Chapter 14: A Hand in Politics

"Checkmate"

A defeated sigh came from the old man before him before a smile deepened the wrinkles of his face, "Master, my I request you not torture this old man with defeat any more? My spirit is crushed."

"Oh please, who else would I play against if not you old man." Jafaar smiled as he leaned back and sipped on honey tea while gazing out the window. Below he could see a great part of the city, stretching to the edge of the great wall that was this city's pride. Now this great wall was in ruin, its gate broken through and the street before it painted red.

"The grain storages are safe and untouched, Master. We have procured enough to feed 80,000 men for 10 years, as you commanded." The old man started as a brown headed woman poured him some tea. She had an oval face with defined bones and soft jawline and almond shaped brown eyes hidden behind fluttering lashes. 'Master has found another girl huh, that ungrateful girl left as soon as we came to Meereen. This one's name in Doreah I think.'

"What about the other thing?" Jafaar's question raised the old man from his thoughts and he nodded, "As soon as the command to close the fighting pits is given, I will purchase them as instructed. We have looted half of the items from the Great Masters that were crucified and gave the other half to the Unsullied as you commanded."

"Did anyone find out?"

"No Master, only the Unsullied were present where we looted, they just did as they were told." the old man replied.

"Good." Jafaar smiled, "It is good to see you again old man."

The old man stood up and took a deep bow, "It is my honor to serve you Master and I shall continue to my dying breath! As did my father and my father before him!"

"Alright, you can leave." Jafaar dismissed him and turned his attention towards a different chess board. It was odd because all the pieces had different colors instead of just black and white. The board was still the checkered black and white but it was bigger and had more pieces like ships and dragons, all different colours.

"Do you know which is the most important piece in Chess Doreah?' he asked the maid.

"The king?"

"The Queen." he informed her as he picked up a small purple figurine of a woman with a golden crown. "Any player worth their salt knows to protect their queen."

"Why is the queen more powerful when the king rules?" she was rightly confused.

"It's a mutation… The queen was once weak, but for one reason or another it gained great power and now… it dominated the entire board." He placed the purple queen next to a rook and a pawn, both of them turned purple. The purple pieces were right next to a single blood red pawn.

"It was once an adviser, a Vazir but… that's not the point. The point is, once the Queen is safe, the player can move on to securing the other pieces…" Jafaar picked up a golden knight and placed it on the other end of the chess board along with another black knight. A black king was all the way in the corner, alone.

"Come, tell me how many queens are there on this board?" he pulled Doreah, showing her the board and hugging her from behind.

"One… is that a queen? The crown is golden but… it looks like a jester's hat?" she was rightly confused at the strange piece that was next to the golden knight.

"It is a jester, pretending to be a queen."

"Isn't that confusing? How would we know which is a queen and which is a jester?" she pouted.

"It is indeed. This is why keeping the real queen in your sights is so important." he grabbed her hand and pointed it to the blue queen.

"One… two… three…" she counted, "Why are there so many kings? Wait… that's a knight wearing a crown… one no two pawns wearing a crown… agh I don't get it, it's too confusing!" she gave up in frustration.

Jafaar chuckled, "Would it be all better if all the pieces were a single color?" he waved his hand and all the pieces, from one corner of the board to the other, slowly turned red.

"Now it seems… boring?"

"Precisely… it is a conundrum… what to do? Turn them all red or maybe have a good old black and white?" he sighed, putting his chin on her shoulder. "But no matter if they are all the same shade or different ones… One cannot play the game without enough pieces." He held up a wide silver bracelet like his own but this one was encrusted with a bright purple amethyst the size of thumb.

"Is this for me?" the woman bloomed as she grabbed it and wore it on her right wrist without a thought.

"Our precious Queen is going to make several mistakes soon so I cannot leave Slaver's bay just yet." he held her tighter, "I need you to become my hand, my eyes and get me my chess pieces." he turned her towards him, holding her face in his hands, "Can you do that for me?"

"Yes. Anything!" she replied instantly, her eyes full of reverence.

"Good." he kissed her forehead, "Let get you some warm clothes."

The bracelet was perhaps the most complex item that he had created to date. It was enchanted with a permanent Charm spell that made people be kind and friendly to the wearer. It also had a very complex Telepathy spell that allowed it to connect with 2 dozen rings that had a similar telepathy spell on them for long distance communications. Lastly, the bracelet had the Command spell that could be used 3 times a day.

He also gave Doreah a ring with healing spells and one with the shockwave spell. The shockwave spell was not the most deadly spell but was the most effective against crowds and had the deterrence due to its large area of effect.

The other rings of telepathy had been distributed to several trusted companions by Iftar and they now fed him with live news not only throughout the city but beyond, once they reached their destinations.

Jafaar sent off Doreah and went towards the Throne room in the great pyramid. He saw a goatherd walking away with a broad smile, having just gotten three times the worth of his goats after Drogon had burnt them. 'She should really get them under control.'

He passed a small queue of men and women awaiting audience and entered the Throne room unimpeded. As soon as he entered he smiled, "I saw a very happy goatherd just now." he spoke to the people present, "Such a frivolous display of wealth… good thing your slave trade is booming." he smirked as he climbed the stairs that led to the elevated Bench that had replaced the original throne.

"Do you mock me Lord Magus?" he could hear her blood boiling from afar.

"Oh definitely. Do you now see the difference between conquering and ruling?" he climbed up right to her, Jorah tensing behind her, and sat on the same small bench she sat on. "You conquered Astapor and Yunkai and you left them in chaos. This time you stayed and now face the consequences of your actions."

Her gaze faltered, it had been grave news when she heard that Yunkish had reenslaved the freemen that had stayed behind and that Astapor was in complete chaos and the Butcher King had restarted the practice of training the Unsullied.

Jafaar turned to Ser Barristan, "Do you still have the parchment I gave you in Astapor? Please read aloud."

The old knight produced a piece of parchment from his clothes and opened it to read, "The council will fall, the kings will rise."

"You knew this would happen? Why didn't you tell me?" Dany was furious, thinking that all these tragedies could have been avoided if Jafaar had advised her of this before.

"Did you seek my advice?" Jafaar matched her seriousness and she grew silent. It was true so she could not refute it, Jorah had been adamant in his opposition of Jafaar and she had heeded it, something she now regretted.

"What do you advice now?" she asked in a defeated tone.

"You are taking away a system that has existed for thousands of years, you will fail…" he paused for effect, "...Unless you can give them a new system to replace the old one. Give them rules, give them laws. Don't just say that men have to be paid, define how much they should be paid for every type of work." Jafaar stood up and started pacing, "Redefine the crimes and their punishments, you can't punish them on whim like some savage."

He ignored the fierce gaze of Jorah and awkward ones of the rest as if he had not just insulted their queen, "There are no more fields, no farms, no gardens… Have you considered how the people will feed themselves? You have just taken away the jobs of hundreds of thousands of people, how will they make their living now? Crime is going to skyrocket soon, have you established the city guard to keep the peace?" he paused seeing the confused look on her face.

"S-skyrocket?" she asked in confusion.

"Ah… it means reaching as high as the sky…" he explained, 'Ofcourse, they don't have rockets.' he thought.

"Have you established a government to manage the needs and affairs of the city?" He continued, "If you insist on hearing every petitioner, it will take you 10 years to listen to every person in this city once! And by the time you are done, the line will be stretching from here to Astapor!"

Quiet.

That was all there was after he was done. He let out an audible sigh, "You are responsible for more than half a million lives Daenerys… Ruling is not sitting on a throne and passing judgement, it is a service to the people. A Ruler is a servant."

He watched the shifting expression on her face as she finally looked up at him with conviction, "Lord Magus, would you like to be my Hand of the Queen."

"No."

"Why?" she was taken aback.

"Because I don't want to. But I will help you not to ruin this city." Jafaar flew down from the top of the stairs to the bottom, landing soft as a feather, "Your lessons start tonight, bring your writing materials." and with that he walked out.