Siccome sono perfido vi posto gli spoiler su Dance with Dragons prima ancora che abbiate finito di leggere Feast! Buona Lettura!
Questo è il secondo capitolo di Dany, che sostituisce quello noto in precedenza, ed avviene dopo il capitolo in preview su Feast.
The chapter opens with Dany watching dancers in Mereen. Her thoughts drift to Daario and she thinks of how silly it is that she is jealous of his sword hilts, which are wrought of gold in the shapes of naked women. She sees Xaro Xhoan Daxos and thinks that she must speak with him about the thirteen ships he arrived in port with, as they may be the answers to her prayers.
Dany speaks with Xaro following the dance. He flatters her by telling her that he saw a child leave Qarth and sees now a Queen of an ancient city. The flattery doesn't sway her and her mind stays on acquring his thirteen ships.
Dany remembers the stories of Astapor and Yunkai being the linchpins of the slave trade in years past, after dragonfire had turned the lands into a desert following the war that Ghis brought to old Valyria. Xaro tells Dany that he knows of the Sons of the Harpy and their bounty on Dany's head. He has seen the blood drawn on the stone roads and walls. Xaro calls the Sons of the Harpy craven and speaks with Dany about the protection she has in Mereen. She names her bloodriders and Ser Barristan the Bold, who saved her twice from assassins. Xaro repeats Selmy's name, calling him "Barristan the Old" and tells Dany that Ser Jorah was a more fitting servant, younger and in better shape. Dany tells Xaro that she doesn't wish to speak of Jorah Mormont.
They speak of love. Xaro tells Dany that she needs to wed, and she agrees. Xaro offers himself, shedding a Qarthian crocodile tear, and Dany throws a cherry at him, not buying what he has for sale. She tells him that he showed more interest in the dancers than her. They go on to argue about the validity of the slave trade and Xaro tells her that things which may seem evil may be good. Xaro sees laborers that Dany has, such as a ditch-digger, as slaves. Dany explains that they are compensated and Xaro laughs it off, saying that there are no slaves in Mereen (though clearly meaning that this man is a slave, even if he is paid). As they walk, Xaro is made nervous by the fact that Ser Barristan follows them. Dany dismisses it, saying that he is an old knight and loyal.
Xaro continues pressing Dany about her abolition of the slave trade by saying that Mereen was rich but is now poor, was fed but is now starving and was peaceful, but is now bloody. This stings Dany. She promises to return Mereen to its station of greatness, but Xaro does not think this will happen. He goes on to tell her that battle was joined at the Horns of Hazzat and that the Butcher King has fled back to his palace with the new Unsullied running at his heels. Xaro tells her that the Wise Masters have hired legions of sellswords. He ensures her that while she seiges Yunkai, Mereen will fall behind her. Xaro tells Dany that she has many enemies, some in her own court. Dany thinks about the three betrayals. Dany lists her armies, the sellswords, the Second Sons, and the Stormcrows. She adds that she has dragons.
"Do you?" Xaro asks her. Dany thinks of Hazzea, the little girl killed by Drogon, and wonders what whispers have leaked from her court. Dany leads the conversation away from blood and fire and Xaro tells her of a gift he is to offer her. Dany follows, suspicious.
Xaro offers Dany the thirteen gallies in his fleet in exchange not for dragons, but for her agreement to sail to Westeros at once. She asks him what would happen if she chooses to wait a year or two or three. Xaro replies that he fears she will not live as long. Dany tells him that the Yunkai'i are not as fierce as he thinks, and he tells her to beware her other enemies, including those with blue lips. Dany assures him that she left all the Warlocks with Xaro in Qarth. Xaro tells her that she never looked behind herself and that Pyat Pree dispatched warlocks to trail her. Dany tells him that she spent fourteen years running from knives and would not run any longer. She dismisses Xaro, telling him she will think on it. He offers to bed her, but she kindly refuses.
When Xaro is gone, Dany calls Ser Barristan to her side. She tells him a riddle that Viserys once told her. "Who listens to everything but hears nothing?" The answer is a knight of the kingsguard. She asks Ser Barristan what he thinks of Xaro's offer. He wants Dany to take the ships and sail to Westeros. Dany thinks of Ser Jorah and, despite his betrayal, wishes for his counsel as she believes Ser Barristan "too blunt and sensible." They discuss the logistics of setting sail with so few ships and how to contain the dragons.
After the discussion, she tells Ser Barristan to lead her to the pit. He questions her a moment, but she insists. They wind through the structures beneath the great pyramid of Mereen. They reach the pit and Barristan holds Dany back. She asks him if he thinks "they" will harm her. Barristan does not know, but would no sooner risk it to chance.
The molten eyes of Viserion and Rhaegal burn in the darkness. Charred bones are on the floor and the place smells of sulphur and sweats with heat. The two smaller dragons are chained in captivity in one of the fighting pits. Dany speaks to Barristan of the dragons, asking if they will ever stop growing, as they are larger than when she last saw them. He tells her that they will continue to grow with enough space and food. But chained in a pit...
Dany wonders if they will grow to hate her or each other, whether they will die if she keeps them captive for too long. Dany thinks about the dangers of dragons, about Harrenhal and how it fell, the Dance with Dragons, and how Aegon III saw his own mother consumed by one of the beasts. She thinks of the slaver's eyes melting in Astapor to Drogon's flames and realizes that her dragons fear no men. Dany thinks of Hazzea, the young girl that Drogon killed, and wonders whether the Sons of the Harpy staged her death to create animosity toward Dany and her rule. She thinks of Hazzea's father and how she paid the bloodprice and how Reznak demanded that she kill him, or at least tear out his tongue so that he would not talk. Dany refused to do so and sent him away, Reznak telling him that his daughter had been killed by a snakebite or taken in the night by ravening wolves, but for him to NEVER mention dragons.
Dany looks at Viserion and wonders how long before his fire can melt iron and crack stone. She remembers leading him into the pit by herself and shutting him inside with a store of oxen. After he gorged, they chained him. Rhaegal had been more difficult. She hypothesizes that he heard Viserion's struggles and that it made him more difficult to contain. Dany's men caught him basking in the sun and used a net of iron to drag him into the pit. Six men were burned in the struggle, and two badly.
And then Drogon...
The winged shadow, as Hazzea's father called him, enjoyed sunbathing on the Great Pyramid where the Harpy statue once stood. Dany's men had tried to take him three times, and three times they failed. Four men were cooked by Drogon's flames. She last saw him flying over the Dothraki sea and had not seen him since the last time they tried to capture him.
Dany thinks of her title, "mother of dragons," and wonders if "mother of monsters" is more appropriate. She despairs, thinking about what she may have unleashed on the world. She thinks that she is the blood of the dragon, and that if her children are monsters, then so is she.
She looks at Ser Barristan and tells him that she told Xaro that she feared only one thing, though she would not tell the merchant what. Ser Barristan guesses that she only fears her dragons.
"Myself," Dany tells him.
Già postato e tradotto insieme ad un altro:
