9 | DAENERYS

The voyage to Volantis was brutal. Sofina and Stefan only had few coins to spare and all it managed to buy them was a broom closet on a ship. It was a tight confinement and when they had finally arrived to Volantis, they felt as if they had been freed from a burdensome slavery.

The two stepped off the dock and stretched out their arms. Their clothes were trashed as they had to borrow some from the people on the ship since all they had before were wildling parkas. "Finally. Freedom." Stefan breathed in the fresh air.

Before long, a woman wearing strange red clothes, who had proclaimed herself a red priestess, was shouting on and on about the breaker of chains. "She's on her way to Merereen to free more slaves. She is the rightful Queen to the Iron Throne and her name is Daenerys Targaryen!" The woman shouted. Her apparent followers rose their hands in the air and shouted an inaudible affirmative chant.

Sofina turned to Stefan with a wide smile. "Looks like we've got to go to Meereen, brother." Sofina told, then walked up to a random local to ask how to get to Meereen.

* * *

When the two arrived in Meereen, it seemed as if Daenerys had already conquered it and freed the slaves. The two were pointed in the direction of the largest pyramid, where Daenerys stayed in. When they arrived in the pyramid, Daenerys sat tall on a throne that rested upon a raised platform to make her appear more threatening and menacing— a necessary quality if one ought to rule.

Sofina and Stefan stood confidently before her and her throne regardless of how intimidated they felt by the guarding Unsullied and Dothraki. "Speak." Daenerys commanded the newcomers who had urgently requested to meet with her.

"Your Highness," Stefan bowed, "we are Stefan and Sofina Challinder. Friends to you and your family."

Daenerys sat up in her chair. "I thought the Challinders were all dead. And Reyanna?" She asked, scanning the twins' faces and finding them accurately depicting the Challinder brand with their raven hair and icy eyes.

"In the North of Westeros. We were hiding north of the wall, with the wildlings, and finally managed to escape. We came to Volantis, to avoid being executed by the new-ruling houses, then we heard you were here in Meereen." Sofina explained.

Daenerys descended from the platform her throne was on to go and engulf the twins in a tight hug. "I'm grateful to have some loyal friends around. I've been feeling a bit estranged with all these new people, and it can be quite... difficult." Daenerys admitted, then broke their hug.

"You are their queen?" Sofina asked.

Daenerys nodded. "Couldn't have done it without my dragons." She noted.

"Dragons?!" Sofina and Stefan spoke in unison. There hadn't been dragons alive in centuries.

* * *

Sofina's jaw dropped at the sight. Three beautiful, colorful dragons flew over the sky, occasionally blocking out the sun. They were enormous and elegant. "They're beautiful." Sofina whispered out in shock.

"They're intimidatingly beautiful." Stefan stared at the sky with wide eyes. They were extremely powerful, not to mention valuable. Anyone could become the richest man alive if they sold just one dragon.

"They've been a bit difficult to manage, I must say, but they are loyal to me. I am their mother, after all." Daenerys told. Sofina hummed in understanding. She could imagine how it could be difficult to control a dragon, let alone three.

* * *

"King Joffrey Baratheon is dead. Murdered at his own wedding." Jorah Mormont, Dany's protector and advisor for her political decisions, announced. Stefan and Sofina joined her advisor's meeting per Daenerys' request, as she believed their experience with wildlings is imperative for her future as Queen of the sandals.

"And we've taken the Meereenese navy, Your Grace." Barristan, another advisor to Dany, told.

"The Second Sons took the Meereenese navy." Daario Naharis corrected Barristan.

"Who told you to take the navy?" Daenerys asked Naharis, there seemed to be some sexual tension between the two. Sofina could tell by how they were looking at one another.

"No one." Naharis spoke blatantly.

"So why did you do it?" Dany growled at the man.

"I heard you liked ships." Naharis shrugged his shoulders.

"How many ships?" Dany asked.

"93, Your Grace."
"How many men can they carry?"
"9,300. Not counting sailors."
"Would that be enough to take King's Landing?"

Barristan and Dany went back and forth until Stefan butted in. "No. The Lannisters have more. And their people fight for them out of fear, so they'll keep sending every person they have until your army has been defeated." Stefan informed.

"The Lannisters have been fighting Joffrey's wars for years. They're tired, dispersed. And now their king is dead. 8,000 Unsullied, 2,000 Second Sons, sailing in Blackwater Bay and storming the gates without warning." Barristan argued.

"We need more ships. It's easy to fight defensively. The Lannisters have an advantage. And they'll have a new king, a better and kinder one at that— Tommen." Stefan disputed the issue.

"We're not fighting to make you queen of King's Landing. 10,000 men can't conquer Westeros." Jorah noted.

"The old houses will flock to our queen when she crosses the Narrow Sea." Barristan stated.

"The old houses will flock to whichever side they think will win, as they always have." Jorah told.

"But, Daenerys isn't trying to conquer the people, no? She's trying to win their trust. If you tear through Westeros with your foreign army, they'll never trust her. Let alone, they'll be no one left for her to rule. What's a Monarch without subjects?" Stefan scoffed.

Jorah waved the topic off. "There's other news. From Yunkai. Without the Unsullied to enforce your rule, the Wise Masters have retaken control of the city. They've reenslaved the freedmen who stayed behind and sworn to take revenge against you. And in Astapor, the council you installed to rule over the city has been overthrown by a butcher named Cleon who's declared himself 'His Imperial Majesty." Jorah relayed the news to Daenerys.

"Please leave me." Daenerys ordered everyone out of her quarters, where the meeting was taking place.

* * *

In their own room, Stefan and Sofina lounged about on the silky beds and chairs. "She can't rule. She can't control her dragons. She can't even control the other cities she's conquered. How is she supposed to rule Seven Kingdoms? Father was right. The Targaryens can't rule. They've never been able to rule. They've always needed their right hands to tell them what to do and what to say. And look where we are now, the classic Challinder advisor seat on a Targaryen table." Sofina snickered.

"She's young, and she's never even seen anyone rule up close before. She's learning still, Sofie." Stefan cut her off. Sofina found this odd as, for all of his life, Stefan has always claimed that the Challinders were the rightful heir to the throne not because of bloodline, but because they've always done all the work for the Targaryens during their reigns.

* * *

The next day, Daenerys was asked by a peasant to meet him to hear his grievances as her subject. "You stand before Daenerys Stormborn, of the House Targaryen, the First of Her Name, Queen of Meereen, Queen of the sandals and the First Men, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, Breaker of Chains and Mother of Dragons." Missandei, Dany's translator, told the peasant in ancient Valyrian.

"Don't be afraid, my friend." Daenerys assured the man who had his head down and cradled a blanket to his chest.

"The Queen says you may approach and speak." Missandei clarified to the peasant, who's head still hung low and weary.

The man slowly and hesitantly approached the throne. He spoke to Missandei, who then translated to Dany: "He is a goatherd. He says he prayed for your victory against the slave masters."

"I thank him for his prayers." Daenerys spoke confidently. Missandei translated her words for the man.

The man then laid the blanket he was cradling on the floor and began to unwrap whatever was inside. It was the burnt skeleton of a goat. He spoke to Missandei in his native tongue once again, then she proceeded to do her job: "It was your dragons, he says. They came this morning for his flock."

Daenerys shifted uncomfortably in her seat, knowing she had no way to control her dragons. The man spoke again. "He hopes he has not offended Your Grace, but now he has nothing." Missandei translated.

"Tell this man I am sorry for his hardship. I cannot bring back his goats, but I will see he is paid their value three times over." Daenerys spoke and Missandei translated, of course.

The man thanked Daenerys, gratefully, and exited the pyramid. "Dany," Sofina spoke up after the exchange, catching Daenerys by surprise— only her brother had ever called her by that nickname—, "you mustn't take this situation lightly. Your dragons may have only harmed goats this time, but next time, it could be worse. Their next prey could be children. And no longer will the people find you their merciful Queen. They'll see you either as cruel or as a ruler who can't control her own children." Daenerys rose her hand to stop Sofina from speaking anymore.

She ignored the girl and nodded at Missandei. "Send the next one in." Dany simply stated.

Then, two more men entered the pyramid. One of the men began to speak: "The noble Hizdar zo Loraq begs an audience with the Queen." He told. He seemed to the other's communicator.

"The Noble Hizdar zo Loraq can speak to me himself." Daenerys responded.

The communicator stepped away and the other man stepped up to the throne. "Queen Daenerys. Tales of your beauty were not exaggerated." Hizdar complimented.

"I thank you." Dany smiled small at him.

"Mine is one of the oldest and proudest families in Meereen." Hizdar noted.

"Then it is my honor to receive you." She showed her respects.

"My father, one of Meereen's most respected and beloved citizens, oversaw the restoration and maintenance of its greatest landmarks. This pyramid included." Hizdar mentioned, boasting about his father.

"For that, he has my gratitude. I should be honored to meet him." Daenerys falsely thanks.

"You have, Your Grace. You crucified him. I pray you'll never live to see a member of your family treated so cruelly." Hizdar huffed.

"Your father crucified innocent children." Daenerys growled at the man.

"My father spoke out against crucifying those children. He decried it, as a criminal act, but was overruled. Is it justice to answer one crime with another?" He spat back.

"I am sorry you no longer have a father, but—" Daenerys was about to fire up the argument even more when Stefan interrupted, who had been sitting behind her, silently watching her interactions.

"—but if you have no grievances to report, you are in the wrong place, sir." Stefan stood up to face the man.

"I wish not to see Meereen's traditions eradicated. The tradition of funeral rite. Proper burial in the Temple of the Graces. My father and 162 noble Meereenese are still nailed to those posts, carrion for vultures, rotting in the sun," Hizdar then hesitantly took to his knees, "Your Grace, I ask that you order these men taken down so that they might receive proper burials."

"Bury your father. Not the others." Daenerys told sternly.

"Thank you, my Queen." Hizdar spoke then hurried away.

"How many more?" Daenerys asked Missandei.

"There are 212 supplicants waiting, Your Grace." Missandei informed.

"212?... Send the next one in." Daenerys sighed.