He watches Eddie absorb this and feels a little twist of sympathy. The things he speaks of are the way of the world -- his world -- but watching justice, doing justice, watching a man's death, it has never been easy. It isn't meant to be. It's why he feels it's right that the man who passes the sentence should swing the sword, and why he believes his father was right to listen to a man's last words before taking his head. It's no good if you can't look them in the eye. If what you are doing shames you, it might be that you should not be doing it.

"Aye, I did what it was my place to do. What happened then is that I was free from those vows. I meant to leave, go down south, as far south as south goes but well -- my sister turned up just then. She had been living down at Winterfell with a cruel husband, a man whose father had betrayed our family so that they could be lords of the North." He pauses, and his face becomes more sympathetic: he doubts that Eddie would like to hear the truth of the battle or the truth of Ramsay Bolton. "We fought a battle and took back our home."

The birds shriek, MORE BEAST THAN MAN! MORE BEAST THAN MAN!, and Jon gives them a withering glance and mutters, "I'd like to see you little things trying to fight an army twice as big as yours."