[When she had prepared a meal for him, it had been light, on the sweet side, not spicy or sour. He settles on a pale wine, the one more like summerwine. And, in its way, more like the Northern mead he’s used to.

He pours it out and sets it in front of her.]

At least I know what wine is. I have more trouble when there’s a lot of custom in the place. I’d never heard of half the things these people want to drink.

I was angry, when I was a boy. When I was given my place in the Watch and they made me a steward — sweeping floors and pouring wine. I’d wanted to be a ranger, fighting to protect the Kingdoms. But if had not been a steward for a year or two, I wouldn’t know what to do in this city. It would be harder to find work as a guard than it was to find work here.

[All of this, he tells her to explain his work: why it is easy and why it is not. The last reason why it is not, because he has grown used to having command, goes without saying.]