"If you will not talk with me," Queen Hariel spoke, watching the men formed around the gate in front of her. "I will go to the Starks of Winterfell. I hear they are the Wardens of the North."

The men of the Night's Watch all had their hands on their weapons, regardless of whether or not it was a ranged weapon. Sword, axe, bow, spear, slingshot. Some men had armor while others did not. And they were all black in color. The cloaks that the men wore were all black, showing a measure of equality, she supposed.

The man in charge, Lord Commander Qorgyle, stood in front of the men, his dark eyes wide with surprise at her Change. The only indication of fear was in his scent, in the bitter smell that tinged the air around her.

She heard Karsi and Tormund snicker behind her and she flipped them a crude hand signal behind her with her left. Karsi's snickering grew louder for a moment before she quieted. Tormund snorted and for all that he was 16, he was still taller and louder than her. His laugh was louder than Karsi for a moment before falling silent at Harrie's signal.

Harrie even swore she could hear a snort from Ser Arthur Dayne, from where he stood behind Prince Rhaegar.

Silence echoed between the two camps and then Prince Rhaegar finally stepped forward, breaking the tense atmosphere.

"Lord Commander, she does not come to lay siege to your keep," Rhaegar remarked, his long silver hair pulled back into a tail. "She only comes to talk."

"You are not king," Lord Commander Qorgyle said stiffly. "You cannot order us to hear her out."

"Not yet."

Rhaegar turned to look at the Queen Beyond the Wall, a title that if he understood correctly, Hariel had very much earned. Everything about her was nothing anyone in Westeros had ever seen.

Her clothes were lightly dusted in snow as well as her long dark hair, with a few braids here and there. The cloak that lay about her shoulder was shimmering in the afternoon sunlight and he wondered if it too was magical. Her tunic and leggings and boots were worn and sturdy, sprinkled with dirt and mud and yet she didn't seem to care.

"I need to get my people south of the wall," Hariel spoke, taking a step towards the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch. Several men reached down to their swords, their eyes widening, fear etched into their bodies.

"Your people?"

The voice came from inside the gate, some man of the Night's Watch, and Hariel dipped her head in a nod. "My people, aye. So. What will it be, Lord Commander? I bypass you and go straight to the Starks of Winterfell or will you accommodate me?"

"Witch!"

"You attacked us," Qorgyle remarked, grimacing as he put his hands on his sword belt. "Your 'people' have attacked us for years and yet you want to take them south of the wall. No. The wildlings have stabbed us in the back one too many times and have taken far too many of our own down."

Hariel tilted her head in thought, not an ounce of surprise in her gaze, and then shrugged. Her eyes darkened as she opened her mouth to reply, her gaze flicking up to the very wall that kept her and the wildlings out. "Very well. I don't want to break the wall down but there are other ways."

Rhaegar stiffened and looked at her, his heart skipping a beat or two at her words. "What exactly does that mean?"

"Prince Rhaegar, you saw the True Heart of the North. I am getting my people far away from there," Hariel said, turning to look at him before sighing, drawing her cloak closer to her shoulders. "Go home. Talk to your father."

"This cannot lead to an attack," Rhaegar urged, stepping between her and the lord commander.

"It won't. I am heading to Winterfell to talk."

Hariel's eyes softened and then she turned to talk with her companions. Rhaegar watched her for a few minutes before turning to the Lord Commander. Arthur stepped over to his side, looking between him and the Queen Beyond the Wall, his hand on his blade. "I would like to speak with Maester Aemon, please."

"What are you thinking?" Karsi questioned, looking between Harrie and the men of the Night's Watch that guarded the gate. Harrie had gestured them off, probably so that their talk would not get overheard.

"I don't know how big Westeros is but from what Prince Rhaegar said…There's space for all of us," Harrie remarked, her arms at her sides as she watched Prince Rhaegar walk right up to the gate. "It sounds beautiful."

Val's eyes narrowed. "They still don't want us."

"Their prince is different, I think. I hope," Harrie commented, making a hand wavy motion, her eyes drawn to the gate and the tunnel through the Wall. The gate creaked as it was opened up from the inside and Prince Rhaegar, Arthur, Oswell and the Lord Commander walked inside. The little bits and pieces that Harrie had caught of their speech told her the prince had wanted to speak with the castle's maester. At the last minute, Rhaegar stopped and turned to look at her, his violet eyes dark, and met her own gaze. "I just need to bypass the men here and go talk to the Starks."

"That's easy enough," Tormund said, pointing upward, his eyes glinting with mischief. "Just fly."

Harrie sighed again but the slight twitch to her mouth said she agreed. She turned back to look at the forest behind them and gestured. "I am going to need cover then."

"The king is traveling to Winterfell," Aemon offered, as they met in the courtyard of Castle Black.

Rhaegar blinked and was more than halfway tempted to swear. "My father is traveling to Winterfell. He knows where I went then."

"Not that you went beyond the Wall. What of the Queen and the Wildlings?"

"They did not hurt me," Rhaegar confirmed, watching as the men of the Night's Watch eyed the two of them while occasionally glancing out at the tunnel. As if they could still see the Queen Beyond the Wall. The woman who could turn into a dragon. "They will not hurt us but she wants her people safe."

Aemon studied him briefly, his own violet eyes a little paler than Rhaegar's. "Safe. They are never safe beyond the Wall."

"Not just from each other," Rhaegar said, grimacing at the thought before shaking his head. "She united them for that reason but you have heard my thoughts on what I found."

Aemon nodded and breathed deeply. "You read about the prophecy. Did you find something?"

"I saw something," Rhaegar stated vehemently. "It made me ill and it made the Queen sick to her stomach."

Aemon flinched and turned to look at the various men who surrounded them. The men who were trying their hardest to not look like they were eavesdropping. "Go to Winterfell. Lord Rickard might be a better man to talk things over with."

Rhaegar opened his mouth to reply when a roar filled the air. The sky darkened as clouds covered the sun for a brief instant and then the dragon flew above them. The Queen Beyond the Wall flew fast and hard over the tops of the castle, skimming the roofs and sped forward, carrying the men and women she had traveled with on her back.

A small sliver of heat curled itself into his stomach at the sight and Rhaegar felt his cheeks redden at the sudden spike of jealousy.

The dragon roared again and before she flew off, she hovered, peering down at him and winked.

Karsi peered down at the lands below them as they flew past Castle Black, sucking in a sharp breath as they did. Tormund and Val echoed her, clutching onto a spike on their Queen's back. Her stomach growled with hunger as they continued to fly, watching as the clouds trailed past them. The sun traveled through the sky with them, as the day passed.

She'd never get used to flying on a dragon, much less following the Ice Queen. Their Winter Queen.

The lands slowly gave way to forested area and greenery, less snow with each passing minute. It made Karsi jealous of the southerners, jealous of how good they had it. No threats south of the wall here. No starvation. No raiding from other villages. At the first farmhouse, her frown deepened and she stuck out her tongue.

They flew for a few hours before the dragon underneath them began to lower in the sky. The sun was low in the sky as Queen Hariel began to tire, her wings beating heavily.

Val elbowed her and Harrie hissed, rumbling low in her throat, before beginning to circle. They held on tighter as the dragon slowly dropped down, landing perfectly on the green and dirt and mud.

Harrie stayed still as they each disembarked before loping off a little ways and shifting back behind the farmhouse. They could all hear her bones crack and shift, shrinking so much that she ended up on two legs, rather than four plus wings.

Tormund padded over to glance into the farmhouse, his hand on his axe.

"It's abandoned!"

Their queen stepped out from behind the building and nodded. "Aye, there's no one here. Not even any animals except rats. I wonder. Prince Rhaegar mentioned that there was land given to the Night's Watch called the Gift and then the New Gift. Maybe it's…"

"The free folk raided the lands frequently," Val remarked, catching Karsi's stink eye. "What? We're not raiding anymore. We promised."

Karsi shrugged and began to look around, walking over to the small barn and peering in. Her friends were right; there was no one around and certainly not any horses or cows. Dalla followed, keeping her hands on her bow, ready to nock an arrow at a moment's notice. Val had her knife in her hand, her fingers curled tightly around it as she waited with Harrie and Sigorn.

Sigorn looked between the women and Tormund before turning to look back north, his eyes worried. "They're gonna send men to follow us."

"We have a significant head start," Harrie offered, following his gaze. "But yes. We'll make camp here for the night. I can't carry you lot for more than a few hours at a time."

"I can take first watch," Tormund said, meeting everyone's eyes.

"Thanks."

Harrie dreamed of dragons that breathed fire and purple eyes that night, of wolves howling in the north. She woke up abruptly at the whinnying of horses and at Dalla's quiet urgent whisper of people. Dalla had her bow drawn and nocked with an arrow, at her side, held easily in her fingers. The darkness of the evening surrounded everything outside, pools of black covering the walls of the barn.

She immediately sat up amidst the straw in the barn and drew on her cloak, heading to take a peek through the wooden walls of the barn. Harrie's eyes widened as she saw three men on horseback, each leading two horses behind them. The moonlight shone down on them and made the man in the lead's hair shine white. She shook her head in bemusement and gestured to Dalla to put her bow away.

"It is just Prince Rhaegar," Harrie muttered, scanning the surrounding landscape with dragon sharpened eyes. "And his two guards. No one else. And with enough horses for all of us."

Dalla eyed her sharply, slowly loosening up the bowstring. "He is persistent then. You told him to go home, did you not?"

"I did. Perhaps he took my words to heart," Harrie commented, before walking out of the barn and stopping to watch as the prince rode up. She brushed some of her hair back off her face and tied it back messily, not even caring what she looked like now. "Perhaps he realized the same thing I did."

Arthur and Oswell didn't look too happy but they were not drawing their swords. Rhaegar grinned down at her from his horse.

"We're going with you."

Harrie huffed bemusedly. "Alright."

"The king is traveling to Winterfell too," Rhaegar whispered as they settled down in the barn as well. The two of them sat down in the corner, away from the others, and looked each other over.

Harrie blinked and met his eyes in the small light that she had conjured, a ball that hovered between them. It was more for Rhaegar's benefit than her's as she watched Rhaegar's knights lie down across from her people. She could see his gaze drop to the ball of the light occasionally, wonder and awe in that purple gaze. "I thought you said he didn't leave King's Landing."

"He doesn't since Duskendale," Rhaegar murmured, his eyes narrowed in thought. "My father is easily swayed by words."

Harrie swallowed. "You mean he's easily manipulated."

"Yes."

"How far is Winterfell?"

"A day. No more than that," Rhaegar answered, peering over at the wildlings that slept no more than five feet away. "Your people have to cross the wall. They can't stay beyond it."

Harrie looked at him, truly looked at him, and then nodded. "They do."

"Then we need to get to Winterfell before my father does. Who knows what my father's been told about you or about myself."

"Aye. We do."

Rhaegar nodded and stood up quietly, making sure to not step on any creaky wood. "I persuaded the Lord Commander to not send anyone after you so you don't need to worry."

"Thanks."

"Besides…you don't know the way to Winterfell, do you?"

Harrie's cheeks turned slightly red at his words and she shook her head. "No. I do not. I was just going to head south and ask the first person I saw that didn't flee from us."

Rhaegar smiled faintly and walked over to lie down with Arthur.

They rose at dawn and galloped off on their borrowed horses, with Prince Rhaegar and Queen Hariel in the lead. Karsi, Tormund, Val, Dalla, Arthur and Oswell rode behind them, the sounds of hoofbeats echoing in the valley. They shared bites of meat and bread amongst themselves as they rode, taking drinks from canteens of water as well.

The people that they occasionally passed stared at them, dropping whatever they were doing. But with each farmhouse they passed, Harrie noted that there were more abandoned buildings than there were occupied. And she knew that the Night's Watch only occupied three castles now, as opposed to the nineteen that they had started out with. It was something to keep in mind.

Talking with the Night's Watch had failed. She hoped that the Starks would be more inclined to talk and less inclined to shut them out.

Around noon, they rode over a hill and arrived at the top of it, stopping to take in the castle in front of them. Harrie's heart stopped at the sight that met them, at the sight of Winterfell, the home of the Starks. It was beautiful and old, reminding her a little bit of Hogwarts.

The banners of House Stark flew from the castle walls. The grey direwolf on the icy field.

She patted her horse's neck and exchanged glances with Rhaegar, who nodded, and urged her horse forward.