Character Ages:
―Jorah Mormont: 45
―Xaro Xhoan Daxos: Early- to mid-30s
―Daenerys Targaryen: 17
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Across the Narrow Sea, near Qarth…
Daenerys Targaryen was having a bad year. Since the day of her happy marriage to Khal Drogo, she went from a hellish moment and into a sad tragic ending. First her older brother Viserys arrived drunk at the feast for Daenerys's son Rhaego only for her brother to draw his sword to demand Khal Drogo pay the agreed price for Daenerys by providing troops for the invasion of Westeros; he wants his crown or he will take his sister back. When he dared threaten Daenerys and her unborn child, Drogo had Viserys executed by pouring molten gold over his head.
ooOoo
"They can't shed blood in their sacred city, but I can," Viserys chuckled as he pointed the tip of his sword to Daenerys stomach. "I want what I came for. I want the crown he promised me. He bought you, but he never paid for you."
A Dothraki girl stood next to Drogo and translated what Viserys was saying; Khal Drogo glared fiercely at Viserys.
"Tell him I want what was bargained for," he continued, "or I'm taking you back. He can keep the baby. I'll cut it out and leave it for him."
Drogo finally spoke in his native tongue as his riders slowly crept up behind Viserys.
"What's he saying?" Viserys asked Daenerys impatiently.
"He says yes," she answers.
Viserys looked at her in surprise.
"He says you shall have a golden crown, one that men shall tremble to behold."
Viserys's smile grew and grew as Daenerys spoke. He looked towards Khal Drogo and chuckled.
"That was all I wanted," he said, taking his blade away from Daenerys's stomach and stepped back. "W-what was promised."
Khal Drogo stood up and walked next to Daenerys, placing his hand on her stomach as they exchange looks. Drogo looks at his Dothraki riders and gives the awaited signal.
*SNAP!*
"GEAAH! No!" Viserys screamed. One of Khal Drogo's riders broke Viserys's arm, making him drop his sword as the other physically restrained him. "No! You cannot touch me! I am the dragon! I am the dragon! I want my crown! Ahh!"
The two men force Viserys to the ground, still holding him by his arms. The Khal moves towards them and mutters something in Dothraki. A woman tips over a kettle that was over the fire, pouring out its contents. Drogo throws some golden jewelry into the kettle.
"Look away, khaleesi," Jorah beckons.
Daenerys shook her head. "No," she said.
Khal Drogo looked back in the pot and smirked. Viserys noticed Drogo's smirk and looked back at his sister.
"No. Dany! Dany, tell them, make them!" he begged. "You can't! Dany please!"
For years Daenerys had to put up with her older brother's verbal and physical abuse. Now she had finally had enough and refused to intervene on his behalf this time. In the pot the golden jewelry melted down into liquid. Khal Drogo lifted the kettle up and walked over to the screaming Viserys.
"A crown for a King," Drogo spoke in the Common Tongue.
Khal Drogo raises the kettle over Viserys's head and pours out the melted gold onto his skull. He screams as the hot liquid solidifies on his skull, the two men release Viserys, he instantly falls to the ground dead.
"Khaleesi…" said Jorah.
"He was no dragon," Daenerys said as she gazed upon Viserys's corpse. "Fire cannot kill a dragon."
ooOoo
Daenerys had felt that the shackles keeping her in place were finally broken, but with one loss came another much greater. To raise funds to hire the ships necessary for this endeavor, Drogo leads his khalasar into the lands of Lhazar, the 'lamb-men'. They seize loot and slaves that they can sell. Daenerys is appalled at how the Dothraki treat their prisoners, particularly the women, and wins them better treatment. One of Drogo's own riders, Mago, objected and challenged Khal Drogo to single-combat. Drogo easily won but sustained a chest wound. One of the women Daenerys has saved, Mirri Maz Duur, tends to the injury.
On the way south to the edge of a great wasteland, Khal Drogo's wound festered and he fell from his horse, a grave sign of weakness amongst the Dothraki. Duur continued treating him, but voices her opinion that the Khal's wound is fatal. Daenerys convinced her to employ the use of magic to save her beloved Drogo's life, which the other Dothraki objected to. Ser Jorah Mormonet killed one of Drogo's bloodriders, Ootho, when he tried to intervene but Daenerys is injured in the altercation and went into early labor, forcing Jorah to take Daenerys to Duur for treatment.
The following morning shook her to her very core.
ooOoo
"YOU KNEW WHAT I WAS BUYING AND YOU KNEW THE PRICE!" Daenerys shrieked at Mirri Maz Duur in pain and sorrow.
Upon awakening from her treatment, Daenerys was informed by Jorah and Duur that her son Rhaego was stillborn. Although Drogo was alive but in a vegetative state, the cost of sparing the Khal's life was that of her unborn son through the ritual Duur performed. To Daenerys, the dragon queen felt betrayed.
"It was wrong of the Dothraki to burn my temple," Duur countered. "It angered the Great Shepherd."
Daenerys felt her anger boiling. "This is not God's work! My child was innocent!"
"'Innocent'?" Duur mocked. "How would have been The Stallion Who Mounts The World. Now he will burn no cities. Now his khalasar will trample no nations to dust."
"I spoke up for you! I saved you!"
"Saved me? Three of those riders had already raped me before you saved me, girl. I saw my god's house burn, there where I had healed men and women beyond counting. In the streets I saw piles of heads, the head of the baker who makes my bread, the head of a young boy that I had cured of fever just three moons past. So tell me again exactly what it is you saved?"
"Your life," Daenerys reminded her threateningly.
Duur wasn't moved. "Why don't you take a look at your Khal. Then you will see exactly what life is worth when all the rest are gone."
ooOoo
Daenerys had lost her husband, her son… and most of her khalasar had abandoned her. A few loyal to her stayed at her side. She was visibly distressed and cried at having to force herself to smother Khal Drogo, not wanting to see him in such a vegetative state.
But in the end, Daenerys got her revenge when she built a funeral pyre for Drogo. She placed her three dragon eggs on it and tied Mirri Maz Duur to Drogo's pyre to be burned alive in retribution for taking her husband and son away from her. The family she will never have. Although Duur proclaimed Daenerys will not hear her scream, Daenerys retorted that she will not only hear her scream but also Duur's life taken away.
'I am Daenerys Stormborn of House Targaryen,' Daenerys reminded herself. 'Blood of the old Valyria. I am the Dragon's daughter. And I swear that those who wronged me and harm my people will die screaming.'
Once the fire had cleared overnight and ashes were left, Daenerys emerged from the smoke, covered in shoot and carried three baby dragons in her arms and on her back.
Daenerys looked up and saw her three dragons flying overhead and perching themselves on her shoulders. She named each of them after the three important people in her life, Drogon, Rhaegal and Viserion. Drogon, with its black scales and red markings covering its body, was named after Daenerys's late husband Khal Drogo. He was by far the oldest, largest and by far the most aggressive and fiercely protective of the three. Viserion, with its gold-cream scales and red-orange wings, was named after her older brother Viserys. Rhaegal, with its green and bronze colorings, was named after her eldest brother Prince Rhaegar.
She had sent several of her khalasar to find shelter, but only one returned with an invitation from the great city of Qarth. Daenerys leads her people there and is disappointed at the lukewarm reception she receives.
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At Qarth…
Daenerys didn't like waiting, much less so when she was sure it was a demonstration of power. She paced the hall of the Spice King's home, all but fuming - she'd been there nearly an hour, and Xaro Xhoan Daxos's reassuring platitudes were doing little to lessen her irritation.
"He shouldn't make me wait," she snapped, for the third time.
"The Spice King is the second-wealthiest man in Qarth. He makes everyone wait," Xaro said, patiently. He smirked, adding, "Of course, you could have avoided this embarrassment if you'd married the wealthiest man in Qarth."
And she was getting so very sick of hearing that.
"I already have a husband," she replied evenly.
"Khal Drogo is gone, khaleesi," he said, meeting her eyes. "You are far too young to be a widow forever, and…" his gaze flicked over her, "far too beautiful."
It wasn't that she didn't think of moving on beyond Drogo - in many ways, she had. It was that she refused to prostitute herself to a man who she found, while charming and generous, unappealing.
"And you are far too smart to think that I will succumb to flattery," she replied.
"I've traveled far and long, and met many women," he told her. "And none that are immune to flattery."
A reply flew to her lips, but it was left aside when she heard a voice booming from the upstairs. "The Mother of Dragons! Forgive me," the Spice King said as he descended the stairs with a full entourage. "I had terrible dreams last night. Terrible dreams! I could not sleep until the sun was shining and the birds were singing."
His attention turned to her, a smile curving his lips. "Look what a beauty you are, now that the Red Waste has been washed off you. I am sorry about all that...unpleasantness. But look at you - the silver hair of a true Targaryen! Xaro Xhoan Doxas, she is far too lovely for a glorified dock worker like yourself."
"Very true," Xaro agreed genially, "and yet they say, your grandfather - who sold pepper off the back of a wagon - married a lady far lovelier and higher-born than himself."
"Every lady alive was lovelier and higher-born than my grandfather," the Spice King pointed out, to giggles from his crowd. He frowned a bit. "Did my servants not offer you something to eat? To drink? I'll have them flogged in the square!"
She was very tired of this, already. "Thank you, my lord. You are a gracious host, but there is no servant alive who can bring me what I want."
He smiled at her, all condescension. "Ah, she has a talent for drama, this one. So, my little princess, what is it you want?"
She was not a princess. Not when she was the rightful ruler, and she reminded him of that. "My birthright ― the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros!"
"I fear I'm no better than a servant in this regard," the Spice King said. "I cannot give you what I do not have."
"I'm not asking you for the kingdoms," Dany replied, trying to be patient. This felt like a game of words, though. "I'm asking you for ships. I need to cross the Narrow Sea."
"I need my ships as well. I use them, you see," he said, as though she were a very small child, "to bring spices from one port to another!"
"Whatever you grant me now will be repaid three times over when I retake the Iron Throne," she promised, perhaps hastily.
"Retake?" He frowned. "Did you once sit on the Iron Throne?"
"My Father sat there," she said, internally wanting to hit him. "Before he was murdered."
"But if you did not sit on it yourself," the Spice King said, looking confused, "would it not be correct to say take?"
"I didn't come here to argue grammar," Daenerys said, her temper beginning to flare.
"No," he replied, sounding much less like an indulgent grandfather, "you came to take my ships. So let me explain my position to you, little princess. Unlike you, I do not have exalted ancestors. I make my living by trade, and I judge every trade on its merits. You ask for ships, you say I shall be repaid triple. I do not doubt your honest or your intentions, but before you repay your debts, you must seize the Seven Kingdoms. Do you have an army?"
"Not yet," she said, reluctantly.
"You do not have an army. Do you have powerful allies in Westeros?" he asked, rolling his eyes.
"There are many there that support my claim!" she pointed out.
"When were you there last?"
And there he had her.
"I left when I was a baby."
"So, in truth, you have no allies," the Spice King pointed out.
"The people will rise to fight for their rightful Queen when I return!" she proclaimed.
"Ah." He pointed at her. "Forgive me, little princess, but I cannot make an investment based on wishes and dreams! Now, if you'll pardon me."
"Do you know Illyrio Mopatis, Magistar of Pentos?" she threw out, desperately.
"Yes, we've met. A shrewd man," the Spice King said, approvingly.
"For my wedding, he gave me three petrified dragons' eggs. He believed - the world believed - that the ages had turned them to stone. How many centuries has it been since dragons roamed the skies? But I dreamt that if I carried those eggs into a great fire they would hatch. When I stepped into the fire, my own people thought I was mad. But when the fire burned out, I was unhurt. The Mother of Dragons."
He stared at her, as she regained her breath, almost smiling.
She had hope.
"Do you understand?" she asked, more softly, as she took a step closer. "I'm no ordinary woman. My dreams come true."
He stepped closer as well. "I admire your passion. But in business, I trust in logic, not passion. I'm sorry, little princess."
She'd had enough. "I am not your little princess," she sneered. "I am Daenerys Stormborn of the blood of old Valyria, and I will take what is mine! With fire and blood, I will take it!"
"Yes, my lady," he called, as he walked away. "But not with my ships."
######
The following morning…
"The Spice King refuses me because I'm a bad investment, the Silk King won't support me because of his business with the Lannisters ― why offend his best customers? ― and the Copper King offers me a single ship, on the condition that I lie with him for a night."
Daenerys was at the end of her wits. "Does he think I will whore myself for a boat?"
Though, the line wasn't too far from Xaro, either.
"When I came to this city," he replied, waiting for her tirade to finish as they walked his gardens, "I had nothing. Truly, nothing. I slept by the docks, and when I could find work loading the ships I would eat, and when not, I dreamed of food. Today, I am the richest man in Qarth. Do you think the path from poverty to wealth is always pure and honorable? I have done many things, khaleesi, that a righteous man would condemn. And here I am… with no regrets."
He opened the door for her, and she stepped through to hell.
Her bloodriders - those few who hadn't been with her, and thank the gods, old and new, that Jorah had been out looking for a ship for her by honest means - were slain. Bodies lay across her courtyard, blood streaming from gaping wounds.
She ran. She saw their dead brown eyes staring at nothing, and she ran for her room. How much worse could it be? What horrors awaited her upstairs? Distantly, she heard Xaro say something about closing gates, but her blood was pounding in her ears.
She had been so stupid. It was worse than she could have thought. In her room, prone on her floor, was Irri. Her arms akimbo, her eyes closed - she could have been asleep. Dany's heart broke for her friend, but then…
"Where are they?" Daenerys choked out, her voice breaking as the realization slammed into her. "WHERE ARE MY DRAGONS?!"
Chapter End
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Author's Note: Daenerys Targaryen, Breaker of Chains and Mother of Dragons, has returned after being left out for so long. The next chapter will now foresee the beginning of the Battle of the Blackwater ― one I plan to split into two parts. Thoughts? Let me know.
Shu Ouma GC: Are you adding Dany to the paring?
―Daenerys will have a role to play, but the official paring of this story is Daveth Baratheon x Sansa Stark.
Silver crow: Not going to lie this chapter seemed to be more filler than anything I mean not a single thing was different
I mean it would have been nice if the Spice King mentioned that he did business with the Oathkeeper letting Daenerys know a bit more about the young king
But it was nice getting a little update on Dany anyway looking forward to the next update
―Yeah I can understand how this would seem like a filler. Daenerys hasn't been mentioned quite a bit lately so I felt the need to bring her back into the story; it'll be interesting to listen to what she learns about the Oathkeeper, though.
Moshi: My biggest issue with Dany (especially in the show, oh how I want her get her ass handed to her by the Stark siblings) is her ignorance and her seemingly inability to rectify said ignorance. She'll have no Barristan or Tyrion this time, how will she come across as anything but an antagonist in this story instead of the hero she believes and sees herself to be. Though I would love to see her come face to face with Eddard.
―I think the main issue's been Dany having had to grow up listening to whatever Viserys told her about regarding the events that took place during the rebellion since she wasn't born yet. I'm not going to defend her, but it's all Dany's pretty much had to go on. Now in this story I'll include someone other than Barristan who'll shed some light on what actually happened.