ELLIPSISM, aemond targaryen

[042] she'll have to open her eyes

"TELL ME ABOUT Dragonstone."

Benjen Stark looked away from the perfectly white roses he was admiring and looked at Aemma as she adjusted her dress and then sat down on the stone bench, her cold eyes looked at him from under long eyelashes, and she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, which caught on her soft lips.

A much better object to admire.

"What you want to hear?" he asked, joining her on the bench.

Aemma turned her body more towards him, placing one leg on the bench since there was no one around to give her judgmental looks or whisper behind her back. Just her and her friend.

"How are my brothers and Rhaena?" she asked him and put her head on her knee, which she pulled close to her chest.

"Rhaena is fine although she is more looking forward to you and Baela. According to her, Aegon and Viserys miss you too, she said that the company of maids will not replace you," Ben told her and Aemma smiled. "I only saw Joffrey once, he was running out of the kitchen with hands full of sweets and told me that I had never seen him."

Aemma couldn't stop the laughter that came out of her and gently shook her head. "There is not a single maid on Dragonstone who could resist him. Surely he would only have to ask one of them and mother would never know about it."

Ben shrugged. "Maybe. Personally, I think he's more like you and the fact that he's not supposed to do it makes him happy enough to do it personally."

"There is a certain thrill in that," Aemma admitted. "What about Luke?"

His dark brows furrowed and he turned his head towards the walls of the Red Keep which seemed darker than usual due to the gray clouds above. "To be honest, I didn't have a chance to talk to him properly."

She blinked in surprise. "And why is that?"

Ben turned his head back to her. "I only saw him once and that was as soon as I arrived. We passed each other at the entrance."

"Did he go flying?"

"I think so."

"Without Jace?" Aemma frowned a little. "He should not fly alone, especially when the last few days are full of storms."

"Luke is 14, Aemma, he is no longer a child," Ben stood up for him and Aemma let out a defeated sigh. "Besides, he wasn't actually alone. Wherever he went, he went with some girl. A bit older than him, she seemed to be Dornish--"

"Gwyn," Aemma cut him off and nodded. "She is my maid. And you say she went with him? She almost always turned down my offers to fly."

"I don't know, she looked quite relaxed. According to Rhaena, it wasn't the first time the two of them had disappeared somewhere. Apparently, Luke spends much more time with her than with the rest of them," Ben added.

Aemma looked thoughtfully at the ground as she played with the ring on her hand. It was strange to imagine Gwyn, the fearful Gwyn who refused to even accompany Aemma to Meraxes, to fly any dragon. It was equally strange to imagine Luke, who had withdrawn into himself after Driftmark and only spent time with Aemma and Jace, spending time with someone his age who wasn't his family.

In the end there was nothing wrong with that though, Aemma definitely preferred the two of them spending time together and having fun rather than Luke withdrawing and Gwyn focusing only on her duties. It was nothing bad. Just . . . surprising.

Aemma broke her train of thought and looked back at Ben who was looking around the garden and didn't disturb her when he saw that she was thinking. That is something he could teach her dear family members too.