Recipient:
u_evangelineTitle: When the Dragon Met the Wolf
Author:
madamechatayaRating: R
Pairing: Jon/Dany
Word Count: 1144
Summary: Jon Snow meets Daenerys Targaryen.
Warning: None
They meet in the dark of winter. It is cold, far colder than man living can remember, with fallen snow piled so high a mammoth could go unseen. He has received reports of her host landing at Eastwatch but it is still unexpected when a dragon lands atop the Wall.
Jon Snow, the nine hundredth and ninety-ninth lord commander of the Night's Watch who so narrowly survived the attempt by his own men to assassinate him, watches from beneath the shadow of the Wall as the dragon roars and shoots flame from its mouth, as if issuing a challenge to the White Walkers beyond.
After long moments the dragon takes flight again, this time descending upon Castle Black. Its lone rider dismounts and despite the crowd of Night's Watch men and wildings, there is absolute silence. They all watch her awestruck and some even drop to their knees in the snow.
She is young and she wears no crown, but she is undoubtedly a queen. The Queen. Daenerys Targaryen, first of her name, Mother of Dragons.
She does not like him. He is the Usurper's dog's pup. He is the son of the man who helped topple the Targaryen dynasty. But though she grew up in exile in foreign lands, she knows of Westeros and its rules. A man who joins the Night's Watch is a crow and nothing more. He has no family ties and no history.
Daenerys Targaryen ignores Jon Snow the man and treats with Lord Commander Snow as a Queen would. She demands he swear allegiance to her and when he tries to argue that the Night's Watch takes no part in the realm's politics, she reminds him of all the support he has given Stannis Baratheon, who is currently occupying the Night Fort.
He reminds her that Stannis is the only so-called ruler to have come to the aid of the Night's Watch. He is unafraid as he challenges her, knowing she would have to be a fool to kill him now and she is no fool. "Save the realm and it will be yours," he tells her.
Just days prior his scouts had brought word of a huge assembly of dead things making their way south. Jon Snow tells the Queen of it and, although hesitant, joins her astride the massive black dragon. They locate the dead host easily and the dragon flies low and sprays them with fire. Jon watches it all and for the first time he has hope that man will triumph in this war against the Others.
Days later Daenerys's army reaches Castle Black. It is the queerest assemblage of people anyone has ever seen. There are mercenaries from the Free Cities, Dothraki horselords, gladiators from Slaver Bay, thousands of the famed Unsullied soldiers, and freed slaves who serve no real purpose but fanatically follow their "Mother."
The wildings love the dragon but they have no reverence for the Queen, which does not endear them to her followers. There are clashes between them. When an Unsullied kills a wilding man, Daenerys says the man was a thief and the eunuch delivered the Queen's justice. It is plausible, wildings do not hold the same views of property as other peoples, but accepting it leaves a bitter taste in Jon's mouth.
She invites him to dine with her one night in the large, elaborate tent her people have set up for her. The meat is venison and beef but spiced with exotic herbs and powders that render them unfamiliar. Jon is not sure he likes it. He feels the same about the Queen. She will ensure their victory against the White Walkers and she seems to be a good ruler who cares for her people, but it is obvious that she does not see herself as a woman but as a Targaryen and therefore different and superior.
They share a flagon of wine after the meal. It is a strange brew stronger than anything Jon has ever drunk, yet pleasing on the tongue. Her maids dance to entertain them while they drink. The women wear very little and the dance is provocative. Jon is aroused despite himself.
"Bed me," Daenerys commands.
"I have sworn..."
"To take no wife and father no children," she interrupts. "I know the vows the men of the Night's Watch swear. I do not want to marry you, Jon Snow, nor bear your children."
She is right about the words but wrong about the spirit of his vows. However Jon cannot correct her, not when doing so would remind her of Stannis Baratheon and the ways Jon has found to support him above the Lannisters and Roose Bolton.
She is beautiful and he is only a man. When Daenerys rises and unties the thin straps of her gown, when that gown falls to pool at her feet and she is gloriously naked, Jon can resist no more. He kneels before her and gives her what Ygritte had called "the lord's kiss."
After she has had her pleasure, she tries to draw him towards her bed furs, but Jon has regained control of himself. If he beds her, she will ever have the upper hand between them. He would know that he had broken his vows and it would leave him weaker against her.
Jon declines all future invitations to dine privately though Daenerys shares his table in the hall most nights. They have much to discuss about the war against the White Walkers. One night she asks about his family.
Jon does not answer her. He thinks about his brother Robb, who had been the King in the North. He wonders what Robb would have done if he was alive when Daenerys came calling herself Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. He wonders if Robb would have bent the knee as their forefather Torrhen Stark had done, or whether he would have given battle. Perhaps they would have married, a King for a Queen. It would have been a good match.
"Your father must have loved you very much, to raise you beside his trueborn children."
"Perhaps he did not want to be separated from any more of his kin, after losing his father and a brother and a sister," Jon says evenly.
Daenerys is angry at this reminder of her mad father's crimes, and Jon is glad he did not break his vows for her. They speak only of the tactics and logistics of war from then on.
A turn of the moon later Jon watches from atop the Wall as the Queen leads her host north to seek the enemy. He feels regretful that although he has tasted her cunt, he never kissed her. She glances behind her before her dragons flies beyond his sight, and he thinks she regrets it too. It is the last time they see each other.