"Yes! Put that with the rest," Mance shouted towards the spearwife who arrived last minute to deposit a sack filled with all kinds of animal pelts that she'd collected over the years, "Go and stand over there..." he directed her after she placed her sack with the rest, toward the ragtag group, filled with folk of all ages, men, women, and little ones, all kinds of free folks who had worked over the past few weeks for Mance as well those who had brought their goods to trade and were eagerly awaiting their promised share of food.
Mance and his closest aides were all standing at the very front near the shore, waiting for Jon. And placed some distance away from them were all the goods that they were going to trade, goods which included a massive pile of wood logs, another one of pelts (only the pelts that Mance was sure were good enough were selected as there were quite a few wildlings that had tried to sneak in decade-old half spoiled stuff that not even beggars would use as blankets) and the most precious one was a small pile of unprocessed silver ore.
No fixed exchange rate had been established between Jon and Mance yet as there was no proper currency on this side of the wall, so they had decided that at the start, they would work with a simple barter system where Mance would try to provide as much high-value goods as he could while Jon would try his best to feed as many wildlings as possible.
This system depended on the goodwill of both parties, leaving room for exploitation, especially on Mance's side. However, he had no choice, with Winter looming and an impending danger beyond his ability to combat. It was the best option he had, at least until he somehow managed to gather enough strength to breach the Wall.
Furthermore, without a proper currency, Mance hadn't paid the free folk who'd worked for him with anything but his word and the promise of a fair share of food. Luckily, his word held weight on this side of the Wall, and there hadn't been any issues so far. Now, all he could do was hope Jon would hold up his end of the deal and deliver the promised food, or else he feared even his reputation wouldn't save him from the wrath of the disgruntled wildlings.
"Don't see Weeper among 'em.," Tormund quietly grunted beside Mance while jerking his head towards the group of leaders who were standing to the side. The group consisted of all the other wildling leaders and clan mothers such as Magnar Thenn, Rattleshirt, Harma Dog'shead and a few others, all the leaders who were still on the fence with Mance's whole idea of trade with the people from beyond the wall, so they were all here to watch and see how this all goes through before deciding if they wanted to join hands with him or...
"So?"
"So I think that he went through with that convoluted plan of his with his Warband to attack the ships midway," Tormund answered with a raised eyebrow, "Aren't you worried that your little friend is getting taken down right at this moment?"
"No... Not really," Mance shrugged unconcernedly as even though he didn't have much of an idea of where his confidence came having never met the boy face to face after he grew up, he just knew that a man like him with all the wargs under him would probably never be taken down with just a simple ambush.
"Hmm... You say that but the sun is almost above our heads," Tormund pointed his finger up towards the sky, "Isn't that the time he was supposed to have arrived... so doesn't it mean that either he's late or he's already been taken—"
"I see them!!" a scream suddenly pierced through the atmosphere and they both along with everyone else turned around to find Dalla, Mance's other half pointing towards the distance in the sea where five blurry shapes were gradually becoming visible as they sailed towards them, expertly navigating through the Bay of Ice.
"They are here!!"
"The Southerners are here!"
"I heard that all of them ride on horses there! Do you think they brought horses with them?"
"Do you think they bought their army with them?"
"Mother, can we eat them?"
An electric sense of excitement spread through the throngs of wildlings present there at the sudden appearance of the five ships and everyone suddenly whispering and shouting at each other, some with excitement in their heart, some with fear, some with hope and a select few with aggression and greed.
As the ships got closer and closer the whispers slowly started to die down as tension began to fill the air, when abruptly out of nowhere all the ships halted simultaneously and started lowering their anchors at quite a distance from the shore.
"What? Why are they stopping all the way there?" Tormund voiced the question that everyone had in their mind with a confused expression on his face.
"I-I don't know..." Mance too was bewildered by the sudden situation as he had no idea what Jon was doing here. And the wildlings gathered behind him also started to get unsettled and started shouting their own questions.
"Do you think they got cold feet? Maybe they got scared after seeing how many of us are actually here..."
"That wouldn't make sense, after coming all the way here..." Dalla countered with a scoff.
"Wait! I think see a boat! They're lowerin' a boat!!"
And sure enough, everyone saw a single boat being lowered from the foremost ship, with two faint silhouettes visible inside it—one in white and the other in black.
The ships stayed at the place where they were anchored while the boats slowly rowed towards them. Everyone including Mance's mind was completely filled with confusion at the moment... Why did the boats stop so far away? Why were just only two people approaching them? And where the fuck was the Army, the force that was supposed to protect the goods?
The only reason Mance had been somehow able to dissuade most of the wildling leaders from immediately attacking and looting the ships for themselves was by telling tall tales about the huge Southern armies beyond the wall, about how they could easily decimate all of them with their mighty steel weapons, their tough armours and their fast horses... And now with only two defenceless people rowing towards them... it suddenly made things a lot more difficult for Mance.
While Mance grappled with his internal turmoil over the situation, the boats had covered nearly half the distance, gradually revealing the figures aboard to the wildlings on the shore. Almost immediately, someone recognized a person on one of the boats, and jubilant cries filled the air.
"VAL? THAT'S VAL!! ISN'T IT, VAAAL!!!" Dalla suddenly started shouting in excitement while waving her hands in the air when she saw the one wearing white was her lost sister.
Overwhelmed with joy, Dalla nearly made a dash for the icy water before Mance managed to physically restrain her, "Yes, that's Val, Dalla, but you need to calm down... she's coming towards anyway so you'll meet her soon enough..." Mance somehow managed to soothe the woman, though her focus remained fixed on the small boat approaching the shore with eager anticipation.
As the boat barely touched the shore, Dalla shook off Mance's grasp and sprinted straight for Val, who had also jumped out of the boat, ready to embrace her sister, whom she hadn't seen in months.
"Val! Val! It's really you. I was so worried... and I am so relieved now..." Dalla said, hugging and kissing her sister, tears welling in her eyes.
"Y-Yes, it's good to see you too, sister... I missed you..." Val choked out with a wet smile on her face before noticing the people coming toward them. "Mance, how are you? And Tormund, you bear fucker, you look the same as ever..."
"I look the same but girl, you've already gone beyond the wall and survived the South now, you shouldn't cry like a snot-nosed brat," Tromund snorted jokingly.
"Shut up you brute," Val replied with a chuckle before she noticed that someone important was missing, "Where's Ygritte? I don't see her,"
"She's stuck back home guarding the tents," Tormund explained with a shrug, "Apparently she's getting punished for being too much of a snitch..."
While the heartwarming reunion took place, the guest of honour, Jon, arrived not long after Val, leisurely making his way toward Mance.
"Mance Rayder, The-King-Beyond-The-Wall," Jon greeted with a smile, extending his hand.
"Jon Snow, The Son of Stark," Mance nodded, shaking Jon's hand. "It's the first time we're meeting face to face..."
"Hmm... Probably not the first time..." Jon raised an eyebrow with a mischievous smile.
Mance was confused for just a moment before he realised what Jon was talking about, "Ah... I would rather forget about that embarrassing encounter..." he said while shaking his head with a rueful smile recalling his embarrassing situation when Jon suddenly came in front of him in the form of a Shadowcat.
While Mance and Jon were exchanging pleasantries, Dalla had managed to gather herself and was now nagging Val, "Don't worry, Val, you'll have plenty of time to meet, Ygritte in the future. Because I am not letting you out of my sight anytime soon..."
"Ahem! That is going to be a problem sister," Val said with a sheepish smile before she jerked her head towards Jon and continued, "He gave me a very important job so I'll probably not be able to stay at home for as long as you are thinking about..."
"What?! What are you talking about?" she said in a half-alarmed voice while fiercely turning towards Jon and Mance who had been paying attention to the conversation from the start. Mance was also looking at Jon with confusion in his eyes at Dalla's question.
"Oh! It's nothing much," Jon replied with a nonchalant expression, "She's just talking about becoming the captain of the ships," he waved his hands behind at the faraway ships, "After all I can't always be here going back and forth carrying goods for you can I? So she's going to be the one who's going to be the captain on my behalf and the one in charge of all the trade that would happen in the future..."
Jon had already put her through the accelerated course at the Bear Island Navy School over the past few months and not only that, after she had passed from there he had also taken her under his wing and tried to cram as much knowledge as he could inside her head, knowledge that would make it easy for her to navigate as a captain. So he was confident that she would be able to handle all the responsibilities of the fleet in the future and even if she was lacking somewhere she could make up for it with the experience in the future while sailing back and forth.
"B-But... But..." Dalla was distressed and speechless for a few moments at the sudden dilemma in front of her, on one side she didn't want to lose her baby sister again and on the other side, it would be a boon if Val, a familiar face was the one in charge of the trade as that would smoothen a lot of the hurdles and she didn't want to hinder the trade by denying her the chance.
"We'll talk about the details later," Mance interjected, realizing that the rest of the Wildlings were growing restless as they conversed in hushed tones. "Tormund, offer Jon some white bread, and then I'll introduce you to the other leaders."
Tormund nodded expressionlessly and brought forward the already prepared plate of bread but just as he was about to present Jon with the guest rights, someone suddenly interrupted them.
"STOP!!"
///