New rule of Meereen

New rule of Meereen

Theon POV

The ruling system of Meereen was established too profoundly. It depended on slavery for way too much. And for such a city whose economy was based on the slave trade, changing its system wasn't simple. Planting trees and bean fields and generally establishing agriculture would only bring us so far. Even the gold we looted from the wealthiest people of Meereen and Astapor wouldn't help too much.

Aside from me, nobody in Dany's court knew much about the economy, and I wasn't an expert either. So, the only solution I could see was asking for support from Braavos. Yet I doubted we would get any direct support from them. Firstly, they were too far. Secondly, between them and us sat five other free cities who would rather oppose us than help, and lastly, Braavos doesn't have a great history with dragonlords.

"What the hell am I even doing?" I asked myself, buried in countless papers reporting all the businesses and trade happening in Meereen. "I swear if I read another contract to sell slaves to other cities, I will burn them all."

Maybe that was the answer. Burn everything down and rebuild it from the ground. It would generate work, and the former slaves would have something to do. The ashes should fertilize the land around the city and stimulate agriculture. Yeah, let it all burn. I hit my head on the table. What the hell am I doing?

"Your grace, the Queen is looking for you."

I could hear Anguy from behind the doors of my solar. I wish I could pretend I am asleep. But all I could do was groan, stand up, clean myself, and open the doors. Bronn and Thoros were waiting, leaning by the walls. Lucky bastards didn't have much to do but loiter around. I needed a strong drink that could knock me out.

"You all are lousy guards," I stated, to their shock. "Can't even protect me. What good are you?"

"Your Grace?" Anguy asked, confused.

"I have been dying under the attack of paperwork!" I shouted at them. "Where were you when I needed you the most?"

"You know that we would make it even harder for you if we were going around stabbing papers with our sword, right?" Bronn asked.

"Do you want us to burn the papers?" Thoros added another question.

I wanted to bash my head into the wall and die, but I knew Thoros would revive me. I needed someone to take over the paperwork, or I was leaving. Screw Dany and our relationship. Screw Harras Harlaw and my gold. He can sail around the world to find me. It was said that no plan survives first contact. Mine didn't have a first contact with nonsensical paperwork shoved at me.

"Let's go to find the Queen," I said, giving up on these bastards for saving me.

What good were the Greycloaks? I will have a word of how useless they have been so far with Asha. I should calm down. I knew I made it out more troublesome than it was. I felt my patience was running thin in the past few days. I felt better while sailing and best while thinking of taking down a slaver's city.

It never failed to make me smile when planning someone's demise. So far, it was the best use of my time. Seeing my enemies bleed down or watching as their homes are burned under me is the best sight. Even thinking about it made me feel better all of a sudden. I knew I wasn't a good person, but at least I learned how to enjoy myself.

It wasn't hard to know when we walked up to Dany's chambers. Aside from the courtroom, it was the loudest room in the Great Pyramid. I had to let out a sigh before coming in. In some ways, it was easier to deal with Great Masters than my fellow advisors for Dany. At least I knew that whatever the Great Master said was wrong, but I had to listen to the advisors.

"You are finally here, King Theon," Dany said as her guards opened the doors for me. "We have been waiting for you."

For now, we have decided to keep secret about our relationship. We both wanted the Martells to dig deeper graves being with us before we tell them they cannot accomplish their goals. Dany acted a bit cold, raising some suspicion for the wrong reason. I, as an emotionless monster, didn't have trouble hiding it.

"What has the Great Masters demanded this time?" I asked, taking a seat, not even bothering to greet anyone.

"This time, it wasn't the Great Masters, but a former slave," Oberyn answered me.

"You mean a servant of a Great Master?" I asked.

"He spoke for other slaves, not Great Masters," Oberyn continued. "Some of them wanted to return to the services to the Great Masters."

"He wants to put back on the chains?" I asked as I couldn't wrap my head over this nonsense.

"Not every slaver mistreated their slaves," Daenerys told me. "Some were kind to them. They taught some of those slavers. And there were lovers and other slaves even became family friends."

"It might look like that to them," I replied. "But it was a few kind words and actions, and now they think they are equal. If that were true, the slavers would have celebrated your efforts to free their teachers, lovers, and friends."

"You saying they were lying?" Barristan Selmy asked. Now he didn't look like a wizard anymore without his beard and wearing armor rather than robes, which annoyed me.

"They are misunderstanding their relations," I answered. "We are not doing anything that would suggest that the Great Masters can't hire the former slaves as their servants. Only that they should be treated like servants and not like slaves. If some slaves want to return to their former master's service, they can do that as their servants. If the Great Masters don't want to do that, trust me when I say the former slaves don't want to return to them."

"It didn't sound like they hated that kind of life," Oberyn said.

"Because most of them don't know any other form of life," I told him. "They were trained to be one thing from their childhoods, now we are giving them a choice, and they are scared to choose for themselves. Because they never did it before. Bed slaves could work in brothels, and teachers could still be hired as can be gardeners and other servants."

"But masters will have to pay them fairly and not mistreat them," Dany summarized. "It isn't something the Great Masters wish to do."

"They look down on the slaves as they were not even human beings like them," I added. "Now the Great Masters have to act like they are, and I don't think they like it."

"Because it means they must acknowledge that the slaves were human like them. That would be demeaning to them," Daario pitched in his piece.

"I fear their mindset is set too deeply," Quentyn spoke. "Their whole lives revolted by looking down on the slaves and treating them as livestock or even worse. Not many can accept change, especially those in power. They will want to have it as it has always been. With them at the top of the rule."

As Quentyn said, the problem was the culture of Meereen. Freeing the slaves was good and all, but we needed to change the culture for it to have a lasting effect. Otherwise, it is bound to return to the previous ruling system sooner or later. The new rule, our rule, had to be established as deeply as the old rule for us to secure the city.

Astapor was not as big as Meereen and was more of a military than a trade city. Leaving Cleftjaw with half a thousand Ironborn was enough to secure the city, and no one could challenge him. Alysanne was more than capable of managing it. Opening new trades and changing the infrastructure to her liking shouldn't be a problem, unlike Meereen.

"Another petitioner has asked for us to open the fighting pits," Dany interrupted my thoughts. "This time, it was a former fighter."

"The Great Masters are using them to get you to listen to them," Oberyn said. "They know that you would ignore them otherwise."

"I have sent them back," Dany said. "But they will come back and ask again."

"Maybe we should listen then," I said.

"Are you mad?" Barristan asked.

"I sure I am," I answered. "But it might be the only way to save the city from its destruction."

"What do you mean?" Dany asked, concerned.

"As it goes, the city won't last long," I answered. "With our gold, we can have the city functioning for a year or, if lucky, two years."

"It should be enough time for our crops to grow," Dany said.

"It will only feed the people inside the city, your grace," Quentyn answered. "We need a product to sell to the other cities to have a coin flow. Without it, people won't have much work; without work, they will have no coin. Soon people will beg on the streets in throws, and the artisans and other experts will be taken to other cities. Meereen would become a shell of a city."

"The Martell is right," I agreed. "So far, the city survived the slave trade. But we abolished it, and now we have nothing. We cannot produce enough crops to sell to the other cities, and not many will even want to establish a trade with us."

"Then what should we do?" Dany asked.

"Opening fighting pits would be the first step," I said, raising my hand before anyone could protest. "We would do it on our terms. With rules that prevent unnecessary bloodshed, like Tourneys in Westeros."

"And how would that help us with the problems we face?" Oberyn asked.

"It would provide entertainment," It was his nephew who answered. "It wouldn't solve anything but bring a flow of coins through entering fees and gambling."

"The Great Masters want the fighting pits to be reopened, so we prove to them that we can listen to them, but we shall do it in our way," I said. "We will open it for everyone who can afford to enter. We will attract people with prizes. We need to make it an entertaining show. Having the Dragon Queen attending and Dragons flying around would attract many."

"Is that your great plan?" Jorah wasn't happy with it, but I was annoyed at him questioning me when he had nothing better to offer.

"Is the only plan!" I wasn't giving a shit anymore. "I don't see any of you thinking of any other plan. And only the frog over there understands how fucked the city is. So, don't try to tell me shit when you can't think of anything yourself."

"Theon, please calm down," Dany's soft words did calm me down. "If nobody had anything else to suggest, I don't see any problem."

"I will devise a more detailed plan and deliver it to you," I replied. "Currently, the only way to make the city functioning is to make some entertainment. Later we might be able to think of something more sustainable."

I started to miss Alysanne. She would be a great help. But at least I found someone that could be useful too. Before the meeting ended and everyone started to leave, I took Quentyn by his shoulders and kidnapped him. Now he will have to suffer the paperwork. I ignored all the protests and Oberyn's question about where I was taking his nephew.

There was much work to be done to establish the new rule. I needed to prepare for the Great Masters making their move. I didn't know what they would do, but I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't want to let our rule be smooth sailing. Even with almost half their wealth taken away, they have enough to hire assassins and conspire to overthrow us.