Benjen lowered his head and saw the dagger still lodged in his chest. He instinctively pulled it out, but nothing happened. He did not even feel any pain. Then he raised his hand and studied the unnatural blue veins faintly visible beneath his skin.
For the first time, confusion and anguish belonging to Benjen Stark appeared in his Ice Blue eyes. "I can't feel my heartbeat. I can't feel any pain, either..." His voice was heavy with conflicting emotions over everything that was happening to him.
The commotion drew more men of the Night's Watch. They crowded around the tent entrance, and an uproar broke out when they saw Benjen sitting up, his striking Ice Blue eyes plainly visible.
"An Other! He's become an Other!" Alyn, the only man of the Night's Watch who had seen an Other and survived, cried in terror.
He would never forget the eyes of the Other as it looked at them.
"Lord Benjen has been cursed. He's become a monster."
"What do we do now?"
"Do we kill him?"
"Is he really still Lord Benjen?"
As Benjen heard his black brothers' words, a violent flicker passed through his Ice Blue eyes—the pain and anger of human emotion.
He jerked his head up and roared hoarsely, "No! I'm not a monster!" But paired with his appearance, his voice was utterly unconvincing.
For a moment, chaos took hold.
"Quiet." Viserys's low command carried a strange, penetrating force that silenced everyone for the moment. Then he turned to Benjen. "Benjen Stark, do you still remember who you are? Do you remember the oath of the Night's Watch?"
Benjen's breathing grew somewhat quicker, sending out more cold, but the confusion in his Ice Blue eyes gradually gave way to resolve.
"I am Benjen Stark, brother to Lord Eddard