On distant Skagos.
Jon slowly woke amid a fit of violent coughing.
The biting cold still seemed to linger in his bones, but warm furs and the heat of a hearth fire enveloped his body.
He sat bolt upright, his first thought a hoarse cry: "Ygritte!"
His last memories before losing consciousness came flooding back.
On a boat off Hardhome, he had seen Ygritte surrounded by Others. He had desperately tried to row back to save her, but the battered little boat had broken apart under the impact of the ice, and the freezing sea had swallowed him...
"You're awake? Sooner than expected."
A voice spoke with a thick Tyroshi accent.
Jon turned warily and saw a middle-aged man in fine furs walk in, smiling and carrying a bowl of steaming meat broth.
"Who are you? Where am I? Where's Ygritte?!"
Jon fired off the questions and tried to get out of bed, only to feel utterly weak.
"Relax, Jon."
The man set the broth beside the bed. "I'm Morio Tumitis, a Tyroshi captain in the service of His Majesty Liu Qian. This is Skagos. As for the lady you mentioned, I'm sorry. My sailors found only you near some drifting ice. You were nearly frozen stiff by then. They saw no one else."
"His Majesty Liu Qian? That Eastern Conqueror across the Narrow Sea?"
Jon froze, his wariness deepening. "Why would his men save me?"
Ever since King Robert had sent a raven demanding that Castle Black hand Jon over, Jon had spent nearly a year fleeing with Alliser.
He had no idea what had happened in the kingdom.
Morio smiled, pulled up a chair, and sat down. "It seems you've spent too long Beyond the Wall and know nothing of what has happened in the south. That's hardly