[ It is a question that arrives, at once, to the heart of the matter. Dany is silent, taking the chance to nibble at a plum. It is ripe and sweet, so much that the juice nearly drenches her chin, but the more the queen thinks upon her follies and her concessions, the more sour it tastes.
At last, she speaks. And when she does, there is something younger about her. What is old is the eyes. ]
I freed my people, yet I did not save them. [ A simple, profound truth. ] I thought I'd struck the chains from their ankles and cast their iron collars into the fire. In truth, all I did was cut off their feet and behead them.
[ That is the simple truth. That is what sours the plum. ]
I lingered in Meereen to rule. [ Her eyes meet Sieglinde's. ] To be a queen. My heart was sick of smashing and plundering, and I was only a young girl. I wished to feed my people and see them prosper. To ... to plant trees and watch them grow.
[ But Meereen is not her home. ]
Before I awoke in Oska, I was a starved, filthy thing. Drogon carried me away from Meereen, away into the Dothraki Sea, where once I roamed the high grasses with Khal Drogo's khalasar. I wanted to return to my city on wings, but by dusk Drogon always returns to his lair.
[ She smiles wryly. ]
I have named it Dragonstone. Do you know why, Sieglinde?
It explains why, when they'd first met on the beaches of Nalawi, what seemed like so long ago to a girl who had grown up never meeting anyone but the people of her village that she had always known, (yet never known at all), that Daenerys had not looked a queen at all, but more a beggar in rags. Clothes aside, she had believed her then, by grace of her personality and words.
Words she listened to with fascination, curiousity, and sympathy both.
She could guess, but she would rather hear it from Daenerys' lips.]
[ You know why. Dany's certain Sieglinde could guess, if she wished. Nonetheless, she smiles faintly. ]
Because Dragonstone is the ancient citadel where I was born.
[ Her home. If there are truly gods in her world, there can be no stronger omen than that. ]
My home across the sea. Where Aegon once lived, and the princes and princesses of old after him.
[ Her plum is lowered, her hands settled into her lap. ]
On the day I wed Hizdahr, my enemies had ringed my city in steel. I chained myself in gold to a harpy, yet with that gesture I returned many to their bonds. I am no Meereenese queen, no matter my veil, no matter my tokar.
[ It is as if there is some fire within her, for all that her eyes are distant. ]
I am the blood of the dragon, and one day I shall return to Westeros to claim my father's throne.
[It is easy to get caught up in the fervor, the thrill of adventure, weddings, revenge, and conquest. Sieglinde, who had always read and dreamed of the Outside World she could only wish to see until ALASTAIR, might be particularly susceptible to such things. She scarce takes her eyes from Daenerys as she speaks, the grapes in her hand forgotten.
Some of the words she uses a girl not of the same world cannot understand, but Sieglinde is clever and educated, she infers and the picture assembles itself despite- a quest that held the lives of countless thousands in its grip.
The queen's last words ring and die in the air, and it takes a moment for the small Witch to find her own in response, searching the older woman's face and seeing clearly her determination, the fire worthy of a dragon. (No wonder that bold man had been so fascinated.)]
I may know little of your world, but there is something touched about you. Any Witch could see that- someone strong enough to bring their desires to life.
[Her voice sounds slightly removed, above, the same voice she had used with her villagers, when she prophesied and read the stars. From when she'd believed she could.]
I cannot fathom the lives that may be lost upon the way... but that is the way of war and the world, no matter how we mortals dislike it. I, who have doomed perhaps thousands... even still I cannot imagine the weight you must bear.
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no subject
At last, she speaks. And when she does, there is something younger about her. What is old is the eyes. ]
I freed my people, yet I did not save them. [ A simple, profound truth. ] I thought I'd struck the chains from their ankles and cast their iron collars into the fire. In truth, all I did was cut off their feet and behead them.
[ That is the simple truth. That is what sours the plum. ]
I lingered in Meereen to rule. [ Her eyes meet Sieglinde's. ] To be a queen. My heart was sick of smashing and plundering, and I was only a young girl. I wished to feed my people and see them prosper. To ... to plant trees and watch them grow.
[ But Meereen is not her home. ]
Before I awoke in Oska, I was a starved, filthy thing. Drogon carried me away from Meereen, away into the Dothraki Sea, where once I roamed the high grasses with Khal Drogo's khalasar. I wanted to return to my city on wings, but by dusk Drogon always returns to his lair.
[ She smiles wryly. ]
I have named it Dragonstone. Do you know why, Sieglinde?
no subject
It explains why, when they'd first met on the beaches of Nalawi, what seemed like so long ago to a girl who had grown up never meeting anyone but the people of her village that she had always known, (yet never known at all), that Daenerys had not looked a queen at all, but more a beggar in rags. Clothes aside, she had believed her then, by grace of her personality and words.
Words she listened to with fascination, curiousity, and sympathy both.
She could guess, but she would rather hear it from Daenerys' lips.]
Why?
no subject
Because Dragonstone is the ancient citadel where I was born.
[ Her home. If there are truly gods in her world, there can be no stronger omen than that. ]
My home across the sea. Where Aegon once lived, and the princes and princesses of old after him.
[ Her plum is lowered, her hands settled into her lap. ]
On the day I wed Hizdahr, my enemies had ringed my city in steel. I chained myself in gold to a harpy, yet with that gesture I returned many to their bonds. I am no Meereenese queen, no matter my veil, no matter my tokar.
[ It is as if there is some fire within her, for all that her eyes are distant. ]
I am the blood of the dragon, and one day I shall return to Westeros to claim my father's throne.
no subject
Some of the words she uses a girl not of the same world cannot understand, but Sieglinde is clever and educated, she infers and the picture assembles itself despite- a quest that held the lives of countless thousands in its grip.
The queen's last words ring and die in the air, and it takes a moment for the small Witch to find her own in response, searching the older woman's face and seeing clearly her determination, the fire worthy of a dragon. (No wonder that bold man had been so fascinated.)]
I may know little of your world, but there is something touched about you. Any Witch could see that- someone strong enough to bring their desires to life.
[Her voice sounds slightly removed, above, the same voice she had used with her villagers, when she prophesied and read the stars. From when she'd believed she could.]
I cannot fathom the lives that may be lost upon the way... but that is the way of war and the world, no matter how we mortals dislike it. I, who have doomed perhaps thousands... even still I cannot imagine the weight you must bear.
[How heavy it must be.]
You must build a kingdom worthy of that loss.