The Age of Daenerys Targaryen

Part 71: Findings

On the second day after the dragon fight, Aresso Hesten, a scholar who studied the lands of the Jade Sea, translated the foreign warrior's notes and now presented the results to Sealord Belo Aenolis, Sansa, Tyrion, Sam, Bronn, Illyrio and Kinvara. Daenerys was still in bed, even if she was feeling better.

"The strange dragon rider was a samurai from the isle of Leng", Aresso Hesten began.

"Samurai? What's that?", asked Bronn.

"Something like the knights in Westeros. The samurai are a warrior caste whose members devote their entire lives to fighting and preparing for it. That Empress Daenerys was able to slay one of them is impressive to say the least. In fact, our warrior was a ronin, a disgraced samurai. His name was Kenzai Iemochi. Note that in Leng the family name is mentioned before the first name. Iemochi's father Ishida, the head of the Kenzai clan and fleet commander of Leng, was executed for treason by Toyoda Daisuke, the army commander and head of the Toyoda clan."

"Lovely", said Tyrion. "A power struggle between two families. Why does that sound so familiar to me?"

The Sealord, Sansa, and the others laughed softly.

"After his father died, Kenzai fled Leng. He finally came to the Painted Mountains, where he hid for a while. He planned revenge on the Toyoda clan, a futile endeavor with only one dragon. So he wanted Empress Daenerys's dragons."

"Does the record show how many dragons there are in Leng?", Illyrio wanted to know.

"According to Kenzai, the Toyoda clan owns more than a dozen dragons. He also indicates that seven other clans have dragon riders in their ranks."

"Hm", said Tyrion. "How many dragons did the Kenzai clan have? I suppose they were all killed."

"Iemochi wrote nothing of this. His father was apparently not a dragon rider and no other Kenzai dragons are mentioned. Perhaps he was the only dragon rider in his clan."

"He wanted Daenerys' dragons, but he seemed to go out of his way to kill Drogon", said Bronn.

"He didn't want Drogon", Aresso clarified. "Kenzai was after the young dragons and the eggs."

Sam shook his head. "Even if he'd managed to kill Daenerys and get his prey ... how could he have any serious hopes of holding out against the Toyoda? Or are the Toyoda so hated on Leng that the other clans would have sided with him? In this case, he would certainly not have needed Daenerys' dragons."

The scholar shrugged. "How true, Grandmaester. Kenzai must have been as desperate as he was mad. His code of honor forced him to reach for every straw to avenge his father. Apparently most families were on the Toyoda side. Even with six full-grown dragons, Iemochi wouldn't have had the slightest chance ... even if he could have mastered them all. He didn't even have a plan about it! Everything points to an ill-considered act of desperation."

"Besides that, he would never have gotten away with Daenerys's murder, Kinvara said. "We would have hired the Faceless Men to punish him."

"Maybe that's exactly what Kenzai should have done", said Belo Aenolis. "Hire a Faceless Man to avenge his father. But I suppose he knew too little about the world outside of Leng, or his "honor" wouldn't allow it."

"Since this Kenzai is an enemy of the state, they won't shed tears on Leng, right?", said Illyrio. "Maybe they'll even be grateful to Daenerys there."

Aresso looked unhappy. "Unfortunately, it's not that simple. The God Empress of Leng traditionally takes two husbands: one of them commands the army, the other the fleet. As I have already said, Kenzai's father was the commander-in-chief of the navy, so he was married to the God Empress. That means, Kenzai Iemochi was..."