[Chapter Size: 3000 Words.]

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Thrid Person POV

Essos, 296 AC.

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The Sealord’s banquet was not something much more extravagant than what could happen in Artica; after all, Jon’s banquets used to bring the entire kingdom together, focusing on the arenas.

The Sealord’s family was greeting the guests among them the keyholders who wouldn’t miss it, and even the biggest merchants who were below them but had a great influence on the trade and decisions of the city of Braavos.

As expected, Braavos did not want to become an enemy of Artica as had happened in Westeros; after all, Artica emerged victorious from all the fights. If they had to bet on someone, it would definitely be Artica.

So with this respect wanting to be built between them, everyone was present, hoping to show some respect, and the Braavosi could easily get the information about what happened in Westeros and knew the impression of the nobles from the seven kingdoms.

At this moment, Jon finally approached the entrance as they announced his arrival. “With all the hospitality Braavos can provide, we welcome Jon Artica, sovereign of the realm beyond the wall, with his family!” He announced as Jon entered dressed in the style of the present nobles, accompanied by Arya and Ygritte, entering the place.

“Welcome to our banquet, King of Artica, I hope it pleases you…” the Sealord greeted them.

Unlike Westeros where there were tables in higher places to signal the status of those occupying their chairs, the tables here were all aligned, perhaps because the Sealord did not want to belittle anyone, after all, there were many important people here and a table would hardly be enough, with all the people who command the city and practically the economy of all Essos and with great influence in Westeros.

Jon ended up sitting with the Sealord while the keyholders surrounded them, not just his family accompanying him, his ministers as important people and keys to the kingdom, should accompany him as they shared conversations among themselves. “Thank you for the reception, Braavos really knows how to be welcoming.” Jon exchanged some kind words with his host, not feeling the malice that was in Westeros here.

“I don’t like how those prostitutes are looking at you…” Ygritte murmured by his side as soon as she sat down, around the hall, some courtesans were with some personal guards, looking directly at Jon as if waiting for an opportunity to talk to him.

“I’m not interested…” Jon said, ignoring those glances, after all, he had no interest in these women, especially women who shared the bed with other men.

He ignored the glances and continued eating while talking with the Sealord and the keyholders at that table, trying to gain their trust with some humor, since his goal was to be a keyholder of the Iron Bank and he had to also be friendly with them without overdoing it, after all, he is still a king.

“That’s interesting… you have different ships, if possible, I would like to take a look when possible.” One of the keyholders said, interested in the Artican carracks docked in the port, which were very different from common ships.

“Certainly, that wouldn’t be a problem,” Jon responded before continuing. “I hear that you export wood from Westeros…” The King of Artica had a peculiar look.

“Certainly, King of Artica… Mainly from the North… If your negotiations involve your wood… we will be very interested,” the Sealord himself commented. “I took the liberty of asking some men to see your ships and indeed, your wood is much superior to what we have here…” He spoke as Jon nodded.

“Let’s leave that conversation for the next negotiation,” Jon said.

“Certainly, now let’s have fun and enjoy the banquet. Bards!” exclaimed the lord of this palace, as music began to fill the air.

Couples went to dance on the floor while Ygritte looked at Jon. “Do you want to dance?” He smiled, knowing the woman liked to do that, but always pretended otherwise; Jon ended up taking her to the floor while dancing, and those who tried to make Arya go to the floor were all refused.

As Jon continued dancing with his wife, he finally stopped for a moment while he was interested in a particular conversation with the Sealord. As he proceeded, he was approached by a woman wearing revealing clothes, the very Courtesan who found a gap to approach him, while Ygritte immediately looked at him like a hawk as soon as she sat back down with Arya.

“King of Artica! It’s an honor…” She began, but Jon immediately interrupted her.

“I’m busy right now, perhaps another time,” Jon said and quickly dodged, continuing his way as his guards followed him through the hall.

“King of Artica?” The Sealord was visibly surprised as Jon approached him at this moment.

“Sealord. I would like to have a conversation with you if possible,” Jon said while the man was talking to another at that moment.

“Of course… Could you give us a moment, my lord?” He spoke to his colleague, who nodded, as he turned back to Jon. “Please, King of Artica, follow me,” he requested as Jon followed him to a balcony, seeing that the Artican wanted a more private conversation.

“Tell me, what would the King of Artica like to discuss?” Sealord returned to Jon while carrying a bottle of Dornish wine, after all, the Artican products had not yet been distributed at the party as they would be later.

“Nothing much, Sealord…” Jon began in a calm tone. “But I would like to know about something quite peculiar… I heard that the Targaryens lived here,” Jon spoke subtly, while the Sealord raised an eyebrow at him.

Hearing this question from the King of Artica about the Targaryen siblings was a surprise for the Sealord, wondering what he wanted with this information. “You’re not thinking of…” Sealord murmured to Jon.

“It’s not what you’re thinking,” Jon said, shaking his head.

But the man in front of him smiled insistently. “I’ve heard that Daenerys Targaryen is of marriageable age. I’m sure that you, being who you are, could try to obtain the Iron Throne through your children with the Targaryen woman…” the Sealord still spoke, rationally, while casting a bait to see if Jon had ambitions to conquer the Iron Throne.

Jon wanted to laugh at him at that moment upon hearing this, since he did not need a marriage to obtain the throne. After all, that chair belonged to him by right of birth already. He did not need to marry any Targaryen for that, especially when the royal children were actually bastards in King’s Landing.

But Jon looked at the Sealord, also wanting to know more information about the Targaryen siblings, especially when the Sealord seemed to expect Jon to bypass his uncle Viserys. “Why do you think I could obtain the throne by marrying the girl? Does her brother not have more right to the throne than she does?” Jon asked curiously.

Sealord was forced to grimace, wanting to laugh at Jon, which made the King of Artica have a displeased look at this man.

“I apologize for my mistake. I did not intend to offend you.” Seeing Jon’s face, the Sealord quickly apologized with his own, before continuing. “Just… the girl’s brother… is difficult. Maybe you don’t know, but he’s somewhat unstable, like his father. He is truly the son of the mad king…” Sealord spoke as Jon looked surprised.

“What do you mean?” Jon asked.

The Sealord sighed, before beginning to speak. “Well, let me first tell you some things about him. To start, when the boy and the girl lived here, they lived with the old knight, Ser Willem Darry. He was a Targaryen loyalist until the end of his life and sheltered the children in one of his residences in this city and stayed with them, raising and training the boy to assume the throne one day. However, the knight could not live forever and ended up dying a few years ago. This caused the servants of the house to loot the place and leave the siblings to their fate, with only one belonging, their mother’s crown, which he sold some time later…” he spoke as Jon was surprised by this.

“He sold…” Jon raised an eyebrow. “Do you know where the crown is?” he asked immediately, after all, it was the crown of his paternal grandmother.

Although the Sealord was a bit surprised by Jon being interested in this, he nodded. “One of the Keyholders has it after buying it from the people who bought it from Viserys… it’s in his collection and he quite flaunts it to all of us. After all, not everyone can have a queen’s crown in their collection,” he spoke.

Jon nodded, interested. “Could you tell me who it is? I would like to buy it back, if possible…” he requested.

The Sealord saw no problem in this and said he would introduce the man for the negotiation.

“Now tell me more about her brother and what is wrong with him?” Jon requested, returning to the conversation.

“Well, after they ended up living on the streets, the boy never had stable behavior, always arrogant, and worse, he couldn’t control his anger. I myself wanted to beat that brat, thinking he could demand that I and the Iron Bank help him in an impossible dispute for him when he was just a child. Even with Ser Willem Darry still alive at that time, he already believed he was even the king of Braavos. It was Ser Willem Darry who saved him after he declared he would leave this palace at the time…” the Sealord spoke, remembering that spoiled boy with disdain, before continuing.

“And when the boy was on the streets, the situation worsened. All those he tried to seek help from despised him. Even those who saw a chance to support the heir to the Iron Throne, gave up as they saw his instability and lack of rationality of the boy, looking more like a lunatic than a king. He was known here for a long period as the ‘Beggar King’. Still, he and his sister lived in misery for a long time, but then they left the city a few years ago,” the lord of Braavos said.

Jon was a bit surprised by this, he had to admit that despite the evidence of the maesters poisoning his grandfather… he was still evil, after all that his grandfather killed the other grandfather in such a cruel way. It was strange for him to see himself in this situation, but if his uncle was like the Mad King, Jon didn’t quite know what to do with that boy. After all, from what the Sealord had said, it would be much easier for him to try to demand something from Jon than to recognize him as his family.

‘What should I do with him? Maybe I should first talk to him personally and see if he really is like that. As for the girl…’ Jon thought and looked at the Sealord at this moment.

“Is the girl also unstable like her brother?” he asked.

The Sealord shook his head this time. “No, she was a sad and passive girl, even afraid of her own brother. I believe he hit her to vent his frustrations. The girl seems to have a fate very similar to that of her mother, from what I’ve heard… Quite sad, isn’t it?” he said.

“And if they left. Do you know where they went?” Jon asked, knowing he was being quite insistent on this and the Sealord was not a fool, he realized that Jon had some interest in the Targaryens and smiled.

“Maybe I’m right, even though you don’t seem to want the throne… maybe you’re interested in having a third wife. After all, Targaryen blood is quite precious and any monarch would like to have it. The blood of the dragons and their lineage…” he suggested.

“That’s not what I’m thinking, but I would like to see them. They are in Essos, right? I intend to find them somehow,” Jon was sincere.

“Well, since you speak that way, I will grant this information as a courtesy of Braavos. If you want to find the Targaryen siblings, they are in Pentos,” the man spoke, after all, it wasn’t a secret to him.

And anyone with a good base of information network could find them. Even Westeros, if they wanted, could locate them. But Varys was quite manipulative in this sense, preventing any information about the Targaryens from being exposed to the king of Westeros.

“Thank you for all the information,” Jon replied.

“Now, how about we continue with the banquet?” the Sealord suggested.

“Of course,” Jon spoke as the man smiled.

“It’s time to sample your incredible products before we start our negotiations tomorrow!” he said, while the Artican ships had already stocked a large amount of products this afternoon and were just waiting with the orders to be delivered in the middle of the hall.

Jon’s men quickly began to bring them, while Jon’s minister made his presentation, as he always did on all trips in the middle of the place.

As people continued to enjoy all the Artican products with them being released, especially the ice seeming to be a great pleasure for the warm nights of Braavos, Jon returned to his table, watching his Minister of Coin talking with some keyholders. Satisfied with this, he returned and sat down next to Arya and Ygritte.

“You haven’t danced even once?” Jon asked with a playful look at the girl.

“And you think I will?” Arya murmured.

“Then come, let’s see if you’re still a lady,” Jon replied, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her along, while the girl let out an expression of surprise and amusement at the same time.

Arya didn’t mind as the two began to dance in the middle of the dance floor. The night progressed, while the great magnates of Braavos continued to converse and sample the Artican products. Jon stayed with his family, with no important matters to deal with, but occasionally spoke to someone. His ministers, on the other hand, were busy, continuing to present the products and listening to all the negotiations of interest.

The banquet ended sometime later and Jon returned to the room with his wife. The next day, Jon woke up and his gaze went to the window, seeing through the eyes of some animals, Arya fighting against the man known as the First Sword of Braavos, Syrio Forel, in a quick fight in the middle of the yard.

“She moves like a cat, it’s amazing, she’s pleasantly surprising Syrio Forel,” Syrio Forel murmured excitedly, while he continued to attack with his sword the Valyrian steel sword of the girl in front of him, who was pleasantly skillful.

“I am faster than that,” Arya murmured, increasing the intensity of her blows.

It was only after a while that Arya ended up yielding to the man, falling to the ground exhausted. “It was a great fight, girl, but Syrio Forel is still the fastest sword in Braavos,” he spoke, referring to himself in the third person.

“Not true!” Arya exclaimed. “No one can beat Jon,” she declared, looking to the side, where she saw her Jon with crossed arms, watching the courtyard with many people present, while Ygritte was by his side.

“Why do I get the feeling your sister is pushing you into a fight?” Ygritte murmured beside him.

Jon wanted to laugh, but shrugged. “She is…” he said eventually.

“That sounds incredible.” Syrio Forel seemed excited about this as his gaze also fell on Jon. “I would love to see you fight like that, if possible,” he commented.

Jon smiled. “Alright then,” he agreed eventually. Jon wasn’t wearing armor nor had his weapons, and didn’t ask his men to bring any equipment. He just approached the courtyard. “Arya, give me your sword!” he requested.

Without resistance, Arya handed him Dark Sister. Jon felt the weight of the sword again after some time and turned to the man. “Let’s begin.”

“It will be an honor!” Syrio Forel spoke excitedly.

More and more people began to gather to see the fight, including the Sealord and his friends, who watched with interest from one of the balconies.

What happened next surprised everyone who wasn’t Artican. As soon as Syrio Forel tried to attack Jon, he quickly parried, perfectly blocking the blow and using the hilt of the sword to disarm him. Syrio Forel’s sword was flung to the side, seeing his sword falling to the ground and the man barely had time to react before the cold blade of Dark Sister touched his neck.

“You are certainly fast… Syrio Forel,” Jon spoke, despite winning the fight in just a few seconds.

“That…” Syrio Forel barely had time to form a thought to respond to Jon’s comment, which seemed more mocking than anything, as Jon withdrew the sword from the man’s stunned neck and placed the sword in the ground, in front of Arya.

“You can keep training, Arya. I’ll be going to negotiate with the Iron Bank,” Jon spoke, looking at the Sealord, who nodded to him.

Jon then left the place, while Arya flashed a mischievous smile, looking at Syrio Forel, who was still frozen after losing so quickly, especially when he bragged so much.

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