Dany thought for a moment and said, "Sansa is marrying Aegon as Queen in the North, and she's bringing quite an impressive dowry—even if it's a bit inflated.
"As Aegon's aunt, I can't let House Targaryen appear shabby.
"Go to my treasury later and choose a suitable set of jewelry. And also pick a wyvern."
"A wyvern?" Old Jorah looked puzzled. "What would she need a wyvern for?"
"To give to my new niece-in-law, of course!"
The Dragon Queen spoke lightly, as if she were giving away not a wyvern but a brightly colored parrot she'd brought back from the rainforest.
"This is far too precious, isn't it?" Old Jorah said in shock.
Dany walked to the edge of the wall and glanced down at the many wyverns sunning themselves on the pyramid steps.
They were everywhere.
She smiled oddly. "Precious? They're practically common now. And it's Westerosi tradition for elders to give newlyweds gifts. A wyvern is about the minimum that suits my status."
Old Jorah said seriously, "Your Grace, the rainforest is not endless, and wyvern nests are not inexhaustible.
"Their growth cycle may be shorter than a dragon's, but it still takes more than ten years for one to mature.
"At the rate you and the allied forces are consuming wyverns, if the war drags on for four or five years, they'll be on the brink of extinction."
"Four or five years?" Dany raised an eyebrow and said irritably, "In five months, there will be no more battles in Slaver's Bay. Those big gluttonous swamp dragons will all be retired to live in peace."
"You're being far too optimistic about the enemy, Your Grace!" Old Jorah urged, frowning.
"All right, I understand. It's only one wyvern. After all, Aegon represents House Targaryen, and we can't lose face." Dany waved him off.
In other words, she wasn't in Westeros—but that didn't mean she could neglect maintaining her grand image.
Giving away a wyvern!
Back in the day, Valyria married a daughter to the Emperor of Yi Ti, and her dowry included a dragon.
Dany couldn't give a dragon, but a wyvern was still within reach.
Seeing the Queen grow impatient, Old Jorah said no more. After all, he couldn't stand in the way of an aunt's boundless affection for her nephew.
And yes, the Dragon Queen's gift of a wyvern to Sansa had little to do with the Starks. It was mostly because she loved her dear nephew and didn't want him to feel embarrassed by the "vast" dowry of the Northern Queen.
After this wedding, even the Westerosi would see how much the Dragon Queen doted on her only nephew.
"How will Lady Sansa obtain the Dragonrider's Seal? Should we have her come to Slaver's Bay?" he asked in confusion.
"No need. She can pray directly to the Great Protector of Light, or she can pray to the Seven under the guidance of a respected septon."
"Will that work?" Old Jorah asked skeptically.
"Sigh. The so-called Paladin's Binding Seal is simply borrowing Big Black's divine power to tame a wyvern. My Bloodriders prayed to Pegasus Big Black and still managed to bond with wyverns, didn't they?"
"But she seems to follow the Old Gods," Old Jorah added.
"Uh—" Dany froze for a moment.
Sansa was clearly a Stark, yet she had never once thought of her as a Northerner. Why?
"It seems she changed her faith. When she dissolved her marriage with Tyrion, she went to a septon." Dany hesitated a moment before saying, "Send her the wyvern first. If she still follows the Old Gods, suggest she gift the wyvern to Brienne."
"Brienne of the Kingsguard-without-Cloaks?"
"Yes. Brienne has been in the Vale all this time. She should be Sansa's trusted protector by now."
Later, following Dany's recommendation, Old Jorah chose a 14-meter striped wyvern for Sansa.
Striped wyverns were small, ate little, and were easy to raise.
Old Jorah departed.
Carrying the young wyvern, a large bundle of precious gifts, and the Dragon Queen's blessing for the newlyweds—"a harmonious union and early children"—he left Slaver's Bay.
Big Black even escorted him out of the war zone's airspace.
Dany returned to Meereen once more. Aside from frequently launching raids to harass the enemy, she assigned herself an extremely demanding training regime to adapt quickly to her vastly strengthened body and her newfound demigod power.
In a day of 24 hours, she wished she could spend 23 of them training.
As a demigod, Dany suddenly discovered she no longer felt hunger or fatigue.
She no longer needed to eat, nor did she require "long" periods of sleep.
At first she didn't notice anything unusual, until she finished swinging a 40-jin training sword five hundred times. When Ji Qi brought her a cup of orange juice and a plate of rice cakes, Dany suddenly realized that ever since leaving Kong's lair, she hadn't eaten anything—or properly slept.
Her demigod body had begun to convert to pure energy. As long as she could absorb magic from the universe, she no longer needed to eat "frequently" like ordinary people.
Of course, if she continued eating three meals a day as before, she wouldn't have indigestion.
A demigod who eats too much will still get fat.
Energy-conversion didn't mean abandoning physical form; it simply meant gaining an additional magical digestive system.
As for sleep, where ordinary people needed seven or eight hours, one hour was enough for her.
Becoming a demigod didn't give her world-shattering power. But in terms of the essence of life, she had truly stepped beyond the boundary of mortals.
The change wasn't obvious yet, but in twenty, thirty, fifty years—or even a hundred or five hundred—when she still looked the same and remained tireless, no one would mistake her for a normal person.
Melisandre had reached this state long ago. She only ate because going too long without food would make ordinary people see her as an aberration.
Dany didn't refuse grain or bread either. Like Melisandre, she didn't wish to be treated as something unnatural, and besides, she couldn't resist the temptation of delicious food.
In that regard, Melisandre couldn't compare to her.
Melisandre, a former slave and ascetic shadowbinder, only ate to fill her stomach.
Dany, however, was a queen. Each day, every meal, the finest chefs in the world racked their brains to cook for her.
If Dany were fed only black bread and plain water every day, she'd likely stop eating as well.
"Afu, Da Wu, how are you feeling?"
After another fire assault on the ravens, Dany looked with concern at the two unfortunate Children of the Forest.
"A bit tired. I need to rest," Afu said weakly.
"I'm fine. Your Majesty can burn me again—no, ten more times! Maybe I'm not afraid of fire at all." Mist shook herself awake and spread her wings with a loud cry.
"That's strange. Why is your fire-resistance so different from Ah Fu's?" Dany asked in confusion.
"Every living being has its own attribute bias," Ah Fu replied.
"But you're both children of the forest."
Dany muttered under her breath, then extended her right hand.
Fire Manipulation: Flame Concentration.
A three-inch-tall golden flame suddenly rose from her palm, which bore a few thin, pale yellow calluses. It was pure fire elemental power.
Then a streak of black light flashed across her purple left pupil. "Caw—"
The golden flame flickered. Strangely, a tiny black crow—about an inch long—appeared within the heart of the flame. It had red eyes and dark feathers, and it opened its beak to cry out.
As the flame wavered, the crow's body shifted like drifting smoke.
Her spiritual substance was dissipating within the fire.
"Pop!" No one knew how much time had passed before the crow in the flame burst like a bubble and vanished.
At the same moment, inside Dany's sea of consciousness, there was a dull "boom," and a phantom crow suddenly appeared out of thin air.
It was the same Mist that had been burned by the flame moments earlier.
The Soul Bestowal activated. Type-A will essence surged into her consciousness, and Mist absorbed it like a whale swallowing water. Her transparent body gradually became solid again.
"This time feels different from before. I seem to have lost a part of my memories," Mist said blankly.
"Lost memories? Why would that happen?" Dany quickly asked.
Had she used Soul Bestowal too many times?
No, that wasn't right. Type-A will essence strengthened the soul; it should improve memory.
It could even help someone recover from dementia.
Of course, the more essence someone received from her, the more easily they could be influenced by "Dany's Whisper."
But "Dany's Whisper" was an active ability. As long as she didn't use it, the recipient was no different from normal.
And right now, Dany only wanted to revive the two ravens. She had no intention of controlling them—both were obedient enough already.
"Your Majesty, continue. I don't think this is a bad thing," Mist said.
"You've already lost memories, and you think it's not bad?" Dany exclaimed.
Had this crow burned her brain?
"Losing memories means starting anew."
Ah Fu's voice came softly, carrying a weary, desolate tone born of countless hardships.
"We begin a second life inside a raven's body, but if we continue to carry the memories of our past lives, can we really call it a second life?"
Dany retorted, "So becoming like an ordinary skinchanger, turning fully into a beast, counts as a new life?"
Ah Fu shook her head. "No. Being dominated by beastly instincts is even worse. What we seek is a purer rebirth. To go from a person to a new kind of person—that is reincarnation."
Dany frowned.
To her, memory was the most important part of the soul.
If she lost her memories—or if they were altered—she would no longer be herself.
Reincarnation wasn't as good as simply clinging to life as a dead spirit.
However, the children of the forest seemed unwilling to continue being their "former selves."
"Mist, you won't regret this?" she asked again to be sure.
"I want to begin a true new life," Mist replied.
Dany extended her right hand again, opening her palm and igniting a three-foot elemental flame. Mist's soul entered the blaze to be burned.
Large amounts of spiritual essence flew out from Mist, immediately absorbed by Dany and stored.
She repeated the earlier process and asked, "How is it now?"
"More memories are missing," Mist said.
"Continue?" Dany asked.
"Your Majesty, you don't need to ask again. I might lose this memory and won't be able to answer. But for now, I can tell you—please continue without stopping," Mist said.
What were they doing at this moment?
Dany was trying to revive the raven from death, based on the theory that "life originates from fire."
In this world, fire represented life. Fire contained the power of life, and flames could create life.
Blackie, Little White, Little Green, Little Gold—all were miracles born from fire.
They originally possessed only a life imprint. Soul Bestowal allowed the imprint to hatch into a soul—a dragon soul.
The dragon soul drew life force from the flames, used the fire to forge a body, and was then born into the world.
The raven already had a soul. Could she also rebuild her body through fire?
This "absurd" idea came to Dany only because she had a special divine trait—Creation Through Fire.
She was a demigod, after all, and naturally possessed divinity.
From the beginning, her unique constitution had given her the ability to draw the source of life from fire.
Its most obvious manifestation was hatching dragons.
She was the only person in existence who could create living dragons directly with fire.
Her most frequently used innate ability, Soul Bestowal, allowed her to extract soul essence while burning it in flames.
Why must every Soul Bestowal involve burning with fire?
This was the reason.
Soul Bestowal was only one branch of the innate ability known as Creation Through Fire.
It was this near-godlike talent that made many people—and gods—covet Dany.
After becoming a demigod, this talent manifested as divinity.
If Dany continued to develop this ability and strengthen this divine trait, she might one day elevate it into a divine office.
A unique divine office, perhaps even adding a new Song of Law to this world.
And this was precisely the kind of transcendental cultivation that the world consciousness most desired— the world gives you a gift, and you complete the world's laws.
(End of chapter)
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