The rightful king and his heir Jacob were in the elevator, making their way to the top of the Wall.
The Night's Watch were grateful for the assistance against the wildlings, as some of the men from the watch; those who came from King's Landing had mistaken Jacob for a younger version of Robert, which infuriated the prince's father a lot more than failure.
Jacob may have the likeness of his Uncle Robert, but he will always be his father's son and heir.
The young man was tired; the battle was long and there were a few loses in their host against the army of wildlings beneath the Wall.
Nevertheless, Jacob proved himself on the field, taking charge, exerting commands and was able to fight, even when he fell from his horse. He seemed to be a stronger fighter on the ground, rather than on horseback.
The prince felt a little unsure about himself, and what he did in terms of scheming and politics, but he knew whatever he did was for the right reason, even if it was morally wrong and considered treason by others.
The lift stopped at the top of the Wall, as the prince had a solemn look on his face. He wore the furs of gold and black on him. Out of the antlered helm showed a young man, who looked completely different than he did, when he first left Winterfell.
Prince Jacob had beard growth on his face. His sapphire blue eyes were piercing cold, and the scar underneath his left eye made him more intimidating than the tone of his voice. He had grown a bit taller, and was more muscular from the fighting.
"You did well on the field, I couldn't have expected better." Stannis said, in a lower tone of voice.
"I appreciate the compliment father; it means a lot to earn your respect." Jacob replied.
"You proved yourself to be a capable leader and commander, your next test will be against the Boltons on the field."
"I would like nothing better than to burn them to ashes and dust, along with their Freys too."
"You will see your mother and sister soon, until a new Lord Commander is chosen and the Night's Watch is more organised, it looks like a band of bandits than protectors of the realm."
"Most of the brothers of the Watch were bandits from the Riverlands, who would rather freeze than lose their heads."
"I suspect Davos will have his hands full with the mission I have given him."
"The man is loyal to you father; how could you have doubted him? Only because you listened to the Witch and almost killed him."
"Should I have disinherited you, as the Queen's Men commanded I should, because of your role in said treason? I understand why you did it. You believed what you did was right, regardless of how they feel."
"Of all my years of travelling through the Seven Kingdoms, I never thought I would see a wildling woman with the beauty of a southern lady." The prince began to laugh.
"Keep away from the wildling princess, Jacob. Your weakness for beautiful women will be your downfall. It was the weakness of Robert, who couldn't keep his hands off any available whore in the Seven Kingdoms."
"Unlike Uncle Robert, I can control myself around women and I haven't participated in premarital relations."
His father Stannis placed his hand over his face, and looked to be embarrassed. "Enough, I don't want to hear it anymore."
"Alright, let's change the subject before you get even more embarrassed or snap in anger." The prince muttered.
Prince Jacob enjoyed bringing his father out of his comfort-zone, and japing with him. It might have made things a little more awkward between father and son, especially when it came to women and the subject of sexual relations.
The prince's mind was at the end of the battle, when he saw some of the wildlings being taken as prisoners, including Mance Rayder, the King Beyond the Wall and most of his loyal cohorts, but the prince felt sorry for the fallen wildling king and widower.
The man had to see many of his people die, and had to find out about the death of his wife, as she died during the birth of their son.
It made Jacob think a lot about the views he had, and whether anyone was truly good or evil, or are all people in the morally grey zone when it came to intentions. The death of the wildling queen was the only thing Jacob felt sad about.
"War is such an exhausting endeavour; we are going to need more gold to finance the rest of the war. We are in need of food, resources and more men to fight with us, and maybe we could survive the winter." The prince said.
"We will need to send an envoy to Braavos soon, as it's one of the only places where we could find the funds needed for the war."
"The Iron Bank is the key, the Lannisters are not paying what they are owed, particularly during Uncle Robert's reign."
The prince learned a lot about the Iron Bank, during his time with the Tyrells and in court. He knew this organisation of strange folk from across the sea, could be the key to the downfall of the Lannisters and might turn towards Jacob and his father.
The young man heard the sound of the elevator stopping at the wall, he turned to see the Lady Melisandre all clothed in red, along with Jon Snow. He looked different to the last time Jacob saw him on the King's Road.
Jon was more rugged, with a full beard on his face. He was a man, and not the boy the prince saw before. On his face looked to be of a man, who has seen a lot of things behind the Wall and was alive to fight another day.
Prince Jacob glared daggers at Melisandre, as he didn't want this insect to influence his last remaining friend to her mad religion. The prince stood by his father's side, in a protective manner and stood as if he was already a king.
"I know of the stories you heard about me, but I am no traitor." Jon explained.
"I do not believe you to be a traitor. I knew Ned Stark and Janos Slynt, and no one would doubt the man's honour or honesty." The king said, in his usual iron tone. "I know it was you, who found the dragonglass Samwell Tarly used to slay the Other, and you held the gate at Castle Black until I arrived."
"It was Donal Noye, who held the gate."
"The man was honourable and did his duty, he would have made a better Lord Commander than any of these fools contending." Prince Jacob spoke, to ease the discomfort between the three men.
"Your Grace. Cotter Pyke and Ser Denys are good men, whom Lord Commander Mormont trusted."
"Lord Mormont trusted too easily, and that is what led to his demise and his end." The king said dismissively, "You found the magic horn and captured Mance Rayder's child."
"Dalla died in childbirth, so there wasn't much capturing involved." Jon said, in a saddened tone, as if he knew the woman, "My lady, were you responsible for the death of the skinchanger's eagle?"
"The Lord of Light has fiery talons, Jon Snow." the Lady Melisandre replied.
"Your Grace, Mance Rayder's good sister Val requests for him to see his son."
"Why should I do such a kindness for a deserter?"
"It's for Val's sake. The free folk have their own brand of honour and choose their own leaders."
This made Prince Jacob feel a bit soft inside, even though he tried to block away his emotions inside.
He had seen the wildling princess, when the other wildlings were being dragged to Castle Black in chains to be prisoners of his father.
The wildling princess Val was beautiful, as he hadn't thought of the word to describe a wilding at all. Her hair looked to be spun from gold and she held a spear, like a true northerner to defend her own people from their enemies.
"My true fight is here, against what the Lady Melisandre calls the God of Night and Terror, perhaps this could be your fight as well," King Stannis says. "Robb Stark failed me by trying to become a king instead of remaining Lord of Winterfell, and maintaining his friendship with my son. Now I need a Lord of Winterfell loyal to me."
"Theon Greyjoy destroyed Winterfell." Jon pointed out.
"It can be rebuilt, and I need a son of Eddard Stark to win the northmen to my banner."
"The king can make you a Stark in truth, instead of a bastard." Melisandre added.
"I took a vow, to the Night's Watch to hold no lands, father no children and to remain neutral in political matters." Jon stammers.
"R'hllor is the only true god, and a vow sworn to a tree has no power."
The prince didn't like how the Red Woman was being openly disrespectful towards Jon, and the religion he and other northerners followed. "The North are loyal to their gods, my lady. You shouldn't impose your own agenda onto him."
"I have been speaking to Mance Rayder, and that I plan to let the wildlings through and let them settle in the North, in order to ally with them against our common foe beyond the Wall, but the man himself will be executed, and I will also wed the new Lord of Winterfell to the wildling princess."
"Val will never submit; she is a woman of the Free Folk. The women of the Free Folk require to be stolen to win their affections. Your Grace."
Jacob saw the anger on his father's face. It was as if the Father himself came down to judge the wrongful harshly and to send them swift into the Seven Hells.
"Do you mean to refuse me?" The king said angrily, with his tone of voice being louder.
"I ask for some time to consider such a decision."
"Do not take long."
Jacob watched his father put a thin, fleshless hand on Jon's shoulder. Since he came back from Oldtown, he had been concerned about his father's wellbeing, as he had become gaunt and losing the flesh from his face and his hands.
"Say nothing of what we've discussed here today. To anyone. When you return, you need only bend your knee, lay your sword at my feet, and pledge yourself to my service and you shall rise again as Jon Stark, Lord of Winterfell."
The prince knew this kind of decision would need a lot of thought, and it will conflict with Jon's sense of duty and honour to the Night's Watch, no matter how hostile the environment was to him.
"It is selfish to want him by my side and fighting together, it could have been Robb and I, if he had rejected the crown of a false king."
Prince Jacob knew he had to talk to Jon, away from the prying eyes of his father, the Lady Melisandre and others of the King's Men on the Wall.
After getting down from the elevator, Prince Jacob felt conflicted as well. Between his own wish fulfillment and his duty to respect Jon's choice whatever it was, he knew his old friend's life on the Wall wasn't easy and had a lot of hardship.
How could Jacob know, he was highborn and the future ruler of the Seven Kingdoms?
The prince wanted to be alone, away from the constraints of being heir to the throne for a moment and remembered that he was human and had limits to how much more he could take of boring council meetings and being called Your Grace all the time.
"I want to go back, to the time Uncle Robert was the only person being called Your Grace, and I was his nephew and loyal subject, now I am in that place. The place he was, the highest position in the game of thrones, and I am to be king after my father."
Jacob walked through the snows, and saw many men in black cloaks, and they looked to be busy, ignoring the presence of the prince, which he didn't mind because he wanted to be an ordinary man, before he had to go back to being a prince.
The young man sometimes hated how he was turning into his father; the bitterness, the harshness and the denial of penitence and forgiveness for anyone.
Jacob wrapped himself warm in the gold and black furs, with his hair loose and past his shoulders.
He sees Jon training against a brother of the Night's Watch, and looked to be more of a fluid fighter than Jacob has seen of how knights of the Stormlands to fight.
The prince trotted his heavily booted feet in the shows, as he had grown used to the cold and the chills of the northern region, and beyond the North of where the Starks used to rule it.
The combat match had been stopped, as the prince felt a sense of optimism of how Jon could still be his friend, and can keep his attachments away because of how Jacob lost most of his other friends.
"I see you have improved on your skill, since I last saw you in the Armory." Prince Jacob said.
"Your Grace, I didn't expect you to see me." Jon replied.
"Before I was crowned a Prince, I was Jacob of House Baratheon, a political savvy boy who didn't have much friends because he was too much like his father in personality and likeness. I still had two uncles and a loyal maester before they all died."
"I'm sorry for your losses, Your Grace."
"And I'm sorry for your losses too, Jon." The prince said kindly, as he Jon lost most of his family, but he still had two sisters, who were alive.
"You have grown a beard the last time I saw you."
"Yours has grown more than mine." Jacob laughed, as he knew his own beard was nothing compared to Jon's.
"Some of the black brothers had mistaken you for your Uncle, they believed King Robert had come back from the dead."
"My father hates it, being compared to Uncle Robert in every shape or form it annoys him, and it saddens him a lot."
"The decision your father gave me is a hard one, it will require a lot of thought, as it conflicts with the vow I made to the Watch."
"Jon, I know my father can be harsh, bitter and uptight, but this war is tiring him out. He doesn't look to be himself, as he is losing the flesh from his hands and his face, he is barely recognisable a part from the flamed crown he wears."
"At least, your father is still alive and you can see him."
It made Jacob feel guilty; he realised Jon would never see his father again because of the Lannisters, he knew he would be able to avenge Ned Stark and others, who were killed by the prideful lions trying to keep Jacob and his father from their rightful throne.
"I'm sorry, I spoke out of term. I should be mindful of my words, and how I say them."
"I thought you were dead, Your Grace."
"The Lannisters were fools to assume I was dead, I was helped by an old friend from the past."
"You were fortunate to come back, I thought you were dead for sure."
"Jon, don't listen to the fools like Slynt and Thorne. Ser Allister has always disliked my family because he used to fight for the Mad King."
"I didn't know, Your Grace."
"He hates you because you are Ned Stark's son and me because I am the late King Robert's nephew."
"I thank you and your father, Your Grace. If you hadn't arrived, I wouldn't know if we would even still have Castle Black."
"My father's hand Ser Davos Seaworth suggested it. He maybe of humble birth, but he knew better than those high lords, who are apathetic to the plight of the Wall. I convinced my father to take the remaining men of our army and to help defend the Wall."
"How long will you and your father stay?"
"Do you not like having us here?" Jacob asked, in a stern tone of voice.
"No, it's just there is an overcrowding issue that needs to be solved. With the wildling prisoners and your father's army stationed here, there are too many mouths to feed."
"If I had been a different man, then I would have you arrested Jon, but I am not. I'm still your friend, underneath the crown and the title of Heir to the Iron Throne."
"Your father doesn't feel the same way."
"I'll try to convince him, unless he has allowed the Lady Melisandre to get into his head."
"She is a strange woman; with a foreign religion I will not convert to. She seems to have an agenda of her own."
"To spread her madness throughout Westeros, no way. I will throw that witch off the top of the Wall before I allow her to plunge my father into a war against the Faith." The prince gritted between his teeth.
"Why did your father choose me, out of all the brothers on the Wall to be a confidant?"
"He needs advice, he doesn't know the North and its people like you do. I need your advice too, Jon, you see. I am to be wed to a noble woman of the North, to secure an alliance and to help my father continue the war further." The prince asked nervously.
"What can I do to help, Your Grace?" Jon asked.
"You know the noble houses and the people who rule them, there must be a few unwed daughters for me to wed." Jacob replied.
"It's a matter for your father to be noted off, it's a big decision. Your Grace. Soon you will be someone's lord husband and future king."
"Sometimes, I want to remain a lord for a bit longer. The weight of the crown and title of prince is weighting down on me. I'm forever trapped in the game, unless I die."
Prince Jacob and Jon were walking through the snows of Castle Black, as the prince felt sadness within himself. At one hand, the man in black was still the friend he bonded with in Winterfell, but the two of them had different stations in life.
The prince felt at ease with Jon, because he could tell him his true feelings. The only person he could do that with was Ser Davos, and he wasn't here. He missed the Onion Knight, and prayed to the Seven for his safe return.
The chills of the Wall made Jacob feel optimistic of how he could grow and develop in the future; into a better man, a stronger leader, a militant commander, a loyal son, a less absent brother and be the best heir he could be for his father and for himself.