𝕷𝖆𝖐𝖊 𝖔𝖋 𝕱𝖎𝖗𝖊 ( house of the dragon )

aemon i

The struggles of being on a battlefield for three years had begun to take their toll on Aemon. Every fiber of his being had been telling him to go home, to King's Landing. Just as Aemon had been apprehensive during this war, Quicksilver had been the same. Perhaps it was the dragon's age that hindered her from being relaxed in any way, or perhaps it was the inevitable reminders of her youth spent in battles for Dornish territories and for the throne that caused Aemon to feel her stress radiate off of her and into his own body.

Aemon knew that Daemon was dragging his feet through this entire war. Had they come in the first few weeks and burned the whole of the Crabfeeder's army down, they could have won easily. But Daemon was here to prove a point, and Corlys' reluctance to trust Daemon led their enemy forces to discover a way to counteract dragon fire: tunnels. This made their efforts even harder. The land advantage the Crabfeeder's forces held would only lead to slaughter on the other side.

One bright side of this whole ordeal was the amount of knowledge Aemon had gained in battle. Aemon was often complimented for Daemon's training, however, Daemon had very little to do with it. Daemon's father, Baelon had been the one to teach Aemon the values of a knight, even at a young age. Aemon remembered being in the sparring yard on Dragonstone with his uncle and older cousins, learning the ways of a knight. His uncle believed that before you held a sword, you should watch and learn, and so little Aemon had, watching his uncle spar with his Kingsguard knights.

He had been six when Prince Baelon passed so suddenly, and Viserys and Daemon were already past the age of maturity and off on their own adventures. He remembered how lonely Dragonstone felt as he waited for everyone to return. It had just been Baelon and Aemon on Dragonstone at the time, and he recalled the wailing and groaning of the great dragon Vhagar from the Dragonmont as Aemon sat on the parapets of the castle, waiting to see his cousin's dragons fly into view.

One thing Aemon had grown skilled at was watching. It was what he did best, learning from a distance. That and all of the sword skills his grandmother insisted he learned which had been put to good use, as well as the strategic knowledge that Lord Corlys had imparted.

Another benefit to Aemon's time in the Stepstones was that Lord Corlys had grown to trust and respect him, originally having seen him as all other's had, a bastard boy, wanton and treacherous by nature. His former hatred or despisement of him had lessened as they grew a mutual respect for each other. Corlys had begun to compliment Aemon on his level-headedness and his ability to strategize, saying that he had the mind of war time commander.

Aemon took a good look at all the men he'd grown closer to, the men he'd earned the respect of, the men he respected. The looks of hopelessness were clear; there seemed no way to win this war Daemon and Corlys had started at this point. The men around the war table were bickering back and forth as they tried to find a good way to end this war before the Velaryons lost their navy and their finances. They needed a saving grace; what they needed was Viserys' help, but Daemon's pride would never allow that.

The previous night's battle had resulted in slaughter as numerous soldiers on both sides fell to the fire of Caraxes. Daemon's recklessness and continued recklessness led to the discussion between Lord Corlys and Ser Vaemond. Aemon stared at the table as Lord Corlys spoke of their situation: "We have sixteen, perhaps eighteen seaworthy ships. Seven hundred foot, some sixty knights. Our food quickly dwindles, save for what we can fish from the sea." Aemon was seriously considering how much fish he'd consume after this was over. The taste was becoming unbearable at this point. "I would say we have a fortnight, mayhaps, a bit longer with strict rationing. I've made call for Driftmark to send more ships, but they will be weeks away. We are faltering, and the Triarchy knows it. We must press the attack, continue sending the dragons."