"tell me what you see."

there's honestly nothing but treetops peeking above white blankets of snow. jongdae glances at the lord commander, brows furrowing as if he's been asked the silliest question in the entire westeros and perhaps beyond the wall they're standing on at the moment. 

"junmyeon, i literally see nothing but--"

"do you see a land of savages we call wildlings with their king-beyond-the-wall?" the lord commander cuts him off, eyes still fixed upon the horizon, "or do you see people like us, that needs to be saved?" for a moment, jongdae stood silent. he remembers the words circulating around castle black about their lord commander suspiciously odd after he had returned from a week' ride beyond the wall, alone and fifteen rangers missing.

"we've been protecting the wall for thousands of years, this is how it is." was the safest answer jongdae could think of. however, that didn't seem to satiate junmyeon enough -- jongdae knew that from the way he pursed his lips.  he didn't want to believe what they've all said about junmyeon. he believes he's still the same junmyeon he met five years ago when he wasn't a lord commander yet, and jongdae was still jongdae reed of the north. 

"so we've been told," junmyeon turns to jongdae, pale skin contrasting against the black of his clothing. jongdae decides to stay silent and studies the dark rims of junmyeon's eyes. "do you trust me, jongdae?"

the poor lad had been lord commander for three years now, just right after his father's untimely death. everyone knew junmyeon would be the previous lord commander's successor, there was no doubt about it. he's seen him in the battlefield before and jongdae has never seen any other boy of the same age handle a sword so well that he successfully pierced a seven foot wildling single-handedly. on that day, jongdae said to himself that if he's to remain loyal to one, it would be no one else but junmyeon. 
"always, lord commander." 

junmyeon's eyes furrow, "no." he says, "if i strip these clothes away and drop it to the other side of this very wall we're standing on, am i still a lord commander you trust?" 

"if you strip your clothes, i might lose my oath." jongdae jokingly says, which the other smiles weakly to. " junmyeon, lord commander, whatever. when the world crumbles to bits and pieces we'll never fix, i'll be with you." and this time, he comes off more with a serious tone. 

"always."