He had never been a patient man, Robert Baratheon- Eddard II

This chapter opens with Robert Baratheon acting only as Robert Baratheon can, rude, reckless, and impractically. On the first few times through, it is hard to see how terrible King Robert is, as he is consistently shown through the eyes of Ned Stark, his oldest friend and near brother. Robert wakes Ned in the early morning, and then proceeds to, without his Kingsguard, take off on a long gallop. Robert takes a lot of secretive precautions to ensure that he and Ned won't be heard...or even recognized.

Ned and Robert proceed to have a conversation that shows the format for their future dealings, Ned advises Robert of prudent, practical moves, and Robert ignores him entirely.

The first conflict is over Daenerys' marriage to Khal Drogo. Robert wants to send assassins after the Targaryens, Ned says no.

The second conflict is over who to appoint as Warden of the East. Ned favors choosing Robert Arryn, or failing that, Stannis or Renly. Robert says no, he wants Jaime Lannister.

The third conflict is over Jaime Lannister himself. Ned distrusts Jaime and believes he lacks respect and seriousness. Robert again disagrees.

Ned ends the chapter realizing what a terrible mistake going to King's Landing is.

This chapter serves primarily to serve as insight into the kind of leader Robert is...a poor one. He's stubborn, and while he makes decisions quickly, he doesn't appear to ever be happy with any of them. Take, for example, his decision to leave his Kingsguard Knight behind. We later find out that the knights on the road, Ser Boros and Ser Meryn, are largely useless as bodyguards anyway, but it is very suspect that Robert would have no trust in two men he appointed himself. The chapter also lets us know that the Lannisters have some sort of hold over Robert, a prelude to the Westerosi debt crises we discover in Kings Landing.

All in all, you cannot help but to pity Ned, who has taken on an impossible job working for a man who only remembers being his friend.

No? - Daenerys II

This chapter begins with everyone a little bit on edge.

The free city Pentos and its magisters are on edge because all 40,000 of Drogo’s Khalasar are squatting outside of the city. Viserys is brooding because he has to take a back seat to his sister for the time being. Daenerys is nervous about consummating her wedding night with her big, strong, rough husband. Of course Illyrio is an enigma, but this is a big part of his master plan so he must be a little bit apprehensive about the wedding proceedings. Mormont the spy is also probably curious about what’s going to happen.

Illyrio’s response to Viserys’ impatience about getting his army is an early indication of how he wants things to proceed slowly. As we know later thanks to his discussion with Varys under Kings Landing, he wants to take things slow, but Varys is having trouble juggling many events at once. In response to Viserys asking how long he must wait, Illyrio states, “You have waited most of your life, great king. What is another few months, another few years?”

Mormont tells Viserys that the Dothraki are true to their word but they do things on their own time. Viserys snaps at him and tells him to guard his tongue. He states that he is the “rightful Lord of the Seven Kingdoms” and that “The dragon doesn’t beg”. To this, Mormont bows his head, but Illyrio “smiled enigmatically” and ate sloppily as if disregarding Viserys claims as nothing more than an arrogant child.

If the Dothraki are true to their word, then perhaps Viserys “golden crown” was a part of Illyrio’s plan all along. When talking to Viserys, Illyrio says “I have told you, all is settled. Trust me. The khal has promised you a crown, and you shall have it.” It doesn't seem that far fetched for Illyrio to have plotted this since he shows contempt to Viserys right to his face and seems to understand Viserys’ character.

Then there was the wedding party. “A Dothraki wedding without at least three deaths is deemed a dull affair.” Funny, since the red wedding definitely outmatched Dany’s in excitement, the purple wedding was a dull affair and a future wedding might have the same potential as the red wedding.

The wedding gifts are as follows:
Viserys gives Dany the three handmaidens, Irri, Jhiqui, and Doreah. (One each to teach riding, language, love)
Jorah gives her books of history and songs from the Seven Kingdoms
Illyrio gives her the chest that contains the dragon’s eggs from the Shadowlands beyond Asshai.
Haggo gives Dany a leather whip with a silver handle
Cohollo gives her a gold-chased arakh
Qotho gives her a dragonbow
(Per Dothraki custom, she was to refuse these three gifts and hand over to Drogo)
Finally Drogo's gift to Dany is her horse, Silver. Which she gets on, rides through the crowd and, upon approaching a fire-pit, "The silver horse leapt the flames as if she had wings." This is clear foreshadowing of her riding a dragon.

Then it came time to consummate the marriage. She says "No" twice before finally, after being fondled by Drogo a bit and after he asks No?, she says "Yes". Was it rape? No, it wasn’t in the context of the story. Also, we're in her consciousness as readers, and she doesn't react that way.