𝙺𝙰𝙻𝙾𝙽 ° aemond targaryen

Act Two, Scene Thirteen

┍━━━━━━━━━━━━┑
"𝙵𝚞𝚛𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚂𝚝𝚎𝚙𝚜"
𝟷𝟸𝟾 𝙰𝙲 - 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚁𝚎𝚍 𝙺𝚎𝚎𝚙
┕━━━━━━━━━━━━┙

THE ROOM HAD A DIFFERENT feel to it as the girl entered, seeing the various council members already in their places, with the exception of the queen and her father. Vaella smiled in greeting at the elder men, taking her place in the chair beside the head of the table. It had seemed everyone on the other side of the table had shifted their seats down by one, an empty seat across from her, causing her to furrow her brow.

"Where is Lord Beesbury?" She questioned, looking immediately towards the Lannister lord as she noted the absence of the elderly man. "He should be in attendance, should he not?"

Jason glanced wearily at the other members of the S Council before looking at the young princess herself, who sat with a raised brow, awaiting an answer. "Lord Beesbury," He said slowly, trying to find the right words. "Had a little encounter during the last meeting with Ser Criston. He will no longer be present."

The Targaryen girl knew all too well what the man was implying, letting out a long sigh as she rested back into her seat. A moment later, the doors opened, three new faces going their group. Everyone stood in the presence of their new king--it was much of a surprise that he actually attended a meeting. As Vaella moved to raise herself, the slightly older boy held a hand out to her.

"It is alright," Aegon said with a small smile, making his way to the chair at the head of the table, right next to the girl herself. "You need to relax, dear cousin."

Otto made his way to the seat between the king, the queen taking her place beside her daughter, all eyes turning to their king. After a moment, he lowered himself down into his chair, prompting everyone to do the same. Each member present grabbed their stone, placing it on the dish in front of them. The single, remaining stone sat as a reminder of what had happened in this room the meeting prior.

Vaella pried her eyes away from it, her mood darkening the longer she looked at it. Otto read the agenda, everyone listening intently to the man's words. There were no interruptions as had been common in the past; no one knew how Aegon would react to it all. It was his first meeting, after all.

"First order of business," Alicent spoke after her father was finished, looking around the table before locking eyes with her son. "We need to discuss our further steps."

The boy seemed confused at her words. "Further steps?"

"The Princess Rhaenyra has, no doubt, heard about your coronation by now, thanks to our dear cousin. We would be smart to accept retaliation from her and those loyal to her." The Hightower woman clarified, sitting up straighter in her chair. "I believe it would benefit us to look at all of our allies and start upholding these alliances before the time for war arrives on our doorstep."

Otto stood, pacing his way around the table as he addressed the council. "We already have declarations from Houses Lannister, Wylde, Ambrose, Strong, Hightower, and Lefford." He said, setting the raven scrolls he had received down on the table.

     A map was rolled out along the table, taking up majority of the space. Small tokens were placed on top of different points along the sheet, marking their allies and their enemies across the continent; crowns in the shade of emerald green, and dragons the color of the night sky.