Sun and Snow

by W1ngs

Arianne Martell and Jon Stark are polar opposites of each other. One is of summer, the other of winter. Yet when Jon is sent to squire for Oberyn Martell on his seventeenth nameday, the princess of Dorne finds that he might just be the Ice to her Fire. Meanwhile, Ned Stark plans to place the son of Lyanna Stark on the throne, and danger lurks beyond the wall. Arianne/Jon ship fic.

1. Introduction

An Introduction to Sun and Snow

Hello everyone! I noticed a lot of people were disappointed with the fact that the Jon/Arianne pairing in my previous fic (Three and a half Wolves) didn't end up with a King Jon endgame. This is for you who wanted such an endgame.

A few things before you start, this fic occurs during the book timeline but with Ned Stark meddling in crown affairs, Jon Arryn doesn't die at the start of AGOT but from a fever he gets two years later. Every single character is therefore older than in canon AGOT by two years.

Secondly, this is heavily Jon Snow/Arianne Martell interaction sided. It's always been one of my favourite pairings because it is the one that makes the most sense (post-White Walkers King or Prince Jon marrying Arianne makes sense as she'd be one of the last ones left, fulfilling Doran's vengeance of having his blood on the throne, and no-Rebellion or Targ-win Rebellion would have Jon marry Arianne to keep him from having any real power as Prince-Consort of Dorne and keep Aegon from having a challenge to his power).

In any case there have been a lot of fics around Targ-Jon (When the Snake Bites by Avery_Fontaine comes to mind as one of my favourites) or Post-Walker threat (Force me to you but don't force me to love you by TheEagleGirl, The Ice Dragon by spearshake and The Snake and the Wolf by RC97 being my personal favourites), or even Essos Jon meeting Arianne (Promise Me being my favourite by Mizu_umi although it isn't the main ship)

I encourage you to read all of these, but in any case, I wanted to do something that hadn't been done before, and I found something. If I recall there was never an Jon Snow x Arianne Martell centered fic that preceded or was set during the WOT5K that didn't involve Jon being raised in Dorne. This is therefore my attempt at it, but things needed to be done.

Jon's arc in ASOIAF revolves around his joining of the Night's Watch where he grows as a person, a leader, a lover and a decision-maker. No NW Jon means I would have had to make him an arc of character development similar to this, which I found with the fostering issue. Bear Island for the warrior, White Harbour for the leader and politician.

For him to be fostered, I also needed a complete shift in Ned's personality. Here, he is completely depressed after the loss of so many, and as vengeance for the people he loved, he decides to install Lyanna's son on the throne. This could have been a logical POD and it works well within the story. Also Dorne is now the North's ally although Doran is keeping his options open. That said please enjoy the story. Two updates coming this week, one today with the Prologue, and one this week-end with Chapter 1.