Game of Thrones: The Ruler

Another couple of days had passed since Rhaenys and Melisandre had arrived in the city of Meereen. With each passing day, the city was being transformed in a new direction.

Just yesterday, Jon had commissioned a new construction complex outside the city of Meereen. Just like the Astapor complex, bricks, cement, and limestone paint were to be manufactured in this complex.

Another factory to manufacture wine, vodka, and other drinks had been commissioned in Yunkai.

The work for the city centre in both cities was in full flow. The pleasure house accompanying it too was being built on a similar scale to Astapor.

A time period of three to four months was required for the completion of all these projects. The beautification of the cities and their redevelopment were also in full swing.

Apart from these infrastructure projects, work was also being done on the military front.

Both Asmund and Freydron had been instructed to prepare for more recruitment of soldiers into the army and to boost its strength even further. By the time, the new recruits would be trained and ready for battle, Jon would too be ready for his next conquest.

A similar kind of recruitment and revamping was also due for the navy. In another couple of days, these works were also to start.

These projects and the upcoming recruitment were to cause a massive strain on the empire's treasury. Even though the income from the assets seized from the masters had given them a small cushion, it was not to sustain them in the long run.

It was essential to revamp their income. Business and trade had to be strengthened and more sources of revenue developed. While there was a lot of scope for expanding his business, Jon had an inkling that the ruling elite of other cities in Essos would use all kinds of measures to hamper his trade. They would not want a person who could possibly attack their cities to get more prosper.

At least his trade with Westeros was going on smoothly and was on the rise.

Jon had spent a couple of hours with his dragons, and only in a couple of weeks they had grown substantially. For now, they could only emit candle like flames from their mouths, but Jon had no doubt that very soon they would be ferocious beasts capable of burning cities.

He believed that most probably within a year, the dragons would be large enough to be ridden. Whether it was due to his bond with them or because he had fully unlocked the Targaryen bloodline in himself, his dragons were growing a lot faster compared to what had been shown in canon. Naturally, their size was also going to be much larger than those dragons. Probably, only Balerion, who had originated in Valyria, might be comparable in size to his dragons when they fully matured.

Jon, along with Slyvia, had been training with the new powers they had gained. They were levelling up their mastery in fire magic and experimenting with it.

Jon had also spoken with Slyvia about her abilities as a skinchanger and greenseer that she should have also received, but since she was focusing on fire magic, she had set those powers aside for now. Once she achieved a certain mastery over fire magic, she planned to shift her focus to the abilities from her Stark bloodline.

After completing his almost daily ritual of spending time with the dragons, Jon left the restricted section the mansion and was walking towards a certain quarter.

Today, he would be meeting Rhaenys and Melisandre and would be continuing their conversation further that had been delayed that day.

Since, it was Melisandre who had helped Rhaenys in reaching to him and hers fate also seemed to be interlinked to him, Melisandre too had been asked to be present at the meeting.

In the past two days, Jon had had small, casual interactions with the duo. While Rhaenys remained slightly awkward in front of him and did not know how to behave and seemed to be at unease, Melisandre was calmer and confident. And subservient towards him.

She had made her intentions clear. She was to follow Jon Snow or Aegon Targaryen or Lord Aeos, and she had no qualms about it.

Even when Jon had pointed out that he might not have an important role for her under him, she had displayed no reaction. She had only said that when fate called, she would have her role. Till then, even being a flower vase by the side of Azor Ahai would make her content and happy. She was willing to follow every command issued by him and had declared her full loyalty towards him.

Jon entered the room. Rhaenys and Melisandre were already there, waiting for him, sitting on wooden chairs.

"My lord," Melisandre stood up and bowed her head in greeting, while Rhaenys gave a small nod.

Jon responded with a nod of his own and took the empty chair. The trio sat across from each other, forming a triangle between them.

A moment of silence followed, broken by Jon.

"I think we need to converse about certain things before we can decide on what decisions and directions to take," he said, looking towards Rhaenys. "Your sudden and unexpected arrival, or rather, the revelation that you are alive, fit and fine, has thrown me off guard. And perhaps my presence in your dream, and whatever you saw there, has thrown you off guard as well. Something that neither of us had expected."

"I also think this would be for the best," Rhaenys replied. Her heart, too, had been churning with a lot of questions. And it was time for her to get some answers.

"How did you escape King's Landing?" Jon asked. He did not mention her mother, Elia, or her brother, Aegon, but he clearly wanted to know why they had not been able to escape, and, more importantly, how everyone had come to believe she had died. How had that lot been fooled? But all these questions were inherent in his single line question.

Rhaenys nodded. This was the question she had been expecting the most. And she was prepared with the answer. And although, she had never talked about what had happened that day, she would speak today. And would speak the truth.

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