A Storm of Swords ÔÇö Jon II
South with the free folk: Ygritte claims Jon with a boldness no vow prepared him for, and Orell's eagle watches him with a dead man's hate.
The chapter retold
South with Mance Rayder's advancing host, Jon Snow finds himself claimed by Ygritte with a directness no vow, however broken already, prepared him for ÔÇö she wants him, says so, and does not particularly care what the Night's Watch thinks a man in black is permitted to want back. It should be a simple pleasure and instead sits uneasily next to Orell's eagle, which watches Jon from the trees with an intelligence that is not entirely bird: Orell, a skinchanger Jon killed at the Fist of the First Men, has taken up residence in the raptor and carries his grudge into its eyes.
The chapter braids intimacy and threat in a way the book will keep doing to Jon all the way to the Wall's assault: every step deeper into wildling life earns him something real ÔÇö Ygritte's regard, an education in a culture the Watch has always dismissed as savage ÔÇö while something is always watching that wants him dead for exactly the reasons he is succeeding at his cover.
This movement: Dracarys
- In Astapor Dany trades Drogon for the Unsullied ÔÇö then speaks Valyrian, and the whip changes hands: Dracarys.
- Jaime loses his sword hand to Vargo Hoat's Brave Companions and learns what he is without it.
- Arya falls in with the Brotherhood Without Banners and watches a dead man rise from his seventh death.
- Tywin re-arranges the realm at his table: Tyrion to Sansa, Cersei to Willas ÔÇö the children object; the Hand doesn't care.