A bird arrived in the city of Meereen and landed directly on the balcony of the Great Pyramid, at the residence of Lord Aeos. Only privileged messenger birds were allowed to reach him directly. Unimportant messages had to go through other channels for their messages to be registered.
"A bird," Melisandre remarked to Jon as she stepped onto the terrace and unfurled the parchment from its legs.
Jon was sitting comfortably on a cushioned chair, enjoying the evening breeze drifting over the city. He had nothing major to do in the next few days. All his plans were already in motion. He only needed to wait for good news. Just like the one he had received now.
"Rhaenys?" he asked.
"Yes," Melisandre nodded as her eyes quickly scanned the contents of the parchment.
"What does it say?" he questioned.
"She has taken over Qohor," Melisandre replied. "Without any fight. The magisters made the wise choice. They surrendered without any resistance."
"Only the head priest was killed," she added. "He was insulting her a bit too much, spouting too much nonsense and doubting her Targaryen legacy. She thought he was an ideal candidate to make an example out of. Frightened the shit out of the rest of the magisters.
"Rhaenorin tore him into two pieces," she added with a chuckle.
"Hmm," Jon nodded. "The reports did say he was a loud mouth. And even if he had surrendered, he was the kind who would have always caused obstructions. Better to have him dead than raise problems in future."
Before sending Rhaenys for the campaign, they had studied the city and its most important and influential people. The head priest was one among them.
"When you have five dragons staring at your city, even a fool would make the wise choice," Melisandre added. "Their surrender was expected. They had no other choice. They could not really let their cities burn when they had zero chances of victory."
"What else does she say?" Jon asked.
"Well," Melisandre answered, "for now she has taken residence in one of the manors belonging to a lord, and our men have taken over all the gates and all the important points of the city. The city is firmly in our control."
"And the military of Qohor?" Jon questioned. "The Unsullied? Have they pledged loyalty to her?"
"She has taken the scourge used to control them," she replied. "They will follow her orders."
Jon squinted his eyebrows. "She was meant to free them. What happened?"
"She will free them eventually, in a week," Melisandre replied. "According to her, she has found an interesting man. A man worth taking note of."
"Who?" he asked.
"Rick," she said.
"The chief of the Blacksmith Association?" Jon questioned, and Melisandre nodded.
"What does freeing the slaves have to do with him?" Jon asked.
"Well, it was Rick who led the negotiations for surrender," she explained. "Somehow, out of nowhere he became the head of the magisters. And he was quite brilliant in the negotiations."
"Rhaenys said she could have forced things, but doing so would not have won her their loyalty. Negotiations and agreeing to some of their terms felt like the better choice to her."
Jon nodded and questioned, intrigued, "And what terms did he ask for?"
"Well, he wanted to preserve their status and the wealth they have accumulated. In fact, he also hinted at important roles for them, especially for himself, when and in whichever direction she expands her empire. He was subtle, but he also indicated that Rhaenys did not have men who could help her govern her empire. And he could be one of the counselors to her and perhaps a member of her small council if she constitutes such a body in the future."
"Though Rhaenys was already prepared to use these magisters to govern the city, she was very impressed by how Rick argued his position and led the negotiations. She as of now has granted them to retain their wealth."
"Interesting," Jon nodded. "And about the slaves?"
"Well, at first he was hoping that she would allow slavery to continue, but then Rhaenys explained that if she let slavery continue, people in her empire would not be happy with her, as slavery is banned in the empire of Lord Aeos, and this resentment could weaken her rule. Thus she firmly stressed that slavery must be done with."
"The magisters agreed to it, but Rick stressed that if they banned slavery immediately, the entire economy of the city would collapse. Most of the businesses are dependent on slaves."
"Even the blacksmiths are very largely dependent on slaves. He proposed ending slavery in a phased manner in six months, but Rhaenys relented to three months. Even so, she firmly ordered that no slave would be ill treated and that a decent life must be provided to them."
Jon nodded. "Rick does seem a wise man. To use this much brain under that much stress, when with one signal from Rhaenys the dragons would have burnt him, is indeed notable."
"Yes," she nodded.
"And what of the steel?" he questioned. For the steel, he had planned this entire invasion of Qohor. For the blacksmiths of Qohor.
"She will start weapon forging in a week," Melisandre replied. "She has called for a gathering of the most talented blacksmiths in a couple of days where she will reveal her plan to them."
"How much Valyrian steel are you going to release in the market?" she questioned. "A lot of people would be willing to pay a lot for this steel."
"Only to those whom I want. Special orders only," he replied but did not say more. "Our focus will be on dragon steel. It is going to sell like anything."
Melisandre nodded and replied, "People are going to get mad about dragon steel too. It is better than any steel except Valyrian steel. And when they learn that it is purified using dragon flame, they are going to go insane."
"How do you think people are going to respond when they know that a Targaryen has made her return with dragons behind her back?" she questioned. "Especially people in Westeros. Robert Bartheon and Jon Arryn and Doran Martell?"
Now that the dragons had been revealed to the public, it was only a matter of time before everyone would learn of it. Jon did not reply to the question and only smiled mysteriously.
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