78
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198 AC
Volantis
Aerion Targaryen
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"It's quite simple, you only need to spread out wide like a blanket in preparation for what I plan to do." Sitting in a casual room with no decorations in the bowels of the largest 'church' in this world I check for any visual reactions from those in the room.
"...in Essos?" One of the red priests speaks up with a slightly amused and confused voice which I nod at with a small smile.
"Yes, I am asking that over the next few years, you send out priests and spread the good word of R'hllor... or whatever you do to convert people." I try my best to avoid the fiery look digging into me from a red-haired woman in the corner of the room. "I am even going to finance the whole thing, gold will be arriving in a few months as a charitable donation from an unknown source." I thought these fuckers would be a whole lot more excited about this, but they just seem lost.
Maybe the old Red God did not show them anything about this... which could mean he either does not support the idea or he simply can't. I have no idea which it is but I sure hope whatever I am doing is not going to buff up the Night King in some planetary balance of power or some shit.
"We already preach the word of R'hllor all over Essos, from Braavos to Yin we spread the word of the Lord of Light." The High priest leans forward and looks between me and my Wife.
I eye my Wife and she seems a bit annoyed with how long this is taking, that and she is off-put by Melisandre... I don't think she knew how old Melisandre was.
"Alright let's just cut straight to the point since I do not see this meeting getting where I want it to without you understanding what is going on." Sitting up in the old wooden seat I hear it creak as I cross my arms and double check that everyone here is paying attention to me. "I am going to conquer Essos and there is nothing anyone can do to stop me, it's that simple and I only want for the Red Priests to help pacify the common folk." I was almost a hundred percent sure they already knew this, but I guess I overestimated their ability to see the future in the flames.
"Slavery will be no more as well." Daenerys adds in a cold tone and almost seems to dare someone to say otherwise.
God that is hot.
The news washes over them like a slap in the face as almost every single one of the priests in the room looks taken aback.... all except the woman in the corner.
"You plan to conquer Essos?" The High priest asks with a neutral tone but his eyes betray his surprise.
"I WILL conqueror Essos... at least from the Narrow Sea all the way to the Bone Mountains is the plan as of now. I will leave the far East to my children so they have something to look forward to without the help of their Father." I will still fly over to the Far East to talk to the Emperor and bring up the idea of dragons purging their Jogos Nhai in return for them bending the knee.
But I still like the idea of leaving some things to my children to work toward, like Ulthos and Sothorios being two of the big ones. There are also the Summer Isles and Ibben on opposite sides of the world along with all of the other island nations. There are quite a few I have my eye on but mainly Marahai and Naath stand out the most but Naath has problems with the butterfly disease that kind of scares me.
Marahai has two volcanos and is said to be beautiful so it sounds like a nice vacation spot along with being in the Jade Sea and right next to the capital of Yi Ti. It is like the perfect 'Dragonstone' for an Eastern branch of House Targaryen, it's too good to pass up. Except Marahai is at least three times the size and is almost completely crescent moon-shaped. The points of the moon almost touch making it almost a circular island with only one way into the bay. It is an amazing port that with enough infrastructure could draw trade from around the world and is already in one of the richest places on the world.
It is close to Ulthos and Sothorios as well so future expansion onto those two continents will be easy. Asshai is close enough to look into and try and understand who and how it was built and if it is possible to claim the ancient city that is said to be ten times the size of Kingslanding.
It's a perfect little island.
"You want the followers of R'hllor to help pacify the masses while you break the chains and claim all of Essos for yourself." Melisandre speaks up and I see Danny narrow her eyes at the words 'break the chains'.
"That is exactly what I want, you have just as much to gain from this as I do seeing how the Red Faith will only grow from this and other religions will disappear. The Horse god will die along with likely the Black Goat and maybe a few others I am not even worried enough to remember the names of." I only know of the Horse God and the Black Goat due to my Smith back in Harrenhal, he used to follow the Black Goat and he feared the Horse God and talked a lot about both.
But Mother Rhoyne is dead unless I allow her to stand up on her feet again... maybe letting the children of the Green Blood resettle in one of their old cities could see her religion return in full force. But if I am honest I would rather Essos follow one Religion, it would make future conversion of Westeros much easier. I can already see 'Holy Crusades' to spread the God of Fires love to all of the followers of the Seven in Westeros.
I much prefer the God of Fire, he makes no rules over how people live as far as marriage goes. R'hllor simply is there to hear prayers and answer with visions in the flames for the price of a sacrifice. The bad rep of R'hllor comes from people like Melisandre who burn living people because she is a sick fuck who likes that kind of thing.
... kind of like my Wife but not as cute.
"As I said, I am sending a large donation to this temple to help pay for this 'expansion' as far as your people are concerned. You do not need to worry about how I will take the Free Cities, it will be far simpler than you could ever imagine." With my meetings with some of the Key holders of the Iron Bank, I am confident in Braavos support.
They will not fund anything but they also will not try and harm my progress when I start expanding, so long as I am against slavery. If I can remove slavery from every Free City and break Slavers Bay then the Titan will bend the Knee to the dragon. They could go back on their word but I also can burn their whole city off the map in less than a few hours. I think they know this and are mainly relying on the fear of the Faceless men to scare me off.
But if I hold all of my ambition back because of the Faceless men then I am a coward who was not fit to lead a conquest to begin with. There will no doubt be many assassination attempts once I start taking lands in Essos and flying the dragon banner over the cities. But fortune favors the bold and so long as I play my cards right and keep a level head then I can steer the 'ship' to where I want to go.
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198 AC
Harrenhal
Aemon Targaryen
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"This actually is not that bad once I get going." Setting aside another report from a Singing Minstrel I grab the last one for the day. "I can also see why Father enjoys doing this so much, it can be relaxing." Visenya huffs while Rhaella brushes her hair across from the desk I am working at.
"I still wish we could go for a hunt, it has been a while since I have downed a beast with my bow." I roll my eyes at my Sister as her hair is braided in a similar fashion as to the woman who is her namesake.
"We will go when Father gets back, I would not mind camping in the woods for a few days." Stretching my arms I feel a dull ache in my back that I hope will not be a common occurrence when doing this type of work.
"They will be back soon." Rhaella speaks up with a smile on her face leaving me confused.
"How do you know?" If Visenya said it I would assume she saw them while warging.
"I just know." She does not seem keen on revealing her secrets, but that is fine by me as I can just tickle them out of her once I am done with these reports.
"Well regardless once they get back we can start planning a hunting trip, I want to bag that white stag they apparently saw." Visenya has been wanting a white stags pelt ever since we missed the opportunity to buy one the last time we were at Kingslanding.
Why she even cares I do not know, it will get dirty and then she will throw it out like every other pelt she has purchased.
But before I can speak up and ask why she cares a loud familiar roar grabs all of our attention. A roar I have heard a thousand times and can identify with ease as there is only one dragon who roars like that. The shadow blocking out the sun which is high above Harrenhal as its midday also gives away who it is.
Tossing aside the report I run to the window just in time to see Drogon and my Mother circle Harrenhal on the east side and head for the Godswood. Shimmering silver lights almost blind me as Moonfyre dives out of the sky with a soft trill that I can hear even from far away. I turn and head for the door finding the room already empty, and almost scoffing at how my Sisters abandoned me.
Not that I blame them, we all missed the two who just arrived back Home.
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"You did a good job, I am proud of you." My hair is ruffled and my heart soars as my Father kneels before me and then pulls me into a tight hug.
"It was hard at first but I think I can handle it, I would like it if you let me help more often from now on." He nods against my shoulder before breaking the hug and catching Rhaella who leapt at him once his arms were empty.
"I will set aside some important matters for you to handle in the future." I smile wide as my Mother pulls me into a hug, my father's words being exactly what I wanted to hear.
Now I can help out more and be better prepared for the future, killing two birds with one stone.
I hug my Mother back as she talks with Mya about their trip and I can't help but feel satisfied. Even the younger dragons are happy today and are all singing different songs at their Mother and Father who returned from the Eastern Continent. The only thing that could make this better is the gifts that my parents no doubt brought back to brag about their travels. I look forward to hearing about the sights they saw, my own curiosity has grown whenever I think about Essos.
All the stories Mother has told me growing up seemed as if she herself grew up traveling from city to city and I have always wanted to see the places she spoke about after all.