Just as Daenerys was preparing to take action against the horselords on the northern grasslands, Jon came to see her.
Yes—little Jon.
Inside the study, Daenerys looked at the young man reflected in the mirror, her expression complicated as she sighed:
"It seems you've gained far more than I expected. It's only been a few days, yet your magic has doubled.
And you connected to my magical network entirely on your own, without anyone else's help."
Indeed, this time Jon had contacted her without Melisandre's assistance.
Holding a glass candle, Jon looked like a seasoned sorcerer, using the Dragonstone crystal tower as a relay station to connect to Daenerys' magic mirror across thousands of miles.
"I still have Your Majesty to thank."
Jon's bearing was steady, and there was now a strange charm between his brows. His dark eyes seemed to hold a flowing galaxy.
Faced with the all-powerful Dragon Queen, he no longer behaved with excessive caution or restraint. He was calm and composed, yet still respectful.
Daenerys wanted to ask what he had gained, but she didn't need to guess—questions about such private matters would only earn vague, meaningless answers.
"Where did you get your glass candle?" she asked something simple instead.
"From the dragonglass weapons you sent to the Wall. I took one piece and forged it into a glass candle."
"Oh? And where did you learn how to forge one?"
Dragonglass was the main material, but it wasn't enough to simply stretch it into the shape of a candle.
The process involved advanced magical knowledge that most mages never had access to.
Even Daenerys herself hadn't known how to make a glass candle before she read Magical Nodes in the Citadel's vaults.
"Melisandre taught me. She's essentially my magical mentor now. She believes I'm the prophesied child and has been teaching me everything she knows," Jon said, his tone complicated.
Wow. That really was the treatment reserved for the child of prophecy.
This world's Jon was far luckier than the miserable one in Game of Thrones.
If she didn't know Melisandre's abilities, Daenerys might have suspected that Bran had whispered something into the Red Woman's mind with his greensight.
"So, why have you come to see me today?" Daenerys asked.
"I've already met with representatives from the Iron Bank. They agreed to provide me with loans backed by northern taxes and mineral rights, and the loan amount is essentially unlimited.
So, I want to request an advance on grain and supplies from the Wall," Jon said.
"That fast?"
"The Iron Bank happened to send Tycho Nestoris to Eastwatch, and I ran into him."
"Tycho?" Daenerys grew even more surprised. "The tall fellow with long legs, a long face, a long goat beard, and a tall hat?"
"You've met him as well?" Jon asked, surprised.
"That man really can move. Just over a month ago he was still in Astapor—what's he doing at Eastwatch?"
"This…" Jon hesitated, unsure whether he should reveal the Iron Bank's secrets.
"What? Is it related to me? Lord Stark, you're asking me for help right now," Daenerys said, raising her brows.
Jon shook his head with a wry smile. "It does relate to you, but mainly… never mind. You could find out if you wanted to, so I won't hide it for Stannis' sake.
The Iron Bank plans to support him financially, but once he takes the Iron Throne, he must repay all of its outstanding debts."
Daenerys blinked, then said oddly, "Stannis is already down to his last scraps, yet he gets a chance to turn things around? Did he agree to that?"
"Of course," Jon replied with a nod.
"For the Iron Throne, he'd even accept terms this humiliating. I gave him too much credit," Daenerys said with a cold laugh.
"Your Majesty, it's not exactly an unfair treaty," Jon said, choosing to defend the man.
"All the Iron Throne's debts to the Iron Bank were incurred by King Robert. As Robert's heir, Stannis has no reason not to pay them back."
"Well… that's true," Daenerys admitted.
During the Mad King's era, the Iron Throne had profited every year under Tywin's management.
By the time the Rebellion ended, the treasury had accumulated millions of gold dragons in cash. It owed the Iron Bank nothing; in fact, it had large deposits stored with them.
After Robert died, Cersei landed on the Iron Bank's blacklist because she refused to pay interest on the debts.
Not only would the Iron Bank refuse to lend her money—now they were funding Stannis to overthrow her!
So, the Iron Throne's debts truly were Robert's mess alone. Since Stannis wanted to inherit the crown, he had to inherit the pit his brother dug.
Still…
In the end, wool is always shorn from the sheep. And kings only know how to shear other people's sheep.
If Stannis ever truly sat the Iron Throne, it would be the common folk of the Seven Kingdoms who bled to repay the loans.
"Has the new Lord Commander of the Night's Watch been chosen? I said when I left the Wall that as long as the Lord Commander agreed, I would have no objections," Daenerys said.
"The Lord Commander is Ser Alliser Thorne."
Jon's pale, horse-like face twisted slightly, his tone filled with a strange mix of disgust and frustration.
"He said everything depends on you. If you agree to lend supplies, the Watch will lend them; if you refuse, they'd rather die than lend a single grain."
Daenerys' lips twitched. "I told you all before—the position of Lord Commander is important. You don't need to worry about saving face for me."
The role of Lord Commander was indeed important, but it didn't offer many opportunities for material gain.
Even if a Targaryen loyalist held the post, the only visible result would be that he'd come to her asking for more coin and grain—hardly beneficial to her.
Jon's pale face contorted again. "He was elected based on seniority. It had nothing to do with you."
"Didn't he have an awful temper? I thought the men of the Watch hated him," Daenerys said, puzzled.
"He served in the suicide squad, hunted White Walkers, thwarted the Weeper's attack on Eastwatch, and helped tens of thousands of wildlings cross the Wall…" Jon said helplessly.
When Daenerys was at the Wall, she insisted on choosing her own loyalists for every dangerous mission to prove her fairness.
After surviving so many life-and-death assignments, Ser Alliser suddenly realized—holy hell, he had accumulated quite a list of achievements.
And when Jon executed Janos Slynt, he reassigned Alliser to Eastwatch, officially because Alliser was better suited to managing the "settled wildlings."
Which was true—Alliser was one of Daenerys' trusted supporters, and wildling leaders like Mance Rayder cooperated readily with him.
Once he arrived at Eastwatch, Alliser thrived like a dragon returning to the sea, accomplishing task after task with ease.
First of all, as the bridge between the wildlings and the Dragon Queen, he gained support from many wildling-born members of the Watch.
Then, when the Weeper disguised his wildlings as surrendering fighters and launched a sneak attack on Eastwatch, Aliser happened to have a group of wildling followers at his side. They turned the tide and once again rendered outstanding service.
After that, escorted by his followers, he personally ventured deep into the forests beyond the Wall to help Gerold Dayne recruit the last remaining wildling tribes, acting under Daenerys's orders.
With the food provided by the Dragon Queen and the reputation of her unwavering promises, Aliser was highly respected among the wildlings. He succeeded quickly once more, achieving remarkable merit.
However, despite all his accomplishments, he never considered running for Lord Commander, because Daenerys had excluded him from the candidate list the last time.
Ultimately, he did not do any of those things out of loyalty to the Night's Watch or sympathy for the wildlings. He served the Queen and followed her commands simply because he was a loyal retainer of House Targaryen. Whatever the Queen wanted done, he did.
Even now, although he was among the many candidates, he assumed he would merely go through the motions and serve as a token participant.
But when the votes were counted, he and the other senior members of the Night's Watch were stunned.
He had received seventy-five percent of all votes, winning with an overwhelming majority. He became the 999th Lord Commander of the Night's Watch.
In truth, both Daenerys and Aliser had overlooked two things. First, counting the wildlings, the Watch now had over 2,500 members stationed at the Wall.
When Jon was elected, there were just over five hundred.
The newly arrived brothers bore no prejudice against Aliser. On the contrary, they saw him as an old hero laden with honors yet indifferent to fame and gain. Aliser truly wanted nothing and acted without personal ambition.
Second, Jon's broken vows had cast a heavy shadow. Subconsciously, everyone wanted a more traditional and steadier commander.
The Long Night was approaching, and the Night's Watch could not afford more surprises.
Without question, Aliser—with his twenty years of service—fit that requirement perfectly.
After becoming Lord Commander, Ser Aliser did not become arrogant. Yet his hatred for Jon had sunk into his very bones, and he did not want to lend him any food.
That was why Jon approached the Dragon Queen instead.
"In that case, go find Donal the blacksmith. I want to hear his opinion," Daenerys said.
"Lend it," the blacksmith replied after marveling for only a moment at the glass candle's method of communication. He sighed and added, "Rain will fall and brides will wed. The sooner we send Duke Stark and the wildlings who support him away, the better it will be for the stability of the Wall."
Jon's face flushed red with embarrassment.
He had somehow become a threat to the Watch's stability.
Afterward, Daenerys summoned old Aemon and the two elders spoke for a while.
Aemon had much to say to Donal the blacksmith and spoke at length about his experiences in Slaver's Bay.
Facing Jon Stark, however, a tangle of emotions spread silently through both men like drifting weeds, yet neither could find the words to speak.
Jon had failed Aemon's expectations and become a failed brother of the Night's Watch.
But Aemon himself had abandoned the Wall, gone to Slaver's Bay, and burned the last of his life for the Targaryens. What right did he have to criticize Jon for breaking his vows for the Starks?
By the time New Ghis fell to Daenerys, the coalition's supply lines were under severe threat, and the armies marching from Mantarys were forced to speed up.
The coalition hoped to begin the siege of Meereen before their provisions ran out.
More than eighty thousand allied troops had already entered Bolash.
Bolash was the forward base for the attack on Meereen and lay only six to seven hundred kilometers away.
As a result, Daenerys became even busier.
Their operations against the horsemen north of Meereen officially began. She rode her dragon, burning their camps, intimidating them, and driving the khals toward Bolash in the west. If they did not move closer, how could she strike them from behind?
Khal Jomok, Khal Chekho, and Khal Moro were all driven west by the Dragon Queen.
She did not deliberately drive the horsemen toward Bolash. Her stated goal was merely to secure the region around Meereen, and she drove the horsemen on the northern plains either west or east.
Most went west, because the alliance's main force was there, along with food and valuables.
Aside from the khalasar that had split from Drogo's people, nearly all the khalasars had marched south to participate in the battle for Meereen only because they had received gifts from the coalition.
Of course, the end of Meereen's slave trade had greatly affected the Dothraki as well.
It had disrupted the original ecological system of the Dothraki Sea.
The horsemen could no longer exchange captured prisoners for supplies. This increased the cost of war and survival while making captives worthless, leaving them with no choice but to kill them.
But the horsemen were not bright, and they had not yet realized any of this. They were acting purely out of profit or hatred.
While the Dragon Queen launched raid after raid from Meereen against the enemies surrounding her on all sides, her skinchanger scouts brought her two pieces of mixed news.
First, an outbreak of blood plague had appeared in Bolash.
Daenerys rejoiced. The Seven had blessed her—on the eve of the great battle for Meereen, the allied forces had been struck by disease.
Second, the long-sought Khal Jako had finally been located. His khalasar was encamped on the plains twenty kilometers northeast of Bolash.
In theory, this was good news.
Daenerys could finally bring her adopted son back.
But when these two pieces of news were combined, the situation became a disaster.
Jako's khalasar had also contracted the blood plague and was on the verge of collapse.
And her adopted son was still acting as Jako's adopted son!
(ps: The matter of the Iron Bank crossing half the world to find Young Griff and giving him unlimited loans is not something I made up.
So, Young Griff really does have a chance of rising again.
Of course, it is also very likely that all his efforts will only benefit Jon in the end.)
(End of chapter)
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