Field Outside Volantis

"That is very generous," Aegon smiled, "And we shall gladly accept. Our dragons are more used to open sky, I am afraid, so it seems more suitable to keep them in this pasture."

"These elections of yours," Aegon continued, "How do they work? It is a strange thought to my Westerosi sensibilities. Does the best candidate always win?"

Laena smirked at Arenya's comment. "It shall be very interesting here," she observed to her daughter. "I shall be sure to examine their library." She looked around at those present, noticed Arenya's companion for the first time. "Orys shall stay here with the dragons. I require a comfortable bed so long as we remain in Volantis. My bones are not so young any more."

"Parties?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. One of her servants spoke a quick sentence in the bastardized version of High Valyrian that they spoke in Volantis, and the Triarch nodded. "I am preferring the wealth of trade to the wealth of conquest, and some are calling people who are sharing my thoughts 'Elephants'," she replied smoothly. "Others are preferring conquest to trade, and some are calling them 'Tigers'."

"This Daughter is being the greatest of cities," the Triarch agreed, smiling at Aegon again. "Volantis is being the foremost of Valyria's Daughters, in power, wealth, and influence. If you are wishing it, Prince of Dragonstone, you may be buying items from every country in the world, in the markets of Volantis."

"Whatever you are desiring, Prince of Dragonstone. We are having a particularly fine selection of slaves this month, many of them imported from the east by my sister's husband," Triarch Mellaria replied. "The finest beds laves from Yunkaii are being sold, and trained craftsmen from Mereen. I am thinking, though, that the Unsullied that have been placed on the market will be drawing the highest price. It is being a pity that it is being peacetime in your Westeros, or perhaps you would be wanting to bid on them."

The Triarch shrugged, but the expression on her face said that she thought that custom was ridiculous. "There are being many other types of goods for sale in the markets of this Daughter as well, but you did ask what was being my recommendation, Prince of Dragonstone. Unsullied are being the finest soldiers in all the world; I am thinking they would not even be fleeing from a Dragon, no matter how many of them are being killed."

Aegon got the distinct impression that he was being tested, or toyed with, and that the Triarch's command of the Westerosi tongue was significantly better than she let on.

"It is being true that one Knight may be defeating one of the Unsullied, but one thousand of the Unsullied will be destroying ten thousand of your Westerosi Knights," she replied dismissively. "There are being no warriors in the world with greater discipline and obedience than the Unsullied. It is being unthinkable for them to be turning their spears against their masters; they would sooner be falling on them themselves."

They were crossing over the Long Bridge by this point, the bridge which joins the two halves of Volantis across the mouth of the Rhoyne. It is a great span with a road supported by massive piers that the Valyrians built at the height of their glory. Its gateway is an arch of black stone carved with sphinxes, manticores, dragons and other strange beasts. The road is just wide enough for two carts to pass abreast. Buildings rise on either side of the roadway. One can buy almost anything in the shops on the Long Bridge. In the center of the bridge the hands of thieves and the heads of executed criminals are displayed.

At the west end of the bridge, the Black Walls loomed up two hundred feet high, dominating the skyline and shielding all but the tallest buildings inside it from view. It protects the oldest part of the city on the eastern shore, often called Old Volantis. It is wide enough for six four-horse chariots to race around its top abreast, as is done each year to celebrate the founding of the city. No outlander, freeman, or foreigner is allowed inside the Black Wall save at the invitation of those who dwell within. Only scions of the Old Blood who can trace their ancestry back to Valyria itself may live within the Black Wall.

"Each of the families of the Old Blood are having their own household men; some are having slaves, others are paying freemen from outside the Black Wall to be guarding their estates. I am preferring a mix of both for the guards of my household, as the Army of Volantis is being," she said, as they approached the gates.

"I am having an interest in languages, that not many are sharing," she replied, clearly skeptical of his pride in the Knights of Westeros. "My ship was once being docked in Gulltown for repairs after a storm, when I was being on a journey to Braavos, but the weather was being poor and I was not being inclined to, ahhh, you say... disembark?"

"Gulltown has its charms, but the weather is rarely one of them," Aegon conceded with a smile, then turned back to Jaes.

"Indeed they do," Aegon agreed, thinking about it. "But is it a bad thing to vary in skill? One man is a fine blade, the next a good tracker, the third a peerless horseman. It is the job of the commander to know each man's skill and use it to its fullest, is it not?"

"And I would want more than three men!" Aegon chuckled, "But we make due with what we have." The prince looked at the streets of Old Volantis with interest, aware that he was one of only a few Westerosi who had been allowed in before. "Are you a warrior yourself, Master Azantys?" Aegon asked.

"I have been a warrior all my life, so perhaps in that respect I am more like your Tigers. But my own preference is peaceful resolution where possible. Force is best reserved for those who deserve it. When those occasions do come, I find it useful to have a large axe on hand."