"You weren't?" Ned asks, the surprise and shock flavoring his tone. He exhales a breath - though whether it's one of disappointment, sadness, pride, or anger is unclear. Perhaps it a strange concoction of them all, in varying degrees. He falls silent for a long while, letting the gentle thud of their boots against the earth fill the silence between them. "You know that I don't take betraying oaths lightly," he finally begins, gaze somewhere straight ahead. "You vowed to be a brother of the Night's Watch, repeated sacred words thousands of years old, that you'd been expected to uphold." He comes to a halt, turning towards Jon with a sternness in his expression, betrayed by the softness underneath. "But if there were ever a reason for you to break them, to help you sister and our family would be it. Though I do hope the decision was not one made lightly."