Three days later, Lancelot and his group had set out from Castle Black and arrived at the Last Hearth once more.
Since both their horses had evolved into Strange Beasts, their running speed had doubled, allowing Lancelot's group to travel very quickly.
They rested for a day at the Last Hearth, the seat of House Umber.
During their stay, the Greatjon and his son, the Smalljon, were extremely curious about Lancelot's motley crew.
Beauty and the Beast, a dwarf, and a wildling.
And they were carrying a coffin. The Umbers felt Lancelot's group brought bad luck, so they didn't host them with much warmth.
However, on the last night before Lancelot left the Last Hearth, the Greatjon couldn't help but ask.
"Ser Lancelot, what's in the coffin?"
"A person!" Lancelot replied without looking up, busy dealing with the bacon on his plate.
"Living or dead? If living, why keep him inside instead of letting him out? If dead, how long has he been dead? Why carry him around?" the Greatjon pressed.
"Dead, naturally. But he's dangerous, so don't get any funny ideas! Because the thing inside is..."
Lancelot dragged out the last word, not revealing what it was.
The Smalljon couldn't help but ask.
"What is it!"
"A wight!" Lancelot said coldly.
Just as he finished speaking, a gust of cold wind blew through, extinguishing more than half the candles in the hall.
A chill rose in many people's hearts.
"No way!"
Clang!
The knife and fork in the Smalljon's hands fell onto the plate with a crisp sound.
"Who is the dead man?" the Smalljon asked.
"Ser Waymar Royce from the Vale. Perhaps you don't know him?" Lancelot said.
"No, I know him. I met him when I was squiring for a knight in the Vale. And I saw him when he went to Castle Black! I didn't expect him to die," the Smalljon said sorrowfully.
"Can I see him? Ser Lancelot?"
Hearing this strange request, Lancelot frowned. But he figured a quick look shouldn't hurt.
"Alright, but only from a distance. No close contact."
Lancelot led them to where the coffin was kept and opened the black wooden lid, revealing the person inside.
Although his body was broken and he was missing an eye, the Smalljon still recognized Waymar Royce.
"Waymar, you died so tragically! Rest assured, I will avenge you!" the Smalljon vowed.
He wiped the tears from his face, then looked at Lancelot with rage.
"Tell me, who killed Waymar?"
"Uh, well, it was a White Walker! You might not be able to beat him," Lancelot said.
"How do you kill a White Walker?"
"Valyrian steel swords, dragonglass, or wildfire, dragonfire... weapons like that! I don't know if there are any others," Lancelot explained.
The next morning, Lancelot's group prepared to leave the Last Hearth.
As they left, they noticed House Umber had entered a state of high alert. It seemed they were ready to answer the call of the King and Winterfell to march north at any moment.
Lancelot's group moved swiftly, crossing mountains, forests, and rivers, arriving once again at Winterfell.
Robb Stark and Theon Greyjoy knew Lancelot would be arriving soon and had been waiting for a long time.
While soaking in the hot springs together, Lancelot mentioned to Theon that he had met Aurane Waters at Eastwatch.
"Is he doing well?" Theon asked.
Aurane Waters had been his only friend when they were children (Note: This might be a fanfic-specific detail as Aurane Waters is typically associated with Driftmark/King's Landing in canon, or perhaps a different character is meant/renamed here).
"He's a man of the Night's Watch at Eastwatch now. Doing pretty well. The food at Eastwatch is better than Winterfell's," Lancelot said.
"I really want to see him. We haven't met in ten years," Theon said, showing a rare expression of melancholy.
"You can go visit the Night's Watch as Robb Stark's representative! That would be a perfect opportunity to see Aurane," Lancelot suggested.
"But Robb doesn't have much prestige in the eyes of the Northern lords yet! Does he even have the standing?" Theon asked.
Eddard Stark was still alive and well, and Robb hadn't fully come into his own. In the eyes of the Northern lords and the Night's Watch, they only knew Eddard Stark of Winterfell, not Robb Stark.
"Then let Robb Stark represent Eddard Stark to visit the Night's Watch. You would definitely go with him," Lancelot added.
"That's a plan!" Theon laughed.
During their few days of rest at Winterfell, Theon also became curious about the black coffin Lancelot was carrying.
However, upon learning it contained Waymar Royce's corpse, he kept his distance.
When King Robert's convoy left Riverrun, Lancelot's group left Winterfell. The two parties finally met up at Harrenhal.
Seeing Lancelot again, Joffrey and the others were very happy. However, seeing Lancelot carrying a coffin around, they were all surprised.
"What's inside the coffin?" Joffrey asked.
"Where is the King? I want to see him!" Lancelot looked around but couldn't see King Robert or Lord Eddard.
"Father and Lord Eddard went to the Gods Eye lake near Harrenhal," Joffrey said.
"Why are you looking for them?" he asked.
"The Gods Eye? Is there an Isle of Faces on it? Is there really a Green Men order?" Lancelot asked.
"Yes! But whether they really exist, no one knows. No one has seen the Green Men for centuries," Joffrey replied.
Then he went over to Hrakkar.
"Lancelot, how did he grow a pair of wings? Does that mean he can fly? Let me ride him for a flight, please? Pretty please?" Joffrey pleaded.
"Hrakkar won't attack you. Go ahead and ride him!" Lancelot said.
Joffrey went up to Hrakkar and climbed onto his back. But he discovered a problem: there was no saddle.
Horses had saddles, dragons had saddles; logically, lions should have saddles too.
But Lancelot always just used a rope looped around Hrakkar and held onto it while flying. He never thought about making a lion saddle.
But Joffrey was a prince! He immediately fetched a measuring tape and started measuring Hrakkar, then gave the dimensions to several craftsmen.
"Make me the finest lion saddle before we return to King's Landing! Understand?"
"Yes, yes, Your Highness."
The craftsmen immediately went to work.
When Lancelot went to find King Robert, he was intercepted by Myrcella.
"Lancelot, did you bring me any gifts from beyond the Wall?" She looked at Lancelot expectantly.
"Crap, I forgot about that!"
Lancelot panicked internally.
But then he remembered he had won a rag doll in the lottery, the Snow White version.
So Lancelot pulled out the doll.
"This is Snow White! Not just any ordinary rag doll!"
Myrcella took the doll. She didn't think it looked particularly special.