Finding Tyrion in Meereen after years apart had been unexpected enough, but when Rhaena entered the royal chambers for the small council meeting upon that morning, she had not expected to be greeted by the sight of Lord Varys. She had halted in place in order to stare at him blankly, his presence so out of place that Rhaena could not yet process him being there. "Ah! Dearest princess, it warms my heart to see you once more, especially when you look so well." Varys greeted her with the same warm kindness as he always had before, sweeping forwards as he retrieved his hands from within his sleeves in order to bow before Rhaena. "I humbly present myself into the service of House Targaryen. Whatever help my meagre skills can offer then I will gladly do anything to be of assistance." Still reeling from the unexpected guest, Rhaena could hardly even blink as Varys took her hand and placed a light kiss upon it, lifting his eyes in order to look at her expectantly. "Surely you are not displeased to see me, princess?" Forcing herself to recover, Rhaena drew Varys upright and even embraced him, for already she was feeling relieved to have a man so capable as Varys there to assist them. There was no information the Master of Whispers could not uncover.
"On the contrary, my Lord Varys. Your arrival is most fortuitous." Stepping back in order to smile at him, Rhaena gestured for him to take a seat at the table despite Grey Worm's suspicious glare. "And you are by no means a man of meagre skill which you know very well, Lord Varys. Come. Join us. Meereen will need your talents if she is to remain standing." Pleased by the invitation, Varys was glad to take a seat at the table where the small council of Queen Daenerys gathered in order to attempt to set to rights the chaotic city of Meereen which had been left to their care. Tyrion was already pouring himself wine, causing Rhaena to worry for his health. If he continued to drink in such a manner, he would end up like that odious Robert. Rhaena made a note to have the wine watered down before it was brought to Tyrion from now on. Varys must have had thoughts similar to those as Rhaena for he tsked his tongue disapprovingly, causing Tyrion to glance to him.
"If I lost my cock, I'd drink all the time." He then looked at Grey Worm and with a start, Rhaena suddenly realised that two of the three men currently in these chambers did not possess their man parts. It was a rather disturbing thought. "Meaning no offense. He makes dwarf jokes, I make eunuch jokes."
"I do not make dwarf jokes." Varys protested rather strongly, though Tyrion remained nonplussed as he reasoned that Varys thought them, even if he did not speak them aloud. Wanting to press on with the order of business, Rhaena drummed her fingers pointedly against the table as she arched an eyebrow expectantly, waiting to hear the news which everyone already knew. If you did not hear the rumours, then you could see the evidence rising in thick plumes of smoke from the harbour to verify them. "So, the fleet. It's been burned."
"We are searching for the men who burned the ships, but nobody saw anything." Shaking her head slightly, Rhaena gave Grey Worm a sad smile.
"You will find nothing. They have done their business well. I was negligent to leave the ships so unprotected." Sighing heavily, Rhaena began to rub her face as she already felt the tension of stress wracking at her senses, and this was only the first morning. The thought of willing choosing to be a queen was rather abhorrent to her. "So, we have lost our fleet. What else?"
"Astapor and Yunkai have stopped asking us for aid."
"Perhaps they can tell us their secret." Between Varys delivering blunted facts and Tyrion making light of the situation, Rhaena was now beginning to regret having them sit upon the council. At the very least if they were not there she could pretend to be utterly oblivious to any misdeeds or chaos in the city. What a blessing it would be to live in such ignorance.
"The Masters have retaken both cities. Outside of Meereen, the whole of Slaver's Bay has returned to the slavers."
"That will have to be an issue for another time. We cannot take back the cities without first securing Meereen." Rhaena reasoned as she pondered for a moment, conjuring a map of Slaver's Bay in her mind so that she might picture where each of the cities lay in relation to Meereen. "I assume we cannot simply execute all the masters and anyone else who causes us trouble?" The silence was her answer. "Pity. It would be simpler."
"If this is your command, my princess, then I shall take Unsullied to do your bidding." Grey Worm spoke sincerely but Rhaena gave him a soft smile and assured him that she did not mean her words.
"I forget how literal you are sometimes, Grey Worm. Do not worry. I shall not put people to the sword simply because they may have affiliations with the Sons of the Harpy." At least not yet. Keeping this further thought to herself, Rhaena took a sip of wine and nibbled upon a honeycake in order to try and tempt herself more awake as Tyrion asked after the two remaining dragons still in their possession. "Viserion is injured and cannot fly yet, and Rhaegal will not leave him. In any case, they are not large enough or strong enough to take back cities on their own. Perhaps with Drogon and the three of them working together…but not as of now. Viserion needs some time to heal." She had spent hours attempting to treat Viserion's injury, having to soothe and coax him to let her feel his wing joint to ensure the bones had not broken before putting a paste upon the injury to seal it from infection, draping it in silk strips to try and keep him from licking the paste away before it could harden into a cast. Other than this they did not seem to be too greatly injured, only a few cuts in their softer areas where their scales had yet to harden properly. Viserion had complained and moaned for his wing, but Rhaena had comforted him as had Rhaegal, nudging at his brother and laying beside him as Rhaena sang songs for them. No, neither dragon would be fit to fight again for some time. They needed to grow larger. Stronger. They needed more time.
"Are they still kept in the catacombs?"
"Only because that is now their nest," Rhaena responded with a shrug, still nibbling on her cake. "They take to the skies when they wish and hunt their own food, though I shall bring meals to Viserion since he cannot hunt for himself, unless Rhaegal hunts for him. They are no longer chained, they understand what they may and may not do. Our understanding is…deep." Varys and Tyrion both looked to Rhaena strangely, undeniably curious as to what the young woman could mean but did not yet press her further. They would come to know in time. Of that they had no doubt. Putting aside the fact that all the ships in the harbour had been burnt, there was still other business to discuss but it was soon in hand and the council ended with tasks assigned to their most suited person. Rhaena, however, took Varys aside and brought him to Sansa, Myrcella and Trystane in order to hear the news he had brought from Westeros. Chiefly Rhaena wanted to know what had become of Robb and the state the Seven Kingdoms were currently in…however there was very little good news to be had, and none were spared from the sorrow.
Robb's army had broken not long after Rhaena and Sansa had fled. His bannermen had crumbled and returned to their own keeps, leaving Robb with precious few men to join with Stannis Baratheon. They had gone North to The Wall where they assisted Jon in fighting against the wildling invasion. Although successful, their numbers were now but a fraction of the size their original military fighting strength had begun with. Winterfell was still under the occupancy of the Boltons and the North was now in tatters. Sansa grew pale as she listened to Varys's news. Myrcella was told that currently her brother's wife and mother were imprisoned by a militant faith led by a man named the High Sparrow, and her mother had been forced to make the Walk of Shame, stripped naked and her hair shorn to walk through the streets of King's Landing all the way from the sept to the Red Keep. Myrcella had cried to hear it, but it was for Trystane she wept truly. Varys struggled to share this news, ill tidings were always the worst. When he learned that his father was dead, murdered by Ellaria and the Sand Snakes, Trystane had seethed in silence before rising like a thunderous storm to bellow and curse. Tears of anger and grief plagued him as he took to striding away and seizing his sword though Syrio grasped hold of his wrist. "And what will this little boy be doing with his blade, hm?"
"I am going to return to Dorne and avenge my father's death."
"If you do this, you will be a dead boy."
"Release me!" He struggled to free himself from Syrio who maintained a tight grip upon him, keeping him from moving however when Rhaena lifted her hand Syrio let go, meaning that Trystane stumbled back and fell against a chair rather clumsily.
"You will not be going anywhere, Trystane Martell." Rhaena announced to him as she rose to her feet and walked slowly around in order to face him, looking downward as he kicked the chair away from him as it had become caught on his foot.
"I should like to see you stop me." Reaching for his sword hilt the moment he was upright, Rhaena did not even flinch when Trystane drew it and held the elegant blade against her neck with such a quick flourish that the sharp edge pressed into the tender skin and drew a line of blood. Sansa shrieked as Lady growled, glaring at Trystane warningly as Sansa's outcry brought the guards rushing inside. Seeing Trystane threatening Princess Rhaena with a sword, the two Unsullied soldiers had rushed forwards, but Rhaena quickly held up her hand to stop them, ordering them silently not to interfere. Trystane never shifted his accusing stare away from her. This was all her doing. All her fault. "If you had not taken me away, then my father might still be alive. I would have protected him from the treachery of Ellaria Sand and my cousins." Rhaena continued to hold the boy's eyes.
"Then you are a fool, Trystane Martell. A naïve fool. Do you think that you would have lived if I had left you there? That Ellaria Sand would have spared you? No. Your father sent you away with me because he knew that your life was in danger." Delicately lifting her hand, Rhaena lowered the blade away from her neck and Trystane did not fight her even as he trembled and shook from the violence of his emotions as they roared within him. Varys stood with baited breath, watching the calm water stand against the raging storm. "Ellaria Sand would have killed Myrcella. It was what she intended. There was nothing she wanted more than to avenge the death of her paramour, your uncle. Oberyn. His daughters would also share in that desire to avenge their father. They would have killed Myrcella and sent her back to her mother one piece at a time, and they would have killed you alongside her. Perhaps they would have made you watch. Who is to know? What I do know, however is this." Stepping closer, Rhaena cupped her hand against Trystane's neck and rubbed her thumb against the trailing tear his sorrow left upon his cheek. "Your father loved you, Trystane. He loved you so dearly he sent you away to protect you. He sent you to the one person who could guarantee your safety, to the one whom Dorne needs to ally with against all their enemies." Her grasp upon him tightened, shaking the boy so that he might waken from his sorrowing in order to listen closely to her words. "Make an alliance with House Targaryen, and we shall take our vengeance against all those who wronged us. We shall avenge those we loved who have died at the hands of others, and reclaim everything which was stolen from us. This I promise you." Trystane stared at her blankly until gradually, his expression began to harden. His eyes glanced to the wound he had opened against her neck.
"I…apologise. This was not honourable of me to hurt you." Inclining his head in a bow, Rhaena nodded her head in understanding before letting him go. "Ellaria will pay for her treachery, but my people…my home…I am the next heir. I should be at Sunspear to claim my inheritance."
"And so you shall. I have a feeling we shall not be staying much longer in Meereen. The winds of the west call us home, and home we shall sail. After we have set this city to rights, taught those miserable slave masters a lesson they shall never forget, and found a means to replace the ships we have lost. I think between us clever, insightful people, we can think of such solutions. Do you not agree?" Patting his cheek one last time, Rhaena drew away from Myrcella and Trystane to allow them their grief in private, taking Sansa and Varys with her as well as Syrio, who offered Rhaena a silk handkerchief to press against the blood at her neck. Thankfully it was merely a scratch, so with some pressure it soon stopped bleeding.
"Did you mean what you said, Rhae? That we'll soon be going home?"
"Of course, sweet Sansa. One day soon Westeros will hear our names and know to tremble even from the merest of whispers." She teased, linking arms with her friend as Lady walked quietly alongside them. "But as I said, there are many things which need attending to first. I shall need your help, my sweet. You as well, Syrio. I am thinking I should like to introduce you and Trystane to our council meetings. I think you are a wise and insightful man who has learned a great deal from his experiences. Your wisdom would be most appreciated." Rhaena said with a twist of her head to look at Syrio who assured her that if he could be of any assistance then he would gladly do so. Still Syrio remained by their side, despite the fact that he had said he would leave once he had seen Sansa and Rhaena safely to Meereen. Rhaena was beginning to think that Syrio was rather enjoying the adventurousness their life afforded them. It was true. There was never a dull moment, though death brushed shoulders with them far more often than Rhaena would have liked. She would have to work harder to pave the way for their return to their rightful places and their families. Rhaena refused to give in now. Perhaps if these cities of Slaver's Bay could not be brought to heel…she would simply burn them all to the ground.