost sixteen," Leah replied quietly, unhurriedly swimming away from the edge of the water. It made her sad, it always made her sad, to think about how young Seth was, what he had to be because of the stupid fucking bloodsuckers.

And because of her.

"Your brother that's here, he older or younger than you?"

[tooktheblack]

"Originally, I was a bit older, I think," Jon said. It was hard to remember, especially now that it'd changed somewhat. "But he has been on the island for a long while. He's several years older than he was and now I'd say he's about two and twenty."

[genetic_deadend]

That, Leah thought, would have to be really strange. Seth being here and older than her? She couldn't get her head around it. Even though Jacob had been here a while, he was still around the same age as the Jacob she'd been about to follow as an Alpha, and hadn't lived through the same things yet.

"Two and twenty," she repeated, and laughed before she could stop herself, splashed a curtain of water in his direction with the flat of her hand. "How are you even real, Galahad, who the hell talks like that?"

[tooktheblack]

"Two and twenty. It's Common, isn't it?" Jon asked, tilting his head a bit and assessing her. She spoke the same language as him, yes, but somehow the word choice was radically different. Sometimes it was like it wasn't Common at all.

"How would you have said it, then, milady?"

[genetic_deadend]

Leah scowled, and rather than answer him splashed a much larger arc of water at him. "I am not your lady," she yelled back for what felt like the thirtieth time.

"And don't think because we had this whole 'bonding moment' that you're suddenly not irritating eighty percent of the time."

[tooktheblack]

"You like my direwolf. I unfortunately come along with him," Jon said dryly, splashing her back for good measure. It was silly, yes, but above all it was fun and until he came to the island, there hadn't been much time allotted for fun.

"Milady."

[genetic_deadend]

Leah hadn't actually expected him to fight back, so when he did, it was a bit of a shock. What do you know, she thought, squealing as he splashed her back, points for Galahad.

It didn't do much to wipe out her incredibly irrational irritation, but points for Galahad.

"Ugh you--" She snarled and lunged at him, not sure what she intended to do, except to keep splashing water in his face and possibly dunk him if she got her hands on him.

[tooktheblack]

Jon didn't intend for her to actually drown him, no, but he lifted his hands and tried to keep a straight face while yelling that he surrendered. It...didn't last long, though, and a laugh broke free that was not entirely unlike the short, sharp bark of a dog.

"I yield, I yield."

[genetic_deadend]

"You yield?" He really had to stop being so unintentionally hilarious, or Leah was going to end up drowning herself because it was hard to swim while laughing. It was even funnier that his laugh sounded a lot like hers did, a brief, abrasive bark. His was clearly less bitter, but ah well.

"I don't know what to even do with you, Galahad," she remarked, shaking her head and boosting herself up and out of the water. "I half expect you to pop out with an 'as you wish'." She pointed a finger at him, splashing water droplets in his direction. "But don't. Don't get any ideas."

[tooktheblack]

"See, now I just can't say anything," Jon teased, laughing even harder. "You are better off with Ghost as a friend."

Except he and Ghost came together. He felt like Leah liked him well enough, though, or she wouldn't have stuck around this long.

[genetic_deadend]

"Hey, I never said you couldn't sit there and look pretty," Leah pointed out with another snort of laughter, shaking the water out of her hair that was, she'd noted with some chagrin, shorter than his.

Might as well face facts, the boy was just flat out prettier than her. Sad, just sad. Admittedly there were probably a lot of girls he was prettier than, but it didn't really make her feel much better about it.

"It's just...bizarre. There's a lot of weird in my world and all but you, with the whole accent and the chivalry and the giants and dragons, it's fairy tale crap. It shouldn't be real, you shouldn't be real."

[tooktheblack]

"I am very real. You can poke me, if you like. Tug my ear, pinch my nose. I promise I am flesh and blood."

It was perhaps more somber than it should be, considering Jon had seen wights and had to test whether they were human or other. Something wasn't always what it appeared.

[genetic_deadend]

She'd actually done that once, Leah remembered with some amusement. When she'd first met him, she'd poked him in the chest, hard, because she hadn't believed anyone could or would actually talk that.

"I don't know, Sir Galahad, you might like the abuse," she drawled with a wry smirk, drawing her feet out of the water and tucking her legs up to her chest. "So dragons, giants, big wolves. What else you got running around in...Westeros?"

[tooktheblack]

"Unicorns and snarks," Jon said, watching her face to see if she believed him. Perhaps, perhaps not...Leah was a good deal sharper than many people he'd encountered both on the island and back home. In so many ways, she reminded him of a Wildling: free and fierce.

[genetic_deadend]

"Oh bullshit," Leah snorted, though she eyed him. Because even though 'oh bullshit' was her default setting for everything, she could see Galahad here with a pet unicorn, and was tempted to ask if they really did only let virgins touch them. Or whatever. Wasn't that how the stories went?

"I don't even know a snark is, but you're still full of shit."

[tooktheblack]

"To the brim," Jon agreed, grinning and laughing. "Giants and dragons are the only truly fantastic things. There's an imp born to House Lannister but that happens, sometimes. It's merely a natural occurrence."

There was one thing markedly different, though, and Jon thought she might be interested. "Our seasons last for years. Summer lasted for nine this time past."

[genetic_deadend]

An imp? Like one of those little things with horns and wings and a tail? She had a sneaking suspicion the word didn't quite mean the same thing in his world.

"You had a nine year summer?" Leah blinked, and made a face. "How do you survive? I mean, how do your crops even cycle properly?"

[tooktheblack]

"Er, no, a small person. A dwarf," Jon clarified. "And we make do. Store things during the long summers, trade with other countries from across the Narrow Sea. There's good fish to be had off the coast of Eastwatch and while you might be tired of it, a full belly's better than it gnawing you in two. Besides, Ghost could always take down game."