Missandei
Nothing bred conflict like the desire to be free, it seemed. It saddened her, but in her heart Missandei knew that no matter how hard her Queen fought for the rights of her and people like her, there would always be men who want to enslave others for personal gain.
Though only eleven years of age, Missandei had seen great beauty in her life. She had lived on the sun soaked isles of Naath, surrounded by emerald waters – if only for a time. She had seen cities so old that they might as well have been immortal and she had seen Dragon fire reign down on those who would oppress her.
Compared to all these wonders, what use was slavery, she wondered.
She pondered this as she walked besides her Queen: Daenerys Targaryen, down the battlements of the walls of Meereen.
"You'll need to prepare the city watch and your own troops for the possibility of a siege" she was saying to Grey Worm who walked a respectful few steps behind her. Missandei liked Grey Worm, he reminded her of her sweet brothers, now lost.
"I want you to maintain caches of weapons across the walls, anything that can be used to repel climbers. Ser Brynden has been telling me of Iron Born tactics, apparently they prefer to scale walls as opposed to wait in an elongated siege – though that's not to say we shouldn't prepare for one"
"This One agrees, Your Grace. What you say will be done" Grey Worm solemnly said before walking away.
For nearly a week now, Meereen had been making preparations for the arrival of what the Westrosi stranger called 'The Iron Fleet'.
We never had need for iron on Naath.
Daenerys stooped for a moment and turned towards the city, contemplating it. Meereen was a hive of activity now, more so than ever. From the sun baked battlements Missandei could see the Meereneese running to and fro from their shops and houses, the movements like the movements of so many ants.
"Come Missandei, Ser Barristan and the Council await us" Daenerys said as they began walking along the battlements to the entrance that would admit them to the Great Pyramid.
Indeed, Daenerys had asked Ser Barristan to take command of the cities defense, much to the old knights chagrin.
"My place is by your side, Your Grace!" Missandei could remember him saying.
"You have fought and led men into battle more times than any man in this city. When the Iron Born attack, they will attack with a fury the liked of which we have not seen yet in the peoples of Slavers Bay. You know how they fight, I want you to command the defense of my city" Daenerys had said.
After that the matter had been settled, though Missandei still caught the old knight grumbling to himself when he thought no one else was looking. Everyone, ever her friends it seemed, overlooked the tiny scribe.
She liked the old knight though, he had many good stories in him.
Eventually they reached the Great Pyramid and, ascending the great staircase within, reached the Council chambers.
Entering the open door that one of the stationed Brazened Beasts offered her, Daenerys and Missandei entered the heavy and silent room.
The room was cold, despite the warm sunlight filtering in through the stone-set windows. Set into a recess in the middle of the floor sat a large wooden table, around which were strewn cushions and rugs, as opposed to chairs. Missandei had advised that.
"Let them have the small traditions and they will love you all the more, Your Grace" she had said.
Seated around the table were the various members of the Meereneese ruling council. Seated next the head of the table was Ser Barristan, his sparkling white armor only highlighting his clear discomfort at the seating arrangements. To his left sat Skahaz, the commander of the Brazen Beats, looking decidingly more at ease. Opposite him sat Hizdahr zo Loraq, the Queens husband, with a smile on his face that looked anything from sincere. Missandei knew he still resented her and Ser Barristan for his desposing, during the time Daenerys was away with her dragon. Besides them the table was also surrounded by the fat Strong Belwas, the flambountly dressed Tyroshi: Daario Naharis and the newcomer: Ser Brynden.
Daenerys sat down at the head of the table, Ser Barristan and Hizdahr at either side of her. Missandei stood respectfully to the side.
"How goes the preparations for the battle?" Daenerys asked.
"The City Watch is drilling all day Your Grace. The Unsullied, Brazen Beasts and the City guards are all training as hard as they can, we will be ready" Skahaz responded, his voice tinged with pride.
"If the City isn't empty by then, that is" Hizdahr spoke up. He had been decidingly sour of late, Missandei thought.
Daenerys looked at him.
"The people are terrified Your Grace, first the Yunkish blockade, than your Dragons running rampant around the city and now some foreign fleet pressing down on us. People are fleeing the city every day, hundreds are selling themselves into slavery just to get away from the city"
"If they want to go let them, I can't and won't stop them"
Hizdahr looked sullenly at her, as if he wanted to pursue the matter, though he remained silent.
"What of the fleet? Are the ready to sail?"
Ser Barristan spoke up: "The majority of the Meereenese ships are ready to sail Your Grace, what we lack for; however, are the men to man them. Many of the sailors have fled the city and those that remain have no wish to fight. Even in Meereen, sailors know about the savagery of the Iron Born"
Daenerys turned to Skahaz.
"Send your men into the city. Find any sailor unwilling to man a ship and take them to the harbor. Force them if you must, but try not to kill anyone. This is there city and I will make them defend it if I have to"
"But who will command the fleet Your Grace? Surely you cannot mean to do it yourself"
"I do not, though I had someone else in mind"
She turned to Daario.
"Have you any experience in naval combat?"
The blue haired Tyroshi nonchalantly.
"I once led a force of ships against the Navy of Old Ghis. We won, but I would hardly call any victory over those mongrel dogs hard fought"
He smiled, his gold tooth gleaming in the sunlight.
"But I can lead your fleet for you, My Queen"
"Excellent. Ready whatever sailors Skahaz brings to you and borrow whatever men you need from the Unsullied. They've never fought on ships before, but they'll adapt quickly"
"It will be done My Queen" he said, smiling once more.
"You all have much to do, we'll meet again on the morrow. Until then, you're all dismissed" Daenerys said in a commanding tone.
The Council Members began filing out of the room, each off to their respective tasks.
It had a beauty in itself, Missandei thought to herself. So many stones of an unwilling damn, all working together to survive against the onslaught of the seas.
And the Krakens those seas contain.
Daenerys rose to leave, but as she was about to walk out the door Ser Brynden stepped in front of her.
"May I have a word, Your Grace?"
Daenerys stared at him for a long hard moment.
"Of course, my knight. Please take a seat"
"If it's all the same I prefer to stand"
"What would you have of me, Ser?"
"I understand that you mean to stay in the city during the battle, overseeing from the Battlements?"
"At Ser Barristan's urgings. An army cannot fight if it's Queen is killed in the first wave. Do you disagree?"
"It's not my place to argue against the urgings of your Queensgaurd, Your Grace. But it would seem to me that your forgetting your greatest resource in this battle, something that could very well mean the difference between victory and defeat"
"Well please tell me, Ser, what is the magical item with which I might save my city?"
"You have three of them Your Grace. Locked up in a pyramid"
Daenerys's face darkened.
"You have seen the aftermath my children wrought on this city, would you have me unleash them again?"
"I would Your Grace. If this is the damage they can do to a city made of stone, imagine what they can do to a fleet made of wood"
"They would turn against my own ships as well, they cannot be controlled"
"They can be a rider"
"I am the only one who can ride a Dragon"
"I never paid much attention to my maester lessons Your Grace, but to me one Dragon would seem a lot better than no Dragons"
"You would have me ride out into battle on the back of a beast that I can barely control? A beast capable of leveling this city to the ground"
"All I know, Your Grace, is what my old Maester was able to force into my head before I fell asleep. When Aegon took Westeros he had the smallest force on the continent. He was outnumbered, outmanned and outflanked at almost every turn yet he never lost a battle. The Field of Fire, Torhen Stark's surrender, every battle that Aegon had a Dragon in he won"
Daenerys paused for a long moment.
"I will think on what you've said Ser. Until then I must rest, the day has been long and I am weary"
"Of course Your Grace" Ser Brynden said as he stepped aside to allow her to exit the Council Chambers.
As they walked towards the Queens chambers, Daenerys stopped suddenly in the torch lit stone corridor. She turned to Missandei.
"What do you think of what Ser Brynden said?"
"What does this one think, Your Grace?"
"You are wise beyond your years Missandei, I value your counsel"
Missandei bit her lip.
A Naathi slave counseling the most powerful woman in the World, if only the Masters of Astophor could see me know.
"Your new knight speaks the truth, Your Grace. If you ever wish to take your throne you'll have to fight for it at some point, defeating a Westrosi fleet on the back of a Dragon will send a very clear message to those you wish to overthrow"
Daenerys stroked her check lightly.
"You truly are the wisest of all us, child"
Missandei only nodded, at a loss for words.
"Come now then. We shall go and visit my children"
"Now, Your Grace?"
"Yes now, if what you say is true – that I need to start sending a message – then I should start now. Imagine the fear those Iron Born sailors will feel when they see a Dragon riding above them.
"Should you not inform your Counselors, Your Grace?"
"I'll have a message sent"
And so Daenerys led Missandei on, to treat once more with Dragons.
It was dark inside the bowels of the pyramid. Missandei could feel the coldness of the great masses of stone above her weighing her down. She had never liked the dark, even as a child. She missed the sunlit shores of Naath, bright even in the middle of the night.
Though she had been a small child when the Slavers took her, she still remembered Naath well, the islands of Peace; untouched by conquest since the doom of Valyria. Slaves would come and go, but no force had ever been able to take the island of Naath and live to hold it. Perhaps the Lord of Harmony did exist after, protecting them in his own way.
This dark place only made her long to see the shores of her home once more, to feed the great butterflies from her hands and walk between the Great Waterfalls.
But she would never Daenerys's side. Strange as it sounded, by freeing her Daenerys had forever cursed the Naath girl to stay at her side. She could no more leave Her Queen than she could stop breathing.
She followed Daenerys down the winding stairwell, torch in hand to light up a merger portion of the immense hall.
Eventually they reached the bottom and, hearing sounds of breathing, Missandei knew the Dragons must be near at hand.
This is where Quentyn died.
She followed Daenerys further into the cavern and suddenly there they were!
Rearing up out of the darkness monuments to ancient gods of the Freehold, the Dragons lay, terrifying in their enormity.
And they slept.
Missandei tugged at Daenerys's sleeve.
"They are asleep. What will you do now?"
Daenerys turned to her, smiling. She laid her hand on Missandei's shoulder and kissed her lightly on the cheek. Missandei felt her fear drain away, replaced by a sense of calm. As long as she was with her Queen, nothing could harm her.
"They are my children. I'm going to wake them"
Within saying a word Daenerys walked over to the black one – Drogon – and ran her hand down the length of its hide. Slowly rising, the great beast reared its head and looked curiously down upon the two young women. Missandei thought it was about to engulf them in flame, just like Rhaegal had done to poor Quentyn. But no, the mighty Dragon lowered its head and affectionately nuzzled Daenerys.
It made an odd sight, to say the least.
Daenerys beckoned her over and pointed to one of the other dragons.
"They won't hurt you so long as your with me, go ahead. Touch one of them"
Missandei approached the large pale green one.
Viserion
Drogon was the only one awake and she laid her hand gently on the sleeping hide of the behemoth.
She held it there for some seconds before withdrawing it, the warmth radiating off the beasts skin.
As she withdrew it she noticed a hush had fallen on the already silent cavern. She looked over to Daenerys who stood, frozen and starting at her with large eyes.
In that instant Missandei knew something was terribly terribly wrong.
Fear creeping up her spine once more, Missandei turned slowly to be confronted with the giant golden eyes of the now woken Dragon.
Everything stood still for a single moment and then chaos broke out. Drogon leapt upwards with a burst of flame, waking Rhaegal who bellowed so that the walls of the cavern shook.
Viserion too, leapt upwards and before Missandei knew what was going on she was above the ground, clutching with tight arms the neck of the mighty beast, the golden hair of her Queen rescinding into darkness.
Viserion's great wings moved strongly as the Dragon scaled the inside of the Great Pyramid. With a smashing of rock and mortar Viserion broke through the top of the Pyramid, allowing sunlight to stream into the darkness and showing mud bricks everywhere.
They'd only just finished rebuilding the top she thought to herself, absurdly.
Viserion continued to stream upwards into the pale blue sky, the city growing smaller in size as the beast got higher.
Missandei held on for her life, knowing that even if she moved a finger, her hands would unclasp and she would fall, screaming, to her death.
Eventually Viserion leveled off, gliding through the air, tens of thousands of feet above the ground.
With Viserion flattened, Missandei was able to work herself into a better position along its neck, lying out to grasp with both her legs and hands.
For the first time, Missandei risked a look down. The entirety of Slavers Bay seemed stretched out beneath her.
Meereen was tiny and - risking the movement – Missandei moved her thumb to block it out of vision entirely.
As Viserion glided on high, Missandei gazed out towards the ocean. In the distance she could see a mass of dots, most likely the Iron Fleet on it's way to Meereen. They looked so unimportant from up her, she thought to herself.
Krakens turned into minnows.
To the South she could see a distinct dot on the horizon and wondered if it was Yunkai, where the forces that up until recently had been camped outside Meereen had retreated too. She traced the winding path of the Skahazadban river across the brown landscape beneath her and laughed out in exhilaration, despite her fear.
But her laughter turned into a gasp of surprise as images flashed through her mind: three mighty dragons breathing flame and steel against a backdrop of ice, bearing riders: herself, he Queen and another. The Dragon must have three heads. The words came unbidden into her mind and she pushed them out, not wanting the fearsome scene in her head.
As Viserion flew through the skies of Slavers Bay, Missandei pushed the images of fire and death out of her mind and quietly contemplated the landscape beneath her, for once not knowing the role she way playing.