Yeah, no kidding.

"Father, I know that your lady wife despises me, and so I will not be able to stay here after you are gone. I only ask for a place in your retinue. I know that you have been good to me, but I must ask for you to do still more. Find me a knight to squire for, so that I may be of service to the Starks, and in time earn the honor of my own name, and a fief if I am found worthy by some lord. If not for my sake, then for my departed mother's."

Ned looked at Jon keenly for a moment, then nodded. "I have one in mind. He will accept because he will wish to use you against me. You will squire for the Kingslayer. Be sure that you learn from him - in how to fight, if not how to comport yourself. I have faith that you already have enough knowledge of that."

Eddard stood up and approached Jon, his eyes clouded by an unusual degree of mist. "I remember bringing you here from that nest of snakes. Jon - promise me that you will not be rash, and that you will follow my commands, no matter what. If I order you to abandon Jaime, you will do so, however it may wound your honor. I ask that you make this sacrifice - and there will be sacrifice - only because I suspect that something terrible may be happening down south, and we Starks have few allies anymore."

Jon knelt before his father. "Father, I swear. I will obey your commands, and will learn what I can from the Kingslayer, so that I can protect our family."

"Jon... in time you will learn what protecting your family truly means. You would not be permitted to understand it at the Wall." Eddard pulled Jon into a hug. "Now let's get going before Catelyn finds out and beheads me."