Inside the command tower, a deathly silence lasted a moment before the room erupted.
"Let the wildlings through the Wall? The Wall was built to keep them out!"
"My father died beyond the Wall, and so did my brother. Now you want me to stand beside them?!"
"What about those man-eating beasts? The cannibals of Thenn! Do they deserve to come through the Wall too?"
Voices surged at him from every direction.
Anger, disbelief, and hatred battered Jon like a blizzard.
Some slammed the table; others clenched their fists, as though one more word from Jon would make them turn on him then and there.
Jon stood there and listened without interrupting or defending himself. Only after the fiercest wave had passed did he speak.
"I know all of that."
He paused, his gaze sweeping over every face in the room.
"I know some of your fathers died beyond the Wall, and some of your brothers were killed by wildlings. I know you hate them-I hate them too."
"But the wildlings aren't the only ones outside the Wall now. The White Walkers are right behind them."
"If we don't let them in, they'll die beyond the Wall, then turn into wights, become soldiers for the White Walkers, and come back to attack us."
"Then we won't be facing a hundred thousand wildlings, but a hundred thousand wights. Wights that fear neither life nor death, that feel no pain, that will keep lunging at us even after we've cut them in half."
The room fell silent.
Someone opened his mouth to speak, but could find no rebuttal.
"This is an order," Jon continued, "not a request for your opinion."
The men of the Night's Watch were silent for a while.
They understood what Jon was saying, but a blood feud with