A/N: Just as a quick background note for anyone who might not know, there is a quest in Skyrim to clear Redbelly Mine of giant frostbite spiders. That will be nice to know once you keep reading. Also, for anyone who doesn't know, there's a Dwemer Museum in Markarth. As always, many thanks to my beta reader (and sister) GrowlingPeanut.

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Bethesda and GRRM except for Dar'Jazha.

Rating: T for minor language.

"Welcome to Shor's Stone, my lady." Drogo gestured to the town on the top of the hill as they rode over and Daenerys sat up slightly in her saddle to get a better view.

"Is it a caravan trading post?" She looked genuinely interested in his answer and he smiled, shaking his head. "No, a mining town. But it serves as a trading post of sorts. We're paid in goods for every piece of ore we mine."

"Could I help in the mines?" Dany looked at him with an eager smile and Drogo laughed loudly, smiling when his wife looked down in embarrassment and blushed.

"I'm sorry, Dany, I didn't mean any offense. If you'd like to learn to mine, I can teach you, but it's not exactly a job for a lady."

"No," she said quietly. "It's the job of a lady to be married off for her family's political gain and to give heirs to her lord husband." Her eyes met his and kept his gaze. "I've already fulfilled the first, so once I give you sons, who's to say I shouldn't find another use?" She turned forward again and rode just ahead of him, adding over her shoulder. "If I'm to be a queen, I need to be more than just a lady."

Drogo smiled, watching as she trotted into the town. When he met her that afternoon in the market, he had wondered what she was truly like, underneath the timid exterior that her abusive brother had so carefully cultivated. He was finding that he quite liked the woman that Daenerys Targaryen was discovering herself to be. Perhaps their marriage would grow to become something more than just a political maneuver in the end.

"Filnjar?" The caravan followed ploddingly along behind Drogo as he rode into the settlement and then swung down off his horse to meet the Nord who had just emerged at the sound of his name.

"Khal Drogo!" The older man smiled and shook his hand. "So the savior of Shor's Stone returns. Here to make good on our favor for you?"

"No. I've told you that the gold you gave us was more than enough payment. We're just here to mine on our way up to Markarth if you have the work and the goods for us."

Filnjar nodded. "For you and your men, we have both." Looking over at Dany where she had managed to get herself down off of her horse to stand beside Drogo, he smiled and raised his eyebrows. "And who might this little lady be?"

"Daenerys Targaryen," Drogo responded. "My wife. We were just married one day past."

"Targaryen, eh? The Jarl's sister then. And newly married..." The older man had a suggestive twinkle in his eye that made Dany blush. "It's about time you found yourself a wife," Filnjar teased. "Are you finally going to settle down?"

Drogo shrugged. "I suppose it's a possibility. She was a...gift...from the Jarl for my caravan's support."

"So that's why you won't take my repayment?" The mine owner looked at Daenerys and smiled. "It would be hard to beat what your brother had to offer."

Dany smiled and nodded, though Drogo noticed that the gesture didn't reach her eyes. He turned away and yelled over his shoulder to save his wife from further discomfort. "Dar'Jazha!"

The Khajiit wandered over a moment later and cocked his head to the side. "My Khal?"

"Gather five of our strongest men to work with me in the mines, assign some of the women to set up camp outside town for the families and then take a few people you trust to look through the goods Filnjar has to offer. You know what it is that we're looking for."

Dar'Jazha nodded and gave a shallow bow. "As the Khal commands."

As Filnjar retreated to his home with the men Dar'Jazha waved over, Drogo turned to Daenerys and gestured toward the mine. "Do you still want to learn?"

Smiling, she nodded. "Yes, please. If you don't mind." He smiled back and nodded, leading the way to Redbelly Mine.

"Have you ever done any sort of manual labor before?"

He could hear the quiet hesitation in her voice when she responded and looked back to meet her gaze. "I...no. We always had servants..."

Drogo gave her a smile to show that he wasn't repulsed by the life of luxury she had lived and opened the door to the mine before gesturing her through. "It's never too late to change."

Dany gave him an unreadable expression and looked about ready to say something before changing her mind and walking into the small mine, coughing into her sleeve when she accidentally inhaled a lungful of dust.

"Is it always so...awful down here?" she gasped, looking up at him with eyes wide in horror. "It's so dark and...the bridge..." Stepping carefully with one foot onto the wooden bridge that led to the other side, she drew it back when the old wood creaked and swayed. "The dust..."

Drogo nodded. "Mining is a dangerous profession, my lady. Of course...this mine is one of the better ones."

"There are worse?"

"Oh, yes. Cidhna Mine is the worst of course."

"How much worse could it be?" Daenerys asked almost hesitantly as Drogo grabbed a pickaxe and carefully helped his wife over the bridge to the vein of ebony ore on the other side.

"Well, it's not only a mine, but a prison. It's rumoured that escape is impossible and as far as its history goes, that has proved true."

"Who's there that requires such security?"

"Madanach."

Dany frowned and looked up at him as he pushed back his sleeves and struck the rock with his pickaxe, clearing it away from the ore with a puff of dust that sent Daenerys stumbling backwards.

"Who?"

Drogo paused briefly in his work and raised his eyebrows. "You don't know who Madanach is? Is your brother a supporter of the Legion?"

"He hasn't sided with either army. Is the prisoner an Imperial soldier?"

"No. He's the 'King in Rags'. He led the Forsworn, his people, your people, in the rebellion that Ulfric Stormcloak ended. Madanach was confined to the hell of Cidhna Mine after his capture and he's remained there ever since."

"My people?" She sounded surprised and Drogo frowned. How was it that he knew more about the fate of Skyrim's Breton population than she did? Her brother must have kept her ignorant.

"Do you know nothing of the Forsworn?" He carefully removed a chunk of ebony ore from the rock and set it down before returning to work.

"Not much," Daenerys admitted, picking up the ebony and brushing off the dust with the sleeve of her blouse to inspect the dark stone. "The Reach is so far from home and..." She trailed off and added quietly. "I suppose it would be close to my real home, wouldn't it?"

Drogo nodded and picked lightly at a stubborn chunk of rock. "It's next to High Rock, yes. But far from Riften. So you know that the Forsworn are from the Reach."

"Yes. And I know that they're savages."

"If you talk to the right people, yes, though savagery is a matter of perspective. If you talk to some, Ulfric Stormcloak is a savage man, and yet, he has the support of nearly all the Nords in Skyrim. The Forsworn are your people not only in race, but because of what they've been through. They were first driven from their home in High Rock and then from the Reach even though they were there before the Nords who drove them out."

"It sounds like you support their cause," Dany commented as she followed him to the next vein, carrying the already mined ore in her arms.

"When you're in the business of trade, you learn not to pick sides. I simply know what happened; you can decide for yourself which side you believe. Now, do you wish to learn to mine or did you just follow me to hear me talk?"

Daenerys flushed slightly and put down the ebony ore to step forward. "I'd like to learn if you'll teach me." Drogo smiled. "Of course. Now, you stand here, yes, just like that, and..." He angled her slightly and handed her his pickaxe, supporting her thin arms as she struggled to raise it. "And then just...strike it with the pickaxe to get to the ore inside the vein."

"Like this?" she asked eagerly as she tapped at the rock wall with his assistance. Drogo laughed. "Yes, though you can hit it a little harder." The proud grin he received could have served as more than enough payment for his work, though he knew his caravan would disagree.

Once they had managed to add one more piece of ore to their collection, Drogo gently took the pickaxe away from her and steered her toward the exit, smiling when she glanced back over her shoulder with a frown. "Isn't there more to mine?"

"Yes, but I have other men working. By the time I've surveyed the goods Dar'Jazha has selected, they should be done." Nodding, she followed him willingly out the door back into the small town and politely excused herself before heading off toward the camp that had been settled nearby.

"Did he offer anything of value?" Drogo asked as his second-in-command walked over with a small cart of goods.

Dar'Jazha shrugged slightly and stopped in front of the large Redguard man, pulling the top item out of the cart. "A bear pelt always sells for more than we pay to get them, and with winter coming...Dar'Jazha believes this could earn us a fair profit, yes?"

Drogo nodded in approval. "Yes. Good thinking. What else?"

"Two tusks from a mammoth. Khajiit did not ask where they were from...but should they have been poached by our supplier, it will not track back to us. Also, a set of leather armor crafted by Filnjar. Valued at about one hundred and twenty-five septims, but in times of war, it will go for higher, yes."

"Indeed. Anything else?"

"Yes, my Khal. This silver and amethyst circlet...it would be worth much for a lady, Dar'Jazha thinks. Or for a man who wishes to purchase for a lady."

Drogo picked up the light circlet and absentmindedly turned it in his hands. Daenerys might like this... He kept it in his hand and nodded curtly. "I will take this. Tell Filnjar to count it as his repayment to me for clearing the Frostbite Spiders out of the mine." When his partner nodded, he added, "Is that all?" Although it wasn't much, Dar'Jazha had selected the goods well and they would be able to make a sizable profit off of them if they sold them to the right people.

"Only this more," the Khajiit replied, pulling a relatively ornate, but common bowl from the cart and offering it to the caravan master.

Drogo blinked. "A bowl? Why would we need a bowl?"

Dar'Jazha frowned and flicked his tail as his ears went back. "You told Dar'Jazha that in Markarth they pay great amounts for such items. Bowls, plates, bits of metal...that they were highly valued in that city, yes?"

Sighing, Drogo shook his head and handed it back. "I said Dwemer bowls and plates, Dar'Jazha. There are collectors of Dwemer artifacts in the city who would pay a good deal for Dwemer pottery. Nobody in Skyrim will pay us well for a common bowl."

The peddler huffed and whipped his tail back and forth in annoyance. "Dar'Jazha simply misunderstood. He will take this back to the smith and exchange it for...another piece of armor, perhaps?"

Drogo shrugged, smiling wryly at his partner's irritation. "Whatever he has of the same value that will actually be worth something." Adding the ore he and Daenerys had mined to the cart, he glanced over his shoulder to see another one of the workers descending from the mine and looked back toward the Khajiit as he stood waiting impatiently for additional orders. "Take the ore to Filnjar and ask him what it's worth, then make up any difference in what you have there with anything else he may have to offer us."

Dar'Jazha nodded, bowed, and offered a customary, "Yes, my Khal." He left with the cart of the goods as Drogo looked down at the circlet in his hands.

It's nothing fit for a queen, but...it is a start.