"Why me?" Jon asked, though he already knew the answer.
He was not surprised that Robb had chosen him. Even before Robb pressed his finger to the map, he had sensed that this task might fall to him.
Yet he asked anyway, as though he wanted to hear Robb confirm it once more-not merely for the appointment itself, but to know whether Robb truly saw him as a brother he could rely on, or had chosen him simply because there was no one else available.
"Because you are Jon Snow."
Robb turned and looked Jon straight in the eyes. His voice held an unquestioning trust as he said, "You spent some time in King's Landing. You know how to deal with southerners, what lies hidden in their roundabout words, and what to watch for behind their smiles."
He paused before continuing. "More importantly, you are my brother, and I trust you. I need Long Night Castle to become a truly strong bastion along the Wall, not just an empty shell-a defense with an Ice Wall but no mind or eyes."
Jon fell silent for a moment. He did not answer at once, his heart churning with emotions he could not quite name.
He remembered the last look his father had given him in King's Landing. There had been much in his father's eyes that he had not fully understood then. Only after choosing to leave King's Landing with Renly had he gradually begun to grasp the worry and resolve behind that look.
That look often returned to him late at night, reminding him of the price House Stark had paid in the south.
And now, the tensions seething beneath Winterfell's surface were hardly less daunting than those he had faced in King's Landing. With the threat from Beyond the Wall