Chapter 220 - 220
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[DAENERYS'S CHAMBERS.]
[DAENERYS stands in her chambers. JORAH enters.]
"You're here early."
"Later than some."
"Oh? Someone is unhappy" Oberyn said in a far too cheery voice. "Daario must have gotten there before him."
Daenerys blushed. If it were just her and Daario, she could think of only one thing they had done.
"You don't approve?"
"It's not a question of approval, it's a question of trust."
"You neither approve nor trust."
"Some would say he is smart not to" Elia said pointedly at her grinning brother.
"I say he's jealous" Oberyn threw back with the same grin.
"Why would I? The man's a sellsword."
"Didn't you fight for the Golden Company before pledging your sword to my brother?"
"I did."
"Hypocrite" Ned muttered. Typical of the man, a coward is more often than not a hypocrite.
"Daario Naharis killed his captains and dumped their heads at your feet when he grew tired of their commands. How could you ever have faith in a man like that?"
"I could never have faith in a man like Daario. That's why I've sent him and the Second Sons to retake Yunkai."
"A smart ploy... though not the smartest if you don't trust Daarion wholly" Doran mused. "Which stands to reason that you do trust Daarion, but you wish to shield Ser Jorah's heart."
Daenerys nods. She could see herself doing something like that.
"Without you there to rule, Khaleesi, I fear the masters will simply bide their time, wait for the invaders to leave and reassert control."
"That is why I've ordered Daario to execute every master in Yunkai."
"Perhaps... I should offer them the chance to change their ways?" Daenerys asked unsure. "If there are men who wish to break out of family traditions, they could do so and join me. Or face death."
"Not the worst idea" Oberyn nods, the playful smile now a thoughtful one. "Most will not do such a thing.
"Then they die" Daenerys shrugged. "It's the same as bending the knee to me and my rule or dying. As Aegon the Conqueror had offered once."
Oberyn nods with a now slightly proud smile.
"The masters tear babies from their mothers' arms. They mutilate little boys by the thousands. They train little girls in the art of pleasuring old men. They treat men like beasts, as you said yourself."
"Herding the masters into pens and slaughtering them by the thousands is also treating men like beasts. The slaves you freed, brutality is all they've ever known. If you want them to know something else, you'll have to show it to them."
"And repay the slavers with what? Kindness? A fine? A stern warning?"
"It's tempting to see your enemies as evil, all of them, but there's good and evil on both sides in every war ever fought."
"Let the priests argue over good and evil. Slavery is real. I can end it. I will end it. And I will end those behind it."
"I sold men into slavery, Khaleesi."
"And now you are helping me show them to freedom."
"I wouldn't be here to help you if Ned Stark had done to me what you want to do to the masters of Yunkai."
Ned wished he had, though not as bad as he wished to rip Joffrey's head off his body or to give Roose Bolton a taste of his family traditions and have him flayed alive. He hated Jorah Mormont for the thing he did, but most of all for fleeing and leaving his family disgraced.
[DAENERYS considers.]
"The man who came to me the other day about burying his father."
"Hizdahr zo Loraq?"
"He will accompany the Second Sons and serve as my ambassador to Yunkai. He will tell the masters what has happened in Meereen. He will explain the choice they have before them. They can live in my new world or they can die in their old one."
"A good choice" Elia nods. "Give them the option to choose, so they may choose to better themselves."
"And if they don't, they deserved it" Oberyn added with a shrug.
[THE RIVERLANDS, DAY]
[THE HOUND and ARYA sit by the fire. THE HOUND tends clumsily to his neck wound.]
"He's gonna die from that if he doesn't get someone to take a look at it" Gendry grunted.
"Who will he show? Maesters know his face well, anyone who knows about the bounty will hand him over readily" Rhaegar pointed out.
"Anyone who's lived beyond the walls of a Keep knows how to treat a wound themselves" Gendry rolled his eyes. "None of us have the luxury of a Maester to rely on, so we have to learn these things or end up dead or worse."
"What could be worse than death?" Rhaegar asked.
"A burden on our families" Gendry shrugged. "We small folk don't have servants to care for us or lesser lords to send us anything. If we fall sick we are a mouth to feed that can give nothing in return. A burden is worse than being dead."
Rhaegar frowned thoughtfully. He'd never thought of it like that before.
"You're doing it wrong. You need to burn away that horrible bit there. Otherwise, it's gonna get infected and fester."
"How do you know that? Did the Septa teach you this?" Catelyn asked.
"I don't know it yet" Arya shrugged. "Maybe the Maester? The Septa is too involved in making ladies out of us than teaching us this" she added with a scoff.
"No fire."
[ARYA stands and takes a flaming stick to THE HOUND. THE HOUND stands and backs away. They stand silently. ARYA turns and puts the stick back in the fire. She sits and polishes Needle.]
"Shut up about it. Shut up about everything. Thanks to you, I'm a walking bag of silver anywhere the Lannisters hold sway. I'm as stupid as that hog you stuck back in the village, getting myself cut and stabbed and bitten. No reward is worth this much trouble. Wish I'd never laid eyes on you."
"Same" Arya scowled. How was all of this her fault?!
"You say your brother gave you that sword. My brother gave me these scars. It was just like you said a while back. Pressed me to the fire like I was a nice juicy mutton chop. Thought I stole one of his toys. I didn't steal it. I was just playing with it."
"So he's always been a monster then" Rhaegar frowned. And to think he'd Knighted this man.
"The pain was bad. The smell was worse. But the worst thing was that it was my brother who did it. My father, who protected him... told everyone my bedding caught fire."
"Do you think Ser Gregor is as bad as he is because his father let him get away with things?" Myrcella asked her father.
"Ser Gregor has issues communicating and has anger issues to compliment them well" Jaime Lannister explained, "House Clegane is a minor house, came into their lands when Ser Gregor's grandfather saved mine from a lioness. He lost a leg and three dogs in the process. My grandfather gifted them a tower house and those lands as a reward and they took the three dogs as their symbol, for the lost three dogs that saved my grandfather. Houses like that would do a lot to gain fame and money. Ser Gregor's father saw potential in his son, so he favoured him no doubt."
"So he wouldn't be as bad if his father didn't favour him too much."
"I can't say for certain," Jaime told his daughter. "With the man's issues, he may always have ended up what he did regardless of how his father treated him."
Myrcella nods, satisfied with the answer.
"Let me wash it out and help you sew it up at least."
[THE HOUND doesn't answer. ARYA stands and walks to him. She pours water on his wound and begins to sew it.]
"You can sew" Sansa said with a small smile.
"Guess war does change people" Arys chuckled.
Sansa chuckled as well.
Catelyn smiled sadly. To think it would be tragedy that finally brought the sisters close.