Ramsay turned his head toward Jon and put on an aggrieved expression. "How was I provoking them? I was only asking her who their members were. She stepped forward herself. I hadn't even had a chance to ask anything yet."
Val also turned her gaze toward Jon. She studied his armor, as though she recognized the direwolf sigil on his black plate, or perhaps was weighing his importance.
After a moment, she raised her voice slightly and said something Jon and the others could not understand to the wary Free Folk behind her. Those holding spears and axes did not lower their weapons, but the ring around them stopped tightening.
Her gaze returned to Ramsay, since he seemed to be the leader. "My name is Val, and I am this tribe's guide. You didn't come here to get acquainted with us Free Folk. Whatever you want, you can say it now."
Ramsay reined in his restless horse, a smile on his face. "Lady Val, I am Ramsay Bolton, heir to the Dreadfort. I'd like to know what you intend to do, bringing these Wildlings south."
"Free Folk."
Val corrected Ramsay, her voice still calm and clear. "We are Free Folk, not Wildlings. We have come south on the orders of the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch at the Wall, taking these children and pregnant spearwives to Winterfell to await Duke Robb Stark's arrangements."
"They are to be settled in Winter Town. Queenscrown will soon have too many people of too many different sorts to give them a stable home, and we are only the first group. Are you men of House Bolton? House Bolton must also obey the Starks of Winterfell, surely? I remember House Stark being the rulers of the North."
Ramsay's smile did not change at Val's