Drogo’s party reaches the edge of the Dothraki Sea. Daenerys is riding with her entourage, including Ser Jorah, Irri, herkhas (bodyguard), and Viserys. Illyrio had counseled Viserys not to make the journey and offered the comfort of his manse, but Viserys refused to leave Drogo’s side until he receives his promised crown. A sudden impulse takes Daenerys, and she decides to ride out into the grasses of the Dothraki Sea, leaving orders with Ser Jorah for no one to follow her. Daenerys thinks back on her journey thus far. The journey was not easy for Daenerys at first. Riding all day left her sore and bloody, and Drogo’s lovemaking at night made it even worse. She was almost ready to kill herself when she had a dream of being purified by dragonfire. From that point on, she became stronger and more confident. She also took an interest in the beauty of the land around her. The party made their way through the hills around Norvos, past villages of white stucco, forded four rivers, traveled down ancient Valyrian roads, and passed through the Forest of Qohor.

Daenerys’s reverie is interrupted when a furious Viserys rides out to scold her for having Ser Jorah command him not to intrude, but Daenerys stands up for herself and shoves him away. Viserys is about to respond when Jhogo rides up and coils his whip around Viserys’s neck. When Daenerys sees him on the ground red-faced and sobbing, she realizes what a pitiful creature he really is. She orders his horse taken away, a dreadful insult and humiliation amongst the Dothraki. Daenerys is afraid afterward that she has woken the dragon and that Viserys will hurt her later, but Ser Jorah tells her that Rhaegar was the last dragon and Viserys is merely the shadow of a snake. She realizes that he would make a terrible king and that he will never retake the Seven Kingdoms. Back at camp, she notices that her stone dragon eggs are unusually warm. As Irri, Jhiqui, and Doreah bathe her, she asks about dragons, but they tell her they are all gone. Daenerys recalls that Viserys told her the last Targaryen dragons had died a century and a half ago during the reign ofAegon III, who was given the epitaph Dragonbane. That night she talks with Doreah late into the night about sex, and when Drogo comes, she pleases him so thoroughly that he calls out her name at his climax. When they are on the far side of the Dothraki Sea some time later, Daenerys, now fourteen, realizes she is pregnant.

Quotes…

“Wait here,” Dany told Ser Jorah. “Tell them all to stay. Tell them I command it.”

The knight smiled. “You are learning to talk like a queen, Daenerys.”

“Not a queen,” said Dany. “A khaleesi.”

Viserys came upon her as sudden as a summer storm, his horse rearing beneath him as he reined up too hard. “You dare!” he screamed at her. “You give commands to me? To me?” He vaulted off the horse, stumbling as he landed. His face was flushed as he struggled back to his feet. He grabbed her, shook her. “Have you forgotten who you are? Look at you. Look at you!”

“You do not command the dragon. Do you understand? I am the Lord of the Seven Kingdoms, I will not hear orders from some horselord’s slut, do you hear me?” His hand went under her vest, his fingers digging painfully into her breast. “Do you hear me?”

The whip made a sound like thunder. The coil took Viserys around the throat and yanked him backward.

“Jhogo asks if you would have him dead, Khaleesi,” Irri said.

“Have you ever seen a dragon?”

“No dragon,” Irri said. “Brave men kill them, for dragon terrible evil beasts. It is known.”

“It is known,” agreed Jhiqui.

“A trader from Qarth once told me that dragons came from the moon,”

“He told me the moon was an egg, Khaleesi,” the Lysene girl said. “Once there were two moons in the sky, but one wandered too close to the sun and cracked from the heat. A thousand dragons poured forth, and drank the fire of the sun. That is why dragons breathe flame. One day the other moon will kiss the sun too, and then it will crack and the dragons will return.”

The two Dothraki girls giggled and laughed. “You are foolish strawhead slave,” Irri said. “Moon is no egg. Moon is god, woman wife of sun. It is known.”

“It is known,” Jhiqui agreed.

They were on the far side of the Dothraki sea when Jhiqui brushed the soft swell of Dany’s stomach with her fingers and said, “Khaleesi, you are with child.”

“I know,” Dany told her.

by Mel

I despise Viserys, not quite as much as Joffrey, but almost. I loved that Dani stuck up for herself for once and has realized he would not make a good king and would never win back the kingdom. I love Ser Jorah, he is so kind with Dani. I find her hand maidens funny, and love it in the book and on HBO when they say, ‘It is known’

Book to HBO

True to HBO fashion, they made the scene with Dani and Doreah almost make you wonder if Dani wasn’t going to end up being a lesbian in the series. I had not read the books yet and remembered thinking oh great, I kind of wanted her to fall in love with Khal Drogo. Luckily, it was just one love making lesson and she got it right after the first lesson.