133

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118 AC

Volantis

Daeron Nymeros Martell

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"What is all of this?" Rhaenyra enters the storage room I am looking around in and I turn toward her with a smile on my face.

"Odds and ends... mostly magic artifacts that have been pulled out from behind the black walls." Rhaenyra nods and looks around as she approaches me with a rolled-up parchment in her left hand. "I take it you read over the rough draft we plan to send to Braavos?" I recognize the page even from a distance and Rhaenyra stops in place for a moment as she looks at one of the shelfs that holds a large green mask with four eye holes.

"I did... I don't see why we plan to offer Braavos a chance to be a 'City State', the rest of the Free Cities we have taken have Lords or Princes over them. They already have the Sea Lord position and we could demand that whenever a new one is elected they come to bend the knee before the Iron Throne and that would solve the matter." I purse my lips as she turns her attention back toward me.

Mainly because I don't want to deal with Faceless Assassins anytime soon, and the longer we can 'negotiate' with Braavos the less likely the current Sea Lord is to send the House of Black and White after us.

But she already knows this.

"They won't bend to Dragonlords anytime soon, not without a bloodbath at least." She raises a brow and I know what she is thinking before she opens her mouth to respond. "Qohor and Norvos are different, they are debatably the weakest, not counting Lorath, of the Free Cities and also the easiest to capture with our armies and dragons already being downriver from them. Braavos is obviously the most powerful after we have taken Volantis and they will feel the pressure with us taking Norvos and Qohor, we have to do something with them." She hums and shifts her gaze toward another shelf.

"I understand that already, I just don't like how you want to go about it... it feels like Braavos is getting a special deal that we would never offer to any of the other Free Cities." I slowly close the gap between myself and my Wife as she reaches out and grabs a Glass Candle.

"Careful, those things are sharp." I quickly warn her as she grabs ahold of the ancient Valyrian Cell Phone.

At least that is what I see it as, it can 'call' other Glass Candles and can even spy on lands far away like Google Maps.

I want to figure out if we can get a few working, it would be greatly beneficial to my future plans.

"That is one of those candles I talked with you about, the ones that might could replace ravens and would help weaken the Maester Order." Rhaenyra nods in understanding before placing the Glass Candle back down and turns to look up at me as I wrap an arm around her back.

"Why the special treatment for Braavos?" I roll my eyes as she offers the parchment to me.

"I have no idea how many Faceless Men there are, or if they have other 'safe houses' scattered around the world. If I could just fly in and burn down the House of Black and White to be rid of them, I would have done it already to catch them by surprise. We can only prepare for them so much, they are a tricky bunch to deal with." She paces her forehead against my shoulder and nods with a light hum.

"They are the biggest threat in Essos if we ignore Old Valyria, I understand that... but I fear how the other Free Cities will react in time after the dust settles and they see how Braavos got a better deal." I run my hand up her back and she wraps her own arms around me giving me a light squeeze. "I doubt anything would or even could be done in our lifetimes... but in Aegons reign or even his Heirs reign?" She lifts her head and I kiss her forehead which she chuckles at before kissing my jaw. "I don't want to leave any future problems for our children or grandchildren or even our great-grandchildren, and I get a bad feeling when I think about Braavos being a City State." I purse my lips and nod while thinking about all that remains to be achieved before this is even a major concern.

"Let's take Norvos and Qohor, maybe offer Lorath a deal to bend the knee, and then we will bring up Braavos again and talk about it once more." Rhaenyra nods and I set aside my own concerns for now regarding the Bastard Daughter of Old Valyria.

She can wait awhile longer, we are not outwardly hostile with Braavos, and neither have they been with us, the current Sea Lord is still friendly... for now.

But maybe I have been overthinking things anyway, we are getting rid of slavery and that might endear us to the Braavosi. They might be willing to bend the knee once they realize the other Free Cities have been brought under the Targaryen banner and slavery has been done away with. If not we could just passively strangle them by cutting off trade to them... then there would be too many people involved to send a few Faceless Men, it would be something hundreds if not thousands of traders would need to be involved in.

"Alright." Rhaenyra agrees after a moment of silence. "We need to go see off Daemon, Laena, and Rhaenys... they are leaving soon." I purse my lips and gaze once more around the storage room.

I will just come back by later, I wanted to see if I could find anything interesting that has been dug up from the destruction.

So far nothing has caught my eye beyond some ancient records from Old Valyria that I need to read through.

----

I can't help but feel a bit off seeing three of our dragons flying off and knowing that I won't see them for at least three or four days. The big old green grandma will easily handle the Dothraki Horde, The Blood Wyrm and The Red Queen are only going to give morale support and maybe a bit of assistance. 

In all honesty, Vhagar solos most of Essos.

It's not even close if I am being honest.

She is a menace.

I am confident when I state that she enjoys burning things down.

"I wonder if Balerion was like Vhagar." I muse aloud which earns me an odd look from my Brother. "Vhagar has been happy since we torched this city... and I feel like she seemed a bit impatient to fly off just now." Lewyn raises a brow before shifting his gaze off toward the horizon where three dragons can be seen shrinking into the distance.

"Hmm... now that you mention it." Lewyn frowns and I snort in amusement. "She does seem a bit different from what I remember when she stayed on Bloodstone those few months when my Wife came to stay with me." Lewyn shakes his head with a huff. "If you want to know what Balerion was like, you only need to look toward your son's dragon... The Black Dread lives again in your Sons mount." I feel a smile form on my face as my Brother chuckles lightly.

He's not wrong.

Balerion, my Aegons Balerion, is growing rapidly compared to the other young dragons and does whatever pleases its fiery heart.

Like shitting on top of random castles in the Reach for some reason.

The fucker flew off for a few months and we got ravens from a third of the Reach houses, complaining about the black beast tormenting them in its random adventures.

"Let's go find something to drink, I am getting impatient waiting to hear back from Laenor." Lewyn sighs and throws an arm around my shoulders and I shake my head in exasperation.

Subtly I meet my wife's eyes and she snorts in amusement but does not come to my rescue, instead waves the both of us off like servants as she turns her attention back to her dragon who she was petting.

Seeing I am getting no help I sigh and throw my own arm around my brother's shoulders. "Fine, let's go and find something good though, the piss water they drink in this city with those fine spices is not to my taste." Lewyn agrees eagerly and starts humming a tune as he leads us along.

Tossing one last look over my shoulder, I spot the three small dots flying away and know that the Dothraki are about to have a very bad day.

Soon Laenor will return, however, with an accurate location for the Unsullied, and then they will also have a bad day when we fly out to meet them as well.

I just hope we will be able to make peace with them and have them join our side.

There is little hope for the Dothraki, their culture is rooted in conquest and domination and I personally don't see them changing any time soon. Maybe a 'Stallion who mounts the world' could lead them into a better future as a cultural icon if the chosen one managed to actually live up to their name. But as things stand, the Dothraki are just a plague that is best burnt out of the Grass Sea so normal people can move into it. Those lands are almost as fertile as the Read in some places and also as bountiful in precious metals as the Westerlands in others.

I want them... it will take decades of consolidating Targaryen rule in the lands already taken to have the security to do what I want with them. But I am fully confident within my lifetime the Grass Sea will have early resettlements in the most prime locations.

The Unsullied are a different matter from that though, they are broken men who have been forged into weapons. I would be happy even if only half of them remain after we deal with those who purchased them. They along with the Tiger Cloaks will be the ones to hold the three Free Cities Volantis, Qohor, and Norvos. We will obviously settle some Westerosi men into those cities, but most will want to go home.

The young and ambitious or just plain poor folk will likely be the bulk of those who stay behind to help keep order in the newly conquered lands. They will be paid for their service in both coin and small stretches of land to start their own little families in and will help produce food and pay back taxes in time.

The key part there is starting families.

The more Westerosi we can bring over and have bred into the Essosi population the better.

They will instill their values into their children, values such as no slavery, and serve their Lords who will serve House Targaryen.

"So much work to be done... and we haven't even finished the conquest." I sigh and my Brother pats my shoulder as he smirks lightly.

"This is why I am glad I am the Second Son, you always seem stressed out and busy." I sling my free hand that is not on his opposite shoulder and smack his unguarded belly. "Ah!" He doubles over and grunts while I let go of his shoulder and slide out of his grasp upon my own shoulder.

"Come on Second Son, the First Born is thirsty." I hear an annoyed noise escape Lewyn before he spits on the ground and rapidly approaches behind me urging me to pick up my pace into a light jog.

I find my earlier concerns and stress are washed away while I try and quickly escape from whatever Lewyn has planned in retaliation.

Turning I smirk at him from over my shoulder before breaking out into a run as he lunges forward.

Today might actually be a good day.