What followed Khal Aero's greeting was a massive roar and cheer from the crowd. He was already being treated as their prophesied leader. People seemed to have accepted him as their great stallion.
Khal Aero was not even sure if his words were even reaching to the people who were standing at the farthest end from the raised platform despite him shouting at the top of his lungs. He continued, nonetheless.
"I will not speak useless words," he boomed. "I will speak for what I have called all of you here."
"And I will begin with my identity," he continued. "My real identity."
"I know that there are a lot of you who are confused and intrigued about which Khalasar I belonged to before forming my own Khalasar? Whether my father was a powerful Khal?" he said. "There are people wondering the same in my own Khalasar."
"And I will speak the truth today," Khal Aero emphasised.
Silence settled among the crowd and they waited in rapt attention. As he said, they had truly been curious. And now that he was framing his words in such a manner, it meant that it was actually important.
"To be honest," Khal Aero said. "I am no Dothraki."
There was no reaction from the crowd. They did not comprehend what their Great Khal meant by saying that he was no Dothraki.
"Or rather I should say that I was not born a Dothraki," Khal Aero continued.
The Dothraki this time somewhat understood what their Great Khal was saying. But they still remained silent. They waited for him to continue and reveal the entire truth.
"I believe you all must be familiar with my real identity," Khal Aero said. "I am what a lot of people call Lord Aeos."
Silence. And then after a couple of moments when the Dothraki finally comprehended the words coming out of his mouth, a massive uproar erupted from the crowd. The majority of the uproar and noise was about disapproval and anger. They knew of Lord Aeos. If there was one name that had been echoing in Essos for the last few years, then it was of Lord Aeos. There would barely be anyone in Essos who might have not heard his name.
The Dothraki were livid. If not for the shock that this news had given them and if not for the ban on bloodshed in Vaes Dothrak, many of the Khals would have already rushed towards the platform. Even Jon's own Khalasar standing in the front was left stunned. They did not know how to react to this news.
"But does your prophecy say that I must be a born Dothraki to lead you all?" Jon questioned aloud, his voice cutting through the crowd. "In fact, is there a law which says that I must be born a Dothraki to be a Dothraki?"
Silence and order returned to the Dothraki. They began to consider his words.
"Does this long braid which says that I have been undefeated in a duel not make me a Dothraki? Does being a warrior not make me a Dothraki?" He questioned. "Does the way the horses respond to my command not make me a Dothraki? Does the way I ride a horse not make me a Dothraki? Does leading my Khalasar not make me a Dothraki?"
The crowd remained silent. The Dothraki warriors were not known for their intellect. But Khal Aero's words, Lord Aeos' words had them thinking.
And whatever he was speaking was resonating with them. He was an unparalleled warrior. And they respected and worshipped warriors.
There was no one who rode a horse as fast as he could. He had all the qualities that a Dothraki wished for in his prophesied Stallion. Was the reason that he had not been born in their tribe enough to discard him? Or was the reason that he had accepted and even evolved their way of life enough to accept him wholeheartedly?
"When I initially began my campaign," Khal Aero said, "then my purpose had been to subdue a significant number of Dothraki and expand my forces."
He was speaking all lies. His purpose from the very beginning had been to do what he was doing. To become their Stallion, their prophesied leader. He was just trying to give an emotional touch to his journey.
"And I was successful in it," he continued. "Within a very short span, my forces expanded rapidly."
"But," he said with a pause, "as I continued living as a Dothraki Khal among Dothraki warriors, something within me started to shift. I began to find myself respecting all of you. The hard life all of you live, I began to grow admiration for it. At the same time, seeing things from an outside perspective also made me realise the shortcomings that you all had. And this is the reason why I introduced some small changes in my Khalasar."
"I do not know when and how, but I began to consider myself a true Dothraki," he boomed. "The braid which I had grown only as part of my appearance to appear a Dothraki Khal, I genuinely began to respect and take pride in it."
"It is true that I cannot change my origin," he continued. "It is also true that I am not going to abandon my original life and turn permanently into a Dothraki Khal, but I can still be the prophesied leader that you have been waiting for."
"I can be that Stallion that will mount the world," he boomed. "I can be that Great Khal that will unite all the Dothraki into a single unified tribe and lead you all to the end of the world."
"Tell me," he roared. "Do you accept me? Do you accept me as your leader?"
There was silence among the Dothraki warriors. They were exchanging glances with each other. No one knew how to react. But then one Khal standing in the front end reacted.
He took a few steps forward and climbed on the platform along with Khal Aero. The man was of massive build and almost humongous in size. He was the Khal of one of the largest Khalasars in Essos. A khalasar of more than fifty-thousand Dothraki warriors.
He stood next to Khal Aero and looked straight towards the crowd.
"What have we wanted in our prophesied leader?" He roared. "A man who can mount the world. A man who can conquer everything this world has to offer. A man who has the ability to lead us."
"And Khal Aero is already mounting the world. He has already shown his abilities to this world. He rules six large cities and he has conquered them all on his own," he continued. "And we all know it is only a matter of time before the whole of Essos will fall to him."
"What more would we want from our Great Khal? That he was born one of us?" He questioned in a voice full of disdain. "That him accepting himself as a Dothraki is not enough?"
"No!" He shouted. "He is the conqueror. He is the Stallion who will mount the world. And that is enough for me."
He turned towards Khal Aero and pulled out his Arakh strapped on his waist.
"I, Khal Atago, give my loyalty to the Great Khal," he said.
Khal Atago bent down on one of his knees as he lowered his Arakh in front of Khal Aero. It took a few moments, but slowly the Dothraki started to kneel. Within moments, a sea of kneeling Dothraki warriors had been painted before Khal Aero.
But not all of them were kneeling. There was a sizeable population of Dothraki Khals and warriors who were still standing erect.
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