End of Games

Chapter 18

The Unsullied Pyramid
Missandei's Bedroom
Missandei:

Today is a big day, but I start it like every other. Before I leave my bedroom for breakfast, I spend some time looking out at New Astapor from my bedroom window, and as usual for the last few months, it's a beautiful sight filled with life, but more so this morning. I can see people walking towards the City Square while others make their way to the main city gate and minor gates. I feel their anticipation in the air. I've never felt prouder, and more anxious. If I could, I would skip breakfast, but it's one of the highlights of my day because…

A familiar knock at my bedroom door gains my attention, and I smile.

"Your Alphaship," I greet Boyd with a perfect formal curtsey after opening the door at the same time he greets me with an exaggerated bow and, "My Chief Lady."

We chuckle a little at his bow, but I notice him trying to covertly look at me from my semi-covered feet to my hair. I return the favor, but with more finesse, and like what I see.

"I see why you don't want anyone curtseying or bowing before you," I say through my smile, referring to his bow, and Boyd chuckles some more, to my delight.

"If I can't do it, why should I force other people to do it?" He replies through his chuckle, although he can actually properly bow; he's just saying this because a leader can't bow to anyone. "May I come in, or are you on your way out?"

"You may come in," I step aside and close the door behind him before I walk towards the window with him following. "I was just watching the city."

"I can't believe we did this," he says with disbelief coloring his voice, standing beside me to look at New Astapor. "Especially in nine months."

"You're a great leader," I tell him. "You gave the people reasons to do their best and the morale to go the extra mile."

Boyd looks at me, but I keep looking at the city.

"There's this saying where I come from," he says after a moment, and I look at him. "Behind every great man, there's an even greater woman. But you're not behind me. You've been beside me all this time. When I ordered the assassination of the Good Masters, I didn't think about what would happen afterwards. You helped me fix the mess I made and turn it into this. (He points in the direction of the window, New Astapor.) Thank you, Missandei from the Island of Naath. Thank you."

He looks at me with such earnest eyes that I feel his gratitude.

"You're welcome, Boyd," I reply in kind.

"Vernon," he says, to my confusion. "Vernon Boyd the Third."

My heart skips a beat as I realize, "Vernon is your first name."

"Yes," he confirms that he trusts me enough to tell me his full name. "Boyd is my surname, my House name."

"Ar-are you telling me that you were a child King when you were taken from your home?"

"No," he shakes his head. "I'm from a military family with a tradition of naming firstborn sons after the father."

Oh. He remembers so much of his life before becoming Unsullied, and I'm happy for him. Not many are as fortunate.

"And where I come from, the era of monarchs is long gone."

"Where do you come from?" I've wanted to ask this question for nine months, and even researched the Summer Islands for a place with Boyd and Alpha as a name or House name or title but found none.

"A town called Beacon Hills."

"Beacon Hills?" I've never heard of such a place. "Where is it?"

My question and curiosity saddens Boyd, to my regret.

"In another world and another time," he answers before I can apologize, and before I can process his answer, he adds, "But Naath is just across the Summer Sea, so whenever you want to visit or return to Naath, there's a ship with fully trained and sea tested Unsullied crew and Mossador as captain waiting for you. You arranged for freedpeople who wanted to return to their homes to be returned home safely for the last four months, now is your turn if you want to return home too."

I'm not sure how to feel or what to think about this. I'm shocked, and pleasantly surprised, but I'm also afraid that Boyd doesn't want me here anymore.

"Hey," he says softly, and looks like he wants to touch me but doesn't for the nth time in nine months, to my frustration; why doesn't he touch me already? "You don't have anything to be afraid of. If you want to leave, I'll miss you, a lot, but I'll understand. If I could, I would return home too. Don't worry about being taken again, the shores of Naath have been secured by super-Unsullied for the last three months and all attempted raids since have been stopped with extreme prejudice."

"You would miss me? A lot?" I can't help but focus on this despite everything he said.

I once thought the Unsullied couldn't be shy, but Boyd has defied everything I once thought about the Unsullied.

He avoids my eyes like an ordinary shy boy at my question and rests his hand on his dagger, the telltale of him being uncomfortable, but admits, "Yeah. I would miss you, a lot."

This brings what I'm sure is a bright smile to my face, and I'm glad that he sees it because he looks at me for my reaction.

"I would miss you too," I admit as well, shy myself. "This is why I'm not going anywhere. I'll see Naath again when I visit it with you. But I'm ready for breakfast. The city awaits and we should not keep it waiting for too long. Punctuality is a good virtue for a leader."

I say when instead of if so that he can make plans for the visit, and I'm trying to find an excuse out of talking about it.

"I've learned the importance of patience," Boyd says, to my dismay. "But I've also learned to listen to you, and look where we are because I listened to you. Shall we, my Chief Lady?"

He offers me his arm like our freed formal etiquette tutors from Westeros taught us. I link my arm with his and imagine my bedroom is ours as we walk out like a couple. We find the Unsullied and all the servants standing at attention when we enter the dining room before everyone kneels, to Boyd's surprise, but not mine.

"Your Alphaship," I begin after I reluctantly unlink our arms and kneel before him and hold my position as well. "We kneel before you not because we must, but because we choose to. You gave us the privilege to choose and made it a Right for all. We use this Right to thank you today."

"The Unsullied vow to defend and protect this Right and freedom in your name," my brother Mossador, now the Beta in Command, of the Unsullied, vows on their behalf. "And we vow to not be selfish with your name any longer, the Champion of Battle, the Father of Hosts, Alpha, the Great God of the Unsullied Vernon Boyd the Third. Everyone shall know whose name to praise for their freedom from this day forward."

"From this day forward!" All the Unsullied in the pyramid vow as one with a single tap of the back of their spears.

I didn't expect this when I arranged the surprise. Hearing that the Unsullied view Boyd as their god is quite a shock. I steal a look at Boyd and find him looking as shocked as I feel, but he recovers quickly.

"Thank you, Commander Mossador," he says after a long moment. "And thank you, Chief Missandei, my fellow Unsullied and freedpeople. This, this means more than I can express, but I didn't do any of this alone, we did it together. We took the privileges of the few and made them Rights for all! We took over a slaver city and turned it into the capital of freedom! But I respect your choice and appreciate this surprise. Thank you. Now, rise and let's feast!"

As everyone stands, Boyd offers me his hand with the palm up and I place my own in his and get to my feet. He gives me a look that says he knows I'm behind this, but he escorts me to my seat at the end of the long dinner table across from his seat at the head of the table in silence. A servant pulls out my seat and Boyd gives my hand a little squeeze before letting go and makes the long journey to his seat while I feel the ghost of his touch unfortunately fade from my hand.

I remember what Mossador said about him. Some New Astapori have been convinced that Boyd is an Old Ghis god since he showed the city what he calls his werewolf form, and I heard some suspect this is why the Green Grace and the Temple of the Graces endorse him. This is the first time I find out that the Unsullied see him as their god too. I remember that Mossador called Boyd the Father of Hosts. I wonder if this has something to do with the Unsullied Boyd calls super-Unsullied.

Did he make them super-Unsullied? Is this why they see him as their god?

"A toast to freedom and New Astapor!" Boyd makes a toast.

"To freedom and New Astapor!" We all join in before breakfast commences.
~
City Square
Zhen, A Red Grace:

I didn't know what to think when the Green Grace and the other Graces, even the Purple Grace and the Gold Grace, endorsed the Alpha all those months ago, but the Red Grace encouraged all the Red Graces to obey Her Benevolence Green Grace. We did, and thus none of the Red Graces were ever sent to the Aisle of Lawbreakers, and here we are today. I didn't know what to think then, but I do now. I think the Green Grace proved that we didn't need the old Green Grace's leadership, we needed hers.

She proved the Graces that defied her wrong, and it's unfortunate they can't see how wrong they were. The Plaza of Pride that was once the center of Astapor's slave trade and reeked of unwashed bodies and other disgusting things is now New Astapor's City Square and a giant park that smells of flowers, grass and trees, despite being filled with half the city. And the buildings around it are now collectively called Shopping Square and house not merchant stands but shops with merchants selling fruits, vegetables, animal meat, clothes, jewelry and other goods and even services, but not humans.

There are also restaurants, which are establishments that sell cooked food and flavored water that people can eat there or order as 'takeaway.' There are even hotels, rented rooms, and the completely red ones are reserved for 'adult entertainment' only. Things have radically changed in the past nine months, and for the better, in my opinion, although everything is regulated by strict laws now.

"The Alpha!" We suddenly hear several people yell excitedly from afar. "The Alpha is coming!"

"At last," the Green Grace says as we all look in one direction, but there's excitement in her voice.

We don't see him for several long moments because we're at the center of the City Square, close to the covered giant statue. It takes a while, but noise dies down closer to us before the people begin to kneel when they see him. It isn't long before His Alphaship gets in our line of sight in his god appearance, which consists of vibrant red eyes, black fur on the side of his face, which looks like a dire wolf's with vicious teeth and ears to match, and clawed hands.

The black furred clawed hands hold a vibrant red long spear and shield with a reflective silver center, and his new unique vibrant red Unsullied armor protects his somewhat bent, but muscular, body. He's flanked by his entourage, which includes Beta in Command Mossador and Chief of Staff Missandei, who looks as beautiful as always in a flowing dress that is as vibrant red as His Alphaship's armor. Now that we see him, we kneel as well. I notice when he passes by me that his bare feet are also black furred and clawed.

His entourage kneels before him when they reach the front of the covered statue.

"All hail the Alpha!" Chief Missandei commands after a moment.

"Long live the Alpha!!!" We, the crowd, respond as one as we have for the last eight months.

"Rise to your feet, New Astapori!! " The Alpha commands with a loud and powerful voice that can be clearly heard from several pyramids away—I know this because I was that far last time—and we rise to our feet as he commands. "Nine months ago, we reclaimed our freedom and closed Astapor's gates forever!! And then we all worked very hard together to rebuild Astapor the Slaver City into New Astapor the Free City!! Today, we open New Astapor's gates for the first time and reconnect with the world as free people!!"

The crowd cheers loudly, and so do I, but I'm sure the freedpeople cheer the loudest.

"But free people have names!!" The Alpha continues after we quiet down. "You have names!! But you have known me only by my title, until today!! Commander Mossador, please do the honors!"

Commander Mossador proudly steps forward.

"New Astapori!" He begins with his head held high. "It is my greatest honor and pride to share with you the birth name of our great liberator! He is the Champion of Freedom, the Father of Hosts and the Alpha of the Unsullied and New Astapor; I introduce, Alpha Vernon Boyd the Third!"

As one, all the Unsullied kneel and bow their heads. Who are we to just watch them and do nothing, especially when Chief Missandei follows their lead? We all kneel and bow our heads as well.

"Alpha Boyd," Chief Missandei breaks the silence that follows. "I humbly present a great gift from your people in the form of Your Alphaship's likeness immortalized."

I hear the sound of the giant red cloth that covered the statue being removed, and then a child gasps and shouts for his father to look up. Curious, I raise my head to see a very tall and imposing statue in the Alpha's god likeness from head to toe facing the main city gate, dressed in his Unsullied armor and clawed hands holding the Unsullied long spear and shield with a short sword and a dagger on either side of his waist, head without a helmet to cover his wolf face and the eyes big rubies. But this is only on one side.

Behind the statue stands another of the Alpha's human likeness, holding a very wide shield over both the statues, providing a wide shade. At the base of these two statues sits a wide model of not only New Astapor but the region it has claimed, which is larger than I thought. It includes some of the other side of Free River—formerly Worm River—Free River itself, the Ghiscar region and surprisingly the Isle of Cedars. The whole statue, complete with the Alpha's title and names, is a sight to behold, and I'm certain it's visible from all the city gates. I now know where all the bronze harpy statues and figurines in the city went.

"Long live Alpha Boyd!" Someone in the crowd yells.

"Long live Alpha Boyd!" Another person seconds before this quickly becomes a chant.

Alpha Vernon Boyd the Third hits his shield with his spear three times before he commands, "Rise, New Astapori!! And celebrate New Astapor's first holiday as its gates are opened!!"

Who are we to disobey our Alpha's command? We celebrate, right where we stand, for no one wants to leave the City Square yet because of the new statue.