CHAPTER 10 | JUST LIFE

MELISANDRE cascaded down the halls of Castle Black as if she were flying, but with powers like hers, it was to be expected.

She seemed to have floated into Jon Snow's room just as Sam was removing himself. Jon nodded for her to come in. "Lord Commander," she greeted.

"How can I help you?" He sighed, searching through his stacks on stacks of papers.

"Come with us when we ride South." She ordered while prancing throughout his abode. "None of us know the castle as well as you do: it's hidden tunnels; it's weaknesses; it's people. Winterfell was your home once." She turned to face him. "Don't you want to chase the rats out of it?"

Jon raised a brow. "Castle Black is my home now."

Maia took note on Jon's working late that evening. She hadn't given him his portions during dinner, so she supposed he had skipped with Sam. She didn't like not being able to feed or help those who have done the same for her.

She had already found Sam while he was on his way somewhere else and handed him his daily dinner. He thanked her tremendously and gave her a set of directions to find Jon so she could deliver his own.

Maia followed his instructions without missing a beat this time. She realized she was getting good at knowing the different passageways of Castle Black as she approached Jon's door, which was already slightly cracked. The bowl of steaming food in her hands stung.

She was ready to push open the door when she heard the Lord Commander arguing with someone. "You're going to show me some vision in the fire?" He spat. "Forgive me, my Lady. I don't trust in visions."

As the woman came into view, Maia immediately recognized the cherry red hair of Melisandre. From what she gathered from both Derek and her own experiences, the Red Woman was full of myths and conceptions. She believed in what she believed, and nothing but that. Maia remembered Derek saying she birthed a demonic spirit. Talk about weird.

"No visions. No magic. Just life."

And then her robes slid off her body.

Maia's mouth fell open. She couldn't see Melisandre's bare breasts from her crack in the door, but she knew Jon surely could from the look of surprise on his face. Watching the way he looked at her made her feel uncomfortable. But she couldn't exactly blame him – going years without women could turn the best of men into monsters.

She watched Melisandre lift his right hand to cup her breast. He kept looking at it, and for some reason, Maia found the bowl in her hands growing colder. She shouldn't be looking at this and – oh, there it was. There was the jealousy, hiding deep within the pit of her stomach.

"Do you feel my heart beating?" Melisandre whispered, only to have Jon nod sheepishly in response. "This power in you – you resist it, and that's your mistake. Embrace it."

Maia was trying not to gag.

The Red Woman caressed his face before moving to sit on his lap, her bareness thumping against the leather that covered him. "The Lord of Light made us male and female: two parts of a greater whole. In our joining, this power – the power to make life; the power to make light; the power to cast shadows ..."

She leaned in slowly, her delicate fingers playing with the strings on his collar. He sighed, "I can't."

"Uh – yeah, you can't." Maia whispered to herself.

"I swore a vow," Jon continued, gulping at his own words. "I've loved another."

Melisandre frowned. "The dead don't need lovers. Only the living."

Jon saw at her quick moves, removing the witch's hands before they could touch him again. "I know. I still love her."

The bowl in her hands was sliding as the anticipation in the room grew thicker. Maia found her sanity slipping away as her foot cracked the door open more, and she found herself blurting, "Lord Commander!"

The couple's heads whipped in her direction. Maia's breath caught in her throat.

Melisandre removed herself from Jon's lap so that he could slowly stride over to his door, redoing his garb in the process. The blonde sluggishly raised her eyes to Jon's as he opened the door. "Maia," he muttered under his breath. "Is there something I can help you with?"

She thrust her hands forward, practically shoving the cold bowl into his chest.

"I'm sorry," she whispered before sprinting away as fast as she could.

•••

Maia held up her creation, studying the dress with pride. She had finally finished her only source of entertainment for the past month. Had it really been a month? The time passed by so quickly in this world.

She was admiring the embroidery details that were hand-stitched when she heard someone knock on her door. She shook for a second, still reveling in the embarrassment she'd encountered a couple nights prior, but it seemed the past was always coming back to haunt her.

Jon Snow stood at the foot of her entryway, eyes casted down at her. "I've been requested to take you to King Stannis."

She laid the new dress on her bed before smoothing out the lines in her cloak. Following him out the door and into the courtyard, Maia found it hard to keep up with his pace. She was sure it was because he wished to not speak to her, but the slight tinge of pink to his cheeks suggested different.

"Jon," she called, gaining lead on him. "Jon."

"What?"

She leaned away from his cruel demeanor, shocked at his halt of movement. She found some of his brothers watching. "I just wanted to talk to you for a moment."

"We have nothing to speak about." He countered, continuing his walk again.

Maia played with her fingers. "I wanted to apologize for ... walking in on you. I didn't mean to –"

The pair stopped a few feet away from a door that held a guard outside of it. Jon met her eyes again. "Just," he paused, "don't talk about it. You don't need to apologize."

She nodded, moving her gaze to the entrance she needed to pass through to see Stannis. "What do you think he wants?"

"Couldn't tell you," Jon muttered, looking back down at her. "I'll meet you later."

She didn't understand why he wanted to meet her, but watched him walk away with a raised brow. Regardless, Maia sauntered towards Stannis' door, reciting her name to the guard before he allowed her entrance.

The moment she walked in, her eyes connected with the Red Woman's, who stood casually next to Stannis' desk. Maia swallowed down the lump in her throat. "I was told you requested my presence," she greeted.

"I did," he agreed, nodding in Melisandre's direction for her to leave. The witch gave him a glance before removing herself, continuing her stare on the other woman.

Maia cleared her throat once she was gone, looking back at Stannis. He was silent as he glowered her way. "Well," she shifted her feet, "what would you like to know?"

Stannis gestured for her to sit, and she did as such. "I would like to know how you got here, Lady Sanders."

Maia's mouth fell agape. "Excuse me?"

"I may believe that your being a spy is false," he countered, "but that doesn't halt my suspicions of why you're truly here."

"I was seeking refuge."

He nodded. "As you've said many times before. But it's very odd for a woman to be running around the North with no cloak." He laughed then, looking outside the window to his right. "It's almost as if you were dropped in from the sky."

Maia gulped.

"Look," he continued, "I'm not trying to interrogate you. It was just a question."

"I really don't remember how I happened upon here, Your Grace." She admitted, but confident that she had remembered a correct term. "I wish I could tell you, but I am not – nor have I ever been – a spy. If I was planning to kill you, don't you think I would've tried by now?"

Stannis realized she made a good point. "Indeed," he moved his gaze back to her, "but if you dare to cross me, Lady Sanders, be aware that I will have your head."

"Understood."