Later, as they were dressing, and the Captain and the Condottier were cleaning their armour, the young lad furrowed his brow. "Captain, may I ask a question?" he said.
"Please do." the Captain replied.
"When you arrived, the Equites said I was the freest of men." young Snow said.
"He did." the Captain replied.
"Why would he say that? I am a bastard." the lad said with a face of grim sadness.
"That is what makes you free." the Captain replied, shrugging and cleaning his lamellar cuirass with an oiled rag.
"I hardly see myself as free." the boy replied, sitting down on a stone bench, being done getting dressed.
"Tell me this, Master Snow." the Captain said. "Say you and young Lord Robb go carousing. Hitting the nearest inn, drinking and having fun, as boys your age are inclined to do." the quick look of guilt on the boy's face told him he had hit a nerve. Rather recently, too, he supposed. "Say that the innkeeper has two beutiful daughters. Good, reliable young women. You fall in love, you and Robb. And you go to your father, asking permission to marry them. Your father might approve for you, if you convince him that is the life you want to lead. But for Robb?"
"No, that would not be a fitting marriage for Robb." the lad agreed.
"So you are free to marry whomever you like, but he is not. What do you want to do when you are grown?" he continued, donning his gambeson as he spoke.
"I... I have been thinking about taking the black and joinging the Night's Watch, like my uncle Benjen." the lad said, hesitantly.
"And would your father aprrove?" the Captain asked.
"I, I suppose he would allow me if I really wanted to. But he would deny Robb. Robb is his hier." the lad continued, probably starting to understand where the Equites had come from.
"Exactly. You can do whatever you want. If you ask your father for a small holdfast and to be a loyal bannerman to your brother, he would probably give it to you. If you would want to became a sellsword in Essos, you could do that. If you wanted to marry a peasant's daughter and become a Yeoman farmer, you could do that. Not only can you do whatever you want, you also have trainding, education and starting money to do most things you could set your mind to. Most others will either be mired in duty or restricted by lack of training, education and money."
"So I am the freest of men?" the lad asked, thoughtfully. It seemed he had not considered that before.
"I would say so. You could even join the Condottieri for a five year contract if you wanted to." the Captain said, took his helmet under his arm and started marching towards the stairs leading up to the rest of the castle. "Lunchtime, is it not?" he said cheerfully. The Starks were good hosts and served excellent food.
"I could?" the lad said to himself behind him, then remembering himself and scurrying after the much larger Captain.