Chapter 337

The 800-foot-tall pyramid rose majestically from its square base, piercing the clouds. At its summit lay the Queen's courtyard, a verdant sanctuary with lush trees, fragrant flowers, and shimmering pools. From this lofty perch, one could overlook the entire city: the labyrinth of narrow alleys and wide brick streets, temples and granaries, hovels and palaces, brothels and bathhouses, gardens and fountains, and the red-brick ring of the grand fighting pits. Beyond the city walls lay a waxy-white sea, the winding Skahazadhan River, dry brown hills, burned orchards, and blackened fields.

The queen's residence, perched so high, seemed like the peak of a sacred mountain. But there was no queen—only her Hand, looking harried and anxious.

Even Petyr Baelish had to admit his intellect had its limits.

He had appeared before Daenerys Targaryen and sworn fealty the very day she took Meereen. By then, hordes of hungry refugees from Yunkai and Astapor had poured into the greatest city in Slaver’s Bay, looting and killing amidst the chaos of its fall. While the nobles’ grand pyramids escaped unscathed, the poorer districts suffered severe devastation. Though the Unsullied eventually restored order, Petyr had to employ a mix of persuasion, threats, and manipulation to stabilize the city and implement his own strategy of “using tigers to tame wolves,” thus tenuously establishing Daenerys’s rule.

It had not been easy. In Westeros, he had thrived thanks to his sharp mind, meticulous planning, and ruthless willingness to use any means to achieve his goals. But he had also relied heavily on his understanding of the noble class and the fact that most people underestimated him because of his low birth.

In Meereen, the snake pit of Slaver’s Bay, he had no such advantage. Here, he stood in full view, bereft of his usual obscurity, and his enemies in the shadows were just as ruthless, if not more so. Every day was a battle. By day, he handled governance; by night, he slept with one eye open. For the first time since his “awakening,” Petyr found himself too consumed by his duties to engage in his usual plots and schemes. All his cunning and energy were devoted to protecting the interests of his queen.

What fueled him was a burning rage—a deep desire for revenge. His ultimate goal was to help Daenerys reclaim Westeros and take vengeance upon the Tullys, Arryns, Lannisters, and all those who had once scorned, mocked, judged, and betrayed him. Someday, he would sit upon the Iron Throne as regent, ruling the Seven Kingdoms in her name. He would uncover the conspiracy that had disgraced him and forced him into exile—the so-called “letter incident”—and he would personally see every conspirator’s head spiked atop the walls of the Red Keep.

...

That was a distant dream. For now, he had to focus on being the perfect Hand of the Queen.

...

The new Meereenese elite quickly bowed under a mix of pressure and persuasion, and the city began functioning under the banner of the dragon. It gradually produced and stockpiled the resources and arms Daenerys needed for her return to Westeros. But this was, perhaps, the only good news since Petyr had boarded “the Last Targaryen’s” metaphorical ship.

The young and headstrong queen had conquered Astapor and Yunkai before reaching Meereen, but her poor handling of those victories left behind chaos that she was now forced to clean up herself.

Astapor: Daenerys had left the city in the hands of a council of a healer, a scholar, and a priest, without considering their competence or providing them with sufficient military protection. Predictably, they were overthrown by a butcher named Cleon. This pig slaughterer—unsurpassed in speed—abolished slavery in name but crowned himself king and enslaved others under a new guise. Cleon began training a new generation of Unsullied using the children of former nobles. Every pyramid became a barracks, and the streets reeked of death and deceit. Shops were devoid of food but teeming with slaves. Compared to when Daenerys passed through, the city now resembled hell itself.

Yunkai: Here, Daenerys had secured an easy victory with a few clever maneuvers and defections. Perhaps because it had been too easy, she didn’t bother exploiting the city’s resources, establishing order, or even addressing the ruling slavers. She simply left with an army of freedmen in tow, heading to her next conquest. Unsurprisingly, once she departed, the slavers regained control and viewed her as the greatest threat to their power. They sent envoys to Volantis, Qarth, and other Free Cities to spread rumors about her, eventually rallying allies for a counterattack.

She had been cruel when she shouldn’t have been and merciful when it was ill-advised—classic signs of political inexperience. Still, considering her youth and inexperience, Petyr couldn’t fault her too much.

...

Through meticulous planning and effort, Petyr managed to stabilize Daenerys’s fledgling regime in Meereen, guiding it through its perilous infancy.

But the true challenge soon arrived. After Yunkai’s slavers regrouped with mercenaries and the New Ghis legions to capture Astapor, Meereen became the target of a joint assault supported by the Volantene fleet. Petyr coordinated every resource available, forging alliances with the Lhazareen beyond the Skahazadhan, reforming the Unsullied, mercenaries, and freedmen into a new Meereenese army, and even dispatching troops to block the influx of starving refugees that threatened famine and plague.

Despite his best efforts, the balance of power was overwhelmingly against them. In the end, Daenerys accepted Petyr’s advice to negotiate a truce. She compromised with adversaries she could have crushed, and fragile peace was established.

Astapor and Yunkai, having restored slavery, “respected” Daenerys’s liberation of Meereen. In return, Meereen respected their institutions, allowed those who wished to re-enter slavery to leave, opened its ports to Free City trade, and compensated the former masters of Meereen.

This tenuous peace turned Yunkai into the monopolistic overlord of the slave trade in Slaver’s Bay, making it the greatest beneficiary of the farcical “liberation.”

To further humiliate Daenerys, Yunkai’s army camped just south of Meereen, its fleet anchored in her harbor. The slavers even erected auction blocks and slave pens outside her city walls, openly mocking her under the noses of her guards.

A wall separated two worlds.

“They mock me to my face, flaunting my inability to stop them.”

From her pyramid, Daenerys gazed out at the endless sea of yellow tents, trenches dug by slaves, and the massed ranks of New Ghis legions, Ghiscari troops, and mercenary companies. The sight stirred her fury, and she vowed to crush her enemies and eradicate slavery once and for all.

By rights, this shouldn’t have been difficult. After all, Daenerys commanded the most fearsome biological weapons in the world—three dragons. But the problem was, she didn’t know how to control them.

Her dragons had grown from kitten-sized hatchlings to over ten feet long, their appetites increasing with their size. At some point, they began hunting for themselves, preying on sheep, cattle, and, reportedly, humans. To prevent further havoc, Daenerys decided to imprison them.

Viserion was the first to be chained, lured into a pit and locked away after a feast. Rhaegal resisted, requiring soldiers to ensnare him in a net of iron chains as he basked on her terrace. The effort took three days and left six men burned. As for Drogon—the largest, fiercest, and most untamed—he evaded every attempt at capture. After a disastrous third attempt that resulted in heavy casualties, Drogon flew north across the Skahazadhan, vanishing into the Dothraki Sea.

Three dragons: two imprisoned, one missing. To Petyr, this was a critical failure. If the legendary dragons became more of a liability than an asset, was Daenerys truly planning to retake Westeros with just the Unsullied?

As Hand of the Queen, Petyr issued an order: gather all possible knowledge about dragon-taming for Daenerys to study. His intentions were entirely for the greater good—no personal agenda whatsoever. He even took charge of the operation himself. Unfortunately, the art of controlling dragons had been lost with Valyria’s Doom. After offering rewards and scouring the known world, Petyr identified three possible sources of information:The Ruins of Valyria: Though plagued by monsters and demons, the remnants of Valyria might still hide dragon-related knowledge amidst the devastation.Dragonstone and King’s Landing: As the last Valyrian house to control dragons, the Targaryens might have left relevant records in these locations—assuming Robert Baratheon hadn’t destroyed them. Asshai by the Shadow: Rumored to possess complete knowledge of dragon-lore, and perhaps even living dragons, this mysterious city lay at the southeastern edge of the known world.

...

The ruins of Valyria were said to be perilous, and Dragonstone and King’s Landing were in enemy hands. So, when Drogon briefly returned, Daenerys—impulsive as ever—ignored all warnings and leapt onto his back, flying east in search of dragon lore.