Chapter 201: Self-Criticism
Castle Black, the Wall
POV of Domeric Bolton
Domeric walked into the Lord Commander Jeor Mormont's solar in silence, seething in silent anger and thinking about what to do next.
"I gave you one task." He said after a long moment. "One. Task."
The Lord Commander stayed silent, probably knowing that he had fucked up this one time.
"It was my mistake." Domeric said, "I can see it now. I should never have given Wight to you in the first place."
"The people of the South are not going to believe us." He said after another long silence, "I'm not sure if they would have believed us even if we showed them the Wight. Some of them would have still been skeptical, but I would have dealt with that somehow. But now…"
He let the words remain there and shook his head. "I'm taking the Ice Sword from your hands."
The Lord Commander shook his head, "It is the Night's Watch duty to…"
"The Night's Watch… is nothing but a hovel at the end of the map where the people of the South throw their criminals to freeze their balls. It may have been a prestigious brotherhood once, but we both know that is no longer the case. So, spare me the bullshit with the vows that your people break every few days."
"The Wall was built to fight against the White Walkers." Lord Commander Jeor Mormont said.
"Is it now?" he asked. "A few months ago, I can swear you told me otherwise."
"We haven't seen the Wight before that."
"And you won't see it again either because it's dead. All because of the sheer incompetence of your…" he clutched his hands tightly and controlled his anger.
The unexpected death of the wight had shattered any plan he had of asking for help from the South and wasted 3 months of his time.
He didn't even see the need to mention that he and his men had risked their lives and nearly came face-to-face with death.
Well, at least a lot of influential people from the North had seen the White Walkers, and a good deal of the men in the Night's Watch had seen the Wight as well.
That should be enough to get the North on board to prepare against the White Walkers.
Having Wight would have made things easier for him. But it was gone now. If he wanted another, he would have to go on another expedition and capture one.
And he had no plans of going to the North of the Wall in the near future, not after almost dying at the hands of the White Walker.
He had a feeling that he should have seen this coming. But he had trusted the competency of the Lord Commander.
And even though his trust was not truly misplaced, the Lord Commander didn't have as good control over his men as he once did.
Domeric shouldn't have gone to prepare for the ritual to enhance Varko, Raksa, Walton, and Ygritte's bodies, too. At least not so soon.
But his helplessness against the White Walker's magical dominance had rattled him more than he was showing, and he had at last realized that without some additional help, the risk of his dying against a White Walker would be very high, if something went wrong.
Domeric had no intention of making the same mistake again. If there was a method that could increase his safety and the safety of his loved ones, there was no time to hesitate to use it.
From now on, he intended to take precautions against even the worst possible scenario that might come his way.
If Domeric had put Varko, Raksa, Ygritte, and Walton through a body enhancement ritual before embarking on this expedition, he would at least not have had to face death against the White Walker.
But he got carried away by his previous successes and thought that everything would go well this time, and he had to face the consequences.
That was why, after returning from the expedition, he immediately began preparing the rituals for the others, and that was why he even handed over the Wight and Ice Sword to the Lord Commander.
But just as his arrogance had previously caused him to make mistakes, this time his anxieties tied down his foresight.
"I'll send my men to retrieve the Ice Sword." He said in a tone that made it clear that he would brook no arguments this time.
The Lord Commander opened his mouth, but a look from him made him pause, and he closed his mouth in the end and nodded.
"Very well then. You can have its custody." Lord Commander said.
"Good," Domeric said and left the room.
It seemed Domeric needed to reexamine not only the complacency brought on by his previous successes, but also his other emotions.
'I'd better work on my occluding ability. Before, I only controlled my emotions when I felt it was necessary. But now I need to develop my occluding ability to activate it in situations where my emotions were influencing my decisions without me even realizing it.' Domeric thought.
But that was a matter he would have to deal with later. Right now, he needed to take custody of the Ice Sword and then put the finishing touches on the ritual preparations. He aimed to complete the others' rituals before all the Lords arrived at Castle Black.
It would take about another month for all the Lords to reach the Wall, and that was enough time for Domeric to complete the rituals.
However, Domeric wanted the others to acclimate to their new bodies before the Lords from the North arrived, if possible.
And for that, he needed to complete the rituals as soon as possible.
At least once the others' rituals were over, he'd have a training partner of his equal again. For a long time, Varko hadn't stood a chance against him when he fought seriously.
Domeric added weights to his body to even things out, but nothing could replace a training partner of his equal.
Varko should be able to train on par with him again after the ritual. Or maybe he would start giving Domeric a hard time in their training spars again.
Suddenly, Domeric didn't feel so inclined to prepare the rituals.
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Next Chapters' Name:
Ch.202: All the Lords Reached the Wall
Ch.203: Outcomes of the War Council