The True and The Brave

𝔗𝔢𝔫: 𝔚𝔥𝔞𝔱 ℜ𝔢𝔪𝔞𝔦𝔫𝔢𝔡

[I know I said the last chapter would be the last, however, I think that somehow I left a lot of loose ends for some characters, and it would be a huge epilogue instead of a short, meaningful, and concise one. So, to serve one last speck of this book, here it is, the first part of the epilogue]

Aemma Velaryon was at last home. The salt and the sea permeated through her fingers when she was in the close vicinity of that land that she had always called home. She might be bruised, battered, and beyond repair, but those scars would heal here, as they once did before. 

"My beautiful wife, if you did not insist on sailing along with Seafyre we would not be getting at this unholy hour", Aemond breathed through her hair, reveling in the safety of her arms. He did not think they would have mornings like this ever again. 

But they talked about everything there. She had opened up only to him about what transpired in those four months. How his beautiful and brave wife lured the enemy into a standstill while buying them the time they needed for that last battle. He wished to see the light of his brother's life leave his eyes for what he had done. How he had touched and defiled her night after night. 

He had found her sobbing when the maester left the room, a year after the war. The heaviness settled in his chest once Maester Gerardys let out that string of news that haunted Aemma. Because of the repeated use of moon tea, his wife was now barren. Although they had their children already, it was still another choice that had been ripped away from her so cruelly. Another casualty of the war it seemed. 

"You know I enjoy spending time with my grandsire, Baela, and Rhaena. Besides, Rhaena arrived yesterday from Oldtown. Did you know that a certain thorned rose has taken her attention? Ser Loren Tyrell, they call him", she swiveled, still doing the laces of her tunic. 

Aemond laid still in their bed, his hands playing with the aventurine-clad dagger Aemma always carried with her. He hummed, his eyes not moving from his wife's figure as he lazily smiled. 

"I assume the new lady of Oldtown still needs a husband. It is wise that it just coincidentally befalls in the Reach, too. Rhaena can handle herself quite well, my wife, she has such an inspiring older sister to follow", Aemond said coyly, standing from the bed and whispering those words into her ear, nibbling her earlobe.

Aemma smiled playfully, "No sweet words can make me get back to bed, husband. Do try to swoon me off my feet some other time". 

Aemond laughed in glee, kissing the base of her neck, holding her body to his tightly, " Bold of you to assume that I have nothing to do besides make love to my wife. A right assumption perhaps. However, I have to return to the Sea Manse this morning. Helaena also requested at the behest of her daughter that Laenor should accompany me". 

Aemma strapped that beautiful ancestral sword onto her hip, looking at the sunrise on the horizon. She could never grow tired of that majestic view, and apparently, her husband did not grow tired of her watching it, too. 

"Our son helps Jaeheara heal, just as you helped me. She is healing and it is all that matters. Besides, Laenor is quick to help. He understands what the war has done to all of us. They remind me of us, two battered souls that heal each other. I know Laenor will never forget about this. All he has ever known was that growing tension and war", Aemma sighed and sagged into her husband's body. 

"I know he will eventually understand that healing isn't linear. I suppose that when the time comes, Laenor will have his lady of the tides with him", he smiled sadly, wanting to recreate the peace that would have brought their children together if the war had not split them apart, "and the wolf's son is also requesting to dine with our daughter. Perhaps Cannibal can smite Winterfell since it was left without a lord", he mused.