Bound By Honor

[Donovan Grimm]

The scent of burning fire held thick in the air, enveloping the room in the form of the hazy cloud, warm and inviting. However, it did little to stave off the biting cold that remained in this wasteland constantly, and the chill still weighed the lean man down, causing him to buckle into his seat like a stark statue of King's Landing. His brothers had claimed that he would grow accustom to the chill, long ago, and gradually he had; however, each time he set off to the warmer southern holdings, he grew less and less capable of quick adjustment, and craved the green grass and gentle songbirds in his dreams.

"... Night gathers, and now my watch begins. It shall not end until my death. I shall take no wife, hold no lands, father no children. I shall wear no crowns and win no glory. I shall live and die at my post..." Their ranting was near insufferable, as the two newest additions to the watch repeated the iron clad Oath before him, jesting and laughing while they drank their ghoulish flagons of meade. They were young boys, brothers in blood and actuality, who came from the closer lands of the northern points of the Neck. Young lads, with dreams of becoming Rangers and standing against the Wildlings, fighting back Grells and winning honors. They had insisted on coming, and Donovan found them obnoxious.

Raising his lemon flavoured Honeywine, a delicious treat he had found for himself from a Trader on the Kingsroad near Winterfell, Van peered over the cackling boys, eyes turning to the third and final recruit in the back. This man came from the Stark Keep himself, and was hardly like any of the usual recruits. Rather than a bright eyed lad, he was middle aged, haggard and worn and tired, who refused ale and read his vows with silent contempt. The man had cost the life of another during a drunken bar brawl, fighting over little more than a common whore. He was less enthusiastic, as well he should be.

"I pledge my life and honor to the Night's Watch, for this night and all the nights to come" For the first time in at least an hour, quiet Donovan Grimm spoke up, breaking the banter of the two boys with a loud and assertive voice. As his tone was mocking, both children looked to him, staring in wonderment, as the captive in the back of the room eyed him cautiously. A sad, grim smile overcame Van's face, his trademark smile of pity and sadness, as he burst into laugh at the three. Honeywine was doing his courage a favor on this night, if not his icy hands.

"S- Sir...?" Both boys began, though they did not finish, while the other man remained quiet. The boys had scarce been there a two days, and their greatest accomplishment was choosing their sleeping quarters. Yet, here they sat, reciting the accursed oath like it was a maiden's fair song. What Van wouldn't give to hear such a song.

"Hmph... The oath is not a joke, I should not mock it... The true jape here is the fact you are here, saying it. You could not even realize what you are looking at, that wall. You say those words, you hear honor" Donovan continued to laugh, as the boy's dropped their mouths in awe. On the Kingsroad, Donovan was kind and charming and inviting; here, he was sour and embittered "You say those words, I hear the clink of chains."

[Leo Mormont]

The Lord Commander was not present during the reciting of the oath for the new recruits. He had heard that three there were, two boys, and one criminal. The Lord Commander had little reason to be excited about these three. The boys will grow into fine rangers, I'm sure, the Lord Commander admitted. However, the Watch had seen a sudden decline in brothers over the years. That and the quality in their ranks had sorely degraded. Men like this Northerner who had a penchant for misdirected violence. The Watch could use this sort of ferocity, but could do without the attitude. That man never wanted to be here.

The Lord Commander had overheard a certain laughter belonging to a man who everyone around the Watch knew simply as the Grimsmile. A fitting name for that rather hopeless smile the man always seemed to wear on his face. Although the Grimsmile's work as a scout for the Night's Watch made his stay at Castle Black quite short, the Lord Commander usually welcomed the man. While most men would grow tired of the Grimsmile's silver-tongue, the Lord Commander often enjoyed it. Also, the Grimsmile's disdain for his service to the Night's Watch was known to many, and the Lord Commander seemed intent on changing the man's outlook. It's been nearly a decade now and he's still the same, the Lord Commander sighed, though he was too stubborn to give up, before your time has come, you will realize the great deeds you have done.

"What is it that you're sputtering about now, Grimm?" the Lord Commander spoke, addressing Donovan by the man's surname, as he entered the room. The room was much warmer than outside, though in this region, the cold was almost insufferable to many. The Lord Commander, however, appeared to be comfortable with the dark pelts and fur cloak that covered his armor.

"Ah, Lord Commander Mormont, so nice of you to drop by," a dark haired ranger who was in charge of the three new recruits greeted with a slight bow, "Donovan here was just..." The ranger couldn't seem to express

"Ser Jory, take the recruits outside for further training. These two seem rather eager," the Lord Commander smiled, placing both his hands on the boys' shoulders. The look the boys' faces brightened up when the Lord Commander acknowledged them.

"And you," the Lord Commander referred to the Northerner, grinning, "Do look somewhat happy to be here. You look worse than the Grimsmile here." The Northerner grunted and exited the room on his own, though no one seemed to pay him any mind. When Ser Jory took the two new young recruits outside, the Lord Commander turned to face the Grimsmile, who seemed to be enjoying his flagon of mead all too much at the moment.

"Were those your recruits?" the Lord Commander asked, taking a seat across Donovan, "that man didn't seem quite thrilled to be here. Reminded me of someone awhile back, hah!"

[Donovan Grimm]

"Ahh... Yes, Lord Mormont. I do think he does look a bit like Chett, don't you? Ugly as him, anyways" Donovan sunk back into his seat at the sight of the lord commander, his jape ending quite as suddenly as it started. At his side, two overgrown hounds raised up from beneath his thick oaken chair, lopping happily to pant and sniff the large commander's hands, thin tails a wagging. They were Blood Chasing Hounds of Castle Black's Kennels, two of Donovan's favored ones, never far from his side when he found himself occupying his icy northern home.

"Jasper, Jasmine, to me, you great foolish puddles of drool" though he berated them, Grimsmile had laughter in his voice, as well as genuine warmth and affection for the Hounds. The larger one, the bitch Jasmine, returned to Donovan's side, tongue lolling slimy from her great maw, while Jasper stood between the two, just large enough to take up a table's worth of space between the men. Donovan chuckled at the beasts, petting the female's head gently, though he ceased his grin when he let his eyes fall on his commander.

"I've been gone close to half the year, and much has changed, Lord Mormont. You keep losing Rangers, or so the Brothers tell me..." Grimsmile lowered his eyes, staring deep into his Honeywine, as though drowning in the caramel colored liquid. It had not been the boys' fault that Donovan's mood had shifted sour, no, and they could not understand the thoughts that weighed heavy on his mind. Men of the Watch found themselves lost and dead beyond that Wall more than Donovan cared to admit, and Brothers tended to move on. However, after returning from six months in the south to a massive list that the others had become accustomed to over time, Donovan could not stomach the names that were spoke to him idly, not all at once "One of the more recent ones, Vickers, I trained with him under the Ser Alliser when I came here as a boy. He was younger than even me. We weren't too close, mind you, but... Tell me, if it pleases you, Sir, how are things going at the Wall? We're losing men more frequently, it seems."

[Leo Mormont]

The men in Castle Black missed the hounds more than they missed the Grimsmile. Leo remembered the time when the two dogs tracked down a Brother who had gone astray, south of the Wall. He never got far, thanks to the Grimsmile's hounds. The lord commander stroke the head of the female hound before it returned to its master's side. Perhaps it was about time the lord commander got himself a dog, though he did have a certain affection for the talking raven of his, which was probably perched on some rooftop, mocking the other Brothers below.

"Not good," the lord commander said bluntly, as he walked near the fireplace, his stern eyes turned to gaze into the dancing flames.

"Three missing from this week alone. Thirteen in the past month," the lord commander continued, "something's amiss beyond those walls, Donovan. And I don't like it one bit. They say the Haunted Forest is...actually haunted now. Who would have thought, hah."

But the lord commander was in no joking mood. Brothers who went missing made him look bad. Not that he really cared what others think of him, but where was the honor and glory in a brotherhood that couldn't protect? A brotherhood that couldn't fulfill its oath was worthless. And he would not be remembered as the lord commander who finally failed to protect the realm.

"I'm afraid to send any more parties out there," the lord commander revealed, "at least until I have gathered the rest of our strength."

The lord commander turned to the Grimsmile, the trying to mask his weary lookg as he changed the topic.

"And how goes you? It has been awhile, yes. I hear the kingsroad isn't safe anymore, with the king dead and all. How goes the South?"