A Shadow and a Wolf

Daenerys II

DAENERYS II

The people were shouting and raising their hands at them in praise. Daenerys Stormborn had never been so popular as a queen since she freed Meereen from the slavers. The Great Masters now accepted her as their queen, and the former slaves loved her again since she reopened the fighting pits. Everything she got, the peace in the streets, the support of the people, the acknowledgment of the masters, she got it because to the man who sat beside her in the litter.

Her engagement with Hizdahr zo Loraq and the reopening of the fighting pits he suggested had brought back peace and prosperity to Meereen after the attacks perpetrated by the Sons of the Harpy. Ser Barristan Selmy, one of the very few people she trusted, had died in one of these attacks. He had crossed the Narrow Sea and two continents to serve her, and now he was dead. She lost Ser Jorah, and now Ser Barristan, the two only Westerosis she trusted. She had none at her side now. She claimed to be Queen of Westeros, but she had never spent a single day in Westeros and had no one from Westeros to advise her. She could still take the navy of Meereen and sail to for King's Landing with her Unsullied and her Second Sons, but would that be enough? She had no allies there, and no way to know who would fight for her. She had three untamed dragons, one wandering freely, two others chained under the Great Pyramid. She wouldn't, and she couldn't abandon the people she freed from slavery.

She could have decided to slaughter all the masters like Daario had suggested, but she decided against it. That wouldn't stop the Sons of the Harpy. She couldn't fight the Sons of the Harpy inside when there was a threat that the other cities would attack Meereen. She could have chosen to marry Daario Naharis instead, but she didn't. She had to think about her people. A queen belonged to her people, not to herself. If she was the only one who wasn't free in this city, then so be it. That was an acceptable price for the freedom of the hundreds of thousands other people living in Meereen.

The litter stopped before the Great Pit of Daznak where the games would take place. People were still cheering, certainly for her. She had reopened the pits and freed them. Hizdhar was only a consort she was marrying to calm down the former Great Masters.

"Please forgive me, your Grace," her future husband told her as they got out of the litter. "I have several people in my acquaintances to meet before the Great Games begin. If you would allow me."

"You have your leave," Daenerys told him, and he left.

She noticed Daario looking gloomily at the former Great Master as he walked away. She knew he didn't trust him. Perhaps it was mainly jealousy. Daario said he believed Hizdahr zo Loraq was the leader of the Sons of the Harpy. Daenerys didn't believe he was, though she had to admit it was strange all attacks stopped at once after she announced her betrothal. That could be simply because the former masters were happy to see one of them as the future King of Meereen. Daenerys didn't believe Hizdahr zo Loraq was working against her. His advice seemed to work out well for now. She only had to look around her to see it. All the same, Daario's words managed to make her doubt about her future husband. She would keep an eye on him.

They walked inside the Great Pit, she, Daario, Missandei and some of her best Unsullied. Grey Worm wasn't there, still badly injured. He had the chance to survive. Ser Barristan didn't have the same luck. When they entered, a great crowd of about fifty thousand men and women, former slaves and former masters, welcomed them with cheering and clapping. They walked to the platform erected for them and took place. Slaves and masters were all sitting together. Daenerys had forbidden that there would be assigned placed. In fact, the Unsullied made sure all the people were mixed, not allowing a group to occupy for himself one section or another. The Great Games were supposed to unite the people of Meereen together. If they were to be united, it would be as equals, not as masters and slaves.