It was the day before the wildlings were supposed to head south back to the wall.

The "free folk" as they called themselves, had been making preparations for their journey for a few days already - hunting for what they could, packing rations and climbing gear. Jon had been trapped in the wildling camps for quite some time already, biding his time until he could make a get-away. However, with the distrust from still many wildlings, not to mention the distance from the wall let alone any other form of civilization… escape wasn't likely.

But even so Jon was… less than thrilled about making the journey back over the wall. In his heart, he was still committed to the Night's Watch. And being on the opposite side of the wall felt like a betrayal. It didn't help that he had revealed many of the Night's Watch's secrets to the wildlings once he had been captured, remembering he had told them about Castle Black, the east watch by the sea, and the Shadow Tower. Not to mention the men's numbers, and whatever other information that Tormund and especially Orell had been able to pry out of him on their daily hunts so far this week.

The only thing that had his heart conflicted from his duty to the Night's Watch was the young and vibrant wildling, Ygritte.

In his sleep in their tent at night, it wasn't home or his family that he was dreaming of – it was her, fire trailing down her shoulders waiting for him in the grotto, beckoning him with her fingers. But when he climbed that wall tomorrow… what would become of her? The vision of her naked body swirled away like dust as Jon thought of the possibility of having to leave her behind, the grotto becoming bleak and chilled without her presence. His heart dropped into his stomach thinking about not being by her side. But if he had any chance at escape, shouldn't he take it...?

He had a duty to the Night's Watch.

. . . . . . . . . .

But his heart remained Ygritte's.

Jon's body trembled from the cold. He was on another hunt for food with the wildlings, and it had already lasted for hours. But the time waiting for a nearby herd of deer to be tracked didn't help him sort the complicated mess that had begun churning in his head. Instead, it probably made things worse.

He sighed and slumped onto the ground, huddling behind a rock. A crisp wind suddenly made its way past the shelter of the stone and hit his face, whipping his black hair against his cheeks. The impact of the chilled wind helped him to focus somewhat, and Jon leaned his head back against the hard surface.

He was saying the same things over and over again, when in reality it was simple; he had two choices – the Night's Watch, or Ygritte.

A high-pitched voice piped up from nearby.

"Oi Jon, you'd think being a Stark would mean you wouldn't be chilled like this." Ygritte crawled over from behind her own rock and stared at him with her wide blue eyes.

He stared back at her and grumbled.

"I'm not cold, Ygritte. It's just… windy."

Ygritte chuckled, her cheeks lifting to her eyes and her teeth bared mischievously.

"Sounds like something a Northerner would say, I suppose. 'Winter is coming' and all that; this must be nothing for you then, eh Snow?" She teased.

Jon smirked at her jest, but sat up straight nonetheless to stifle his shivering – at least while Ygritte was looking anyways. She would tease him mercilessly about anything, and he didn't need to give her anything more to pester him with, especially regarding the cold when he was a Stark. Not that being on a very tall cliff with howling, bitter winter winds gave him an excuse to be cold, according to her.

Ygritte squinted west towards the slowly setting sun and changing subjects, cursed. "It's late. Orell was supposed to have figured out where the herd was already."

"I'm sure Tormund is leading them back now. Even if we don't find the herd tonight, there's plenty of food for us to travel tomorrow, and plenty to last the village until we get back." He cocked his head towards a few snow rabbits tied together behind him that they had caught earlier while waiting.

"Ah, so you will be returning then?"

Jon stopped, his face as blank as a sheet of ice.

He wasn't entirely sure. He knew he was more than enamored with Ygritte, but with the others... In his time in their village, he had to admit that he had become quite fond of it, and even their people. The wildlings began warming up to him, and they had accepted him faster in a few days than the Starks ever had in a decade.

Jon offered a small smile to the red head above him, his decision finally becoming clearer. "Yeah… I think I will be."

Ygritte grinned widely.

"Although…"

Ygritte's face fell. "What…?"

"Well… it's just that… there's this crazy red head who's been following me around for days, who I've been trying to get away from and is making me reconsider - "

Ygritte lightly punched his shoulder. "Shut up! Don't scare me like that!" She grabbed his face in between her hands and placed her lips upon his.

"You'll never get away from me Jon Snow; you're mine, remember?"

They gazed into each other's eyes, smiling, and leaned in for another kiss.

Suddenly a deep rumbling sounded from a wildling horn off in the distance. Jon and Ygritte quickly moved away from each other and looked west. A puff of ice and clouds had appeared on the horizon, glinting in the little sunlight that was left.

"A storm?" Jon breathed.

"No." Ygritte said, concerned.

Ygritte's sharp eyes picked up on the movement in the distance faster than Jon, and suddenly barreled over with laughter.

A pack of deer was not only nearby, but they had begun stampeding towards the wildling team who had gone out in search of them.

Orell was wildly flailing his arms and screaming. Another wildling began sprinting to get ahead before losing footing and falling chin first into the ice below. Tormund bounded beside Orell, but quickly fell behind as he slipped on the ice, his feet coming above his head as he landed on his backside.

"Well, I supposed that's the signal then?" Jon said sarcastically.

Jon and Ygritte chuckled as they withdrew bows from their backs and aimed them at the deer slowly being channeled into the pass below them.

"Risky, but smart." Jon mumbled.

"I don't think they intended to use themselves as bait to funnel the deer into the pass…" Ygritte commented.

Arrows quickly flew from above to save the wildlings running below. Jon was shakier with the bow, but Ygritte never missed a mark. Several deer went down near the beginning of the pass.

Orell, Tormund and the other wildlings quickly leaped across a trip wire set across the pass hours ago. The wire snapped against the speed of the deer hurdling towards what was quickly becoming a dead end, but not before wrapping around several of the deer's ankles and bringing them crashing down to the ground. The few deer who had fallen quickly tripped up the other deer bringing up the rear of the herd, creating a domino effect that stopped them from running into the cliff's side - leaving the wildlings with only a few feet left to spare.

Everyone quickly caught their breaths, and the uninjured deer who weren't caught by their trap quickly turned around and bounded back to the icy wasteland.

Indistinguishable arguing erupted from Orell and Tormund, while another wildling collapsed with exhaustion behind them. Jon and Ygritte quickly climbed down the cliff's rocky sides to meet their comrades at the bottom.

"Look boy," Tormund breathed heavily. "When I said I liked ya, I meant it, but if yer goin' to be one of us now, you've got to learn how to use that bow." He violently stabbed a spear into a twitching deer's head beneath his foot.

The wildlings joined him in laughter.

"Alright then," Orell interrupted. "I'm ready to go home. I hate to cut this short, but we wasted enough time trying to find the damn things." Orell put his hands on his knees and cocked his head at the pile of deer now behind him. "You two love-birds can grab the kill, and let's get going. We don't want to be out here when it gets dark".

Jon and Ygritte nodded, quickly tying up several deer to drag back to camp.

"What happened do you think…?" Jon asked, curious.

Ygritte shrugged. "Who knows? We'll likely find out over supper tonight. If not – we'll at least have supper tonight!" She grinned.

Ygritte tactfully tied up the remaining deer and shouldering one over her back, began walking back towards the village, with Jon trailing behind her.