A/n: 1. It's your, 2. Spare me, I haven't seen GoT... bUT I did do research, so I hope this is as accurate as possible <3

Memories seemed to do me wrong, as last night the air had been so horribly, suffocatingly cold, that I had shivered a hole in the snow I slept on.

That was the very first thought that crossed my mind when I woke up.

Next, I took notice of the lack of the soft chill beneath my blanket was harder, firmer, and I wondered if my body heat had finally melted the snow and now I was on the hard ground beneath.

Of course, since those two realizations had come so slowly, once they were firm and realized, a thousand thoughts, notes, and realizations flooded my mind, and I lay still, trying to process each one.

Mace was missing. There was another blanket on top of me. I had moved all together, and was now by a fire. There was a fire. I was not alone. I sat up and my head spun and pitched and my stomach twisted, but I pushed off the extra blanket - it was actually a cloak of some kind? - and struggled to my feet. Immediately there was Mace, her body supporting me as I wrapped my arm around her back, in a kneeling position, the hand not wrapped around her back placed flat on the ground. My head whipped up and I suppressed a groan as the spinning increased. Mace whimpered for me.

A boy stood on the other side of the fire. His dirty blonde hair was messy, but everyone's hair was messy around here. His eyes were calm and his face relaxed. Next to him stood a girl. Unlike the boy's casual posture, she was stiff and almost crouched, ready to fight, a spear in her hands. There was a woman off to the side, next to a boy on a cot and a man just out of view, on the other side of the tree the second boy leaned his cot against. Everyone looked at me and I looked back, my eyes flying from each person, trying to watch them all. "Please don't worry," the boy by the fire assured me. "We mean you no harm."

Suddenly another wolf entered the clearing and I recognized how she hovered around the boy on the cot. No way. Another dire wolf, huh? Who thought anyone would have seen two in one life time? Even less, me, ordinary me, who didn't see much excitement in life.

My eyes wandered to Mace.

Not the same.

"Summer, it's okay," The boy in the cot soothed, running his hand across her back, soothing her, getting her to calm down into a sitting position.

"Meera, please relax for once," the boy by the fire sighed. "She is the only one who should be afraid. We intruded on her space, not the other way around." The girl that stood by the boy by the fire - Meera - looked at the boy as if she was annoyed.

She stood, relaxed, rolling her eyes. "She looked hostile," she mumbled under her breath, moving to the side to sit down, never far from the boy by the fire, though. She looked crouched, still ready to spring into action. As if, at any moment, the boy by the fire would explode, and she would have to dive out of the way. Or... Maybe come to his rescue. That seemed more accurate.

Everyone's gazes eventually drifted back to me. Mace growled defensively. Slowly, my head stopped spinning and I froze in my awkward crouch. When no one did anything further except stare, I lifted my arm away from Mace, patted her back soothingly, then stood. "I... I guess I'll just go then. I have things to do, places to see. People to not interact with." My voice got more and more quiet as I spoke. I hadn't properly seen another human in quite a while. It was a bit strange, this interaction. I couldn't remember if things were always like this or not.

Turning my back to the group, I gasped as I was suddenly in front of the other Dire Wolf. Summer, the boy had called her. Summer stood in my way, not hostile, but looking at Mace as if curious. "They seem interested in each other." I recognized the voice as the boy's by the fire. "Look, I know you're hungry. Why don't you join us? We're about to eat." Tentatively turning back to the group, I looked around, not yet relaxed. I wasn't yet sure if I could truly trust them. "I suppose I should introduce everyone," the boy by the fire finally realized. "That's Bran, by the tree." He said the name overly casual, like he didn't want me to think too much into the name. "Osha is next to him. You've met Meera, and Summer. Hooded is back there with Rikon." He motioned to everyone in turn, so I could match names to faces. Then he looked at me and when our eyes met, he smiled. It was an attractive smile, and I was a bit surprised that my stomach flipped. "I'm Jojen."

---

Maybe if I'd known what I was getting myself into that day, I would have run for the hills.

Though, I doubt it.

Even looking back, I couldn't make myself regret meeting them all. Bran. Meera. Osha. Even Jojen. Especially Jojen. I could never regret meeting him. Honestly, very soon after we met, I integrated into the little group quite nicely. I was quiet and shy, not quite sure how to act around humans, and sometimes I still questioned the things I said and how they tolerated some of the thoughts that slipped past my lips too fast for me to pull them back. It had been just Mace and I for so long it almost felt strange to wake up and see a face like mine. A human face.

Bran and I usually hung out. He was fun to talk to, occasionally, and he had interesting opinions on the world. Different than mine. If I was really lucky, and often not totally thinking about what I was saying, some accidental joke would be said and he would crack the smallest of smiles. As he warmed up to me, so did Summer, and her and Mace got along very well. Mace had gotten used to Bran's smell on me, and now found comfort in Bran as well as he did myself.

Meera taught me her tricks for hunting, Osha making a sly comment here and there. There was most definitely tension between the two, but I never asked about it. The two were too tense and serious for me, and I preferred to only be around them when we were hunting or making dinner.

When we traveled I usually stuck with Jojen. Osha stuck with Bran, and I didn't much like to be around her heavy air, so I stayed away only then. The small time I did have with Jojen increased when Bran suddenly drew away from me, depending so heavily on his ability to sync with Summer that very rarely did he seem to want to be himself. Jojen had become my safe haven. Where Bran was like my little brother, someone I protected and cheered up, Jojen was my best friend. The two of us could talk about anything, no matter what. It wasn't long before the long talks resulted in us becoming quite well acquainted with the other, and I liked to think that even though Meera knew him longer, I had a connection with Jojen that she didn't, as his sister. I hadn't grown up with him. Likewise, I wasn't immune to his charm. His comfort. The three of us were close, but Meera and Jojen's close relationship was vastly different than mine and Jojen's.

Mace didn't like it. The smell of Bran slowly faded as Jojen would pop up. I could tell because he would smell me, look at Bran as if confused, look at Jojen, then look back at me accusingly. Never did I smell too much like anyone, though, really. That was the thing. Made didn't make too much of a fuss because I usually still had that distinct ME smell. That all changed one night when we passed by an inn in such a small place that the others didn't see it. I did. When we went inside, I had to flirt with the innkeeper's son - something that came from my my awkwardness and skill for lying. Flirting genuinely would be impossible, but manipulating someone was easy enough. I simply became what they wanted... if it was someone I liked, and I wanted them to like be for me? How would someone go being yourself to such a person? Thankfully the boy - who seemed to run the inn more than his father - wasn't an interest to me, and therefore was very easy to manipulate. He leant us a room, blushing and caught off guard, but Jojen looked upset. It confused me.

As we got three rooms, we paired up. At first it was Meera and Jojen, Bran and Osha, and me with the wolves, but Bran wanted to be with Summer and Mace didn't want to part from the only other Dire wolf. The two had come accustomed to sleeping close together. So Bran went with the wolves and I shot Jojen a desperate look. He knew I didn't like being around Meera or Osha for very long, if unnecessary. He convinced Osha and Meera to room together, leaving me and Jojen.

Me and him. Alone. In a room. All by ourselves.

At first it was completely innocent. But then he was very angry and ignoring me I didn't understand why, so I kept pressing him about it. That was when he told me how it bothered him that I'd flirted with the innkeeper's son and when I pressed about that it came out. "I like you okay?!" He turned away the second he said it. "I hate... You seemed to be so incapable of a relationship. And we're in the middle... It wasn't the time. But nothing bothers me more than seeing you be with someone else the way I want to be with you myself. Flirting and a little more than just friendly. I like you..." He shrugged, obviously self conscious and unsure.

I made the first move. I kissed him. We kissed a long time, but didn't go past that. We couldn't. Our pride was too great for that. But I slept with him that night - as non innocently as we could, keeping our virtue - and he held me tightly and securely. I explained why I had been able to flirt with the inn boy and he seemed to calm about it.

The next morning, Jojen and I couldn't stop smirking at each other, every time our eyes locked or even briefly touched. The InnBoy kept seeing us share looks and would look away, ashamed. I felt guilty. When we left the tiny inn in the tiny town, Mace was at my side. He smelled me, growled. He looked directly at Jojen and I nudged himself it's my foot. "Down boy," I chided. He glared rather humanly at me. I stuck my tongue out at him.

All that day, and the next, and then the next, into that whole week, Mace was extremely protective. Every time Jojen would get near me, he'd growl and tense up and Meera would tighten her grip on her weapon. I'd put a hand out to push away Jojen and a hand out to calm Mace. So, in this way, we stayed apart. Bran and I had grown painfully far apart at this point and Meera and Osha were still far too much for me, so I grew sad and lonely. Mace noticed and began pacing. I felt his need to protect me and his betrayal. Like a mother accusing her daughter of sleeping with a young man, betrayed it had ever even crossed the younger girl's mind.

"We're still innocent," I told Mace one day. Mace just shook his head and kept pacing. "I didn't do anything Mace!" He just kept pacing.

Meera came over another time. "Jojen loves you, doesn't he?"

I was shocked. "I... I don't know."

She paused, then nodded, as if confirming it to herself. "And you love him." It wasn't a question so I didn't give her a response. I just sat, shocked. Meera looked at Mace and the two looked gazes. They had a long, silent conversation I couldn't understand. Which was weird. I'm the only one that had ever done that before. After a moment, Mace hung his head, looked at me with worried eyes, and then curled into a ball by the tree. I looked at Meera, hopeful, and she smiled, nodding. "Go."

Never before had I gotten to my feet so quickly. Jojen was waiting for me, grinning, and when we met in the middle, we both hugged hard and long. When we pulled apart, Jojen didn't even ask, he just kissed me gently, and I blushed and grinned widely and it was amazing. Mace whined, more annoyed. Bran groaned, and Summer joined him with a whine of her own, but she was also rather busy laying with Mace and comforting him. Osha and Meera just smiled quietly.

And it was amazing.

"I love you," he whispered. "I thought I'd say it before I lost the chance."

"I find myself in the same situation," I replied. "I'm just as in love."

He grinned. "Perfect."

And so, in that moment, it really was.