Jon goes to speak with Ghost. He tells the direwolf that he is going over the Wall tomorrow and that Ghost cannot come with him. Jon tells him to make for Castle Black, and hopes the arrival will serve as a warning. Ghost bounds off, but Jon has no idea whether he is actually making for Castle Black or not. He has been traveling south with Styr and Jarl for days. He and Ygritte sleep together every night, and have now had sex on many occasions. A man comes to take him to Styr. Jarl is there as well. Styr asks for information about Night's Watch patrols, and Jon explains that they consist of two rangers and two builders who look for damage along the walk as well as for foes. Most patrols ride atop the Wall on mules, but one in four walks along the base to look for tunneling. This is because of Arson Iceaxe, a wildling raider that had been halfway through the Wall when discovered. Rather than stop him, the Watch just sealed the Wall behind him, leaving him trapped. Under Lord Commander Qorgyle, patrols went out every second day to the Shadow Tower and every third day to Eastwatch, but Qorgyle had more men and the time of the patrols also now varies on the advice of Benjen Stark. Styr also asks for numbers, and Jon over-states the strength of the Watch. Styr thinks he is lying, but decides it does not matter.

Jon goes off to look for Ygritte, and Grigg the Goat tells him she went deeper into the cave. He finally finds her in a chamber at the end of a small passage. She tells him that the tunnel goes on a long ways and that there are many such passages in the mountains, such as Gorne's way that goes under the Wall. Three thousand years ago, Gorne and his brother, Gendel, led the wildlings through the tunnels past the Wall, but were attacked by Starks out of Winterfell. Gorne killed the King in the North, but the king's son killed him and the sounds of battle alerted the Night's Watch, which took Gendel in the rear, killing him as well. The wildlings believe that Gendel actually escaped back into the tunnels but that he got lost and kept going deeper and deeper into the earth, where his descendants are still searching for a way out to this day. Ygritte takes her clothes off so that Jon can see her for the first time, and he gives her oral sex. The act is new to Ygritte and she wonders who taught him. When Jon says he has had no one else, Ygritte teases him. She was not a maid, having sex with a boy five years ago. He tried to steal her, but Ryk chased him off. Jon is relieved that it was not Ryk she lay with, and Ygritte says that wildlings to not have intercourse with members of their own clan. Jon points out that Craster has married his daughters, and Ygritte scoffs that he is not really a wildling because his father was a man of the Night's Watch who stole a woman from Whitetree, but left her behind after sleeping with her. The woman tried to bring their son to Castle Black, but she was run off. When they are finally done, Ygritte says they should just stay in the cave and that she never wants to leave.