There was a short stop to water the horses. Visenya got off her mare and someone else grabbed the reins to lead the animal to the water. Vis, on the other hand, stood next to Missandei, facing a dozen or so Unsullied officers. Just after leaving Astapor, she asked them to choose from among themselves a leader, in their opinion the best of all, someone suitable for the role. It was obvious that they weren't used to making decisions on their own, but they liked that they could decide for themselves now.
"Gōntan ao iderēptan?" she asked.
*"Did you choose?"*
The line parted, revealing one of the soldiers. He stuck his spear into the sand next to him and removed his helmet before standing in front of Visenya, bowing to her.
"Encores emagon se rigle." he said. Now that he wasn't wearing a helmet, she could see that the Unsullied even had complete control over their facial expressions, it was hard to read any emotions.
*"This man has that honor."*
"Skoros's aōha brōzi?" she asked.
*"What's your name?"*
"Turgon Nudha."
*"Grey Worm"*
Hearing this, she felt a small pang in her heart. She blinked rapidly a few times to hold back any tears.
"Bona's daor nykeā brōzi..."
*"That's not a name..."*
She immediately thought of herself and the name "Maegele" given to her. Tywin Lannister wanted to take control of her personality, change it in every possible way, even through her name. In fact, if it weren't for Selaria, she wouldn't even know that her real name was Visenya. If it weren't for her, she wouldn't even know that her mother had named her that, that she wasn't named after some septa who died of greyscale after caring for children with it.
As a small child, she didn't yet know how important a name could be in life. She realized this over time, and now she proudly bears her name. Everyone should be proud of their name.
"Your Grace, Unsullied are given new names when they are boys, after they cut..." Missandei didn't say it, but they both knew what she meant. "Grey Worm, Red Flea, Black Rat. The names are intended to remind them that they are nothing more than miserable vermin."
It was sad to hear, especially when you had experienced something similar.
"Iksā daor zegh. Iderēbagon real brōzāt, ones kesā sagon prodī hen. Ao se mirre se Dovaogēdy rēje mirre bona shaemī ao se remido ao hen buzdarido." she said in a confident voice.
*"You are not vermin. Choose yourselves true names, ones that you will be proud of. You and all the Unsullied should reject everything that shames you and reminds you of slavery."*
"Brōzi Turgon Nudha tepagon nyke hoskagon se biarves. Se brōzi bisy iksin āzma lēda iksis qrimbrōstan, lēda bisa brōzi bisa issaros iksin gūrogon buzdarido. Se Turgon Nudha iksis brōzi bisa issaros ēdas skori iksin mazilībagon dāez. Bisa issaros jaelagon naejot umbagon lēda bisa brōz." he explained.
*"The name Grey Worm makes me proud and brings luck. The name that this person was born with is cursed, because with this name this person was taken into slavery. And Grey Worm is the name that this person had when was set free. This person wants to keep that name."*
A tear came to her eyes as she listened to him. She understood why he preferred to keep that name, as did the rest of the Unsullied. She thought it would only remind them of bad times, but they remembered it well. They associated it with the day when they finally threw off their chaines and chose their own path.
"Ziry iksos aōha iderenno." she said, smiling softly.
*"It's your choice."*
She didn't see it, but two knights standing next to their horses by the water were watching her. Earlier, they talked about times gone by, about the fights they fought or when they were knighted. Ser Barristan was older than him, and while he was serving in the Kingsguard in King's Landing, they didn't talk much.
This changed a bit when they met long after the war, in Essos. There were still a few things that separated them, but they had a common past and similar experiences. Well, certainly apart from the fact that Ser Barristan was fighting on the Trident and Ser Arthur was defending the secret of the dead prince...
"King Robert always wanted to kill her." Ser Barristan began, looking towards Visenya, who was currently talking to Grey Worm. "She was about ten years old when the king decided to come to Casterly Rock. She didn't know about it and went down to the courtyard. Robert... He went crazy. He rushed towards her, luckily Jaime Lannister stopped him and led her out of the courtyard."
He remembered Jaime, Tywin's son, he was the youngest knight to be made a Kingsguard.
"Shouldn't she be given in the care of her family? Her uncles in Dorne?" he asked, not referring in any way to how Robert attacked her years ago. Although in his mind he began to wonder if there were more situations like this.
"She should. But we all know Tywin Lannister. He wanted to keep her with him, always finding some excuse not to give her back to her family."
Arthur looked at Visenya, who had already finished her conversation and was getting back on her horse. They should do the same, their short stop is over now.
Looking at her, he felt sorry for her. He didn't know her very well, but it was easy to guess that her life might not have been the hardest, but it certainly wasn't pleasant. She never experienced love from her mother or father.
All life alone...
"Do you believe in her? Can she do it?" Ser Barristan asked him, also looking at Visenya.
"Yes." it was a short answer, but it said everything.
She stopped paying attention to the sand settling on her clothes and slightly dulling the dark red color. She was standing on the edge of a rock from which she had a good view of the so-called "Yellow City". Another of the cities of Slaver's Bay, which has recently been bothering her. Moreover, other free cities trading slaves as well.
Ever since she saw the life of slaves in Astapor, she had always thought about they living worse life than she did when she was under Lannister's heel. And now that she had an army behind her, she thought about whether it was possible to change this so that there would no longer be slaves anywhere in the world.
"Do you know how many slaves there are in Yunkai?" she asked, turning slightly to her right to look at Ser Arthur.
"At least two hundred thousand." he replied, also looking towards the city. "But they are not soldiers. Yunkai does not train warriors like Astapor did." looking at her this time and at the expression on her face, he could tell that she was considering whether she could conquer Yunkai or not. "Just because you feel guilty about your aunt's death doesn't mean you have to fulfill her purpose." he added.
She held back a sigh at those words, because there was some truth in them. She will blame herself for this unnecessary death for the rest of her life, nothing will wash away her sense of guilt. However, this wasn't the only thing that determined her current actions. She was guided by her own experiences and feelings.
"All my life in Westeros, I was like those slaves. Except didn't have to worry about even an empty stomach and things like that, but I remember all the feelings." she began, recalling first her life at Casterly Rock, and then the much shorter episode in King's Landing. "The specter of death at the hands of King Robert and punishment for disobedience by Lord Tywin hung over me all the time. And then he wanted to sell me to his son like cattle are sold. He took away my name, and recently he tried to take away my family name." she confessed, looking at the knight. "And these people are going through way worse things." as she said this, with her head she pointed to the city in the distance. "At least two hundred thousand people suffer more in their entire lives than I suffered in seventeen years, so if I can help them, I will. We will stop near the city. And I'd be glad to talk to the Yunkai leaders." she didn't feel so confident about the last thing, but her voice didn't show it.
This city was not only a step towards a better world, but also a huge step towards her becoming a true queen, the one Essos and the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros need.
In King's Landing, Joffrey Baratheon was sitting on the Iron Throne and wanted to talk to his grandfather - his Hand - about the meetings of the Small Council. Of course, he had to express his dissatisfaction with the meetings being held in the Hand's Tower.
But when he heard that it could be arranged for him to be carried up the stairs, he decided to change the subject.
"Tell me about what is happening in the east. About that girl, Visenya, and her dragons."
It's hard to tell whether he used her real name, because that's what was written in the letter and that's what Varys, among others, said, or maybe it was just another manifestation of his ignorance. But for Tywin, every time he heard that damned name, it was a reminder of failure, and it humiliated him.
"Where did you hear about this?" he asked, instead of answering the question.
"Is it true?" surprisingly, Joffrey couldn't be forced to slightly change the topic, but demanded an answer.
"It looks like that." so Tywin replied, but in a not very concerned tone, more like... indifferent.
Joffrey didn't share this calm and indifference. He looked thrilled when he heard it was true - even though he knew that the last dragons were no bigger than dogs, and he remembered Visenya and how he had mocked her at court.
"Don't you think we should do something about it?"
"When I was Hand of your father's predecessor, the skulls of all the Targaryen dragons were in this hall. The skull of the last one was right here." he pointed to a place near the Iron Throne. "It was the size of an apple." he didn't tell Joffrey anything more than what he already knew about the last dragons.
"And the biggest one was the size of a carriage." king replied, his emotions still not leaving him.
"Yes, and the beast it belonged to died three hundred years ago." Tywin replied calmly. "Curiosities from the other side of the world are no threat to us." he emphasized, as when he said at the Small Council meeting that Maegelle was no threat at all.
"How can we know that these dragons are just... curiosities and not beasts that brought the whole world to heel?" Joffrey persisted in arguing that his concerns about Visenya and her dragons were valid.
"We know because many experienced experts serving the kingdom and the king himself have told us so. They have knowledge on topics he has no idea about."
"Nobody informed me!" he almost shouted.
"I'm informing you right now. I will make sure that you are informed about all important matters whenever necessary. Your Grace." he bowed slightly and began to walk out of the throne room, wondering at the same time whether Maegelle really was no threat. Especially when she is advised by two experienced knights.
He didn't know yet that her true character was finally starting to shape in the direction it should have from the beginning.