CHAPTER ONE
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A MEETING WITH A STRANGER AFAR

     AND WITH ALL her grief, Juniper struck the Wildling down at the floor, as cheers erupted from the crowd, the redhead glaring daggers down at the man.

Blood splattered at his face, as Juniper poses to kick his face, and he tried to shield himself by turning, but it hit his back instead, and he howled in pain. Juniper cracked her knuckles, and clenched her fists. "Are you alright, now? Did I finally knock some sense in that head of yours." She kicked his head, and the man slumped in defeat.

Juniper twirled her twin axes at hand, and sheathed it, as victorious applause filled the air. The redhead waved it away, and started off, back to her own tent.

She buried her face in her hands, as Juniper sighed loudly. Strands of her reddish brown hair were braided around her head like a halo, only Juniper wasn't an angel of any sort. Maybe when she was younger, she was.

There was a speck of black entering the tent, and immediately perched on her arm, and cawed softly. "Hey, Bran." She murmured, and dug her hands in her pockets, fishing out a few seeds she found a morning ago. "Here, break your fast." The raven pecked on the seeds, and Juniper smiled lightly, before looking away.

The bed at her right was still neatly laid, as if no one has slept their for months. True, no one did, for the record. Juniper found herself thinking of Osha once again, and bit her lip.

The woman who offered her help, gone. Juniper wasn't able to even bid her goodbye, when Osha disappeared without a trace.

Often, she wondered where her friend would have been staying in right now. Maybe she was with Stiv, since he, too, has left camp. Juniper absent-mindedly twirled a fallen strand of her hair, when someone suddenly entered the tent.

Bran immediately cawed in terror, as the commander went inside. Juniper narrowed her eyes warily, as she petted Bran's feathers gently. "What is it that you need?"

He took a seat next to her, as Juniper instinctively reached for her twin axes, but stopped herself. "I... wanted to check on you."

Juniper resisted the urge to roll her eyes. The ink of the past was dry already, and that no matter how sweet and earnest the commander sounded, Juniper never truly forgave him.

Well, maybe a little bit. She bit back down the sharp retorts Juniper wanted to speak of, but looked over at the side, and fidgeted with her fingers. "Alright.. I'm okay."

The commander gave an audible sigh, before turning to Juniper. "I am so proud of you, Juniper. You have become one of my favorite warriors, and true enough, you still are." Juniper nodded slowly, as she met his cold and hard gaze, a usual sign that he wasn't in a bad mood, nor was he feeling pleasant.

"That is why it's time to put past your wait for your friend, Osha. You need to learn the ways of being a commander, already. I'm afraid my condition is worsening every passing day, and I need my successor to at the very least, know how to lead her people right."

Juniper turned to him, incredulously. Was he telling her to.. No way. "I'm not giving up on her, if that is what you are here for. Duty doesn't call to me, unlike how Osha was always there for me." She spat venomously, and dug her nails on her palms. The commander's eyes widened, before it went dark.

"Juniper, the fate of our people — your people, lies in your hands. Do not let your emotions get to you." He snarled at her, before turning to stomp off, leaving her in silence.

The redhead shakily opened her palm, revealing a deep cut where the nails once dug into, and sighed deeply. Was this... it?

♜♜♙♜♜

     "AND AFTER THAT, I slashed at the man in black, and chomped on his throat, tearing the flesh away!" One relayed, as Juniper silently sharpened her axes in an eye blink, her quiver resting on the rock next to her.

A chorus of oohs and aahs came from the Wildlings, as Juniper paid no attention to the stories. This was one of the despised times she hated to do as a Wildling — to listen them brag on and on about the same thing. Killing.

"Juniper! What would you do?" The redhead looked up from her work, and out of curiosity, she asks. "I'm listening." was all she said.

They exchanged looks, before one piped up. "What would you do, if you found a lord in your clutches, like... for example, a Stark?" Murmurs were heard, as some exchanged words. "Heard he was crippled." "Yes, said that he fell from a tower." "If that was me, I'd hold him hostage and ask for numerous amounts of gold, and I'll be rich!" "Mmhm, agreed."

Juniper raised her hand for silence, and looked at the man who asked, and was mistaken and taken aback. She was definitely has aged woman, as her hair was in a braided updo, her glance withheld a fierce gleam to it. Juniper narrowed her eyes, as she had never seen this woman before, and thought of an answer.

"If you are talking about the crippled one, simple. I'd either kill the Stark, or I would hold him hostage for ransom." replied the redhead, never knowing the actual name of the Stark, as she caught the woman shaking her head in dismay, before the commander stood.

"It is getting late. I shall declare this day a fruitful one. May the Old Gods continue to bless us with those." He announced, and the crowd dispersed at once. Out of curiosity, Juniper went to follow the woman back there.

"I never seen you here." The woman stopped walking, and turned back to the redhead, who was wiping away the black spots at her axe. All she did was shrug her shoulders. "I am not an important figure here, for I am only a spearwife." She says, and Juniper brandishes her axe, before placing it in her sheaths. 

"Really, because I never seen you in this parts of camp." The woman barely flinched, as Juniper walked towards her, her hands behind her back. "So.. it's either if you're lying to me, or my mind is playing tricks on me."

The woman suddenly bared her teeth at the Wildling, as Juniper stumbled backwards. They were unusually sharp, and Juniper brandished her axes all at once.

"Don't take this meeting for granted, Juniper." The redhead was taken aback, before she recovered from the shock. "How did you-"

The woman smiled, which looked more like a sneer to Juniper. "I know many things about you. Oh, if only you saw your reaction on your face right now.." Juniper felt insulted, and charged to hit, but stumbled on her own feet.

"Careful, Wildling. As I was saying, the question. You wanted to ask me about that?" Standing up, the redhead nodded, and met the woman's steely gaze.

"He'll play a huge role in your life, that's all. He would be the reason you want to be here, and why you haven't given up." Juniper found it all outraging to hear, and stepped forward.

"Well, look here, lady. I don't know the bunch of rubbish you are entailing to me right now, but I took care of my fucking self, thank you very much. And I control my own future, I don't rely on what old grannies just tell me." The woman didn't seemed surprised, as she snarled at the redhead.

"Ha! What a foolish child, you will never really control your own destiny, as the Gods have
full control of that, not a silly girl like you." She hissed, and before Juniper could throw her axes at her, she vanished in an instant, with only a satchel on the ground to mark her existence. If she even existed, she thought.

Juniper grunted, and kicked the ground angrily. "A nuisance, she is." muttered the Wildling angrily, before looking back at the camp, and back at the satchel.

She knelt down and peered inside, and her bow and quiver of arrows were there. Juniper started upwards, as she held her breath. Impossible, she thought. They were in her tent.

Curious to find more, Juniper searched for any more materials in the satchel. There was her a tightly lidded bottle, with drinkable water inside, a fleece poncho, and a packet of seeds. "What would I need the seeds for?" She mumbled to herself loudly, just when Juniper heard a caw from above. Bran.

"Hey, Bran. Yeah, we are." She placed the packet of seeds back in the satchel, and slung it over her shoulder. "I don't care anymore, if they disown me, or beat me. This isn't what I'm meant to be. I'm no leader." Juniper told the raven, who sat on her shoulder.

"I'm going to find Osha, once and for all."