eastbound | un: whitewolf

[A young man, bearded and perhaps overly serious, addresses the party.]

If we haven't spoken before, I am Jon Snow. I have traveled with this party for two years, now. Some of you can say the same, or have traveled longer; some of you have just joined the group in recent days.

We've seen a number of places. Most were under one sort of threat or another from the Dead. A few were places of rest, or ways of travel.

I know that if I go back to where I came from, I may not be able to hold on to any wisdom I might be so lucky to gain here, but there's something I wonder about from time to time. I would hear your answers, if you have any.

The cities we've been in... what would you have done if you had been ruling them? How would you have answered the same challenges, faced the same threats?

I have been king of a land and a castle which will face the Dead in its own time. I ask because I do what I can to help my people. I hope it is not so easy to stray as some in this world have made it seem. But I understand their fear and their need better than most.

[He is finished speaking, so he presses his lips together and nods.]

[OOC: super casual post, don't worry about format too much. Assume Jon is matching anything you use.]

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I think... in the end, I would have tried to not stand against the threat alone.

The undead, after all, albeit loosely, are allied. While the cities try to stand alone. Yes, they are far, but as we have seen, there are ways to travel among at least some of them.

And, besides, even as a ruler, not trying to do everything alone. At least some of the cities would have fared much better if the rulers had not been so distant from and secretive with their subjects.

The direwolf is the sigil of my father's house, and when we were children, my father told us that when things are at their worst, the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives.

What I mean is, I think you're right. I've done what I can to secure allies -- and to try to help old enemies understand that our misfortune will be their misfortune too, if we can't stop it.

Distance, secrets -- they have been guilty enough of that in this world. We have done what we can to aid them. It hasn't always been enough.

That is a good beginning. I do hope that alliances form, and hold. Those who have little to lose are formidable foes indeed, and terrifying.

Sometimes, as we have seen, even the best efforts are not enough, but ... it is the one thing I can see that has ever been a mistake, trying to stand alone.

And I cannot claim that where I come from, we are free of it. Although I do believe we learned that lesson before coming here.

[ Even though those who aided them paid far too dearly. ]

How did you learn it?

Too often, fault of cowardice. Deception. Betrayal.

Worse the deeds of men than of the dead.

I wish this was wrong, but it isn't. Not here, not for most of the Dead that we have seen. Where I come from, the Dead want one thing. They want you in their ranks, no more or less. They want to kill every living thing, and they do not pause to negotiate. Men may be more or less craven, more or less cruel, but there is greatness, and goodness, and kindness among them too, and none of that in the White Walkers or the Night King. I gave my throne to Daenerys because it was the right thing for my people, and because I never sought power. All these men who seek to gain or cling to power, and will do anything — well, I can't pretend it's the only evil. But it can be a great one.

Few men would renounce power, willing.

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