𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐘-𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐄 | Politics

{ Daenerys }

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𝕻arenting was far more difficult than Daenerys had ever imagined. 

The last time that Daenerys had been preparing to have a child, she had been ten and seven, a mere child herself, and all that she had been fed was the idealised version that every highborn lady gets told. There would be someone else to look after the child, birth would be painless and there would be people around to help with the child. The Khalasar knew what they were doing.

Now, at twenty one, Daenerys was in a new city that she had only just taken control over, in an unfamiliar setting with people that she did not know around her and she did not trust half of her advisors not to drop the child by accident. Her dragons were too far away to be of proper help to her and one part of her was still worried that something could happen to the child because of Mirri Maz Dur, or because of anyone in the city wanting to harm her would harm her daughter.

Not to mention, looking after a child was scary. Every cry had Daenerys panicking, she was not sure whether she was doing things right. She had never had a mother and no one had taught her how to do any of this, and now there was a little baby girl that was depending on her, not to mention the city that she had to rule, and it was so overwhelming and frustrating and scary. 

Most of all, it was just scary.

"Rhaenerys, please, come on now." Daenerys hummed, staring down at her daughter, who was crying in her arms. She had been like this for seemingly hours, just screaming her head off and Daenerys was at her breaking point. She just wanted her daughter to calm down, but she had done everything that should have helped and it hadn't. "Please..."

"Daenerys?" She turned, looking back at Coren, who had appeared in the doorway. He had just come back from checking on Falkor and patrols in the streets with the Unsullied.

"She won't stop crying and I don't know how to get her to stop." Daenerys whispered, as Rhaenerys cried out once more, rattling Daenerys' ear drums.

"It's alright. It's alright, pass her here." Coren hurried over, possibly catching on to how frustrated and tired Daenerys was, and easily taking their daughter from Daenerys' arms. "Hush, little dragon, come on now."

It also did not help that Daenerys knew Coren was not supposed to grow attached to the baby, but Coren was the only one who seemed to have developed a knack for getting Rhaenerys to settle when no one else could. It seemed like she just wanted to be with her father.

Rhaenerys seemed to settle in an instant once with her father as Daenerys slumped down onto her bed, putting her head in her hands.

"Daenerys, are you alright?"

"I cannot do this." Daenerys shook her head, as everything felt so overwhelming in that moment. "I am terrible at this. She only cries when she's with me and I don't know what I'm doing."

"No, no, that's not it."

"It is it though. I am a terrible mother." She threaded her fingers through her hair, before taking a deep breath.

"You need sleep, and to eat and to recharge." Daenerys turned to look up at Coren, who had somehow slipped Rhaenerys into her cot with ease, before he turned to look at her. "You are not a bad mother."

"She hates me."

"Rhaenerys is not old enough to hate anyone." Coren soothed, unbraiding Daenerys' hair as she slumped slightly. "She is a baby, sometimes babies cry."

"I know that seems like common knowledge, but I do not know how to look after a child that does not have scales and breathe fire." Daenerys pointed out, as Coren knelt beside her. Daenerys' head dropped onto his shoulder in an instant, leaning into his touch as he soothed her. "They keep telling me you know what she wants in the moment, and I still struggle to work this out. I had no mother, I had no one to teach me how to be a good mother. I'm failing at it."

"You are doing brilliantly." Coren rubbed a hand up and down her back. "You are tired and stressed, which is unsurprising considering you are learning at the same time as having to run a city, which is just as time consuming. You are doing so well, and I am proud of you."

Daenerys hummed, before resting her chin on Coren's shoulder as she looked at her daughter, who was now fast asleep in her cot.

"Come on, you should sleep whilst she's sleeping." Coren urged, putting Daenerys' clips down and pulling her sheets back as she followed his instructions. The bed called for her, sleep tugging at her consciousness.

"But, what if she wakes up?" 

"I am here." Coren grinned, before pressing a kiss to her forehead as Daenerys sighed. "As long as it is not to feed her, I can do it and I will simply wake you if needs be. For now, sleep. All of the doubts, it will lessen once you are rested."

Daenerys was not sure if that was true but she fell asleep all the same, comforted in the fact that Coren was there to protect their daughter once more.

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The throne room of Mereen was huge and made of marble, natural lighting hitting the green floor as Daenerys sat on the stone throne. She straightened her back, wishing that there was something to lean on, before straightening back up. She shifted her blue dress, straightening the pleats in her skirt as Missandei shifted to the side of her. Coren was, remarkably, not at her side, instead having remained with their daughter.

That had set Daenerys' mind at ease. The sleep had done wonders for her, and she was feeling more like herself than she had in a while, and learning what Rhaenerys' cry meant had become a lot easier.

"You stand before Daenerys Stormborn of the House Targaryen, the First of Her Name, Queen of Mereen, Queen of the Andals and the First Men, Khaleesi of the Great Sea, Breaker of Chains and Mother of Dragons. Don't be afraid, my friend."

The man ahead of her, who was a goatherd, looked at the floor as Missandei stepped forward, hovering right behind Daenerys.

"The Queen says you may approach." She reiterated as the man stepped forward, ascending the stairs. He began to speak as Missandei started to translate.

"He is a goatherd. He says he prayed for your victory against the slave masters." Missandei explained as Daenerys smiled softly.

"I thank him for his prayers." Missandei reiterated the words in Valyrian. The goatherd hummed, before placing a bundle on the ground and revealing the charred remains of a goat. Daenerys knew that there was only one species of animal that could be to blame. Falkor had been around, hovering close to the city, but Drogon had been far more mysterious and often went off on his own for longer than any of his brothers. The two youngest of her dragons sometimes followed their brother on these hunts, but other times stayed with their oldest brother near the city.

"It was your dragons, he says." Missandei confirmed what Daenerys already knew. There was no other beast that could have done it. "They came this morning for his flock. He hopes that he has not offended Your Grace, but now he has nothing."

Daenerys hummed, knowing that what her dragons did was on her shoulders, and it was her weight to bare.

"Tell this man I am sorry for his hardship. I cannot bring back his goats," Missandei started to translate as Daenerys worked out what to say. "But I will see he is paid their value three times over."

The goatherd began to bow his head, thanking her profusely as Daenerys smiled. That, at least, had gone well, though she would have to work out what she was to do with her dragons. They were still growing and food sources for them had to be found or else they would continue to do as they had done to this goatherd's herd, only Daenerys worried that soon their appetite might change to human.

"Send the next one in." Daenerys called as she smoothed her dress once more. She wanted to know how her daughter was, and if she and Coren were alright but it would have to wait. The next man wore finer clothes than most others, ones that symbolised that he was a Master.

"The noble Hizdahr zo Loraq begs an audience with the Queen." His manservant stepped forward to speak to her as Daenerys cocked an eyebrow.

"The noble Hizdahr zo Loraq can speak to me himself." He had a tongue and a mouth, he could use it to speak to her. Finally, the man came forward and bowed his head, waving his manservant back as Daenerys watched him.

"Queen Daenerys, tales of your beauty were not exaggerated." It was an incredibly good thing that Coren was not in the room with them for Daenerys was sure that he'd have scoffed and rolled his eyes at the statement.

"I thank you." Daenerys nodded. 

"Mine is one of the oldest and proudest families in Mereen."

"Then it is my honour to receive you." Daenerys stated simply, turning to look up at Missandei for a moment as they shared a look.

"My father, one of Mereen's most respected and beloved citizens, oversaw the restoration and maintenance of its greatest landmarks." Hizdahr continued to explained, stepping further forward as Daenerys watched him carefully. "This pyramid included."

"For that, he has my gratitude." Daenerys nodded, before wondering what she could say next. "I should be honoured to meet him."

"You have, Your Grace." That was news to Daenerys. "You crucified him. I pray you'll never live to see a member of your family treated so cruelly."

The thought of her only family crucified, her daughter, who was still one a few weeks old, had Daenerys fighting a scowl. She would be dead before she allowed that to happen to her child. It reminded her of the slave children who had been crucified. Had their parents lived to see that? Had they screamed and begged for it not to be their child?

"Your father crucified innocent children." Daenerys shot back.

"My father spoke out against crucifying those children." Hizdahr replied. "He decried it as a criminal act, but was overruled. Is it justice to answer one crime with another?"

Daenerys hummed.

"I am sorry you no longer have a father, but my treatment of the masters was no crime." She straightened her spine, rolling her shoulders back ever so slightly as she looked down onto the young man. "You'd be wise to remember that."

"What's done is done. You are the queen and I am a servant of Mereen." Hizdahr nodded along with what she had said as Daenerys watched him. "A servant who does not wish to see its traditions eradicated."

"And what traditions do you speak of?"

"The tradition of funeral rite. Proper burial in the Temple of the Graces." Those requests seemed reasonable enough but if she granted them these rites, then what of the slave children who had been nailed to those posts? They should have also had the right to be buried and have a funeral rite read for them. "My father and one hundred and sixty two noble Mereenese are still nailed to those posts, carrion for vultures, rotting in the sun."

He fell to her knees ahead of her as Daenerys watched on.

"Your Grace, I ask that you order these men taken down so that they might receive proper burials."

"And what of the slave children these noble Mereenese crucified?" Hizdahr looked up at her, eyes wide at Daenerys. These nobles had the opportunities and the power to have others fight for them and their funerals, but those poor children had none of those rights. "They were rotting in the sun as well. Would you have begged me for their right to a proper burial?"

She could guess that the answer was probably no.

"Your Grace, I cannot defend the actions of the masters. I can only speak to you as a son who loved his father. Let me take his body down." Daenerys could admit that Coren might have been a bit hasty in his judgement of the masters, and thus it was her fault. "Let me have him brought to the temple and buried with dignity, so that he might find peace in the next world."

"Bury your father, Hizdahr zo Loraq." This one she would grant, to show that she could be merciful, but Daenerys would not show mercy to all of them. Otherwise, she would seem weak, to all of them.

"Thank you, my Queen." He bowed, before the young man exited the hall as Daenerys sighed. This was all proving slightly stressful. 

"How many more?" She looked up at Missandei, who shot her a sympathetic smile.

"There are two hundred and twelve supplicants waiting, Your Grace."

"Two hun-?" She cut herself off, turning back to the front as she chewed on her lips. Daenerys had chosen to rule, and she would rule as best she could. Coren would have to wait for a bit longer.

Hiya,

So Daenerys is struggling with parenting which is so fair, and she's a bit pissed that Rhaenerys is already a daddy's girl. Coren and Dany are super sweet, we get a little bit of politics and Dany knows how jealous Coren is, so that'll be fun to see. Next chapter will be good though.

Let me know what you think,

Love Li xx