She changed into clean clothes especially for the meeting, not covered in all that sand. It was a white dress that exposed her shoulders and cleavage. Nothing special, the cut was simple, the material was uniform, but the dress benefited from a silver chain fastened at the waist and finally loose hair that fell in waves on her shoulders and back.
Long before she saw her guest, she heard the drumbeats announcing his arrival. Of course, he arrived under a roof, in a litter, after all, he would not expose his skin to the harsh sun like his slaves who carried the litter, beat the drum or carried some chests.
She looked away from it for a moment to look at Maelia, lying in her lap - although by the way she was slowly getting heavy, like the rest of the dragons. Drogon was sitting on the back of the couch next to Viserion, and Rhaegal was also nearby.
She turned her gaze back to her guest as Missandei began to introduce him, but she continued to lightly pet Viserion.
"This is the noble Razdal mo Eraz, descendant of an ancient family. A ruler and parliamentarian who brings peace." the presented master wanted to get a little too close and then one of the dragons roared at him. "My Lord, you stand before Visenya of House Targaryen, rightful heir to the Iron Throne, Queen of the Andals and the First Men, and Breaker of Chains, Queen of Astapor."
She didn't know when exactly she obtained her last titles, because she had never declared herself the Queen of Astapor or the Breaker of Chains, but if that was how she was presented, then so be it.
"You may approach. Please, sit." she said, pointing to a chair placed at an appropriate distance from her.
"Would you like some wine, my Lord?" when he agreed, Missandei poured wine into a goblet and handed it to him. He drank some of it and set the chalice aside, at the leg of the chair.
"Yunkai is glorious and ancient." he started. "Our Empire was already old when dragons appeared in Valyria. Many armies crashed against our walls, many rulers were defeated. You won't find easy conquest here."
"The end justifies the means, doesn't it?" she replied, although she didn't think so.
"If you want a battle, you will get a battle. But why? The informations of what happened in Astapor has already spread, but the Yunkai people are not vengeful, but forgiving and generous." she raised an eyebrow slightly, watching the man clap his hands and the slaves carried two crates under the tent. "The Wise Lords of Yunkai have a gift for the Mother of Dragons." and when did I gain this title?
After opening the chests, the slaves withdrew and she looked around at the gold inside. Moreover, the chests themselves were probably quite expensive, decorated with a lot of mother-of-pearl.
"There are many more chests waiting on board your ship."
"My ship?" she repeated, a delicate smile creeping onto her lips.
"Yes, Your Grace. As I said, we are a generous people. We will give you as many ships as you need."
They give her gold, ships... She could go home now. As far as she knows, there is still a war in Westeros, the troops of the Lords of the Seven Kingdoms must be tired of the long conflict. If she came back now, she might even have a chance...
But could she really make that decision? Especially since she had just seen more slaves before her eyes, exhausted, exploited, degraded.
"What do you want in return?" she asked, even though she was already determined that she couldn't give up on Yunkai.
"Only one thing: That you make good use of our gifts. Sail back to Westeros, where you belong and where is your throne. And never interfere with Yunkai affairs again."
On the one hand, she could do it. She could accept the offer now, capture King's Landing, and then return here with - perhaps - greater forces. But would such a plan even have a chance of success? If she managed to capture the capital, she would definitely lose a lot of soldiers and ships. Besides, she would have to hold it and subjugate the Lords of Westeros, she couldn't assume that everyone would submit to her without a word. And eventually she would never come back.
The conclusion was obvious: She couldn't agree.
"I could accept that offer." she said, but after a while she continued. "Provided that you free all the slaves, pay them for their years of work, and never put anyone in chains again."
"Are you mad?"
"If you and the Wise Lords fulfill this condition, you will save your lives. Otherwise... The yellow walls of Yunkai will turn red."
"You're confusing Astapor with Yunkai." she raised an eyebrow, listening to his words. "We have powerful friends who will take great pleasure in destroying you. We will turn those who survive into slaves again. Maybe we'll put you in chains too!" he almost shouted, getting up from the chair.
His eagerness quickly cooled and turned to fear when Maelia, who had been lying peacefully on Visenya's lap all this time, suddenly stood up and bared her fangs at him. Even Vis herself was a bit surprised by this, although she didn't show it.
"You promised safety during the talks." he noticed. He tried to act unfazed, but the fear was clear in his eyes.
"Yes, I did." she admitted, placing her hand on the dragon's back, calming it down. "And you started threatening me. Threaten the Mother of Dragons in the presence of her dragons..." she smiled slightly, almost laughing at his - as she perceived it - stupidity.
"Take the gold." he ordered his people.
The slaves moved to take the chests, but when Maelia escaped from Visenya's grasp on one of them and Drogon jumped on the other, in fear they moved even further away than they had been standing before.
"The gold is mine. You gave it to me, and you don't take gifts away, do you? I will use it well, just as you wished. And you pass on my words to other Wise Masters, and you better think about them carefully. You may leave." she finished talking to him, turning around and extending her hand to Rhaegal, who was now sitting on the couch backrest, and he eagerly immediately jumped onto pillow next to her, hugging to her like a child hugs to its mother. She didn't pay attention to what Razdal was mumbling under his breath as he left the tent.
"The Yunkai are a proud people. They will not bow to threats." she looked up at Ser Barristan as he spoke these words.
"So they will bow to the swords." she replied. She hesitated for a moment before asking the question that was on her mind. "He said they have powerful friends... Who did he mean?"
Barristan and Arthur looked at each other.
"We don't know, Your Grace."
"Then find out."
A few days later, she found out who it was - or at least one of those famous "friends". They were mercenaries, Second Sons. She even saw their camp from a distance, in disguise of course, but still.
Of course, mercenaries cannot be trusted, they fight for gold, they don't care about honor.
There were two thousand of them, heavy cavalry. Enough to endanger her. Then she began to consider another option, perhaps returning to the method of solving the matter using what nature had given her - beauty. From what she has noticed, men in Essos are not much different, and maybe even more pushy towards women and less respectful.
And if they had such an attitude, she was sure that the commander of the Second Sons would agree to come and talk to her.
And she was right.
"Your Grace, allow me to present the captains of the Second Sons: Mero of Braavos, Prendahl of Ghezn, and..." Ser Barristan trailed off, the last of the three had to introduce himself.
"Daario Naharis." said the man - quite young for a captain - and simply lowered his head, bowing to her. There was a gentle smile on his lips, perhaps even flirtatious.
She dressed similarly to the meeting with Razdal, except this time her hair was tied up in a bun, leaving her neck exposed, and only two thin strands of hair framed the sides of her face. A single, long necklace flowed down her neckline and ended between her breasts, accenting them.
"Beauty can easily confuse men. You, for example, you are beautiful."
That's what Cersei Lannister once told her. And no matter how much they disliked each other, she believed that Cersei was right with that statement.
"You are the Mother of Dragons? The Silver-Haired Queen?" Mero asked, taking two steps forward. "I could have sworn I fucked you once in a pleasure house in Lys. But maybe I'm mistaken because of the hair..."
"Mind your tongue." even though she agreed with Ser Arthur's words, she didn't say it, she just smiled a little goofily, but it looked good.
She could fake it in front of Jaime, so she should be able to fake it now.
"Why?" Mero replied, walking over and sitting on the couch next to her. "I didn't mind hers. She licked my ass like she was born to do it."
It took a lot for her not to punch him in the face when he sat down next to her. She had to put just as much effort into keeping a smile on her face, even if he was ostentatiously staring at her breasts while making ambiguous tongue movements.
"Bring us the wine, slave." he said to Missandei as his friends also sat in the tent.
"She's not a slave. No one is here, we are all free." she finally said something, nodding to her friend to pour them some wine.
"But you won't be after the battle, unless I save you." oh, how noble of you... "If you sit on my lap and move those hips, maybe I'll give you the Second Sons."
Excuse me?
"Give them to me first." she said, reaching for her goblet standing on the low table next to her. "Then maybe I won't have your hand and tongue cut off." she added, sipping some wine and giving him the look she once was giving Jaime. "Ser Barristan, how many men he has?" she put the goblet back on the table so as not to 'accidentally' splash the wine in Mero's face.
"About two thousand, Your Grace."
"I think I have more... How many?" she asked to add to her image of a stupid girl in their eyes.
"Ten thousand, Your Grace."
"That's five times more." she said, and her smile widened for a moment. "I don't know anything about war or battles, I'm no commander, but I can do a little math. Could you, as someone more experienced in this field, explain to me how you plan to defeat me?"
"I hope the old man fights better than he lies." Daario said unexpectedly, catching her attention. "I counted eight thousand Unsullied, and that's how many you have, Your Grace."
"You must be a good warrior to become a captain at such a young age." she answered him, tilting her head slightly.
"He's not a captain, but a lieutenant." Prendahl spoke for the first time in this conversation.
"Eight thousand is still more than two, isn't it? The numbers are on my side."
"The Second Sons have fought many worse battles and won." Mero didn't lose his confidence.
"They also have fought worse battles and run from them." Ser Arthur pointed out. Visenya still smiled while she shortly looked at him, but it was slightly amused gaze, not falsely kind.
She's really like her father - he thought to himself.
"Wouldn't you rather fight for me?" she asked, reaching out to take Mero's mug of wine and drink from it, then extending it back to him.
"We took the gold from Yunkai, so we fight for Yunkai, beautiful girl." he took the cup from her, keeping his fingers on her hand a bit too long for her liking.
Then he held out his hand to Missandei to pour him some wine, but as soon as she came closer and did so, he leaned over and wanted to smell her crotch through her dress. Visenya was so disgusted by this that no matter what came out of this conversation, this man's fate was already sealed.
"A have a lot of gold too, I can pay you as well."
"We made a contract and we will stick to it. Otherwise, no one will hire the Second Sons again." Prendahl, who seemed least susceptible to her charm, explained.
"You won't have to look for employment anywhere else if you decide to come with me. When I take the throne of Westeros, you will have gold, castles and titles, you will lack nothing in your life. Even women." she added the last words, looking at Mero.
"You have no ships, no siege machines, no cavalry. How are you going to conquer the Seven Kingdoms or even get there?" Daario asked her.
And it was actually a very good question to which she had no answer prepared. To buy ships you need gold, and she doesn't have enough to buy as many ships as she needs. And even if she did, she wouldn't have any gold left for anything else.
As for the other two things... There was still a long way to go for that too.
"If you join me, I'll already have a cavalry. And buying the other two is not a problem." she lied. "Just recently, I had neither an army nor gold. No dragons either, and now I have four of them." she turned back to Mero. "Think about it and give me an answer. You have one day."
"You know what..." He straightened up a little and leaned towards her, then placing his hand on her thigh and squeezing it lightly. "Show me your cunt, I have to see if there's anything worth fighting for."
"Dāria, gaomagon jaelā nyke naejot nektogon hen zȳhon ondos?" Grey Worm asked, and her smile widened slightly.
*"My Queen, do you want me to cut off his hand?"*
"Daor, issa ñuha intrōsi tolī mirre..." she stopped for a moment. "Yn lo ziry sylugon ziry arlī, iksā dāez naejot gaomagon sīr." she finished, looking at Mero, without any sweetness in her eyes or smile.
*"No, he's my guest after all... But if he tries to do that again, you have a free hand."*
"Take a jug of my wine, maybe it will clear your mind a little." she added.
"Should I drink alone? What about my brothers?"
"Then take the whole barrel. Drink to your health."
"Perfect." he finally removed his hand from her thigh, rising from the couch, then his friends also got up from their seats. "The Titan's bastard doesn't drink alone." he's more of a bastard than a titan... - she thought to herself, following him with her eyes as they slowly left the tent. "In the Second Sons we share everything, including women. After the battle, we will be happy to share you."
She almost burst into laughter at these words, but only let out a quiet snort, which was well covered by a smile.
"I'll find you when it's all over." Leaving he said to Missandei and as if it was normal, he slapped her buttocks.
"Ser Arthur..." Visenya began, finally leaning back on the backrest of the couch and crossing her legs. "I don't care if there's a battle or not, I want his head."
She had only spent a few minutes with Mero and she had already grown to hate him. She thought Joffrey was a bad case and he was the one she had problems with because he targeted her for his sick games and she had no one on her side, but this man was just as good as getting on her nerves. He thought of himself as irresistible, who had every woman he wanted... But in reality, only those he paid wanted him.
How dare he touch her like that? How could he shamelessly look at her breasts and try to look closer to see if the neckline of her dress would reveal at least a bit of her breasts? What right did he have to just hit Missandei like that?
She never wanted to see him again. She was disgusted by the way she behaved, trying to win something, and in the end she felt that she had gained nothing by showing off her beauty and pretending to be a stupid girl.
"I'll be happy to give it to you, Your Grace." Ser Arthur replied, glancing at how Visenya held her hand where Mero had grabbed her thigh and crumpled the fabric in her hands as if to get rid of any trace of his hand.
He'll actually be glad to cut off his head when the opportunity arises.