Chapter 14:
Author's Notes: I m absolutely floored by you guys! 56 reviews! You guys don't know how happy I am that people have responded to this story like this, so all I can say is thank you, my muse, my laptop, my hands and I appreciate it all. Oh and welcome to the party Ryoko05.
Ashley woke as the sun began to rise on the horizon. Another day, another chance to fall. She could feel her mind and body tire at each exertion but she could not afford to break now. Not when she was beginning to get a foothold on all that required when one ruled an army, and soon, a nation. She felt the need to lose herself for a little while, to forget all that she was held accountable for.
"Missandei," she called out. The handmaid came rushing in. "Find Spencer, I think it is time we spoke again."
"Yes, Khaleesi." The girl bowed.
"Oh and once you return, you may visit your brothers today. I am sure they will be as glad to see you as you will be."
The girl could barely contain her gratitude but composed herself commendably. "Thank you Khaleesi." With that, Ashley was left alone again. She reached for the book she had been reading the evening before, wanting to lose herself in the words again. The fat leather-bound volume was full of songs and stories from the Seven Kingdoms. Children's stories, if truth be told; too simple and fanciful to be true history. All the heroes were tall and handsome or beautiful and graceful, and you could tell the traitors by their shifty eyes. Yet she loved them all the same. Last night she had been reading of the three princesses in the red tower, locked away by the king for the crime of being beautiful. Ashley had no trouble finding the page where she had left off, but it was no good. She found herself reading the same passage half a dozen times. She played at being a queen, yet sometimes she still felt like a scared little girl. Nicholas always said what a dolt I was. Was he truly mad? She closed the book.
Ashley walked out of the choice, onto the terrace. She found Rhaegal asleep beside the pool, a green and bronze coil basking in the sun. Drogon was perched atop a pyramid, in the place where the huge bronze harpy had stood before she commanded it to be pulled down. He spread his wings and roared when he spied her. There was no sign of Viserion, but when she went to the parapet and scanned the horizon she saw pale wings in the far distance, sweeping above the river. He is hunting. They grow bolder every day. Yet it still made her anxious when they flew too far away. One day one of them may not return, she thought.
"You sent for me, Your Grace?"
She turned to find Spencer standing behind her. "I did. Come, sit with me."
Spencer stepped forward until she had reached her assigned seat. They sat in silence as Ashley thought of where to go next. "Tell me about you family."
Spencer's eyes narrowed in confusion. "Khaleesi?"
"I won't ask again," was the reply.
Spencer swallowed before beginning. "I am the eldest daughter of Arthur Carlin. We are a family of five. Our home is Winterfell, near the Northern Wall."
"Stop. I do not want a historical account. Tell me of their characters, who they are, what they seem like to you."
"My father is…was a good man, true to his word. He instilled honour in us from birth. It is the Carlin way, he would say every time our honour came into question. Whenever he smiled, which was not often, his eyes twinkled as if he knew some greater secret than those around him. He was not a cruel man or stoic, just firm and just in all he did. My mother is different. We always used to ask in jest why she married my father, as she always smiled, and danced and sang but he never even let the line from frowning disappear even then. Most say I look like my mother but I have my father's eyes. I seem to be just as set in my ways as he was."
"And the rest?"
"Glen, the oldest, is like my father when it came to dealing with the men who served us but around his brothers and sisters, he joined in the laughter as much as my mother did. My other brother, Clay, is just as quiet as my father; he always seems to be thinking of things further away. My sister, Kyla, has her heads in the clouds. She reads tales of the gallant priest, slaying the dragon or the evil king and rescuing the beautiful princess and doesn't seem to live within the reality of life, something my father tried to change. Lastly, Anthony. His middle name should have been trouble because that is all he brings. He is forever climbing onto the roof of our home, scaring my mother day in and day out."
"They seem to be a good family, one that can be envied."
"They are. We were all different but we were able to live happily together. I do not know if that will be the case ever again."
"Thank you for telling me. I assure you it was curiosity that drove me to ask, nothing more."
"You are my Khaleesi. I am bound to serve you as you wish."
Ashley studied the girl before her. Spencer's betrayal still ate away at her heart but she could already feel it ebb away. Why is it that one word or one look from her stops all around me? Spencer felt Ashley's gaze on her but could not understand the meaning behind it.
"They grow bigger every time I see them."
Ashley faced her dragons again. "Yes it seems that way." Stop yourself. Now is not the time to be considering what Spencer would look like dressed in Dothkari silk!
"Your Grace?"
They both turned to find Ser Barristan behind them. "What more would you have of me, ser? I spared you, I took you into my service, now give me some peace."
"Forgive me, Your Grace it was only…now that you know who I am…" The old man hesitated. "A knight of the Kingsguard is in the king's presence day and night. For that reason, our vows require us to protect his secrets as we would his life. But your father's secrets by rights belong to you now, along with his throne, and…I thought perhaps you might have questions for me."
Questions? She had a hundred questions, a thousand, ten thousand. Why couldn't she think of one?
"Shall I leave, Khaleesi?" Spencer asked, sensing Ashley's change in mood.
"No. I know of your family, you should know of mine." Ashley faced the old knight. "Was my father truly mad?" she blurted out. Why did I ask that? "Nicholas said this talk of madness was a ploy of the Usurper's…"
"Nicholas was a child, and the queen sheltered him as much as she could. Your father always had a little madness in him, I now believe. Yet he was charming and generous as well, so his lapses were forgiven. His reign began with such promise…but as years passed, the lapses grew more frequent, until…"
Ashley stopped him. "Do I want to hear this now?"
Ser Barristan considered a moment. "Perhaps not. Not now."
"Not now," she agreed. "One day. One day you must tell me all. The good and the bad. There is some good to be said of my father, surely?"
"There is, Your Grace. Of him, and those who came before him. Your grandfather Jaehaerys and his brother, their father Aegon, your mother…and Rhaegar. Him most of all."
"I wish I could have known him." Her voice was wistful.
"I wish he could have known you," the old knight said. "When you are ready, I will tell you all."
Ashley kissed him on the cheek and sent him on his way. Spencer stood as well, asking for time to continue with her duties, which Ashley accepted as she needed to think all she had heard through.
Later, when the time came for sleep, Ashley rose, leaving her handmaids asleep in their beds. Ashley slipped on a robe and padded barefoot across the marble floor, out onto the terrace. The air was chilly but she liked the feel of grass between her toes and the sound of the leaves whispering to each other. She leaned against a low brick parapet to look down upon the city. Meereen was sleeping too. Lost in dreams of kinder days, perhaps. Distant torches glimmered where her sentries walked their rounds, and here and there she saw the faint glow of lanterns bobbing down an alley. She was Ashley Stormborn, the Unburnt, khaleesi and queen, Mother of Dragons, slayer of warlocks, breaker of chains, and there was no one in the world that she could trust. Yet.
"Your Grace?" Spencer stood at her elbow wrapped up in a bedrobe, wooden sandals on her feet. "I woke and saw you standing here. Did you sleep well? What are you looking at?"
"My city," said Ashley. "I was looking for a house with a red door, but by night all the doors are black."
"A red door?" Spencer was puzzled. "What house is this?"
A house I saw you in once. "No house. It does not matter." Ashley took the other girl by the hand. "Never lie to me again, Spencer. Never betray me again."
"I never will," Spencer promised. "Look, dawn comes."
The sky had turned cobalt blue from the horizon to the zenith, and a glow could be seen, pale gold and oyster pink. Ashley held Spencer's hand as they watched the sun come up. All the grey bricks became red and yellow and blue and green and orange. The scarlet sands of the fighting pits transformed them into bleeding sores before their eyes. A bird began to chirp in the persimmon tree, and then two more. Ashley cocked her head to their song, but it was not long before the sounds of a waking city drowned them out.
The sounds of my city.
That morning she summoned her captains and commanders to the garden, Spencer by her side again. "Aegon the Conqueror brought fire and blood to Westeros, but afterward he gave them peace, prosperity and justice. But all I have brought to Slaver's Bay is death and ruin. I have been more khal than queen, smashing and plundering, then moving on."
"There is nothing to stay for," said Brown Ben Plumm.
"Your Grace, the slavers brought their doom upon themselves," said Daario Naharis.
"You have brought freedom as well," Spencer pointed out.
"Freedom to starve?" asked Ashley sharply. "Freedom to die? Am I a dragon, or a harpy?" Am I mad? Do I have the taint?
"A dragon," Ser Barristan said with certainty. "Meereen is not Westeros, Your Grace."
"But how can I rule seven kingdoms of I cannot rule a single city?"
He had no answer for that. Ashley turned away from them, to gaze out over the city again. "My children need time to heal and learn. My dragons need time to grow and test their wings. And I need the same. I will not let this city go the way of Astapor. I will not let the Yunkai chain up those I've freed all over again." She turned back to look at their faces. "I will not march."
"What will you do then, Khaleesi?" asked Rakharo.
"Stay," she said. "Rule. And be a queen."
A few extras:
1) A choice is a tent where the main sleeping area is located.
2) Spencer is a handmaid that's why she's sleeping in almost the same area as Ashley. That's how she spotted her on the terrace.
Um…if there's anything else I need to explain, ask me and I'll answer as soon as I can and as much as I can without giving anything away. More Spashley each and every chapter. Good news no?