The Hawke and the Dragon 15
Life outside of the great cities of Slaver's Bay had remained largely unchanged with Daenerys Targaryen's conquest. Even as Astapor, and Yunkai, then finally Meereen fell, life ultimately did not change. Slaves were freed to conform to the new overlord's person tastes, and the newly freed slaves began to work for gold or move towards the cities, but all in all, life was lived as though nothing had changed.
One such instance of this was the case of a random goat herder and his son who lived about fifty miles outside of Meereen. They had tended their flock for years, and had watched at the Dragon Queen marched past them without a word. The goat herd never caused trouble, never tried to raise a fuss, and he had a simple enough life that he couldn't actually afford a slave, so he never caught the army's attention even for that.
To be frank, the Goat herd and his son had no reason to suspect that they had attracted the attention of something more powerful than they. Unfortunately, Drogon was hungry, and wasn't in the mood for more fish. No, what the dragon wanted was goats, and so he got himself some goats.
There was a terrible roar and suddenly he was there, claws clamped around one of the herd's goats, and staring at the goat herd. The dragon, at this point about the size he would stay for at least a few years, was the size of a large cottage, and his head was the size of the goatherd's son.
Both humans dared not blink as the massive fire beast looked them both over with a sort of keen, hungry interest. His head slithered from side to side as he took them in with first one eye, and then the other. The son managed not to piss himself at the sight, but the father was not so lucky, and Drogon snorted to himself before roasting the braying goat in his claws and digging in.
The dragon and the two humans stay where they are for more than half an hour as the goat is slowly torn to pieces and devoured. The humans, by the fifteenth minute, had lost most of their fear at the possibility of being eaten, and the son had chalked up his courage to step over to Drogon and pet the dragon.
Drogon, for his part, let the small human indulge his curiosity. After all, being with the presence of a dragon was payment enough for a goat, so touching him should be a more than ample tip.
Soon enough though, the goat was gone, and Drogon gave a satisfied belch. The gout of flame that escaped him with his burp manages to catch a patch of grass on fire and the goatherd and his son quickly retreat. With the small human out of the way, Drogon roars and takes off into the air, off back towards Meereen.
In the city itself, Dany was sitting in her new throne, gazing impassively down at Missandei as she listed the various issues that her new empire was facing. A week into ruling Meereen, Yunkai, and Astapor she was still grasping at straws on learning how to rule. In one afternoon alone, there had been three murders, one riot, and a minor plague that she had needed to figure out how to deal with.
Jorah and Barristan had turned out to not be all that helpful in dealing with matters of state, unfortunately. Her oldest advisor had been a knight before he had become her advisor, and so most of his advice was dealt in absolutes. He was a good soldier and a good man, but he was not one that was built for helping run an empire. Barristan was much the same, having spent most of his adult life acting as a voiceless body guard to kings, he had learnt a few tricks that could help with ruling, but unfortunately those tricks didn't really work for Meereen and the rest of Slaver's Bay.
It was here that Dany was glad that she had Marian, Missandei, and even Daario on her council of advisors. Marian had never been one for governance, but she was the Lady Hawke of House Amell in Kirkwall for seven years, and in all of that time her house had risen to be one of the richest and most influential in town; hence why she never got picked up by Templars, even when she did magic in the open. Missandei, for her part, had been born for politics, and breathing the political atmosphere of Slaver's Bay for most of her life; as a result, she knew how to play the game better than anyone once she was coaxed out of her shell of politeness. Daario was Daario, and he knew how to be Daario.
On the subject of Daario, he was the first order of business to be dealt with on this particular day. The commander of the Second Sons smiled as he entered the throne room and bowed low in greeting, "Your grace."
"Daario Naharis, Commander of the Second Sons," Missandei announces for the sake of formalities, then announces the reason why he is present, "Here before her grace, Daenerys Stormborn of House Targaryen, to make good on payments for services rendered, and advance the contract between her highness and the Second Sons."
"Daario," Dany nods to him slightly, "You and your men have received their gold?"
"Yes, your grace," Daario nods, "And my men are enjoying their recent wealth as we speak. I am here to ask if you have need of the Second Sons for another year?"
"I do," Dany nods, "Would you give me your swords?"
"Our swords are yours," Daario bows low once more
"Then join me as commander of the Second Sons," Dany waves, and Daario nods as he moves up the steps to stand beside the queen's throne beside Grey Worm on her left. He notices a slight movement, and smirks at Marian's thumbs up from her place on her own chair a level down from the queen.
The mage had been surprised when she was told she got her own chair, because she had been under the assumption that everyone always stood around Dany at these formal meetings. Missandei had been quick to inform her that due to her status as a supposed goddess, if she were to be standing, it would start to tear her image apart, so it was better to sit her ass down. The lesser position to Dany indicated her support of the Queen, but the fact that she was the only other person in the room who sat down meant that she was also on equal footing in a different manner.
Moving her thoughts away from why she got to sit in a swanky chair, Marian turned her attention to the newest supplicant before the queen. The man stands nervous, and clearly terrified of being in her presence. As Missandei runs through the introductions again, Marian notices that the man seemed to be trying to gather his courage. When Missandei finished, Dany invited the man to step forward.
When he didn't, Missandei repeated her words in a local dialect rather than Valyrian. The man swallows and takes a few halting steps forward before he starts to speak. Missandei translates his words into common for Marian, and the others, who don't speak nineteen languages, "He says he is a goatherd, and that he prayed for your victory against the slave masters."
Dany furrows her brow, sure that this wasn't all that the man came to speak about, and tells Missandei, "I thank him for his prayers, and ask what he has come to me for?"
Missandei tells the goatherd as much, and the man bows low and starts to speak again. Missandei frowns, then turns to Dany and tells her, "It was your dragons, the black one came upon him, his son, and his flock this morning and ate one of his goats. He is unsure if he should even bring this to you, and asks if he is being praised or punished?"
Marian smacks her face and leans her head back in exasperation at Drogon's antics while Dany merely blinks. The queen thinks quickly and tells Missandei, "Tell him that he is blessed, and that he will be paid the goat's weight in gold for Drogon's meal. Also tell him that anything he produces with the goats of his flock will bear an inherent approval of myself, my dragons, and the Rolling Thunder."
Hearing her new title being said, Marian gives a thumbs up towards the man and smiles at him. The goatherd bows low when Missandei translates the queen's words and his thanks can be understood in any language.
Soon enough he shuffles out of the room, and the queen and her advisors are left alone with their thoughts. After a moment of silence, Marian notes, "I'm going to throw the biggest ball of ice at him…"
"You really think the old tricks will work?" Jorah asks, having seen the size of the dragons as of late, worries over the use of Marian's teaching methods
"Pffff!" Marian waves her hand, "Please! Nothing likes getting hard balls of ice thrown at them! And I happen to be really good at throwing shit."
"What I mean is, do you think that your methods of teaching will stick?" Jorah asks
"Sure! Drogon hasn't eaten anyone yet," Marian shrugs, tossing a conjured ball of air up and down in the air, "eating without paying for a meal is gonna be a new lesson."
"And will he learn it?" Dany asks
Marian gives her a thumbs up, "I'm teaching him in the same way I got taught not to set things on fire, and it worked for me!"
At this, everyone shares looks of worry. After all, they had known Marian for a while, and she liked setting things on fire almost as much as she liked shooting them with lightning.