The Dragon that Decides 7 (Patreon)

The Dragon that Decides
Chapter 7

-VB-

The answer to my question came rather suddenly and left me feeling stupid.

Slavery was an abhorrent practice still in practice across many Outer Rim worlds, mostly because the Republic could not enforce its own laws. What stopped me from just portaling into one world, freeing slaves and then bringing them over to Tatootine to increase my powerbase?

The answer to that possible strategy laid with the planet itself: impossible. Tatooine was a desert world filled with nothing but sand. It had exactly one value, and that was the value of its strategic position. On top of that, I wanted to get off this world, so bringing those who would willingly become my powerbase to the one planet in this galaxy I wanted to get off was not smart.

So … let’s just move my base of operations.

“Where are we going?” she asked me as I picked her up onto my left hand. She was small enough to fit comfortable in my palm and grip onto my fingers for her safety.

“We’re going to look for worlds to build my fief on,” I responded with a gruff.

Even though it was miniscule, I felt her hands tighten on my fingers, each of which - in my draconic form - was thicker than both of her arms combined. “Could you not go back to my world?” she asked me. She sounded hopeful.

And I was not having it.

“Your world is alone. Isolated from this world and the networks of hundreds of thousands of worlds this useless place is connected to. Compared to that, what could I do with one world, Daenerys?” I asked her, though I tried not to be rude. “How about this, why don’t you tell me a good reason why I should consider taking us back to that world.”

She stared up at me before looking down.

‘That’s what I thought-,’ I thought as I turned away.

“Authority.”

I paused and looked back at her.

“Hmm?”

“If you make me the Queen of Westeros with you as my backer, then you will have all of Westeros at your beck and call. You told me that you want a fief to call your own, but why would you go out of your way to make your work hard? You have an excuse in your hands to conquer a world. Take it.”

… The size of her balls must be huge. Oh, wait. They were; I fondled her lovely tits and ass every night.

“Westeros is a land of complicated politics. I would sooner burn it than conquer it. Once I conquer it, there is also a high chance that I will burn it.”

“Then leave it to me.”

“Hmm?”

“I will be your woman on the ground. I will rule and send you the tribute you demand,” she replied firmly. She then faltered as if remembering something. “B-But I will follow what you decide.”

She wasn’t wrong. Though I had earlier dismissed Planetos, it offered something that no planet in the Star Wars galaxy could offer: privacy. It was alone in its universe where first contact with aliens would be unlikely. If I truly wanted to build up a fiefdom, then Planetos would be where I could do that. Hell, that world wasn’t even fully discovered, too!

Perhaps I was wrong to dismiss it.

“If,” I spoke up. “If I were to be your backer and place you upon the Iron Throne, what would you do?” I asked her.

It’s been two months since I’ve taken her from Planetos, and she’s been her regular charming self even here in Tatooine. I wondered if she has changed as a result of encountering such an alien world and people.

“I’m…” she said but then trailed off. She took a deep breath before … she lost her steam. “I don’t know.”

“Oh good.” She looked up at me with a wildered stare. “Because what would be the point of putting a crown on your head if you have designs that aren’t mine?” I drawled as if it was the most obvious conclusion. “For sure, I expect you to do something, but if you already have plans when you don’t even have the crown yet? It makes you ambitious, Daeny, and I’m not interested in an ambitious concubine. Perhaps ambitious on behalf of me or our future children, but only for yourself… not so much.”

“Then … why am I even alive?” she demanded. “Why not just pay a whore to live with you? What’s the point of doing all of this if you are the only one that matters? Are you so barbaric that you need to s-steal women?”

Oh, did I touch a nerve by insinuating that she would be nothing more than a tool for me? I supposed that she, a dethroned leader, would feel irritated at the very least by such a “demotion.”

“No, it is not something as primitive as satisfying my natural urges,” I crooned. “Tell me, what would you do if you knew the future?”

The sudden turn in the conversation both upset and confused her. “Do better than I would have in that future.”

“You are already doing better.”

She paused.

“What…?”

“Had I left you in that desert alone, you would have gone onto the conquer all of Westeros and a significant chunk of southern and eastern Essos.”

“How… How is this better than that?!” she shrieked.

“Drogon, Rhaegal, and Viserion. That’s what you call your wyvernlings, don’t you?”

“You listen…?”

“Only Drogon would live.”

Anger. I saw anger burst forth behind her eyes.

“You would die. Your wyverns would die. King’s Landing would burn at your hands. Hundreds of thousands would die before you even touch Westeros. Rather than be the savior, you would be just another warlord.” I allowed my words to sink into her. “Viserion would die to the White Walkers. Rhaegal to a scorpion bolt to the neck. You…?” I leaned in so that my eyes were close to her. “You would die at the hands of your new lover all before the age of twenty-five. Compared to that fleeting life, isn’t one guaranteed to see you rule over entire worlds with the promise of a long and fruitful life much better?”

“... But I don’t get to choose.”

“Is that what you are hung up about?”

“Yes!” At this point, she’d forgotten her fear and only anger and sadness remained to spur her on.

“Even if you would die in a few years?”

“Then I’ll do better!”

“... Yes, see, that’s the part you don’t see. You can’t.”

She glared at me. “Are you calling me inept?”

“By the standards of this very world you are on, yes. Failure, regardless of your intentions, history, and personal conduct, cares not. If you fail, then you fail. You failed your khalasar, though you managed to save it in the end by taking an opportunity. And remember what you did back then: you gave all of yourself. You have already given up your right to choose.” I could talk about how she failed her first husband by creating a scenario that ended with his death, but that would be going too far.

I didn’t want her to hate me, after all.

Her lips opened and then slowly closed. Her tense shoulders drooped as they relaxed.

“Right. I already… gave myself.”

“Are you done, then?”

She nodded demurely.

“Good. Let’s go back to your world. We have a throne to melt and forge anew.”