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>>@KRUGER | @ALL
With our mission in Paris just about at its limit, I have a few questions to posit to you all. This isn't quite my thing, and I don't mean to sound high and mighty, but you have all piqued my interest.
Firstly, the ideas of liberty and self-government were, indeed, revolutionary at this point in time. They're run of the mill for some, and to others they are representative of an ideal rarely achieved in their own world. I speak this of course to all of us, members of this response team. Do you agree with this revolution? Which is more right, the government of a king, or of a nation's people?
Second, to those whose plans have been a part of the mission, what went through your minds during the planning process? Or during its execution. [ He does not...see the irony behind this phrasing. ] Having failed the mission directives, do you feel in part responsible for whatever consequences arise? I say this both to those that were successful, and those that were not.
And lastly, given the state of affairs, this hardly matters much. It's more of a personal question. Do you think you are free?
Firstly, the ideas of liberty and self-government were, indeed, revolutionary at this point in time. They're run of the mill for some, and to others they are representative of an ideal rarely achieved in their own world. I speak this of course to all of us, members of this response team. Do you agree with this revolution? Which is more right, the government of a king, or of a nation's people?
Second, to those whose plans have been a part of the mission, what went through your minds during the planning process? Or during its execution. [ He does not...see the irony behind this phrasing. ] Having failed the mission directives, do you feel in part responsible for whatever consequences arise? I say this both to those that were successful, and those that were not.
And lastly, given the state of affairs, this hardly matters much. It's more of a personal question. Do you think you are free?
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@AEGONNER Ah. I've realized, I haven't asked your name. Though I have a feeling I know who this might be.
@AEGONNER There's only a handful to guess who, after all.
@AEGONNER Anyway, more to the point, that's very noble. Very on the nose.
I'd kill to have a guy like you on the throne, if you can hold true to those words of yours.
@AEGONNER Though I suppose that would go against the spirit of protecting others.
no subject
@KRUGER This is Jon Snow.
@KRUGER Snow means nothing to you, but to my people, it means I'm a bastard with no birthright to speak of. If you carry a bastard name, people will assume you have no honour. Even your deeds may not be credited.
@KRUGER Mine have been, but it was a hard road, and the crown of the North only matters to me insofar as I can save my people from what's coming down on them. I can make alliances to help them. I couldn't when I was Lord Commander of the Night's Watch — all I could do was beg for help and fight and watch people die.
@KRUGER I try to be true to my word, but I'm only one man.
@KRUGER Keep to the spirit of protecting others.
@KRUGER But the children of even a bad king and queen also deserve protection.
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@AEGONNER Your world continues to interest me, Jon. Though it was long ago, I would like to hear more of it. Fantastic tales are what oftentimes kept me entertained during the quiet days within the confines of a hospital.
@AEGONNER Lord Commander seems like a high grade. Beyond what you'd expect from someone your age. Most would be old and busted by then,
and crustier than anyone would like to think about.
@AEGONNER I imagine it must have been hard.
@AEGONNER And lonely?
no subject
@KRUGER Most Lords Commander have been older, it's true. My predecessor was the 997th, a man of 70 years.
@KRUGER The trouble is that most of my countrymen think it's fantastical — those of the other six kingdoms, not those of the North. It isn't. It's quite real. Nonetheless, I don't mind sharing tales.
@KRUGER Bastard boys expect to be lonely. But in the Watch, every man is a brother.
[It surprises him, how easily his pervasive loneliness was guessed at when the only person here he can imagine discussing it with right now is Daenerys -- likely even not with her. Lonely as a boy amongst his family, even when he had Arya and Robb and Bran, and lonely in the Watch, lonely with Ygritte, lonely and weighted with care as a king.]
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Nothing. There's nothing. He hates it, and quickly makes haste to move on from those terrifying thoughts. ]
@AEGONNER It sounds like a fantastic camaraderie.
More than enough to take our minds off the inevitable.
@AEGONNER Allow me to take a short few guesses to make explaining this easier for you.
@AEGONNER This "Watch" is a regiment of soldiers that are often called eccentric, and in some part want to change the status quo?
@AEGONNER You mentioned the North with punctuation, so I assume it must've been very cold. Understandably, you all must have to deal with rough weather, yes?
@AEGONNER Lastly, every order has their point of defense. What was yours? Mine, in ages past, was a set of three gargantuan walls.
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@KRUGER I think we spoke of the Wall before. Only one, 700 feet high, 300 miles long, across the northern border. The lands north of it are full of the Free Folk, who are those who don't have a king unless they choose to follow one. But the lands north of the Wall are also troubled by wights — dead men who have been raised by the White Walkers and their Night King.
@KRUGER You're right enough about the weather. When we're lucky, winter only lasts for a few years. The Night King brings the cold. But until recently, it was thought that the White Walkers were only a legend. They hadn't been seen in a thousand years.
@KRUGER There's another legend that the Watch was formed eight thousand years ago because of a winter that lasted a generation. If that one was ever true, I don't want it to be true again.
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Maybe that's why I brought up walls in the first place. Forgive me,
it's been so long, but consider my memory jogged.
@AEGONNER We must meet when the chance presents itself. Face to face.
It is better than this system, which is phenomenal, but not as personal as I would like.
@AEGONNER That aside, you do know quite a lot about your Watch. As expected of its Lord Commander. It seems I was mistaken on quite a few parts, but all the same I'm glad, in a way. It's all very fascinating.
@AEGONNER You're a good man, Jon. The way you write is grim, but your intentions are more moral than most will ever have the chance of knowing. You would do well to never let that change.
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@KRUGER I'm not sure I'm a good man. I try to be. Is it about what you do or what you mean to do?
@KRUGER I can say that I'm sure that I've known good men. But learning that I wasn't better than anyone else was important when I was a boy.
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@AEGONNER I was never the smartest nor the strongest. Of the people around me, I alone was outstanding in that I had nothing outstanding.
@AEGONNER Yet, it's in knowing that which makes for a person more capable of reflection than the rest. I spend more time with my own thoughts than I do with the company of others.