[jon gives her an unimpressed look. friends are good, but siblings are different. and he certainly wouldn't have been able to make any friends by himself as a child. even with robb's help he'd struggled. but he leaves it.]

Whatever there is to know, I suppose.

[he knows that's not helpful, so he looks away, to think of more questions.]

What are the countries, then? This city--is it part of a larger realm, or does it govern itself?

[boring, but safer than asking directly who the king or the lord or the council members are.]

I was told there weren't many animals around. Were there more of them, once?