Talking about himself is even worse than talking about Winterfell, really, but at least they're alone. It's easier when it's only one person and Jon is aware of the fact that he cannot marry Guinevere and not actually have a conversation with her. That's not how marriages work and while some lords might have marriages like that, it's not what Jon wants. If it has to be a political marriage, he at least wants to try and make it be a real marriage too.

He walks a little way along the corridor while he thinks of something to tell her. Most of his stories involve battle and bloodshed and he doesn't want to talk of that. Neither does he want to talk of his time with Ygritte; it seems poor form to tell his betrothed about his relationship with a woman he loved before she came into his life. In the end, it's a story from childhood he decides to tell.

"I used to lie about things so my sisters wouldn't get punished," Jon says. "They're clever, so they might have figured it out, but I couldn't bear to see Arya or Sansa get punished for anything. I used to take the blame for everything. Lady Catelyn already hated me. It was just as well I did everything wrong. Any time something got broken or stolen, I covered it up. Even the time Sansa broke into the kitchens and ate a whole tray of lemoncakes. I said it was me."