Jon I

He felt the ache of his old bones as he sat down on the chair reserved for the Hand of the King in the small council chambers. He keenly felt his hips crack as he did so as well, and he was equally as aware of his increasing resemblance to the bird which his family had taken as their sigil, what with his bald head, large hooked nose and the dark bags under his eyes born from the fact that he considered himself to be one of the two competent and trustworthy members of the small council, meaning that he refused to delegate any work apart from that under the purview of the Master of Coin, he was never very good at counting coppers after all and he would be damned if he let that up-jumped eunuch and that grasping cunt Paxter have any more power in Robert's court than absolutely necessary.

Speaking of eunuchs…

"Well, out with-it man!", Robert barked at Varys, "you never request my presence here unless there's a fire I need to put out, so what is it?!"

Jon would've sighed, but he had long given up on tempering his foster son's rudeness, a rudeness that was exacerbated by his increasingly more hedonistic habits.

"No, it's about your brother your Grace…", Varys tittered nervously as the fists and jaws of everyone on the small council, saving himself and Littlefinger, tightened in nervous anticipation and in some cases, anger.

Though for vastly different reasons. Paxter Redwyne, even not having experienced Lord Stannis' magic firsthand was as terrified of him as any Reachman rightfully should be given the effects the heathen had wrought upon their army.

Renly Baratheon resented his elder brother who he had looked up to as a hero when he was a boy, for "abandoning me in this shithole and leaving me to be raised by Robert of all people!", a fact that was not completely off-base as Jon would reluctantly admit.

Varys and Pycelle resented the man for only gods know what and Robert was simply so jealous of his younger brother that it drove him mad with rage every time he was reminded of the fact that while he was here stuck in the capital bored out of his mind, Stannis was out there living his life in the exact way he had seen fit as a child and all because Robert indirectly allowed it, not to mention he was probably still worth about the fact that Stannis had technically stolen the best ship in the fleet, something which had also won him Jon's ire for a time, but at this point he really couldn't muster the energy to care.

"And what about him?", The Master of Laws drawled sarcastically, "Did he go past Asshai and discover a new continent, or let me guess, did he fight a Kraken with his bare fists?"

Varys raised a manicured hand up to his clean shaven pate and rubbed his chin as if he was in deep thought, he then said, "Well, I suppose one could say he fought a Kraken, though certainly not with his bare fists and no, apparently the furthest he got was Asshai.", he punctuated the sentence with a breezy shrug as the jaws of all the members of the small council flopped open like gaping fish. The Spider now had everyone's complete undivided attention, it was not uncommon for the Small Council to receive news of Stannis' comings and goings, Robert requested the information after all, but already he was being called the next Lomas Longstrider and both Baratheon brothers were tired of hearing the exploits of someone who was apparently much happier than the two of them put together.

"Start talking, now.", Robert said quietly, though his desire to punch a hole in the marble table in sheer anger came through loud and clear.

The Eunuch smiled demurely and began, "Well, he didn't actually fight a Kraken, but rather he killed Euron Greyjoy after ridding the Basilisk Isles of their infestation of Pirates.", he finished matter-of-factly.

"How?!", Robert spat out looking green with envy, Renly mimicking his expression if not his words while Jon just sighed with exasperation and Petyr rolled his eyes.

"He sacked one of the four great slaver cities gaining a large army of Unsullied and a sizeable fleet in the process, he then sailed his fleet to the Basilisk Isles and took them.", Varys tittered though in a tone that could've suggested he was speaking about crop yields in a demesne rather than the impossible achievement he just uttered.

"What?", Jon rubbed at his temples tiredly to stave of the headache he just knew was coming.

"Yes, you see...", Varys then went on to explain how Stannis tricked the slavers by purchasing their Unsullied army with fake dragon eggs and then forced his newly acquired army to kill their former masters thereby taking the city of Astapor. Afterwards he marched his army to the neighboring city of Yunkai, where the nobles paid him off with a fleet. Grand Maester Pycelle occasionally adding his doddering yet very welcome historical context to the unbelievability of this fact.

Jon scowled, the tactics Stannis used were dishonorable in the extreme, but he technically was doing the work of the Seven in freeing the slaves, he'd have to consult the High Septon on this, though he was already dreading what would undoubtedly be a long and tedious evening on the discussion of theology and ethics, not to mention his holiness pestering him on the repayment of the loans that the faith had granted the new Baratheon dynasty. He sighed morosely and even Littlefinger looked slightly concerned now, though Paxter Redwyne was sweating buckets.

Robert took several deep breaths to calm himself down after the conversation finished, "Lord Baelish, I shall be making extensive use of your establishment today, I trust that will not be a problem?", he said with hints of steel that indicated that what had once lived under those many layers of fat was once a great warrior, he shook his head at his foster son's antics.

"None at all your grace", Baelish answered with a small yet slightly predatory smile.

"Good", Robert answered simply, striding out of the room, Ser Meryn and Ser Barristan following in step behind him, not saying a word. Before he exited, he said, "Oh and a Tourney by next week!"

Jon sighed again; he'd been doing that a lot recently he noticed.

Arianne I

She strode out of the sea feeling very refreshed indeed, it had been a hot few days in Sunspear and she was glad she had taken the time to relax with her cousin Tyene by swimming in the noticeably cooler waters, though that was the exact opposite of what she thought when her bare feet touched the scalding sand as she was forced to flinch back and fall on her ass due to its unexpected heat and the pain it caused on her souls.

A roar of laughter peeled from behind her and she turned to see her cousin merrily jaunting out of the sea though taking much more quick steps than her, minimizing the time each foot was placed on the ground. She got up by herself and tried not to grimace in order to avoid further embarrassment, which of course made Tyene, the bitch, laugh all the harder. She glared at her cousin, though it lacked any real heat as it usually did, so it was taken in stride as it usually was.

One of the many guards who had escorted both of them obediently made to hand her a towel and some leather slippers which she accepted graciously, though she put on the first with much more haste.

While she was drying herself off, she noticed that the guard was staring, being a recently flowered maid of five and ten she was fairly used to this, but not from the guards in Sunspear, they were some of the few men who feared drawing her father's ire, which puzzled Arianne, even after she had told him she lost her Maidenhead to Daemon Sand, her father had done absolutely nothing at all, it puzzled and angered her in equal measure to no end.

It was with that last thought that it clicked into place, the underclothes she wore for her swim had obviously gotten wet and must've been hugging her body tightly enough to leave absolutely nothing to the imagination, she giggled internally and winked salaciously at the guard who blushed and then almost immediately flinched back as if struck.

Arianne pursed her lips in frustration, the guard was a fairly fine specimen of his gender and if she had fucked him it would've probably been less of an embarrassment than trying to marry her off to Walder 'Fucking' Frey of all people, not that her father would've understood, he seemed hells-bent on removing any joy she could extract from her life since she learnt he meant for Quentyn to usurp her rightful place as the heir.

"Done drying yourself off yet princess?", Tyene said with a smirk, she used her proper title, but when she said it, it sounded more like an insult.

"Oh you wound me Tyene", she said handing the towel back to the guard who was intent on attentively examining the floor rather than her and her cousin, Arianne placed a hand over her heart in mock woundedness, "All that because you're jealous of my better hair, what is the world coming to?", she asked rhetorically.

Tyene raised one of her perfectly sculpted eyebrows and snorted, "Me?! Jealous? As I remember it when we were children…"

Arianne glared at her for real and Tyene wisely stopped talking, though the mischievous spark they were both known for never left her eyes. She sighed internally, her childhood was not fun to remember, she had always been an ugly child looking more like an angry little boy than her role-model Princess Nymeria, whereas her cousins bore a striking resemblance to the many statues of her likeness which could be found all over Dorne.

She remembered the many times she had prayed through frustrated tears and clenched teeth in the Sept for the Seven to grant her the same boons they had apparently seen fit to grant her cousins from birth, but well, she thought staring at her noticeable assets, "it's not like they didn't deliver when I asked…"

"Come, father and uncle will be expecting us for lunch and it's unwise to test their patience for something so trivial.", she said and Tyene nodded obediently as they made their way through the winding streets of Sunspear to reach the Palace, their guards falling in line behind them.

Sunspear was not one of the largest cities in Westeros, but its architecture was definitely the most unique, it had elements of the cobblestone houses that were built by the First Men, but now they were only noticeable as the foundations of the Andal and Rhoynar housing that followed.

The Maester at the palace had compared it to an onion in that Sunspear also had many different layers. It must also be said, according to her uncle Oberyn at least, that the Shadow City, that is the city that was almost always under the shadow of the tall palace towers, shared a remarkably uncanny resemblance to the free cities, what with its numerous temples, markets and of course cutthroats which is why the guards following them were necessary.

Once she'd arrived home she decided to exchange her soaked garments for a dress cut in the typical style of the reach, that is to say with an exposed midriff, but it was made of the typical orange dyed silk that was ubiquitous for her house, "mayhaps because it contrasts well with our skin.", she thought while she was putting it on.

"You're late", her father drawled conversationally when she'd arrived at the table, she just shrugged with complete equanimity, her father had completely lost her respect around a year ago and hadn't done much to regain it since, not to mention seeing him struggling to lift the wineglass to his lips because of the gout didn't exactly instill fear, though some would argue the looming form of Areo Hotah who constantly stood behind him compensated for this.

The food was simple Dornish fare, a lot of fish, root-vegetables and obviously a lot of spice with those vegetables to mitigate the fact that they were naturally very bland, not to mention quite a lot of wine going around though her father never allowed her to have more than two glasses despite the fact that her uncle allowed his daughters to have as many bottles as they damn well liked so long as they dealt with their own hangovers after the fact.

Overall it was a very average meal for the House Nymerios Martell, or at least it began as such, though in the middle of the meal a hurried messenger approached, the heads of everyone sitting at the table except for the Norvoshi Monk, turned to face him with undisguised curiosity, after all the conversation had become quite stale and even her uncle's rude jokes could only keep it afloat for so long, so a distraction was welcome.

"News from Essos my prince", the man said with the characteristic accent of those who had never truly abandoned Mother Rhoyne and if her father had felt annoyed at the interruption it disappeared as quickly as it came.

She and her cousins exchanged a look that held undisguised curiosity and Obara silently asked her father what could be so important, but he withheld the information with a sly smile and a quick shake of the head, that was enough for Arianne, it indicated that it was something important and that her Uncle knew about too.

"Anything interesting father?", she asked feigning pleasantness, but her father ignored her handing the now opened later over to her Uncle with a muttered, "tell me what you make of this".

The expressions her uncle's face went through while he read the letter only served to exacerbate everyone's curiosity. His countenance went from mildly curious, to impressed, to completely incredulous in a span of a few seconds.

He put down the letter and then shrugged, turning to her father and saying, "It's not impossible, extremely unlikely mind you, but not completely impossible.", he finally said with the same roguish grin he always wore, but there was an underlying tenseness in the man like she had never seen before.

"And if it did happen?", her father asked simply, all the heads at the table leaning in to see if they could gleam what this conversation was about.

"Then he might be a threat and yet he might not be.", he said more to himself than to Doran, "What do you make of this?", he then asked his brother, who pursed his lips and said, "I need time to think about this."

"Of course, you do", Arianne thought sourly, "Whatever the situation you always do nothing and call it thinking."

Doran put down the letter on the table and resumed eating, though everyone was still far to curious about the events that had just transpired to follow the Prince's example.

"Is there anything we should know?", Nym said hesitantly, which seemed to convince her father to volunteer the information.

With a put-upon sigh he began, "Should? No, definitely not.", but then continued at the crestfallen expressions of everyone including her, "But can, yes, indeed. The letter related some curious events concerning the King's brother in Essos."

She furrowed her brow in thought, the Maester had just begun her lessons on Robert's Rebellion, but even then she knew the name of Stannis Baratheon quite well indeed, the man had broken the Siege of Storm's End with magic after all, taken the fortress of Dragonstone, had apparently publicly condemned the rape and murder of her Aunt and her children (much to the consternation of his elder brother) and last she'd heard of him had been from a few merchants in the Shadow City who claimed he had stolen a ship from the Royal Fleet and sailed away to Essos, but that was years ago now.

She pursed her lips and gave voice to the aforementioned thoughts.

"You're right mostly.", her uncle began as everyone on the table including her father began to listen with rapt attention.

"Though I believe that the man would argue he didn't steal anything because at the time he was still Master of Ships and he therefore technically gave the ship away to himself before he was unofficially banished", a few Sand Snakes and herself laughed uproariously at this, "I'll have to ask Maester Egan about him.", she thought imagining what the man looked like.

"But", her uncle interrupted their laughter with a hint of steel in his voice she had rarely heard before, "- he didn't just steal it as a pleasure cruise and take a trip to the Free Cities like I did, he apparently went as far as Asshai by the Shadow", her mind began to evoke images of the great adventurous prince she now knew the man to be and… she liked what she saw.

Despite her rather lude thoughts her Uncle continued to speak, "When he came back he sacked the city of Astapor, freed the slaves therein, gained an army of Unsullied, blackmailed Yunkai to get a fleet, sailed that fleet to Sothoryos and killed the most dangerous man apart from Black Harren to ever come out of the Iron Islands, any questions?"

What!? "What?!", everyone except her father asked immediately. Her Uncle laughed and recounted the tale in greater detail than he had initially, the image she had composed of the man did not falter at all, in fact the details seemed to strengthen it.

When her uncle had taken her and Tyene to the tower on the outskirts of the city to show them how to best milk a snake for its venom she had laid on a rock and imagined that a brave adventurous knight had come to whisk her away from her drab life and would ravish her in that same tower, thinking about Stannis, the pleasurable visions of that knight were quickly replaced by that of a gallant Prince who had travelled even further than her Uncle and likely had the muscles and… experience to show for it.

When she finally retired to sleep for the day, the dream that greeted was very familiar, she was inside a stable and Daemon Sand was removing his smallclothes, only this time it wasn't the Bastard of Godsgrace, but a Baratheon with long dark hair, bright blue eyes and a physique that could be best described as heroic that greeted her.

Balon I

His daughter walked in while he was staring into the fire, the Storm God was out today with a vengeance, so he stayed near the large fireplace of his keep for warmth in these months.

"Father, I bring news from Lordsport.", she said with her usual arrogant tone of voice, Balon merely raised an eyebrow asking her to continue.

"The merchants say Uncle Euron has died.", she said simply and Balon felt his heart skip a beat.

"How?", he asked simply, not letting his voice transmit the palpable excitement which he felt.

"Killed, by Stannis Baratheon", she replied with total equanimity, she hadn't really met her Uncle after all, well she had but she was too young to remember him.

'Thank the bloody Drowned God', he thought letting out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding.

"I see", he said stiffly his Asha just stared at him with a raised eyebrow, "You may go", he finished, and she bowed stiffly and did just that.

A/N

Hey guys hope you enjoyed what was essentially the Westeros Interlude, please leave a review if you're feeling generous and next time get ready for Stannis' meeting with Melisandre, the founding of a Sellsword company and our favorite Mannis getting a new pet. See you guys next time, same bat-time, same bat-channel and as always thank you for your kind words, you are what makes this and other stories worth writing. And by the way, I did settle for Arianne after re-reading her chapters after all ;)

Some of your concerns and reviews addressed in the order I found them in:

The reason I decided to make Bloodraven an ally is because he'd be a really shitty enemy, his Greensight is essentially useless now that Stannis has royally fucked up the timeline and his only option is to Warg and take over the body of someone important, but chances are they'll notice something is wrong very quickly and if he does that Bloodraven loses his powers (unless he does it with Bran, but as Bran he'll have little power when compared to Stannis).

He's not saying that it would be better if all future Kings were Greenseers, he's saying it would be better if all future Kings were him, an idea that isn't without merit as he's a fairly skilled ruler and he can essentially live forever if he plays his cards right.

I'm considering another ASOIAF SI, but not as Tywin's son, rather as Roose Bolton during Robert's Rebellion, but I'm going to finish this one before I start it.

Yeah, Arya's Faceless Men arc is down the shitter now, but that was going to happen anyway because Stannis was going to prevent the Red Wedding.

Fuck you too

No, he's not dumb enough to try his luck in that Lovecraftian nightmare of a city.

The amount of Thanos quotes will be perfectly balanced, as everything should be.

Arianne isn't a real 'Princess' so to speak, in the books it's basically outright stated that she's a rebellious teenager who'll have sex with anyone to get something she want or just to piss of her dad, even if it's to her own detriment in the future (though she isn't smart enough to realize this.) In the books she states that her ideal man is a strong adventurous knight and she was even in love with her Uncle at one point, meaning Stannis is kind of her ideal guy.