Born in Flames || Game of Thrones

Chapter XXIV ''The burden of decision''

She may have been under a lot of stress lately, but this time it was different. Not so much as she was afraid that someone would attack her after what happened right after the execution, but she was... Sad, devastated. She hoped that she could bring justice to this city, teach what it is, but she failed. At first she wanted to run away, but she quickly pulled herself together enough to realize that she couldn't give up. If she gives up on Meereen now, she might as well not go to Westeros, because an even worse problems await her there.

She couldn't sit still. Her friends were with her in her chambers, they were all silent, it seemed that they themselves had not expected such a reaction from the crowd.
She wanted to bring two social groups closer together, but she divided them even further.

"Don't worry, Your Grace. We'll all keep watch tonight, no one will come in here." Ser Barristan assured her. She continued to pace around her chambers, clasping her hands in front of her and curling her fingers, an obvious sign that she was stressed.

"Not even a mouse can slip through without our knowledge. If there are any mice here at all." Daario said, standing in front of her and gently grabbing the sides of her arms so that she would finally stop wandering around the room.

She wasn't afraid that someone would attack her. People are intelligent enough not to try to attack the pyramid, although... Who knows, maybe they will soon decide to rebel against her, since they have already started throwing stones and knives at her.

As for that knife... Daario took it, it looked just like the one found with that Son of the Harpy. It became obvious that she was ultimately the one they were hunting.
Or they want to scare her, that was the second option.

"Leave, come back later." she replied, gently removing his hands from her shoulders and forcing a small smile. She doesn't want to sleep alone tonight, that's for sure. If she manages to fall asleep at all tonight, it will definitely be in someone's arms. "Everyone leave, leave me alone." she added, but she gave ser Arthur a look that meant she wanted to talk to him privately.

Ser Barristan, Missandei, Grey Worm and Daario left the room, leaving them alone.

"Have I made a mistake?" she asked directly, pulling chair away from the table and sitting on it. She pulled up her dress slightly to see the bruise they had caused on her thigh with that stone.

"It depends on point of view." he replied, walking up and stopping only at the table where she was sitting. "If you wanted to be a queen loved by everyone, then yes. It was known that the people of Meereen would react badly to such a public execution and will not forget it for a long time." she lowered her dress and sighed quietly, lowering her eyes resignedly. "But if you care more about being fair than blindly loved, then it was a good decision."

"Someone once told me that being loved and being a ruler for a long time do not go hand in hand, that people can only be controlled by fear."

She had heard this once, surprisingly, from Tywin Lannister when he came to her history lesson with the new teacher.
This was shortly after she tricked Jaime into murdering the septa. After the punishment she received for this, she was scared as hell, she didn't even think about ever disobeying again and politely learned what she was told - with a small exception: she did not abandon her learning of Valyrian and reading books alone in the evenings.

Lord Tywin himself came to them for one of their lessons about rulers. He soon sent the teacher away and taught her that day himself, adding his opinions to the individual kings. Among other things, they died quickly or were used because they were too kind. He did not fully approve of the techniques of, for example, Maegor the Cruel, but he admitted that people could only be ruled by fear.