[ just gonna point that out. she doesn't leave it there, though. this is her name being questioned. ( this is a story oft told so that anyone can ask and know it to be true. ) ]
My father gave me it. He liked the sound so he made it mine. What's it to you?
The world is full of swaggering boys. When one bravo drops his sword, a hundred more rush to claim it. I am sorry for your loss.
[ She is not from Essos, not truly. Home has always come from dreams, from tongues, from dishes. From scents. Her true home was taken from her long ago. ]
I was born on Dragonstone during a great storm, but ships sailed to put me and my brother to the sword. When our foes could not catch us in the water, they sought us in the streets.
[ she thinks of the black shadow she glimpsed sometimes that would make nymeria bare her teeth in an impotent snarl when it sailed overhead. she thinks of the chatter in both the ragman's harbor and the purple harbor brought by the sailors who sailed through the summer sea onto the jade sea to yi ti and beyond. ]
There's talk of dragons in Slaver's Bay. But that's just talk. Sailors always bring stories they swear are true.
[ A question she thinks upon every day. She has discarded claws from Viserion and Rhaegal both, her only mementos of her children. Missandei's face has begun to fade from her memory, for all that her giggle has not. She misses Ser Barristan's gentle frown and his cautious counsel. She misses her little cupbearers, and sitting in her pool as the fish nibble at her toes.
But that is all. ]
My king has shattered my peace, and the slavers have already begun setting up flesh markets outside my gates. Tens of thousands of Yunkish sellswords have ringed my city in steel. When I return, I shall return to a war. I will have need of an army.
[ It is only half the reason, but it is the reason she chooses to give. ]
[ zokla is quiet a longer time as she turns over the answer. it is hard to decipher lies when written down, but she thinks she can eke out shadows of truth and falsehoods in the choice of words, in the speed with which the next ones appear. this feels like truth.
she answers honesty with honesty. ]
You should kill the slavers.
[ zokla is a braavosi girl, raised in a city that has never known a slave. the history is known; the law is clear. in braavos they would be arrested, but the dragon queen isn't braavosi. and she has three dragons. ]
[ Burn them all. They are not her words, and they never have been, but something tweaks at her all the same. ]
I have heard this counsel before. [ And from, she assumes, more wizened people than this girl.
It has grown tempting. ]
I could slay them under some pretense, that is true ... but thenceforth comes the armies, the plagues, the would-be usurpers. No choice is without unintended cruelty. I have learned that much.
[ The question is now whether the good outweighs such a cost. ]
[ zokla chews her lip. she hadn't thought of that. she doesn't know the region. but it still galls her, the very idea of slavers going unpunished. she would kill them all if she could.
she can't, though. she isn't there. and she does not know. the kindly man would remind her of how little she knows. her response is what truth she knows. ]
[ There is always talk of war. It is difficult to gauge from whence in the timeline Zokla has come: before or after her marriage to Hizdahr? ]
The Yunkai'i do not love me. [ She spared the Yellow City when they gave up their slaves. Now comes the bitter repayment of mercy. ] Qarth has declared for Yunkai, as well. Their guilds grew fat off the spice trade and the backs of slaves.
[ She might have laughed, if she did not feel so scornful. Her wedding to Hizdahr had been pleasant enough; it was all that came after that had left a sour taste. ]
I did not choose from whence in time I came. I'd wondered whether you had news, but ... well, it does not matter.
[ Normally, it would set Dany to giggling, but something needles at her. Has Loki learned of this girl's origins, as well? If he had, why hasn't he told her so? She would have liked to speak with someone of her own world. ]
We should expect no less of a god of mischief. [ The unvoiced tone here is wry, but fond. ] He was the first to greet me in Oska, though it was not willingly done. How did you come upon him?
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[ just gonna point that out. she doesn't leave it there, though. this is her name being questioned. ( this is a story oft told so that anyone can ask and know it to be true. ) ]
My father gave me it. He liked the sound so he made it mine. What's it to you?
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Home.
[ A complicated answer, for a simple question. It's honest. ]
Your father named you wolf?
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[ since daria seems not to want to share a name ( not a true queen, surely, doesn't want to be called a liar ), zokla changes tack. ]
You're from Essos too. Where? How come you moved around so much?
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[ She is not from Essos, not truly. Home has always come from dreams, from tongues, from dishes. From scents. Her true home was taken from her long ago. ]
I was born on Dragonstone during a great storm, but ships sailed to put me and my brother to the sword. When our foes could not catch us in the water, they sought us in the streets.
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Are you a mummer?
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No. Only a dragon.
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There's talk of dragons in Slaver's Bay. But that's just talk. Sailors always bring stories they swear are true.
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They speak truly.
[ And soon enough, they will speak of her children across the Narrow Sea, where her enemies are waiting. ]
Drogon is here with me. Rhaegal and Viserion remained behind in Meereen.
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So why are you still here? Shouldn't you go back?
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But that is all. ]
My king has shattered my peace, and the slavers have already begun setting up flesh markets outside my gates. Tens of thousands of Yunkish sellswords have ringed my city in steel. When I return, I shall return to a war. I will have need of an army.
[ It is only half the reason, but it is the reason she chooses to give. ]
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she answers honesty with honesty. ]
You should kill the slavers.
[ zokla is a braavosi girl, raised in a city that has never known a slave. the history is known; the law is clear. in braavos they would be arrested, but the dragon queen isn't braavosi. and she has three dragons. ]
You should burn them all.
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I have heard this counsel before. [ And from, she assumes, more wizened people than this girl.
It has grown tempting. ]
I could slay them under some pretense, that is true ... but thenceforth comes the armies, the plagues, the would-be usurpers. No choice is without unintended cruelty. I have learned that much.
[ The question is now whether the good outweighs such a cost. ]
What other tales do they tell of Slaver's Bay?
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she can't, though. she isn't there. and she does not know. the kindly man would remind her of how little she knows. her response is what truth she knows. ]
There's talk of war.
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The Yunkai'i do not love me. [ She spared the Yellow City when they gave up their slaves. Now comes the bitter repayment of mercy. ]
Qarth has declared for Yunkai, as well. Their guilds grew fat off the spice trade and the backs of slaves.
Is it yet known that I wed?
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I didn't mean to offend. It must have been a great wedding.
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[ She might have laughed, if she did not feel so scornful. Her wedding to Hizdahr had been pleasant enough; it was all that came after that had left a sour taste. ]
I did not choose from whence in time I came. I'd wondered whether you had news, but ... well, it does not matter.
Have you been here very long?
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Do you miss it?
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But I like it here too. I have mine own room and bed and food and all my clothes are new and made to my size.
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[ She thinks to speak of the big house with the red door, and her lemon tree. But she has seen no face, and not even Missandei was told. ]
There are no bedpans here, as well. There is relief in that, surely.
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You don't sound very much like a queen.
Are you a queen here too?
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[ She corrects them when they assign her the wrong title, but she's found that many have gleaned what she is simply by speaking with her. ]
Japes, though ... if the gods would like to take those from me, as well, they will have to find me in this place.
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And the gods here are odd.
Loki would probably have much to say about relieving himself.
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We should expect no less of a god of mischief. [ The unvoiced tone here is wry, but fond. ] He was the first to greet me in Oska, though it was not willingly done. How did you come upon him?
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