After the Battle of Winterfell ended, the various forces that had come to support Winterfell gradually departed.
Dany followed closely behind the second stag. After taking her maids to the Wall to heal Bran's spine, she set off flying toward Slaver's Bay.
Little Green and Little White would remain on Dragonstone, while the wyvern legion was responsible for sending the southerners who had supported Winterfell back home.
The next morning, Dany once again took up residence in the palace atop the Great Pyramid of Meereen.
Although it was clearly morning, the sky above Meereen looked like a winter evening at around five o'clock. It was not completely pitch-dark, but it was dim and gloomy.
Without lamps, the rooms were engulfed in darkness. Only by carrying lanterns could people walk through the streets.
More frightening than the darkness was the cold and the goose-feather-like snowfall.
"I've lived nearly forty years, yet this is the first time I've seen weather this cold and snow this heavy," said the Earl of Broken Shackles, shivering inside his thick fur coat.
No fireplace had been lit in the hall on the top floor of the pyramid, because when the structure was originally designed, it had never been intended to withstand winter.
"Your Lordship should go to Westeros and see Winterfell. That is what true cold is. It is so cold that even fire refuses to burn," said Jhogo.
"This is the Long Night. The world is being consumed by cold and darkness." Dany turned to the dark-skinned girl. "Is Meereen's heating supply secured?"
"There were already more than a hundred thousand labor convicts before, and now we have sixty to seventy thousand additional prisoners. With the Long Night arriving and farming impossible, I arranged for them to go north into the forests to cut wood and make charcoal," said Missandei.
"What about the common people? That charcoal surely won't reach them," Dany asked again.
As soon as she finished speaking, she fell silent and chuckled to herself.
"The Long Night has arrived, yet I haven't even appeared publicly before the people. They are probably confused and anxious right now.
Compared with firewood and grain, stabilizing public morale is the most urgent task.
Missandei, make the arrangements. Tomorrow I will go to the estates outside the city for a field inspection themed 'Meereen Under the Long Night.' Three days later, I will deliver a speech in the People's Square about 'The Unity of Ruler and People in Slaver's Bay in Facing the Long Night.'"
"You're right. Even I have felt somewhat at a loss lately, completely uncertain about the future," said the red-haired Layla with a bitter smile as she sat across from the Earl of Broken Shackles.
"Your Majesty, what was the outcome of the Battle of Winterfell? Could it be that the city fell?" asked old Aemon worriedly.
If the battle had achieved its intended goal of killing the King of the Others, then more than just the Dragon Queen and her two maids would have returned.
"It wasn't a failure."
Dany spent quite some time recounting her experiences in the North.
Most of it concerned the Others.
"Seven gods above, Winterfell was sealed beneath an iceberg two thousand meters high..."
When they heard about the effect of the forbidden spell White Frost, everyone around the conference table turned pale, their eyes filled with terror.
"If the Cold God comes to Meereen, how could we resist?" the Earl of Broken Shackles asked with a trembling voice.
Dany's expression turned strange.
"Westeros is the first line of defense against the Others. As long as the people of the Seven Kingdoms continue to resist, the Others and the Cold God will not cross the Narrow Sea and travel thousands of miles to Slaver's Bay."
The Earl of Broken Shackles let out a long breath and smiled in relief.
"That's good, that's good! I've long heard that the Land of the Sunset has many knights. With them blocking the way, we can rest easy. We only need to wait for the savior..."
"Your Majesty, are you the savior?" he asked with wide eyes, full of curiosity.
"I will save the world, but I am not the savior."
"Isn't saving the world exactly what a savior does?" Cleon asked in confusion.
Old Aemon said slowly, "The savior known to everyone now comes from the prophecy of Asshai six thousand years ago. The Queen is not the savior chosen by R'hllor."
"Your Majesty, since the Battle of Winterfell has ended and we have gained another half year of adjustment time, why not deal with Jenny and those dragon worms?" said the red-haired Layla.
"It has been snowing heavily these past few days. Would the dragon worms really dare come out and move around?" Dany asked.
Layla shook her head.
"Three days ago the sun disappeared completely, and only then did it begin snowing in Meereen. I'm not sure whether the sudden cold weather is the cause, or if Jenny is adjusting her guerrilla strategy.
Her last few raids all ended in failure. She has likely already sensed the existence of a spy."
In this era, ordinary families did not have the ability to store grain for long periods, three years or more. Therefore, villages located far from cities generally built public granaries managed by the authorities.
For that reason, Jenny had devised a tactic of using dragon worms to destroy the granaries.
However, the previous operations had all yielded poor results. The villages they burned were not only already deserted, with their grain relocated, but wyvern riders were often lying in ambush to launch surprise attacks.
The Dragon Queen possessed more than fifty wyverns. Only forty had been sent to Westeros. The rest remained in Meereen, prepared to deal with Jenny's dragon worms.
During the half month before R'hllor directly confronted the Cold God and the sun disappeared entirely, Jenny launched attacks on three villages. Four dragon worms were killed, and seven or eight cylindrical grain silos were destroyed, yet not a single grain of rice was burned.
Even the horsemen stationed outside the villages as couriers had guessed that there was a traitor among Jenny's people.
And indeed, "Prince Rio" had arranged for one of his attendants to fake his death and escape from the dragon worm tunnels, leaking Jenny's plans to Meereen.
"Ah... you... you... you're the Dragon Queen?!!!"
The young spy had just followed the Unsullied guard into the palace when he suddenly pointed at the Dragon Queen on the throne and cried out in shock.
"This is Her Majesty the Queen. Show some respect!" the red-haired Layla shouted sharply.
"I... I thought..."
The young man seemed to want to say more, but when he met the Dragon Queen's puzzled gaze, he immediately dropped to his knees with a thud.
"Forgive me, Your Majesty. Forgive me, Lord Amber. I mistook you for someone else. The Queen resembles a kind person I once encountered."
The young man had blond hair and blue eyes, with obvious Lhoynar features. He appeared about twenty-four or twenty-five years old, barely over one meter sixty in height. His thin, bamboo-like body was topped with an exaggeratedly long, freckled horse-like face.
Dany stared at him, frowning and thinking for quite a while before she suddenly remembered the identity of the person kneeling before her.
"You did not mistake the person, but you used a false name, so I did not recognize you immediately," Dany said with a smile.
"Ah, you really are Miss Layla! You have become a queen? Oh no, before this you went to Volantis to work as a spy." The long-faced young man suddenly raised his head, so excited that he spoke incoherently.
"Were you not called Cadillac? Why have you now changed your name to 'Dick'?" Dany asked curiously.
This young man was the elephant-car driver Dany had encountered when she and old Barristan toured Volantis years ago.
At that time, Cadillac had a wheel tattoo on his right cheek that represented his status as a charioteer slave. Now the tattoo had been cut away, leaving a scar. Even his name had been changed, which caused Dany to fail to think of the former driver for a moment.
"Dick is the new name Prince Leo granted me. He said 'Cadillac' was a mark left on me by my slave master and should have been removed long ago, just like the tattoo," the long-faced young man said.
Dany's mouth twitched a few times. "That fellow seems able to get along anywhere. A few words and a new name, and he has already talked you into everything."
Cadillac did not understand the meaning behind her words and only confessed blankly, "Prince Leo said the allied army had already lost. We should not be buried alongside Priestess Jenny, and surrendering voluntarily would be the best choice.
"He also accepted me as his squire and promised that after we escaped, he would take me back to Elephant Island and give me a piece of land, the daughter of a noble family as my wife, and twenty elephants.
"I told him I already had a wife, so he rewarded me with a name and a surname: Dick Tywin."
"Hehehe." Dany could not help laughing. Old Aemon also found it amusing, and the two of them laughed until Dick Tywin below them became even more flustered.
After laughing for a while, Dany asked curiously, "Do you know that I deliberately hid gold coins among the copper coins that day?"
Dick Tywin's horse-like face turned pale and flushed by turns, and his eyes flickered uncertainly.
Dany seemed to realize something, and the smile on her face disappeared. "You thought I had made a mistake and were afraid I would ask for the money back, so you did not come to find me?"
When they met in Volantis that day, the elephant-car driver had displayed astonishing elephant-handling skills. He was also extremely clever and treated the Dragon Queen, who was using the alias "Priestess Layla," with great respect and courtesy.
More importantly, he deeply admired the Dragon Queen who freed slaves.
Therefore, Dany decided to give him a chance. When she paid the fare, she deliberately mixed five gold glory coins among a handful of copper coins.
She waited for Cadillac for several days, waiting for him to come to the Merchant's House inn to find her.
No matter the reason, whether he returned the money he found or cleverly guessed her intention, as long as he came, she would take him away.
There were elephants in Slaver's Bay as well, and she could always arrange a suitable position for him.
But he never came.
Dick Tywin's face turned pale as he lay prostrate on the ground and begged, "Your Majesty, please forgive me!
When I discovered the gold glory coins among the copper coins, I immediately had two guesses. The most likely one was that, for some purpose, you had deliberately given the gold coins to reward me. The other possibility was that you did not care about money and had mistakenly placed the gold coins in the pouch for copper coins.
"I knew I should go back to find you, but…"
Dick Tywin pressed his face against the carpet and choked with emotion. "Five gold glory coins could change my fate. I did not want to remain a slave. I wanted freedom. Only by becoming a free man could I marry Dana.
"I was afraid. Even though the possibility was very small, if you asked me to return those five gold coins, I… I…"
"Stand up," Dany said gently, raising her right hand slightly. "The gold coins were a gift from me. You did not steal them or take them by force. What crime could there be?"
She truly was not angry.
The gold coins had been given by her own initiative. What choice Cadillac made was up to him, and his choice determined his own fate. From beginning to end, Dany never intended to gain anything from him.
She was simply giving. His actions determined how much she would give him.
Obviously, Cadillac's choice had not been the best one. In the end, he had only obtained five gold coins from her.
Well, although he had missed the opportunity to become one of the Dragon Queen's followers, he had now connected with the dwarf and had even received a promise of land on Elephant Island and twenty elephants. His luck could still be considered fairly good.
"How did you come to Slaver's Bay?" Dany asked again after Dick Tywin stood up.
"I secretly gave the five gold coins you left me to Dana. The elephant carriage company was run by her cousin's uncle, so it was easy for him to sell me away. Then she granted me freedom and married me.
"Our marriage was not blessed by her family, but we could support ourselves. I know how to handle elephants, and Dana grew up helping her mother make meat pies at 'Kelly's Meat Pie Shop.'
"So the two of us used the remaining money to buy an elephant and a baking cart converted from an elephant carriage, and we sold meat pies along the streets of Volantis.
"Those days were the happiest time of my life."
By the end, the young man's long face was filled with sighs and nostalgia.
"Cousin's uncle… Kelly's meat pie…" Dany repeated the two phrases carefully. They seemed to stir a certain memory in her mind.
(P.S. If anyone is confused and does not know what the story about Cadillac and the gold coins refers to, please look back at Chapter 208. Kelly's meat pie first appeared in Chapter 187. That was the meat pie shop owned by Aunt Kelly, the woman who cheated Dany out of five gold glory coins.
She cheated Dany out of five gold glory coins, and later Dany gave Cadillac five gold glory coins. The driver then used those five gold glory coins to elope with her daughter.)
(End of Chapter)
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