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The air was colder than usual that evening as Adrena made her way to her room to grab her bigger jacket. After Jon had left her last night, she had pushed away her pride and taken herself to Maester Aemon. He had been eager to finally meet her, having heard and read many stories about the Vlakov family. He had examined her wounds, telling her that most were healing properly except the one on her stomach. She had been moving too much and it kept reopening, and not being able to heal. He advised her to take a break from fighting and training for just a week or two, but was she going to listen? Most likely not.
The brunette pushed her door open, grabbing the bigger jacket from the hook on the wall. She traded her current jacket for the big one, already feeling warmer as she did so. She turned around, prepared to leave and find something to do but she was met by Jon standing there. His hands were at his side and he seemed uncomfortable, his eyes on the ground.
"They're electing the new Lord Commander soon." She nodded, watching him expectantly. He lifted his eyes to hers, and she could see the guilt in them. It made her feel bad. "I'm sorry for leaving you when you were hurt. That was stupid of me, I know."
"You don't need to apologize, Lord Snow. It's a sign of weakness as I've said plenty of times." She gave him one last look before pushing past him and making her way to the dinner hall. Jon followed after her, walking silently as he did. They walked into the hall, both heading towards Sam. The two of them didn't speak to each other, both still on edge from last night.
"He'll make you a Stark with the stroke of a pen?" Sam questioned as Jon told him about Stannis offering to make him 'Jon Stark'. Adrena had looked up at Jon curiously as he said that, wondering if he had taken it. She knew he wanted to be anything but a bastard.
"It's the first thing I ever remember wanting. I'd daydream that my father would ask the king and just like that, I would never be the bastard of Winterfell again." Adrena remembered when her father had gone against the rules and given her his last name, not really caring about formalities. It was odd to remember the good things he did when the bad outweighed them.
"You deserve this. You do. I couldn't be happier for you." Sam stated, smiling at his friend with pride.
"I'm going to refuse him." Adrena lifted her arm and hit her fist against his bicep, glaring at him.
"That's a once in a lifetime chance, you idiot." He rubbed his arm, looking down at her for a second before back up at Sam.
"But you'd be Lord of Winterfell."
"I swore a vow to the Night's Watch. If I don't take my own word seriously, what sort of Lord of Winterfell would I be?" With that Jon walked over to the table and sat down. She took a seat at a different table, feeling odd with all these men surrounding her. Sometimes she was convinced she should just stay with Gilly and Little Sam, but she also didn't want to just be some lady who sat around doing laundry.
"Crowded. You'd think we were serving venison stew." Alliser stated and people laughed, making Adrena roll her eyes. He wasn't even funny in her opinion. Maester Aemon stood up, clearing his throat and gathering the attention of everyone in the room.
"Does anyone wish to speak for candidates before we cast our tokens for the 998th Lord Commander of the Night's Watch?" He croaked out and Janos stood up from his seat, placing his hands on his belt.
"See Alliser Thorne is not just a knight, he's a man of true nobility. He was acting commander when the Wall came under attack and led us to victory against the wildlings. He's a veteran of 100 battles and has been a defender of the Watch and the Wall almost all of his life. He's the only true choice." Adrena rolled her eyes once more. She would leave as soon as Alliser became Lord Commander, knowing he'd kick her out as soon as he had the power. Another man stood up, naming his candidate and why he deserved the spot. In her rightful opinion, neither of them deserved it.
"That man is on his deathbed as we speak. You lot deserve a commander who won't die next week and who has experience with keeping the peace." She spoke up, drawing the attention of most of the men in the room. "Just saying."
"Who asked you, girl? Shouldn't you be making our food and cleaning our beds?" Alliser snapped back at her and she laughed coldly, narrowing her eyes at him. Jon moved in his seat, clenching his jaw and his eyes set on Alliser. Sam watched with nervous eyes.
"I'm a better fighter than anyone in this room. I'm a trained assassin and I could kill any of you before you could even call me 'girl' again." She spat viciously and Jon relaxed, knowing she had it handled. Sam watched with proud eyes as she stood up for herself, wishing he could be as brave as she was.
"Get on your knees, bitch!" Someone shouted and Jon stood from the table, his hand on his sword and his eyes scanning the room for who said it.
"I don't get on my knees for men, they get on theirs for me, the Lady of Blathe." She smirked as their eyes widened, men shouting apologizes and bowing slightly. She took a seat once more and sent a look to Jon who nodded at her.
"If there is no one else, we will begin the voting. The triangular tokens count for Ser Alliser Thorne. The square tokens for Ser Denys Mallister. Each brother will-"
"Maester Aemon." Her gaze snapped to Sam who looked slightly nervous as everyone turned to him. Men began to insult Sam and she growled in annoyance, wanting to kill every man who opened their mouths. "Whilst Lord Janos was hiding with the women and children, Jon Snow was leading. Ser Alliser fought bravely, it is true. And when he was wounded, it was Jon who saved us. He took charge of the Wall's defense. He killed the Magnar of the Thenns. He went north to deal with Mance Rayder knowing it almost certainly meant his own death.
"Before that, he led the missing to avenge Lord Commander Mormont. Mormont himself chose Jon to be his steward. He saw something in Jon and now we've all seen it, too. He may be young, but he's the commander we turned to when the night was darkest." Sam finished up and people clapped, agreeing with him.
"I can't argue with any of that. But who does Jon Snow want to command? Night's Watch or the Wildlings. Everyone knows he loved a wildling girl and spoke with Mance Rayder many times. What would have happened in that tent between two old friends if Stannis's army hadn't come along? We all saw him put the King-beyond-the-Wall out of his misery. Do you want to choose a man who has fought the wildings all his life or a man who makes love to them?" Adrena looked towards Jon, seeing his stoic expression. He obviously didn't want this, but he was the best choice for the spot.
"It is time."
Adrena stood back, watching as everyone voted for their candidate. As she wasn't a person of the Night's Watch, she didn't think her vote should count so she stayed at her table, watching silently. After everyone was done, she watched the men put the tokens on the stick. Jon and Alliser were tied by the time they were done and she waited as Maester Aemon placed a token on Jon's pile. She smiled widely, looking towards the new Lord Commander, seeing him smile slightly with surprise. He stood, his eyes scanning the crowd and Adrena felt proud of him. Even if he didn't want to position, he deserved it and he was worthy of it. For once, she felt that the Watch would be taken good care of.
