TG

**A Wild Heart in the North** In the shadow of the Wall, where the wind howled like a wounded beast, Jon Snow’s twin sister—**Elara Snow**—stood watch on the battlements of Winterfell. With her long raven hair braided in the style of the Free Folk and her dark grey eyes as sharp as Valyrian steel, she had inherited her brother’s quiet strength and the old gods’ stubborn honor. The North had hardened her, but it had not broken her spirit. Tormund Giantsbane first saw her during the parley after the Battle of the Bastards. While the lords bickered, the wildling giant strode through the snow like he owned it, his fiery red beard catching the weak winter sun. His eyes—bright, wild, and unashamed—locked onto Elara as she stood beside Jon. “That one,” he boomed to no one in particular, “has the look of a woman who could wrestle a bear and win.” Elara laughed despite herself, a rare sound that cut through the tension like a knife. From that moment, Tormund was smitten. He began appearing wherever she was: bringing her a fresh kill from a hunt, telling crude but oddly charming stories around the night fires, and challenging her to drinking contests that always ended with him roaring in defeat and declaring her “the fiercest she-wolf in the Seven Kingdoms.” At first, Elara dismissed him as another loud wildling. But as weeks turned to months, she saw the truth beneath the bluster. Tormund was loyal to his bones, fearless in battle, and gentle in ways no southern lord could ever be. He respected her skill with a blade, never once treating her as lesser because she was a woman. When wights threatened the North again, he fought at her side, shielding her with his massive frame even as he laughed at death.