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imaginarianisms · 1 month

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“ Even in the darkest night, if you strike a match, the shadows will flee. This is a law of nature; the darkness yields to the light, no matter how small the flame. ”- Shaera to Dany

Daenerys looks at the Lady Velaryon from behind her shoulder as she turns to face her, with the green dragon Rhaegal snorting smoke and staring directly at Shaera. The Queen of Meereen slowly nods in agreement shuddering as she recalls the House of the Undying in Qarth, the way shadows grasped and clawed at her. It was only through Drogon that she was able to escape that place alive, leaving it a ruin. Clad in the colors of House Targaryen and a crown of amethyst and three dragons upon her silver gold hair with bells interlaced with them, Dany sits on her pillows. It was an exhausting law of nature, truth be told. Soon, House Targaryen was leaving Meereen and Dragon's Bay behind to begin her conquest of Essos... then Westeros.

After the rest of the slavers were crushed by Ser Barristan Selmy, the Unsullied and her supporters while she was away in the Dothraki Sea, the siege had been lifted momentarily but only enough for them to buy some time with the slavers' remaining soldiers establishing themselves further down the Ghiscari coastal roads. Victarion Greyjoy's Iron Fleet and the magic of the red priests of Rh'llor utterly crushed the Volantene fleet capturing hundreds of ships in the process and Tolos quickly being defeated by Victarion and the Meereenese fleet in Yaros and the Battle of Fire took longer than expected, that is, until Daenerys rode forth to Meereen with all the might of her now united khalasar, sworn to her under Vaes Dothrak. The arrival of the dragon queen and her horselords in such sheer numbers sent many of the slavers' armies into a frenzied panic, with many sellsword companies either deserting or turning their cloaks for her and the masters were forced to return to their walls. The Dothraki considered such a thing a sign of cowardice and they had been proven right.

She had just returned from making quick work of razing Yunkai to the ground and burning Astapor for their insolence leaving Ghiscar and the Skahazadhan open again. Elyria surrendered willingly by sending tribute; Tolos resisted and sent a pitiful excuse of an army up the demon road to blockade the Painted Mountains only to be taken quickly by storm by Victarion and the combined Meereenese fleet and later Yaros while the army was away. Qarth had been a short, bloodless siege for the city of merchants were meek, especially when she flew over the three walls of Qarth on Drogon. She had rejected all peace proposals to execute those who betrayed her including the Pureborn, and the Ancient Guild of Spicers, both of whom wished for her death, and Xaro Xhoan Daxos for the Qartheen had scorned her most when they betrayed her. Xaro, the thief so sick with greed, had told her that the Qartheen loved the clink of gold most of all so after she had her bloodriders drag him out of his palace she gave him all the gold he could ask for by pouring molten gold into his eyes, ears and mouth just as Khal Drogo gave her brother Viserys so many years ago, his face seared inward and spilling at her feet. She would have their complete submission and nothing else. She decreed that the Tourmaline Brotherhood give portions of their wealth to the common people, that all the thrones made of great woods, gold, amber, onyx, lapis and jade be destroyed so that the gemstones and woods be used for her supplies, trade routes and house the poor and seven of the Thirteen must be chosen by freedmen henceforth forevermore and left with several chests of riches, precious jewels and spices, treasure ships, eight hundred ships from the Tourmaline Brotherhood, all thirteen hundred ships from the Ancient Guild of Spicers that she'd taken after executing every single member in the guild, a thousand ships from the Thirteen and camelry, all the things that the Qartheen once denied her she took it herself. New Ghis surrendered shortly afterward and sent an elephant cavalry as tribute; it was wise to do so after all they'd heard. Qarth and her colonies Qarkash, Port Yhos and the island of Qal followed suit. The Jade Gates were hers. Daenerys then used a glass candle to gaze upon Asshai beneath the Shadow and touched the dragonhorn Dragonbinder gifted to her by Victarion Greyjoy after he had told her the dangers of King Euron I Greyjoy, how he'd traveled to Valyria, taken Valyrian armor and glories and riches beyond imagining and his intentions for the kraken to marry the dragon much to her horror, and read books on dragonlore and sorcery given to her by Marwyn the Mage of the Citadel. With every passing day, Daenerys Targaryen felt more like a dragonlord sorceress.

Now she has finally returned to Meereen to consolidate her forces and has destroyed the Sons of the Harpy once and for all and executing her royal husband Hizdahr zo Loraq for conspiracy and treason, sending ravens to every daughter of Valyria save Braavos, proclaiming herself as the successor to the Freehold, and all must submit or be brought fire and blood. She would leave Meereen to bring her enemies to heel. She would fight so that no child would ever know what it meant to be bought or sold, and she had every intention of continuing that fight here and beyond. She intended to marry off the sisters, daughters and cousins of previous khals still fiercely loyal to Khal Drogo's cause to her vassals so they could rule those cities in their husbands' names then have them killed in the frontlines of war, reward those loyal to her and place them in high positions in her armies and households, highborn or lowborn, and forbade the selling of slaves, theft, fighting among the Dothraki, hunting of animals during the breeding season, and exempted the poor and the clergy from taxation.

Daenerys' next destination was westward henceforth to Mantarys then Volantis where she intended to throw the masters she'd spared into moats by catapults before crushing them with siege weapons, use her elephantry to charge her enemies, break their ranks instilling fear and terror in them, fly over the Black Walls and set the Old City aflame and let the slaves revolt against their masters like the red priests preached. Most of the work would be done for her, really. Volantis likely didn't require much of a siege or a battle at all, it was simply set up for failure. High Priest Benerro had made certain of that, the red priest Moqorro had reported, with the way thousands of slaves and freedmen gathered in the temple plaza every night to listen to him scream of bleeding stars, a sword of fire that will cleanse the world, that Daenerys Stormborn was the one who was promised, from the fire of Khal Drogo's pyre she was reborn to remake the world, breaking the chains and liberating the slaves, crucifying the masters for their sins and her dragons were firemade flesh. With the Volantene fleet destroyed in Meereen, they would be unable to defeat her armada at sea and lost any advantage they had, the most prominent sellsword companies were either in Westeros as the Golden Company were currently fighting in Westeros for Aegon VI Targaryen, changed their cloaks to Daenerys or destroyed in Meereen, and the majority of the tiger cloaks followed the Lord of Light Rh'llor, and not to mention the popular support she already had amongst the followers of the red god. The siege would be short. Who knows, perhaps the grand revolution would already begin before she even arrived. The true doom of Volantis was its slaves, for it had more slaves than anywhere else in the known world outside of the recently liberated Slaver's Bay, and with the Masters utterly destroyed, Volantis was now the last major practitioner of slavery from the Bones Mountains to the Sunset Sea. Most of the slaves would know this. The rest would be left unsaid. Volantis and all her holdings along the Rhoyne would fall to Daenerys, with many of the city's elites slain.

After Volantis falls, she would reach a zenith, for there would be no one left on the continent of Essos to put up significant resistance to her after she brought the entire coalition of slavers and the most powerful of the Free Cities to heel. With the common people behind her, a few Westerosi knights, several sellsword companies, the Unsullied, a united Dothraki horde at her back, an elephantry, a camelry, large siege weapons taken from Dragon's Bay and some bought from Yi Ti, her armada, and three massive firebreathing dragons, no one in Essos could stop her. With Volantis and her holdings upon the Rhoyne defeated, she would claim the Rhoyne and sail up the river to capture the northern Free Cities of Qohor and Norvos after the others—the Quarreling Daughters Lys, Myr and Tyrosh—would wisely submit, end slavery and welcome her as House Hightower of Oldtown once welcomed Aegon the Conqueror.

Perhaps there was some level of merit to being raised in the Free Cities with Viserys. Dany had loved seeing the ships that came in and out of Braavos as a child so when she asked a sailor from the Summer Isles if she could have a ride on one, the man kindly agreed, and it was one of the most lovely experiences in her life but when she came back to port, Viserys was furious and she'd woken the dragon as he pulled on her hair, screaming that that man could have been one of Robert Baratheon's assassins and he'd kept a closer eye on her ever since, and she'd been grounded in the Sealord's palace for a month. The girl didn't necessarily mind, however, because she could play with the animals in the Sealord's menagerie. She remembered begging Viserys to attend the Festival of the Unmasking and he accepted once they'd received Ser Willem Darry's permission. Dany had worn a dragon mask of crimson and ebony fabric and purple silks that night while she had fun amongst the common people. That was one of the rare times that she enjoyed her girlhood. She'd loved to sit under the cherry blossom trees in Illyrio's manse in Pentos, where it was said that he'd gotten them from the fabled lands of Yi Ti. Dany recalled absolutely adoring the painted glass artisanry, the Myrish lace dresses but most importantly how she desperately wanted to attend academy to learn more about the world, but Viserys thought it would be too great a risk, but in subtle rebellion, she would sit closely nearby when a class was taken outside and listen very carefully. She remembered Viserys having them dye their hair with Tyroshi dyes in multiple different colors in shades of blue, red, green, indigo and even purple to always be one step ahead of Robert Baratheon's assassins. It'd taken his pride but it was better than having their throats slit; she'd wondered if the Tyroshi would make an intricate set of armor for him one day. She barely remembered Lorath and Norvos save for the freezing temperature, mazes created by the mazemakers and the three beautiful bells. Dany recalled having watched a ritual sacrifice to the Black Goat in Qohor in horror and fascination. She used to play in the Rhoyne in on one very long and hot summer day with other children while remembering being absolutely in awe with the Long Bridge and the Black Walls of Volantis while they were under the protection of a noble Volantene family known as the Qoheros, who were heavily involved with the gold and spice trade in the Far East and having three separate manses, one within the Black Walls, one in the city of Volon Therys and the last in the city of Valysar. She remembered playing on the beaches in Lys, running for hours along the sand under the palm trees and into the clear blue waters, and on the rare occasion, she'd managed to get Viserys to make castles of sand where they'd make their ancestral homelands in the sand and to come play with her in the water as she laughed when he'd carry her on his shoulders pretending she was the Queens Rhaenys or Visenya on dragonback; it had been one of their only fleeting happiest moments.

Using her knowledge of the cities and the magisters, archons, and merchant princes who once welcomed the last Targaryens in their homes (only for them to shut them out the longer Robert Baratheon the Usurper reigned) to her advantage, she intended on splitting her forces into two to strike northern and southern Essos at once before the rest of the smaller slaver cities formed another alliance against her. While Daenerys and her main host took Volantis, the Dothraki horde would ideally take both Qohor and Norvos. Daenerys had need for the beautiful colorful armor for her Westerosi knights and sellswords said to be superior to the armor made in Westeros and unrivalled Valyrian steel forges of the Qohorik, for they were the only ones in the world to this day who still possessed the knowledge on how to rework Valyrian steel. Archibald Yronwood had told her that the late Quentyn Martell's mother was Mellario of Norvos and she'd intended on sending Gerris Drinkwater home to Dorne with Quentyn Martell's bones while Archibald Yronwood stayed behind with her to give the Norvoshi noblewoman the news of her son's death intent on winning her and her ex husband Prince Doran Martell of Dorne's allegiances after explaining everything that had happened with Yronwood as her personal witness. Lorath did not practice slavery so she had no need to march further north, the Lorathi along with Saath the last city of the Sarnori people would submit to her rule without any complaints nor objections; she'd intended to use the famed scythed chariots pulled by teams of bloodred horses and driven by both men and women of Sarnor for it was custom for men and women to make war together; the kingdoms of Sarnor and the Valyrian Freehold were once allies, perhaps a renewal would be beneficial. Pentos had no army. It would offer no contest, though she had every intention of paying Magister Illyrio Mopatis a visit after the words that Tyrion Lannister had told her about his treachery. She would give Pentos to the Tattered Prince and ideally Tyrosh to Daario Naharis. The Three Quarreling Daughters would likely have little if any sellsword forces left to defend them and if she played her cards right, she would make the Lyseni family of Rogare powerful both in Lys and in Westeros as they had been centuries ago in the Lyseni Spring after the Dance of the Dragons, for her ancestor was no other than Larra Rogare. It was wise to have more than one financial center for a country as the Rogare Bank and Iron Bank were long ago, too. King's Landing prospered due to the Rogare Bank and increased trade with the Free Cities of Braavos, Lys, Myr, Pentos, and Tyrosh, and other cities and towns of the Seven Kingdoms greatly benefited as well, including Duskendale, Gulltown, Hull, Lannisport, Maidenpool, Oldtown, and White Harbor, and with the financial debt caused by the Baratheon Dynasty, it would be wise to bring more trade back to Westeros. After her conquest of Westeros was over, she had every intention of making trade in Westeros flourish once more. Perhaps she would begin her network of spies in Lys with the help of Daella Velaryon. Myrish lenses would be critical for her armies and scouts, too. Braavos was her final destination in Essos. House Targaryen owed a great deal of gratitude for the Braavosi, particularly the ailing Sealord of Braavos, and she'd have need of the Iron Bank; perhaps she could hire a faceless man or two. She had no intentions of using her armies nor her dragons on Braavos. Most of all, though, Daenerys Targaryen wanted to see her childhood home, that house with the red door and the lemon tree one last time before sailing for Westeros.

She'd already had plans for Victarion, the Iron Fleet and her armada to sail around Valyria while having already sent one of her bloodriders Aggo with a large section of her khalasar to threaten Qohor in the north while her main host of sellswords, her legions of Unsullied and freedmen, her two other bloodriders Jhogo and Rakharo and the vast majority of her khalasar and her dragons crossed the demon road she'd intended on renaming to the dragon road by right of conquest. With Yunkai and Qarth defeated, Daenerys intended to march across the dragonroad to defeat the last of the slavers' coalition. The Mantaryan army would be crushed and the city would fall soon after; she would punish the leaders of Mantarys for executing her envoys, leaving Volantis open. The Dosh Khaleen already called her The Stallion That Mounts The World whom her son Rhaego would have been before the Mother of Mountains and the Womb of the World after slaying her rivals Khal Jhaqo and Khal Moro with dragonfire avenging Eroeh and showing the Dothraki that she indeed was the Unburnt and uniting those who gathered in the Khalar Vezhven all into one khalasar.

She would never abandon her quest to end slavery in favor of the Seven Kingdoms, the slavers' vile retribution had done nothing but harden her resolve and Daenerys realized upon the Dothraki Sea that slavery must be ended everywhere root and stem before sailing for Westeros. Upon the Dothraki Sea, she knew that she was above all else a dragon, not meant to rule Dragon's Bay nor Westeros, but all of it, she was Valyrian and of the blood of Old Valyria and as such she would claim all of the realms of the old Valyrian Freehold and then Westeros like her ancestors Aegon, Rhaenys and Visenya Targaryen the Conquerors. This time, however, it was for a much nobler cause.

Daenerys was finally ready to leave Meereen and Dragon's Bay behind with a set of instructions for Skahaz mo Kandaq the Shavepate who she'd commanded to stay behind with her trusted Meereenese officials Galazza Galare the Green Grace of Meereen and several of her Brazen Beasts in the city after sending her cupbearers home to their families and pyramids. The Ghiscari and the Qartheen were now her vassals and Volantis was next. Dany had taken both Daario Naharis whom she'd recently freed in Yunkai and Irri into her bed that night to relish in their victory.

The armor and saddles she'd commissioned Tyrion for her dragons were just about complete and she'd need to talk about breeding them with him at some point. The ships in her armada were unlike any other, built like swan ships and a combination of techniques of both the Velaryons from their Summer Islands heritage, the fastest ships in the known world and the Greyjoys from the Ironborn reavers. Incredibly quick upon the open seas, it would greatly benefit her and her armies.

Dany would miss these gardens, her persimmon tree and the view of Meereen. The Red Keep of King's Landing was her true home, however. Drogon and Viserion flew above the Great Pyramid and over the armada that had recently just been completed, the red three headed dragons on black sails accompanied by ships of the silver Velaryon seahorse on teal, great ships of red Celtigar crabs on white, ships of the Greyjoy kraken on black, ships of the golden Tyrell rose on green and ships of the red and yellow Martell sun and spear on orange making her heart swell with proud joy.

She'd invited Shaera Velaryon who'd been the closest thing she ever had to a mother and one of her fiercest supporters since the beginning to her gardens in the queens' apartments to discuss important matters before they set sail westward to Volantis.

❝I have decided that as a reward for your loyalty to House Targaryen, I will grant House Velaryon and House Celtigar access and a base of its own in the Jade Gates as your ancestor Corlys Velaryon the Sea Snake and their ancestors sailed past them centuries before to contact Yi Ti, Leng and beyond to bring eastern trade back to Westeros. Now... Lady Shaera, do you perchance recall the House of the Undying in Qarth?❞ the Khaleesi asks, hoping that the other woman did, because it left bitter memories. The Warlocks were not forgiving, yet while she was in Qarth they were no more. ❝The warlocks were trying to consume me... but in that house of dust I received many visions. One of them... I recall discussing it with Ser Jorah. My brother Rhaegar stood with the Princess Elia Martell with my nephew nursing. He said that his son Aegon was 'the prince that was promised and his is a song of ice and fire' and 'there must be one more, the dragon has three heads'...❞ Rhaegal crawls forward, neck lowering slightly, bronze eyes changing from contracted slits to dilated slits and gives a friendly chirps as a greeting, almost as if asking for pets should Shaera be bold enough as the sun's rays illuminate his scales an emerald sheen, tail lashing. Daenerys looked visibly confused, her brows furrowed. Quaithe's visitations didn't help matters either.

❝I've half a mind to bring it up to Marwyn the Mage of the Citadel but I ask you first. You once told me you served my mother the Queen Rhaella Targaryen. You knew my brother well. Did Rhaegar ever speak to you of such things when he was alive? Lord Tyrion tells me that there is a pretender waiting to take my throne in Westeros as we speak. According to him the exile Griffin Lord Jon Connington assists him and Magister Illyrio Mopatis of Pentos has manipulated and lied to me, raising this pretender in secrecy and safety while he sold me to Khal Drogo. He claims to be my nephew Aegon VI Targaryen from the grave.❞ Her voice wavered with pain and venom. She had always wanted a family for so long she would've done anything for it. Was this truly her nephew back from the grave? Rhaegal screeched, several rows of teeth peeking out from his gumline as he growled, taking to the sky to join his brothers, ❝I believe that Rhaegar was right. The dragon has three heads. Three riders for three dragons. Two husbands, perhaps. Long ago, as I'm sure you know, Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen and the Blacks called for dragonseeds, Targaryen bastards and descendants to ride other dragons to war promising knighthood, lands and wealth to anyone who would master a dragon. I intend to do the same. I may be their mother, but there has never been a rider who mounts more than one dragon; I will require control over the other two dragons if my conquest of Westeros is ever going to succeed like Aegon and his sisters have before me. Lady Shaera, whom would you suggest be capable of riding Rhaegal and Viserion? Whom would you suggest would be capable of such a task? I am the last trueborn Targaryen.❞

@velcryons || some meme idr

#answered.#velcryons #daenerys targaryen. || ic.#interactions; shaera velaryon.#dynamic; daenerys & shaera.#v; the winds of winter.#/ slavery mention #/ long post #i spent days on this mf & debated on whether or not to put this under a readmore for length but lemme know if you want me to SDFFGHLITDDFG

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