Of course… aside from the panicked Pentos and the deliberating Volantis that are close to the ensuing colonization… the other Free Cities and distant powers of Essos were just as disturbed as well.
Laena herself had heard enough whispers during her stay here in Braavos to piece together the broader reaction.
Even far from the Narrow Sea... the names Royce and Ronan were being spoken and talked about.
How in Slaver's Bay, the response was cautious and calculating.
Astapor's masters tightened control, fearing unrest among slaves hearing of freedom elsewhere. Their Unsullied prepared as contigency.
Yunkai's nobles debated trade disruptions, wary but unwilling to act.
Meereen's elite dismissed it outwardly, yet quietly reinforced their own defenses.
Farther still... in Yi Ti, the news must have arrived in distant thunder.
Especially when it should be noted those were three Cities... taken swiftly, by one rising power that may just rival them.
Consequently... in Qohor, the reactions are said to be more uneasy.
Their sorcerers spoke in hushed tones of unnatural forces. Some claimed the balance of powers was shifting. Others urging some kind of caution, unwilling to provoke something they did not understand.
While in Norvos... the bearded priests were rumored to be divided. With some calling it a sign of divine will of their unidentified god while others from their ranks warned against such foreign influence.
But in the end... they, along with the neighboring Qohor, chose caution… sending fine tapestries and formal congratulations, just as they once had to the current known rulers of Westeros.
Accordingly, in Lorath, the current three Princes reacted in a rather reserved way.
At least Laena had not heard much from them. Just as she's listened to stories of whaling Ibbenese being quite partial to Runestone ships they encounter.
In any case... all of these seemed distant from her.
And yet, somehow, very close.
Because here in Braavos, the reaction was quite congregated... as many folks from these near or far-away nations conducted some form of trade or leisurely travel here.
Either way... Laena Velaryon stood by the window, looking out over the canals.
She had been here for some time now.
Long enough to grow used to the rhythm of the city.
Long enough to accept her place in it.
For her engagement had long been settled.
A match with the son of the Sealord.
It was not something she had chosen… but she had accepted it, as any good daughter would.
After Rhaenyra's grand marriage, Laena even expected that she would be next.
That everything would fall into place towards a new phase in her life called marriage.
Alas, things had not gone as expected.
They never did.
Troubles had come one after another.
The return of the Triarchy… stronger than before… threatening the shipping lanes her father held dear.
Then their sudden defeat.
So swift that it left even Corlys Velaryon unsettled.
Laena remembered those days.
Her father, restless.
Thinking. Calculating. Watching the tides shift in ways he could not fully control.
Then came the dragons over Dorne.
Castles burned and settlements broken.
Even from afar, it sent unease through every lord who owned stone and land.
And then in an unexpected development… Dorne bent the knee.
That, more than anything, had made her father pause. To consider many things and worrying about many implications.
As if the world itself had begun to tilt... in the favor of someone that the Velaryons didn't have good standing with.
Courtesy of her very loose-jawed uncle Vaemond.
And then came the matter of the Kingdoms of the Three Sisters. The sequential colonization of them.
Which was reacted towards by the many aforementioned... but mayhaps considered more so by the leaders here of this Bastard Daughter.
So much so that quite a shift had taken place.
As it would seem, out of nowhere, the Sealord had suddenly changed his mind.
Her match… was apparently no longer needed.
Instead, he wanted something else.
Someone else.
Her brother... Laenor Velaryon of all people… was the one the Sealord wanted to now match with her supposedly prized daughter.
At first, it made no sense.
To her brother, who was understandably confused.
To her father... whose inner thoughts may actually be considering.
And to her mother, who was quick to turn livid.
But Laena understood it quietly.
That the Sealord and the forces behind him were no longer satisfied with just a woman that carried the potential to carry dragonblood children... they now wanted a man that was bonded with a dragon already.
The facts of the Bronze Retaliation must have impacted them more to actually try and overreach like this.
For the world had truly changed.
Power was no longer just fleets and gold.
It was no longer even about dragons.
And Braavos… for all its wealth and independence… wanted a semblance of that power at hand.
Even when it was just a single dragon like Seasmoke...
It could be considered a start.
Against the many more that the current Houses of the Dragon actually had... against the Krakens... and against the fabled Royce bronze armors.
As for Laena herself.... well, she…
She was no longer enough.
But regardless of what the final deliberation between Sea Snake and Sealord would be... Laena, who was rejected as a match once again, can't help but be in doubt.
She had not cared for the King's proposal before. Had barely understood it at the time.
But this… this had felt real. Something she had accepted already.
And now, out of nowhere, it was gone. Again.
So, she exhaled quietly... wondering...
"Am I truly so undesirable?"
If she had a dragon…
If she had claimed one, as she had always dreamed…
Would things have been different?
Would they have chosen her?
Would anyone?
Laena did not know.
And that uncertainty lingered longer than anything else.
Until a new resolve was reflected in her eyes.
One that she was determined to see through the very end.
----------------
----------------
----------------
Fortunately, the timing could not be any more coincidental.
Since not long after Laena mentally decided to try shaping her own fate... a certain piece of news reached her ears.
The many rumoring mouths and gossips within Braavos were something she was already attuned to... and this one happened to be about a hope she'd longed for since she was but a child.
Believed to have been nesting somewhere on the coast of the Narrow Sea...
With people from Driftmark's local Spicetown apparently hearing this one's sad song at times.
But Laena knew that none of those had been substantial... since she herself had checked.
However... this rumored sighting that a boisterous merchant was wagging about... it is recent...
And perhaps as decent as can be. Since their caravan members talk of a giant winged beast of greenish-blue hue... waking from somewhere in the vicinity of Old Valyria.
Prompting Laena to care less about a Sealord's reneged agreement... and just setting out to grab the opportunity that was finally presenting itself to her.
For this was the chance that she very much needs... as it could very well change her life.
And as luck would have it, new news tell of sightings that point to this winged beast resting nearby.