ELLIPSISM, aemond targaryen

[036] good morning

AFTER A WHILE, Luke's worries finally subsided and he was able to once again spend the day without thinking about his sister. He didn't realize when exactly did this change happen, he only noticed it when Jace asked him during dinner if he thought everything was alright in King's Landing.

That's when Luke realized that for some reason he hadn't been thinking about Aemma that day.

The remorse he felt then was worse than his previous worries, but he tried to console himself with the fact that Aemma would be glad to know he wasn't worrying.

Another reminder of her absence was the letter Luke received that morning from the maid who was running around Dragonstone handing out letters to recipients. After reading it, however, Luke calmed down as Aemma assured him in the letter that she was fine and asked him not to let her absence distract him too much as they would be together again in less than a week. Luke placed the letter on the table next to his bed and then left his room, walking the halls of Dragonstone determined to find something to distract himself and get through the day.

It wasn't until halfway there that he realized he was looking for Gwyn. Without planning it in advance, without deciding to do so, without even thinking about her. His own feet simply automatically led him to the part of the castle where her room was supposed to be, as if a magnet pulled him there.

Realizing this fact, Luke hesitated and slowed his steps, for a split second he felt embarrassed as if he was about to do something wrong. It reminded him of the times when he was little and Rhaenyra found him eating the candy she forbade him to eat or when he went into Jace's room at night when his brother was asleep to cut his hair after he lost the bet with Aemma.

However, it was not bad that he talked to her. Although Gwyn was called Aemma's maid, it was known to all family members that Daemon brought her to Dragonstone in an attempt to give Aemma a friend so that she could finally start talking to someone after Laenor Velaryon's death. And despite Gwyn doing everything Aemma asked, Luke knew that Gwyn was one of the few people with enough intelligence for Aemma to consider her equal.

And if Aemma could treat her as an equal why couldn't he?

With a new thought in his head, he walked on.

". . . need more pink," came a soft voice from one of the rooms, but still loud enough for Luke to hear despite the closed door.

But Luke thought nothing of it until the answer came.

"I gave you pink not that long ago. How come you don't have it anymore?"

Luke stopped in his tracks turning his head back towards the door. After thinking for a moment, he returned to them and he put one eye to the keyhole.

Lit by the light from the fireplace and a few candles, Joffrey's room was much warmer than the other rooms and smelled of the flowers that had been in the vase ever since Joffrey, Aemma and Rhaena picked them. Despite the fact that Joffrey, like his older siblings, had at least one good table by the window that had an adjusted height for him, when Luke finally found him in the room he found Joffrey lying on his stomach on the soft carpet, staring at some paper in front of him.

"It's the wrong shade of green," Joffrey said, placing the brush in his hand on the ground, ignoring the paint dripping from it onto the carpet.

From the angle Luke was standing he couldn't see Gwyn but he could hear where her voice was coming from.

"Then choose the perfect one yourself, Prince Joffrey."

Joffrey's gloomy face lit up and he stood up and ran to the side of the room where he disappeared from Luke's sight. Luke heard him fiddling with something and finally he heard a huff.