agoge | >>FROM:@STORMBORN

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>>FROM:@STORMBORN | >>TO:@ALL

I ask that you use caution if encountering Yhych in the courts. Or at least carry with you an anti-toxin.

[ dot dot dot . . . ]

Is anyone a weapon-maker here?

>>FROM:@STORMBORN
>>TO:@BURGERKING, @PONYTAIL, @MODERATUS, @POINTANDKICK, @DIEDHARD, @BOARING, @AEGONNER, @PERSONALSTAFF

Ignore my next message until you are alone or are able to control your reaction.

[ There will be a pause, one which seems to tick away as an eternity for her. And then: ]

I'm told Kebechet is here.

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It was a misstep in a battle of wiles. Truly, I'm fine.

Pardon me for this, but that's not terribly reassuring. If something happened or you were poisoned, why didn't you contact me? I know a little bit about drawing out spider venom.

I imagine a battle of wiles is something you are used to. How did it go wrong?

We were given antitoxin for a reason, lady. Mine was in a brooch, easy to remedy on the spot, once I'd realized what had happened.

Or would you rather I wait to call you into the arena, vulnerable, and lose even more face before our hosts?

I didn't know it was in the arena.

I have no right to lecture...I don't want to see you hurt.

How are you managing now? Is there any pain?

I understood the risks of it and entered by my own choice.

[ She would not be lectured for that. It's the same as when Tyrion tried again and again to talk her into inaction.

But this... she would be inactive when it came to Kebechet, wouldn't she? This information sharing, the gathering of others... she did not do it to rally them into further needless bloodshed, but to collect sharp and bright minds honed by strategy and battle. ]

Aches, unrest in my stomach much like when I was pregnant. Tiredness.

So many are losing their limbs or lives in that arena. I didn't know that sort of danger would be enticing.

[Which isn't a swipe against Dany or anyone who entered. She'd heard stories about men who had done this for sport and heard enough about tourneys to know that men often put themselves in dangerous situations. There was something about the arena that disturbed her. Maybe it was because it was tainted by the spiders in some way. Anything related to them was unnerving.

It didn't help to see so many people she knew come back damaged in some way.]

As long as nothing becomes inflamed. Keep an eye on the place where the poisoned entered. As long as the skin doesn't start to turn yellow or swell, you should recover in a little while. I have salve that can help with the aches.

I...didn't know you were pregnant.

The only way we earn respect and an audience with those influential enough in their hierarchy is by embracing their culture.

[ Whether it is a swipe or not, she doesn't care. This was how she'd survived all her life. ]

I ingested it, lady.

And I was. That's typically what becomes of young girls who marry.

I'm being a pampered noble again, aren't I?

[It's meant as a joke, an awareness that she's been sheltered her entire life. She hasn't done such a good job of embracing this culture the way she had Gallipoli.]

Oh. Well. That makes things a bit more difficult. Yellow skin can still happen, but your lips might change color and become a bit more purple. I don't think that will happen, I know the anti toxin is strong, but it is better to know and be prepared, I think.

Not all young girls. I could never become pregnant. My mother saw to that.

May I ask...if it's not indelicate...the child?

Remember what survival means.

[ She's not good for much joking right now. All the other discussions about Kebechet weigh heavily on her. The poison's aftereffects drag her down, make her weak. Soon, she'd need to step out and show her face, so as not to act like some weak thing who had been defeated. ]

I'm going to kill the Aranean who poisoned me.

So watch for blue lips or yellowing skin. Which means what? That I'm actively dying?

[ The comment about Jeyne's mother, followed by the inquiry of Rhaego... Bile rises to the back of her throat, and she's left to tend to being sick--again--before she can respond. And when she does... ]

A witch killed my son and husband. I killed the witch.

There might be some poison you could use on her? I found some that you could use to coat weapons.

[Though she doubts Dany would want to use those sort of methods. That was a Dornish trick, according to rumor. Dany seemed more...in control than that. She took care of matters herself. It was something Jeyne admired and envied altogether.]

It means that the poison is working through your blood. So far your side effects aren't worrying, but I imagine they're difficult to deal with. I can ease some of the discomfort, if you want?

[She'd seen signs of it, but this is the first real glimpse she's had into Dany's vengeful side. It's...disconcerting. There is a strange mixture of horror and delight at those simple words. Someone who caused so much pain deserved to die. What sort of effect would vengeance have in the end? Would it even ease the pressure on the heart?

But coupled with the comment about the Aranean, it does worry her a little.]

Was it painful? For the witch?

Poison is for a coward. The Usurper tried to use poison on me.

[ Yeah, no, she's definitely not going to resort to poisoning someone. ]

I'm fine.

[ Insists the woman who just vomited. She flops back down onto her mattress, closing her eyes. Jon had been holding her hair back until she swatted him away. ]

Does it matter? She paid for her crimes. She screamed when she swore she wouldn't.

I understand, but I think poison might be the only weapon some can use while we are here. I wonder if these creatures don't appreciate under handed methods over honorable ones?

[But she doesn't blame anyone for turning it down. What she was suggesting went against what many saw as acceptable combat.]

If you find that you are not fine, I have something that might help ease the pain and illness.

[She wished she could make sense of the feelings in her, the horror and the sudden thrill at making an enemy scream. Deep down, perhaps a part of her was blood thirsty. She couldn't know and wouldn't unless she actually exacted vengeance. This place was exposing her to thoughts she never considered before but found didn't actually bother her.]

If I manage to make a stronger antitoxin, would you be willing to try it?

They aren't creatures, they're living beings like you and I. Don't view yourself their superior, lest you prefer to steer your thoughts and actions in the Regency's direction. This is their world, and poison is their weapon just as a blade is one in ours.

[ Calling anything different a savage, a beast, or a creature tends to rile her up. Her Dothraki are not savages, her Unsullied are not eunuchs, her dragons are not beasts, and she is not merely a foreign whore or an invader. ]

Your husband's brother saw it fit to stab me repeatedly and insistently with one of the brooches. Lest you have something to deter him from his enthusiasm in the future, I must respectfully decline your kind offer.

If I'm poisoned again, perhaps.

[ That answer does not come easily. It requires trusting, and she finds it difficult to trust during times like these, when she'd foolishly consumed the food proffered to her with no thought of what it might contain. Her mistake. But it would also be her mistake to consume an antivenom without knowing whether it truly is what it is. ]

Oh. Forgive me. I didn't mean any offense. I have never encountered anyone like them before, only the versions of spiders in our home. I forget that they aren't simply spiders.

[She was still trying to adjust to everything. Not only the idea that creatures could be on her level, but the differences in technology, the balance between the sexes, the idea that she could be more than simply a wife, or that honor might not always be the way to win.]

I'm not certain. My brother is very much like my husband and he reacts with passion first rather than sense. It speaks of his feelings for you, if he is carried away like that.

I envy you that.

[If they were speaking in person, it would be softly and shyly offered. Seeing their love only reminded her of what she was missing in her life.]

Nor have I, save for Irriella. For however savage they may appear, there's a clear class structure they follow. They've visitors from other worlds, and have two organizations vying for their support in a war.

[ Honor was not the only way to win. Vengeance was another way to win. What care did she have for honor, when it landed so very many dead, and so stupidly to boot?

The mention of Jon as her brother gives Dany pause, if only because she's so rarely heard of him referred to as such. ]

I've seen far more sense over passion, lady.

[ Maybe in Westeros--but she's witnessed that passion, as well. Either way, it makes her uncomfortable to discuss dead and living brothers, or a younger woman's envy. She hadn't gone looking for a lover, merely an ally. ]

I was young when my husband died. He was passionate like the men you describe, and promised to spill the blood of many in Westeros to avenge me when the Usurper almost poisoned me.

Focus on growing and becoming who you're meant to be, instead of what you've lost.

Their class structure is what surprises me. There are so few societies that seem to allow women to be in such control. My brother said that he believes this culture is similar to Westeros. I suppose that is true, only men are in the place that women are expected to hold.

[She could appreciate Dany's advice about finding herself and her way, aside from simply mourning Robb. She knew that the queen was right, as it seemed to have benefited Dany. She was a leader of men, brought dragons back to Westeros and soon would reclaim her home.

However, it was difficult to imagine achieving anything close to that. Dany wasn't like anyone else.]

It's not that I don't mean to find who I am, but I am not ready yet to move forward. I can't let him go yet.

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>>FROM:@STORMBORN | >>TO:@ALL

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