The lightning strikes
Irri stuck close to Dany that afternoon, and they resumed her lessons in Dothraki. Dany would point things out, and Irri would give her the words, then make her repeat them over and over again until she could pronounce them perfectly. Casually, Dany pointed out a nursing mother and child on horseback, asking Irri for the right word for baby, enta, then mother, drane, and then she quickly moved on to rabbits, mawizzi, and the deer, qiaseh, that ran across the great road the khalasar was making. She hoped that Irri wouldn't follow her reasons for asking.
Irri began to tell her a story in the Common Tongue, switching to the Dothraki word when it was one Dany knew, trying to help it all flow together, mixing words more and more as she told the tale. Dany was able to follow the story of how horses had been born out of the great lake at the edge of Vaes Dothrak, known to the Dothraki as the Womb of the World. It took concentration to remember all the words she had been taught, and had to ask Irri to stop halfway through so she could try and process the first half. Irri waited patiently, realizing how seriously the girl was taking her lessons, and it gave her encouragement to teach her more.
Drogo rode by them on his red stallion, he slowed for a moment to look at Dany before smiling and then riding onward to the front of the khalasar. Irri looked at Dany for a moment and then grinned. "Khal Drogo has been struck, I didn't believe Cohollo when he told me, but it's true," she said softly, and it was then that she started looking at Dany differently, as if she believed that this foreign girl was truly now her Khaleesi.
"What? Struck? What do you mean?" Dany demanded. "Who would dare strike the Khal?"
"Only the sky fire, sisi, from the Great Stallion," Irri answered. "There is a story about how the Great Stallion was struck with sisi and he forever after followed only one mare until he returned to the Nightlands, Khaleesi. It is known that no other Dothraki man has since been struck so. It is foretold that when the next Dothraki man is struck, the son that is born will be the Stallion Who Mounts the World, the Great Stallion come again."
"Tell me," Dany demanded eagerly. "I haven't heard this story before."
Irri wove an incredible tale about when the Great Stallion came to the world, he came on the first horse, out of the Womb of the World. Restless and seeking companionship, he moved from Vaes Dothrak under the Mother of the Mountains to a great land. It was green and bountiful, so the Great Stallion settled there with his herd. When he grew bored of the fighting stallions and the endless grass, he began to explore the rocky cliffs on the very edge, always restless, never staying in the same place. One day, as he was seeking water in his travels, he found a young woman sleeping next to a spring. The skies opened up, the thunder, temme, rolled around him, and he was struck by white hot sisi from the clouds. He looked at the now frightened young woman, and his entire being yearned only for her. He kept her only to himself and did not mate with the other women of his herd, only her, and did not allow the other stallions to touch her.
Daenerys listened to the story with rapt attention, picking up and understanding more words as Irri recanted her story, never knowing that "savages" as her brother called them, had such beautiful tales of life and love. She was so caught up in the story, her inner voice startled her. If it were true, would my baby be the Stallion Who Mounts the World? In the tales of Westeros, she knew that there was to be a Prince Who Was Promised, and the worshipers of R'hollor, the fire god, promised Azor Ahai, a savior for the world. Were they all one and the same? She was suddenly more worried than she felt she had ever been. It was a big burden to put on a small baby. Blood of the Dragon. He would need to grow strong and healthy with Drogo's immense khalasar at his back. Dany smiled to herself. She was already thinking she was carrying a boy. A girl she would welcome just a much, but something inside her heart and mind was telling her that her baby was indeed a boy.
The khalasar broke through the tall grass late that afternoon, heading into a flatter plain where the grass was only waist high. It made it a bit more problematic when Dany had to stop to relieve herself, not wanting other riders to see her, and she was beginning to notice she had to stop a lot. Irri waited for her patiently each time, and helped her remount her horse with a small smile on her face. She knows, Dany thought, but won't say anything until she knows for sure. Dany realized she was going to have to say something to Drogo that night, she couldn't put it off any longer.
She spent a long part of the late afternoon thinking of ways she could tell him. She had the word for baby. Could it really be so simple? I'm going to start showing any day now, she thought. That morning, dressing alone, she had palmed her belly like she had done every morning over the past few weeks, and there was now a distinct hardness and a bump between her hip bones, about the size of an apple. A qazer, she corrected herself, applying her lessons. It had not gone away after she had relieved herself, so she had pulled her riding pants up a little higher to try and hide it, and chose a different skirt that fit a little higher on her hips.
Dany was elated when she saw Drogo raise his hand above his head in the gesture to make camp. She rode in the circle a few laps, crushing the grass down a bit so level places could be found to make tents for the night. A little stream ran through the middle of camp, so Drogo directed their great tent to be built upstream from the rest, fresher water available for bathing and drinking was a perk of being Khal. Dany stayed on horseback as she watched slaves dam up the stream a little near the tent, creating a deep and calm pool. She smiled, knowing what her husband had in mind for her. She waited until the tent was fully ready before dismounting, and went immediately inside, glad to sit and rest for awhile. She laid down on the bed crossways, and pulled one of Drogo's cushions under her head. She promised herself that she would just close her eyes for a moment.
Doreah was shaking her awake gently, and a sleepy Dany playfully batted her hands away from her shoulders. "Go away," she pretended to complain. "I'm still tired!"
Doreah laid down next to her and cuddled up behind her Khaleesi. "Irri told me a secret," she teased in a singsong voice, whispering in Dany's ear.
"I know two secrets," Dany retorted. "One more than you, so you go first."
"Irri says Khal Drogo has had the lightning strike," she murmured, brushing Dany's hair back from her face. "The first Dothraki male to fall in love so deeply that he forsakes all other women since the Great Stallion left to ride in the Nightlands."
"That's no secret. Cohollo told her that," Dany admitted. "He is not the same man in this tent as he is outside of it."
"Khaleesi," Doreah began in her teasing voice again, but Dany shushed her. "There's no need for 'I told you so's' here," she teased back. "You're going to have to wait for my secret until tomorrow."
"Irri told me that one, too," Doreah taunted playfully. "I know what you know."
"Shhh, stop your playing. Let me sleep." Dany elbowed her in the ribs, making her maid giggle, effectively changing the subject. She briefly wondered how Doreah was enjoying her marriage to one of Drogo's young bloodriders. She had forgotten his name, but from how playful Doreah was being, things were good. Ah, young Holakko had taken her for his primary mate, she remembered suddenly.
"I came to wake you for supper, Khaleesi. The Khal is waiting for you out there. You've slept all evening. He is wanting you to join him for food and then swimming in the pool he had made for you," Doreah answered, accepting the subject change. They laid quietly together for a few more minutes before Doreah prodded her again. "Come, up you get," she called, and stood up. She took Dany's hands and pulled her to standing, giving her the large fur pelt at the end of the bed to wrap around her shoulders.
Dany pulled the great silver grey pelt around her body as she stepped out of the tent, her eyes searching for Drogo. Her mind railed in anxiety, worried that Viserys could possibly have already caught up to the khalasar, but she tamped that fear down. It was impossible for him to have walked as fast as the horses, for as long as the horses had. What if someone gave him a horse, she thought, but dismissed that thought immediately. Once a walker, any Dothraki passing by would have more sense than that, for walkers and cart riders were the lowest of the low in status, except birthing mothers. Then it was acceptable to walk and ride in a cart. Dany suddenly had a whole new list of concerns with that thought. She did not want to ride in a cart, no matter the reason. A Khaleesi in a cart seemed almost as bad as being a slave and a walker. She was glad that she would be safely in her home with Drogo in Vaes Dothrak when it was time for her baby to be born.
She spotted Drogo quite a distance from their tent and fire. He was sitting with a group of his blood riders, watching one of the women roasting meat on a huge fire with a spit. They were laughing and drinking, but it was obvious that Drogo was bearing the brunt of his friend's jokes. He was taking it with good humor, but the older one, Cohollo, was trying to wind him up with words she actually knew. He's teasing Drogo about the lightning, she realized with a blush, pleased with herself for working out the conversation, but a bit embarrassed that the relationship she and Drogo were discovering with each other was such a laughable thing for his friends. She worried that he might not be so happy with her after this bout of jesting. Maybe he would back off and not want her as much.
He caught her staring at him and grinned at her, holding out his hand to invite her to come to him. She smiled back, more relieved than she wanted to examine, and quickly made her way through the people and grass to sit on his knee as they waited for food. She wrapped her arms around his neck and shoulders, resting her forehead against his neck. Cohollo coughed and laughed, but was completely shocked when Dany stuck her foot out and pushed him off balance, knocking him to his ass on the hard ground. The loud and raucous laughter that rang out from all around them startled her, but as Drogo roared out in laughter as he held a hand out for his drunk friend to get up, she began to giggle, too.
"Even she can kick your ass, old man!" he roared out, and Dany was pleased she could understand and follow what was said. "Next your horse is going to get you!" He leaned over and kissed her soundly on the mouth, causing whoops and more laughter to erupt around them as she pulled herself tighter to him and kissed him back. More and more people starting to gather around them as they kissed, the noise around them becoming deafening as the warriors began chanting. She couldn't make out the word from all the noise, but she threw herself into his kiss before breaking away to catch her breath. His eyes were all she saw when she pulled away.