“The maester smiled...Hush now, child, I'm much older than you. I can....die as I please.”

“We'll need to make a litter to carry him," said Osha."No use," said Luwin. "I'm dying, woman.""You can't," said Rickon angrily. "No you can't." Beside him, Shaggydog bared his teeth and growled.The maester smiled. "Hush now, child, I'm much older than you. I can . . . die as I please.”

“I can . . . die as I please.”

“When a man was hurt you took him to the maester, but what could you do when your maester was hurt?”

“Jon Snow, is this a proper castle now? Not just a tower?”“It is.” Jon took her hand.“Good,” she whispered. “I wanted t’ see one proper castle, before … before I …”“You’ll see hundred castles. The battle’s done. Maester Aemon will see to you. You’re kissed by fire, remember? Lucky. It will take more than an arrow to kill you. Aemon will draw it out and patch you up, and we’ll get milk of the poppy for the pain.”She just smiled at that. “D’you remember that cave? We should have stayed in that cave. I told you so.”“We’ll go back to the cave,” he said.” You’re not going to die, Ygritte. You’re not.”“Oh.” Ygritte cupped his cheek with her hand. “You know nothing, Jon Snow,” she sighed, dying.”

“When I was a boy, I dreamt that I could fly, he announces. When I woke, I couldn't... or so the maester said. But what if he lied?What do you mean?Perhaps we can fly. All of us. How will we ever know unless we leap from some tall tower? No man ever truly knows what he can do unless he dares to leap.There is the window. Leap. What do you want?The world.”

“Before he had lost his sight, the maester had loved books as much as Samwell Tarly did. He understood the way that you could sometimes fall right into them, as if each page was a hole into another world.”