Chapter Sixteen
**Hermione's POV**
Hermione had been busy this past month in Astapor.
Upon leaving a stunned, locked Dany behind, Hermione had found that Winky had booted everyone off the ship, dumped everyone else's cargo, and took the ship as well as the large comfy tent with her new book... oh, and the garden, all their money, and three of the four Founders' items, it was only by luck that Hermione already packed up all the potions materials and most of the essentials only leaving empty vials which she would have to replace.
Then true horror struck, as she thought about what was left of her supplies.
The poor Niffler was still on board!
Oh, that poor dear, she just knew he was going to steal more and more and hardly be able to walk again, she hoped Winky would treat the poor boy okay.
Hermione had named the Niffler after Fred because it had a streak of red in its fur and was a bit mischievous, and she wanted to remember her friend, as he kind of reminded her of him.
The memory of Fred's laugh, his wild grin, still hurt to think about too long, so her thoughts moved on for now.
Well, at least she still had most of what she would need for a while at least. If not, she could make do, she always had backups for everything in her little bag, but her *BOOK.... *
The weeks flew by, and one thing Dany never took into account was just how many Unsullied the masters had kept for themselves, as guards and sentries and other duties of a soldier.
Some were dead, most wounded, others had been captured unscathed, but all had surrendered when the fighting was complete.
All said, they had an additional fifteen hundred Unsullied, most would have had to been left here for some other person with enough power to claim them once they healed up.
Hermione did her best to quickly heal up the worst and patched up those who could heal and move on their own, with as little discomfort as possible of course.
The smell of healing salves and potions filled the makeshift infirmary she'd set up in one of the former master's compounds, now stripped of its finery.
It was decided that some of these Unsullied would now work as the new guard force of the city seeing as they knew the city well by now. Dany had created a council of sorts that would treat Astapor as a naval staging asset, now that Hermione had redesigned the walls and battlements even the port to the best of her abilities at the moment creating strong walls, towers for archer's stations, kill boxes and portcullises for the main gate. For now, the city had food and clean water for 2 years so we would need to resupply them after a while.
Even Ser Barristan remarked that it would be difficult for most armies to breach the gates, but not impossible the main problem was the wide-open port which there was not much she could do about without the fisherman being unable to make a living or feed the people here which would disrupt everything.
Hermione was content that she had done as much as she could for the city to defend itself and took it for a win because she was still learning. Changing hundreds of tons of stone was tiring, she even had to take a second tea break, mostly because of the heat but that's besides the point, it was mentally taxing at the least.
The Astapor sun was merciless, turning the red brick walls into an oven by midday, she had to keep reapply a cooling charm almost every hour. The charm fighting the oven like environment and losing.
Many showed interest and wished to join the army, but seeing as there was nothing to arm these people with, Hermione transfigured simple English longbows with a permanence charm, then simply made thousands of arrows.
Targets were set up, and people were then taught the basics of archery with help of Ser Jorah and Ser Barristan, Even Hermione had enjoyed a bit of archery after the centaurs let her join them for stargazing in the now cleared forest, they found her to be a very strange witch but were eager to teach her archery since she was very polite and treated them with respect.
The twang of bowstrings and the thunks of arrows hitting targets became a constant background noise in the city for weeks as uniforms were now being made for the army Hermione setting up a shop for the locals to help make an export they can sell Hermione having tons of different fabrics so those who knew how to make cloths were teaching those who didn't.
Dany was thrilled with this as it helped the people and gave them at least a start for now, plus it now added two thousand archers to the now growing army, as well as the added fifteen hundred or so captured Unsullied that were quick to switch allegiance once freedom and a chance to be a whole man again was offered to them.
Hermione would have helped them regardless, but it was not needed, the moment she offered it to the captured men, all of them swore allegiance to Dany.
Five hundred of them would be staying back to act as defenders, so Hermione made sure that these five hundred men were each given a dose of potion as she would not be able to come back very often if ever to give them so she figured she might as well start with this city's defenders first.
It became embarrassing being idolized by these men, almost as much and in some cases even more than Dany.
But Hermione did her best not to blush as she was touched reverently, or some would come just to shake or kiss her hands.
The reverence in their eyes was uncomfortable; she didn't feel the need for all the attention just for doing the right thing. She wasn't used to being worshipped or even liked by the masses not to this extent at least in her old world she was seen mostly as the massicot.
This brought up the issue, she had a difficult time explaining to the people of the city the importance of good hygiene and keeping things clean in general.
Some took her words to heart, others just didn't understand or didn't care.
She gave up after the fourth day of the same question: "But why do I need to wash every day?" as if she didn't just explain it dozens of times.
She really needed to figure out why these people had no common sense for certain things but absolute common sense for others.
It was as if they had had purposeful generations of wrong knowledge pounded into them, that even some instincts just stopped working and she was not talking about bathing.
A problem for another time.
They had just started their march toward the next city, Yunkai, also known as the Yellow City for some reason she was sure she would find out, probably the color of the walls or something as equally obvious, she surmised.
Going through ledgers from the old masters was useless, but she did find a full map of this side of the world, just not Westeros.
Makes sense, as Westeros had zero dealings in slavery, according to Ser Jorah. That was why he was exiled.
The Unsullied picked a new commander named Grey Worm, he seemed competent if not very talkative.
*Odd name, * Hermione thought, but she would not begrudge why he picked it.
He was currently riding with Dany and Hermione while Missandei listened quietly as Hermione was giving her lessons on why starting the war while helpful to the men with them, it was jumping the gun they could have freed the unsullied without starting a war they just needed to find the extra money.
The column stretched out behind them, thousands of freed slaves, Unsullied in formation, supply wagons creaking along the dusty road.
"From reading their ledgers, I have discovered we have made enemies of close to half of the world. Currently, we are just a nuisance because we have not destroyed anything that cannot be repaired in their system of governance quickly enough. But once we take Yunkai and possibly Meereen, we will be attacked from all sides at once. They cannot allow for your dream to exist, because then they will be unnecessary, and the people will see it and rise against them all on their own."
She paused, giving them all time to think on what she had said.
Ser Barristan nodded along as they rode, happy that Dany was getting someone to teach her the ins and outs of politics that he was thankful he didn't have to participate in the last dozen years as a Kingsguard under Robert.
"You believe people would rise up on their own if given the opportunity?" Missandei asked.
Hermione smiled and nodded. "If every option leads to pain, you always choose the path of the least painful. Now imagine being given an option to give that pain back to those who gave it to you and end it for good, for yourself and your loved ones, what will many choose?"
Everyone thought about it for a bit before Dany chimed in. "It would also mean a great deal to them as well if they helped in earning their own freedom, It would mean far more to them then if it was just given."
Dany finished while smiling at a new idea, Hermione could probably guess if she gave it enough though but would let the girl reveal it in her own time.
---
Three weeks into the journey to Yunkai, Hermione had made a sword very similar to the one Ser Jorah was given for Ser Barristan.
"Everyone seems to love these knockoffs, so I figured making a uniformed sword to at least show your position as Kingsguard was suitable."
So, in a small ceremony, Dany presented the sword to Ser Barristan, a sword remarkably similar to Ser Jorah's, but it shone a bit brighter. The pommel and guards were exactly the same as Ser Jorah's, but the grip and balance were perfect for him.
The old knight's eyes had actually teared up when he'd drawn it, the blade catching the firelight, he felt as though he was a young man again with his Prince talking of the future while he sang and strummed his harp at a tavern in Kings landing.
Next, Grey Worm, as Commander of the Unsullied, was given a short sword and dagger, each made with Valyrian steel exactly like Ser Barristan's with an almost simmering glow, each decorated to show off the Targaryen dragon heritage.
Hermione was not worried about using up the goblin silver. She had tons of it left over from when she dug through what was left of the Room of Requirement looking for the diadem.
The only things surviving the Fiendfyre inferno were made of goblin silver, the enchantments on the other hand long burned off, leaving only metal waiting to be reshaped and repurposed even the Diadems enchantments burnt off leaving it as only a very pretty crown the only founders item to truly be lost forever with no chance to repair, still very pretty when cleaned of course Hermione kept meaning to get to it.
And Hermione was not one to waste good material, even if Ron had started calling her a hoarder.
Once again, she was proven right by keeping the precious metal and objects and repurposing them for her needs.
Though with Winky taking all the silverware with her on the ship, her supply was getting lower than she'd like.
---
Looking out over the horizon as the sun was setting and the camp coming to life, Hermione watched as the sun began to set.
The sky turned brilliant shades of orange and pink, the desert landscape softening in the golden light.
Cook fires were being lit, the smell of roasting meat and bread filling the air. The sounds of thousands of people settling in for the night created a low hum of activity.
She was just thinking that Winky should be coming up on Westeros after two months at sea soon.
She hoped Winky kept up with her journal because Winky loved sharing all about what she wrote, and Hermione was happy that Winky seemed excited by this adventure and was eager to hear all about it.
The stars were beginning to appear overhead, unfamiliar constellations in this world's sky.
Somewhere out there, Winky was causing chaos with the best of intentions, and Hermione could only hope Westeros was ready for her she just hoped Winky knew when to ask for help.