Chapter 40 Guest Rights
Xaro is worthy of being one of the Thirteen Lords of Qarth. The mansion prepared for her amazed the well-informed Dany.
There was a large garden full of exotic flowers, a wide marble bath, a towering crystal divination tower - also known as an observatory, and even a garden maze.
The entire palace was larger than the bazaars I had seen before. Not to mention the two hundred people in the Qarth, even twice as many could live there.
In fact, Xaro had prepared 200 slaves for her.
After the many horsemen in the Qarth were settled in the palace, Dany sat by the pool, feeling the comfort of the fish kissing her toes, and was amazed that the Qarth people even had kissing fish.
Suddenly, the sky above her head darkened, and she turned her head and was surprised to find that the Quaixi appeared quietly beside her.
"You"
"I'm leaving." She said.
"Oh, goodbye." Dany was startled and thought it was something else.
"Be careful!" said the Quaixi without thinking.
"Uh" she was stunned for a moment before hesitating, "Be careful of what?"
"Be careful of everyone. From now on, they will come to see this miracle of rebirth day and night, and then they will be greedy. Because the flesh and blood of dragons are made of fire, and fire is power. Dragons are the source of all mysterious powers."
Although the red lacquer mask blocked her expression, Dany still heard the solemnity in her tone.
After warning Dany, Quai-shi left as unnoticed as she came.
Dany no longer had the interest to enjoy the luxurious life of the palace, and immediately called Jorah and the blood guards to the fish spa. While letting them enjoy the gentle kiss of the kissing fish, she also repeated Quai-shi's warning.
"I don't like her because I can't see through her." Jorah spoke first. "Every shadowbinder is worthy of our vigilance, but she didn't intimidate us this time. From the moment I entered the city, I felt a very unfriendly and uneasy atmosphere."
"I don't like the way the milkman looks at us." Rakharo's face was heavy, and he gritted his teeth and said, "It's like looking at a rare animal captured from a savage land."
The skin of the Qartheen is extremely white, milky white, and it is obviously whiter than other white people, so the Dothraki call them "milks."
Dany looked at him in surprise. She didn't expect her blood guard to have such a keen perception.
Yes, the Qartheen did warmly welcome them today, but there are many kinds of welcomes. Welcoming a distinguished guest is definitely different from welcoming a giant panda to settle in the city.
Therefore, when Dany passed through the middle wall street, she would unconsciously put herself in the role of Arthas.
Lordaeron welcomed Arthas' victorious return with victory bells, cheers from the masses, and petals flying all over the sky. Arthas launched the Undead Scourge in Lordaeron that same day and massacred the city.
"They want to see the dragons," Dany turned to Quirrell, "arrange two groups of guards, one openly and one secretly to guard the three dragons. As long as we are here for a day, we must not let our guard down for a moment." "Ago, Jhogo, you arrange people, men and women, to find out all the topography, house structure, and palace guards near our base."
Finally, she looked at Jorah solemnly, "Sir, I understand our current situation very well, so I want you to go to the streets, the docks, the taverns, and even the brothels to find out the attitude of ordinary people in Qarth towards us, as well as information about the upper class in Qarth."
After thinking for a while, she added, "Since this is a trade center connecting the East and West, there must be Westeros people and merchants from other city-states. While you are gathering information, you can also spread the word about me and my dragons."
"This," Ser Jorah hesitated, "you were worried that the usurper would send someone to assassinate you before, but now you have taken the initiative to announce to the merchants of the Seven Kingdoms that you will bring your dragons back to Westeros. Even if the usurper is dead, there is still his son."
"Alas, the situation has changed. The hatching of dragons has been exposed. If the King's Landing has been paying attention to me, they will know about it at the first time. It is better to make this matter a focus, which not only protects ourselves, but also distracts everyone's attention and conceals her real goal.
That night, Dany enjoyed the luxurious food that matched the luxurious palace, stir-fried peacock tongues.
Mmp, using peacock tongues to cook, even the most greedy ancient Chinese people would not think of it, right?
The next morning, as the Quai-si warned her, the powerful people of Qarth came to Xaro's palace in a sedan chair, surrounded by a large group of servants.
Xaro accompanied them to Dany's residence. They declared that they were fascinated by her beauty and noble background, and sincerely presented silk, jewelry, rare animals, dwarves with special skills and other gifts. Finally, they praised the greatness of dragons while praising them with tears, and looked around with wide eyes.
Well, the people of Qarth like to shed tears very much, and think that crying is a symbol that makes them look more civilized.
Dany understood what they meant, and without any hesitation, she directly pulled out the chained dragon, causing the nobles of Qarth to cry even more fiercely.
The upper class of Qarth is composed of three major power organizations: the royal family, merchants, and wizards.
In the era when dragons disappeared and magic became extinct, the once powerful wizards lost their power and power; the royal family controlled the camel cavalry and city fleet of Qarth, and nominally ruled the city.
Merchants formed the three most powerful guilds, the Thirteen Masters, the Tourmaline Brotherhood, and the Ancient Guild of Spice. A city of commerce, of course, its actual power is in the hands of merchants.
However, the internal struggles between the three merchant guilds are very fierce. If it were not for the purpose of clamping down on the royal family, they would have torn their faces for the actual control of the city.
The other 12 "Thirteen Masters" visited Dany on the first day, and the Tourmaline Brotherhood came on the second day.
After seeing the dragon, the gem merchants spent a week making a three-headed dragon crown for Dany: the dragon's curled body was gold, its wings were silver, and its three heads were carved from jade, ivory, and agate.
On the third day, the Spice Guild gave Dany seventy-seven boxes of precious spices from all over the world.
Well, when the Targaryen family unified the Seven Kingdoms, in order to integrate into Westeros as foreign conquerors, they gave up the ancient Valyrian gods and converted to the Church of the Seven.
In theory, Dany should also believe in the Seven Gods.
And for the believers of the Seven Gods, "seven", "seventy-seven", and "seven hundred and seventy-seven" are all auspicious numbers.
On the fourth day, Dany began to receive people from the middle and lower reaches of the power of Qarth, small merchants, government officials, fleet commanders, and camel cavalry captains.
When she asked if the royal family of Xaro would come, he said with disdain: "What else do the royal family have now, except for supreme dignity and ancient glory? You just have to accommodate them and take the initiative to meet them."
However, it is not so easy to meet the royal family. To be summoned by the royal family, you must be qualified, and this qualification is in the hands of several powerful people.
In simple terms, just like Tang Sanzang needed to send people to Ananda Kasyapa to obtain the true scriptures from the Tathagata Buddha, Dany had to break through various barriers and send enough people to meet the royal family.
Even if you want to go through the backdoor, you have to have connections. If you don't find the key, giving gifts randomly will only waste manpower and financial resources.
Xaro said righteously that he knew everything about this and could teach her who to find connections with, who to give gifts to, and how much each person should give.
Dany wanted to say, go to hell, I don't buy it.
But Jorah has already found out the general situation of Qarth in the past few days. The royal family has indeed lost actual control of the city, but the camel cavalry and the city defense fleet are under the control of the royal family.
Dany can't figure out why the royal family, who holds military power, has lost its ruling position. Maybe this is the characteristic of the trading city-state?
Or, merchants are richer, and with money they can hire more armed forces, such as mercenaries?
It is no secret among the top leaders that Xaro persuaded Dany to use connections to meet the royal family.
The royal family has probably already opened their pockets and waited for her to throw gold coins in. If she doesn't go, it means that they are not giving face to the royal family. Not giving face to the royal family means that they are not friends.
Humph, if you are not a friend or a guest, then I can attack you.
Jorah advised her, "This is the custom of Qarth. Even in Westeros, you will not enjoy the rights of a guest just because you go to my house.
The rights of a guest come into effect only when the guest comes to the host's house and accepts the bread and salt provided by the host.
If the host places the unsheathed sword across his knees, it means that he has no intention of establishing a guest relationship with the guest, and the rights of a guest naturally do not exist."
"But, forcibly asking for bribes is too low-level, isn't it? Is it popular in the Seven Kingdoms for hosts to ask for gifts from guests?" Dany said angrily.
"Cough cough cough" Jorah coughed as if he was choked, and his full beard could not hide the blush on his face.
"No way." Dany opened her mouth wide, with a look of disbelief.
"Not as naked as Qarth." Ser Jorah hurriedly explained: "Guests give 'guest gifts' to their hosts to express their gratitude for the food and shelter they provide. And when the guests leave, the host may also give them 'guest gifts'.
This tradition usually occurs when the guest is in a weak position, because he is afraid that the host will veto the guest's rights."
Dany also didn't pay attention to the details when watching the show. Regarding this point mentioned by Jorah, it is particularly evident between the Night's Watch and the wildling Craster.
Craster, the wildling outside the Wall, is the first ghost father in the world of ice and fire. He married his daughter, and continued to marry the daughter born by his daughter. In this way, he married dozens of wives who were both daughters and granddaughters.
He also had sons, but all his sons were sacrificed to the White Walkers as soon as they were born.
It can be said that almost all the White Walkers are the sons of that guy except the Night King.
Well, White Walkers are different from wights. White Walkers are transformed from living people, and wights are dead bodies resurrected by White Walkers.
Without Craster to provide housing and food, the death rate of the Night's Watch men who left the Wall and headed north would almost double, so the Night's Watch needed Craster.
Not only did they turn a blind eye to his incestuous behavior, but they were also often extorted by Craster for iron weapons, which were "guest gifts."
Also because of the guest rights, the commander-in-chief of the Night's Watch, Old Bear, could not harm Craster even though he knew that Craster was related to the White Walkers.
The guest rights are two-way. Not only can the host not harm the guest, but the guest will not harm the host - even if the host is making a deal with the devil.
Seeing Dany deep in thought, Jorah could not help but persuade her again: "The ancestors had the tradition of guest rights, and the Andals also have similar laws. Perhaps guest rights are universal in the world, but the specific forms of expression are different."
"Well, I'll give gifts to the royal family, and I hope they can give me some "guest gifts," too." Dany sighed.
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(End of this chapter)