Chapter 7: VII: The First Daughter

VII: The First Daughter

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Volantis, First Daughter of Valyria, awaited them sprawled across one of the four mouths of the Rhoyne, with its high and mighty walls. It was quite a change from the refreshing breezes of the Forest of Qohor, for this city was hot and humid, and one could drown in his own sweat under the midday sun, in the heavy air that smelt sweet and rotten at the same time. And the nights were almost as hot as the days.

They had barely entered the city when they were invited beyond the Black Walls, great walls of fused dragonstone, two hundred feet high. Yet it was not a single man of the Old Blood that invited them, for all the Triarchs had sent their messengers. It was not easy to choose between the three, lest you insult the other two. But in the end Aerys had to choose, and between one Tiger and two Elephants, he chose one of the Elephants.

He was not particularly knowledgeable of Volantene politics, but he knew that the Elephants were the party of trade, and to become guest of a Tiger, as a Prince of the Seven Kingdoms, would mean that some would take it as an approval by the Iron Throne of Volantis' territorial ambitions.

From what he had found out, each Triarch had his own duties, given in such a manner that it limited the powers of the other two. The first one controlled the administration and taxation of the lands outside the city of Volantis, yet he could not spend one coin. He had also charge of Volantis' relations without other policies - but he could only decide in times of peace, and discussions of trade were subject to the approval of the second triarch.

The second triarch oversaw the spending of coin, but he could not decide the imposition of taxes or tariffs, but his most important duty was to hold the warpurse.

The third triarch was in charge of the army, but could not declare war without the assent of the first triarch, and the financing of it was subject to the whims of the second one. While he commanded the tiger cloaks of Volantis and its lesser cities, he could not order by himself the raising of citizen militias without the assent of the other two triarchs.

Fortunately it was not the time of the year that the triarchs were elected, when the city was filled with torchlight marches, and mummers and minstrels and dancers, and bravos fighting duels for the honour of their candidates. Which meant that by choosing a particular host he did not endorse his ambitions in the eyes of Volantis.

Their host, Doniphos Vaelaros, was most magnanimous, granting them the best rooms in his palace. He was the greatest of the merchants currently living, owning piers and storehouses, brokering cargoes, changing money, insuring shipowners against the hazard of the sea, and sending trade convoys all the way to the Jade Sea. Aerys had chosen him as host because he was known not to participate in the flesh trade. While he did not do so due to the pangs of his conscience, but because he thought a trade where your "goods" can perish was not a wise one for a merchant, it was this that settled them in favour of him, rather than the other Elephant.

As Westerosi knew it, Volantis was a city where slaves were five for each free man. But the counting was wrong, for among this was counted the population of the hinterland - where many peasants were known as "paraekys", mistakenly considered slaves by some. These were peasants driven close to penury, who had entered willingly under the protection and patronage of one of the Old Blood, relinquishing their lands into their ownership - but retaining possesion, and thus could not be expelled from these lands due to debts. Their patrons now had the responsibility of paying dues on behalf of his paraekys, though they extracted rents from them. Yet they retain their freedom in the eyes of the law.

He had asked their host if his own parentage, being half-Dornish as he was, lessened him in the perception of those of the Old Blood, but Vaelaros had assured him that most of them valued most their unbroken descent from Old Valyria rather than the purity of their blood - to which only the most warmongering of the Tigers held tight.

There was not much they acquired for Summerhall in the city, save for panes of coloured Volantene glass, though they did buy a great quantity of spices, and Aelinor had acquired enough silk as to satisfy her needs for a wardrobe, and even that of any future daughters she might have.

The Long Bridge was a wonder to behold, joining a city split by the Rhoyne, the longest in the world. The Triarch had asked them which they thought to be the greater wonder of Volantis - its bridge, or its walls?

Aerys had to think deep on it, before he answered him:

"The Long Bridge was made by the work of ordinary men, save for the roadway of fused stone above it. That, I believe, took the work of many skilled men, for to bridge the Rhoyne itself seems like an impossible task - not many men, however great they are, would think of starting the construction of a bridge three miles long, when you cannot see one shore from the other. But I do believe that men can build its like again, for the minds of men discover new things every year, and one day many seemingly impossible things will be done with great ease."

"But I look at the Black Walls, where dragons and dragonlords fused stone and made it stronger than steel. It was a work of great magic, done with ancient magic lost forevermore in the Doom of Valyria, and none can know how to make its like again. Long after our days, and even a thousand years from now, when men shall look at the Long Bridge and marvel at the ingenuity of its builders, they will look upon the Black Walls and wonder how man could do such a thing, for it would still remain a mystery."

Yet of the two, it was the Long Bridge that was worth the time to see - mile after mile of shops - weavers, lacemakers, glassbowers, candlemakers, smiths, spice merchants, leatherworkers and many others - who paid heavily for the privilege - and their numbers was limited by their respective guilds to lessen the competition. You could walk a day and yet see and buy, hour after hour, something new. A man of less wealth would bankrupt himself from all the temptations and the wares.

Aerys also enjoyed the Triarch's library very much, though his initial visit to it had led to some amount of awkwardness. He had opened a random book from the many shelves that littered that grand room, only to see stamped upon the first page the bookplate of Lysandro the Magnificent.

He laughed at the sight, earning the curiosity of his host, and had to explain: "It seems that this book, and presumably some others in your magnificent library, have the mark of ownership of my own great-great-great-grandfather, whose library was sold and dispersed after the fall of the house of Rogare. I did not expect to find one as such in your own palace, for I thought the Lyseni were cultured enough to know their worth. It seems not."

The triarch was most gracious in his answer: "It is the duty of a host to make his guests feel welcomed into his home. Thus I must insist that you accept any such books that bear his book plate. I am afraid I can not accept a refusal."

Aerys was no fool to reject such a boon, though he expected his host desired a favour. He did not ask for it straightaway, but in a more subtle manner had asked later if he could convince his father to lessen the tax on Volantene ships moored in Westerosi ports. He had not made an obvious promise, but he had conditioned an acceptance of this to lesser taxes in kind for Westerosi ships that sailed to, and traded in Volantis. It seemed that while the triarch's ancestors had amassed an amazing collection of books, their progeny seemed to see it as just an instrument of fulfilling his mercantile ambitions.

They had also visited the Great Hippodrome, three hundred feet wide and one thousand five hundred feet long, capable of seating forty thousand people. It had once been built to entertain the lowborn and keep them docile, but its chariot races had acquired a following among the Old Blood, once they began to use them as a proxy conflict of the political battles between Tigers and Elephants.

The drivers were not unhappy about this, since the Old Blood most generously pelted them with honours and gifts of gold and silver when they had won a race. They had also earned prestige in the eyes of the crowds, their races being one of the few forms of entertainment they had, besides the low-quality farces in shady mummer houses that doubled as beer halls.

A significant amount of the city's population subsisted on a grain dole when the Triarchs were feeling charitable. Even those capable of earning a living had no security, for their contracts were renewed every month. Those hired in a craftsman's shop had no chance of advancements, for their yearly wages was only a third of what was required to rent a shop, and to buy it outright would require ten or twenty years of wages. Their only chance of advancement was to charm and wed the owner's daughter.

Many slaves had a better situation than those, for plenty of merchants favoured them as clerks for their warehouses, or as tutors for their sons, and wealthier craftsmen even had slaves managing their second or third workshop.

They had also seen the Temple of the Lord of Light, which was triple the size of the Great Sept of Baelor, even when the latter was finished. It was a grand structure, beneath the Black Walls, with numerous pillars, steps, buttresses, bridges, domes, and towers which seemed to flow into one another. Its walls were coloured in various hues of red, of yellow, of gold and orange. They did not enter it, for they had no inclination to worship such a god.

In the parts of the city were the believers of the Red Faith were in great number, such beliefs influenced even their architecture: For the floors were made in various shades of black, and grey, and other such dull colours, while as stories were closer to the sky, the colours painted on the walls changed to red and orange, to yellow and gold, closer to the colour of the sun.

Aerys, and Aelinor too, preferred the architecture of the Palace of the Three, whose grand hall had an exquisite mosaic, filled with many scenes on a white background - hunting motives, idyllic depictions of nature, battles, and dragonlords burning down cities.

The city's streets were fifteen feet wide, some even double that, with many porticoes and statues. The richer folk, but still outside of the Old Blood, had houses built of brick, with tiled roofs, and peculiarly, were built without windows facing the street, but had a small square in the middle, from which light could come through the inner windows.

The city had a greater presence of scholars than the previous ones they had visited. But as the First Daughter of Valyria, its literature, like its architecture, remained tributary to Old Valyria and its ancient forms, and retained that particular eloquence and many references to Valyrian myths, though one could find slight Rhoynish influences.

The Arsenal of the city had its own library, though its texts were concerned almost entirely with military engineering. It was the Grand Auditorium that had a larger library, an institution similar to the Citadel, though it did not bind in chains and oaths its students, but rather satisfied the curiosity of those highborn inclined towards a more complete education.

They left the city as the elections drew nearer, not eager to involve themselves in its bustle, or to be seen as involving themselves directly.