Sun and Fire ~ Aemond Targaryen

05. Second rider of Auryon

"The thread intertwines with the needle and begins to shape the loom, it begins in nothing and the nothing becomes the whole, each stitch, each movement forges the destiny, each stitch drags us to the inevitable, the loom is the link, the stitches that which forges it, step by step, slowly everything begins to come together to arrive at what corresponds..." Princess Helaena hummed these words as she held the spider her cousin had gotten for her, still sitting on the grass.

When she noticed that Lady Daemma, who had accompanied Prince Aemond a few seconds ago, was turning back in the direction of the hall, Helaena watched her from the corner of her eye and raised her voice as she passed by.

"Did you get bored of him?"

Daemma stopped her steps in her tracks and turned to look at the princess with disbelief, since she didn't imagine that she would speak to her, Helaena was still watching the spider and her eyes didn't move away even though she was talking to someone around her.

"No... it's just that... " Daemma really didn't know what to say, she didn't know if she was really paying attention or if her cousin was still in her trance.

"Even if I don't watch you, I hear you." She replied in a very peaceful and soft voice.

"Prince Aemond seems to dislike people."

"He does." Confirmed the princess without thinking too much about it.

"I think that my prolonged presence made him uncomfortable and that's why I came back.... He can't stand anyone for more than five minutes, he has always been like that." Daemma spoke in a mocking and disinterested tone, but Helaena could notice that there was some annoyance in her voice.

"You don't bother him... but he doesn't know how to talk to you... he doesn't have that habit."

Those words entered strongly into Daemma's mind, but they didn't surprise her at all, possibly because deep inside she knew it.

She understood that Aemond was horrible at communicating because he was not used to that, in fact, almost all the Queen's children and herself were like that, distrustful, protocol and it was difficult for them to show their feelings. Neither Alicent nor King Viserys were particularly affectionate with their children and never had been.

For a moment Daemma could remember when she was younger and visited them in the Red Keep, she listened to the comments of the maids comparing the princes, they used to say that Princess Rhaenyra's children were more "kind, cheerful, they always listened to their laughter and their games".

While the Queen's children were very different, each in their own world despite being siblings, there was not a really close relationship between them, compared to the children of the crown princess or as the case of Daemma herself with her brothers, that deep down she had always known and for some reason it generated some discomfort, but now she was in front of Helaena, who was talking to her cordially in her own way.

"I know," She finally said, but the princess did not answer her, suddenly Daemma thought of something and approached her quite animated, Helaena noticed it and looked at her with some strangeness. "Do you like big insects? I have a Dornian scorpion, the biggest arachnid you will ever see in your life."

Daemma's voice was really cheerful, almost like a child eager to show a toy or a very precious pet to another child with pride and even though Helaena looked at her as if she was the stranger, she got up from the floor and watched her with a mixture of intrigue and at the same time bliss, let go of the spider she was holding in her hands and asked her with some distrust.

"Are you serious?"

- Sure, why would I lie to you? Helaena's face seemed to light up as if she had been given the best news in the world and for the first time she saw a radiant smile on her face, she was like a real child, despite being a few years older.