DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING
"Late! He's always late!" complained Jaehaerys as he paced backwards and forwards in his father's study, much to the amusement of his younger siblings. "I specifically told him to be here before nightfall, and look at that! The sun's already set!"
Aemon leaned back lazily on their father's desk and gave a yawn that seemed to be more of boredom than tiredness. "Duncan's always had his head in the clouds; remember when he signed up for Grandfather's nameday Tourney? They had to send Ser Harlan to fetch him, bloody fool had slept in. He's probably still in bed now, though I doubt he's doing much sleeping with that new wife of his."
Rhaelle gave her brother a playful smack on his shoulder for that. "Oh Aemon grow up. You should be happy that Duncan has found love." she said in faux anger, the remnants of smile breaking out in the corners of her mouth.
Aemon sat up and lazily wrapped an arm around his sister's shoulder and gave her a cheeky grin. "Oh I am sweet sister, just as I am happy that you married your Stag." he said with a laugh.
Rhaelle's violet eyes narrowed at that and she gave Aemon a strong poke to the ribs. "He has a name, and you're in no place to talk! How soon after you married Alerie did you get her with child?"
Aemon gave a bark of laughter at that. "Why are you so concerned about what goes on in my bed? Planning on taking up family traditions?"
Rhaelle stared back at him wide eyed and mouth hung open in shock before her pale face turned a shade of crimson as she angrily lunged at Aemon who playfully wrestled with his little sister for a moment before Jaehaerys broke in ."Look, if he's not here soon we'll have to go down without him, I need you two to pretend your adults for once, can you do that?"
"Oh you'll never get those two to behave, that's why I'm here." cut in a familiar throaty voice from behind them.
There stood Duncan, a quiet smile gracing his dark features. Through some odd miracle Duncan had inherited their great-grandmother's Dornish colouring and was even shorter than the rest of the family yet kept the purple eyes that the rest of their House carried. An enigma to outsiders but every bit the dragon father and our forefathers were thought Aemon.
"What was the hold-up brother?" asked Aemon as he unlatched himself from his sister's grip.
"Jenny…..needed to speak with someone. I'm sorry I kept you all waiting, is everything ready?" he asked cheerfully.
Jaehaerys looked away for a moment and began going over a list of things in his head, quietly muttering to himself before finally giving his brother a nod in the affirmative. "All the right food has been prepared, we managed to get several musicians that know all of his favourite songs, all of the guests have arrived and we even had the hall decorated with his favourite colour!"
"Does he suspect anything?" asked Rhaelle, as she dusted herself off, and absently made sure that her silk dress wasn't too wrinkled by her brothers foolery.
Jaehaerys shook his head with a smile. "No, in fact he's been acting rather glum lately. Perhaps this party is just what he needs, and the King's entourage should be arriving any minute so let us take this downstairs."
And with that the four siblings made their way down the winding hallways of Summerhall and towards the main banquet hall where the household servants had been busy setting up decorations and arranging the various musicians around the room. Aemon scanned the room as he walked in, he could see his nephews chatting away with each other like only the young can. Looking over by one of the hearths he spotted his good-brother Edric Baratheon enjoying a cup of wine with Ser Harlan, no doubt trying to get a war story out of the grizzled old knight. Good luck with that thought Aemon sardonically to himself as he watched the old man mutter and waffle on with his conversation.
The young prince was broken from his observations by a pair of slender arms wraping around his waist. Turning his head slightly he felt the warmth of his wife's cheek press against his shoulder, her soft voice gently making his heart beat twice as fast. "Do you think he'll like it?" she asked him quietly, her voice like honey.
Aemon turned fully to face Alerie and gave her a gentle kiss on the lips and rested his head against hers. "I think it's perfect my love." he said as he lightly brushed aside a stray lock of silver hair from her face. She smiled up at him with an expression that was so full of joy that it made his heart ache and he couldn't help himself but to kiss her again.
"How have you been feeling?" he asked suddenly as he brought his hand over to the swell of Alerie's stomach "I hope this hasn't been too much on you, the Maester did say not to strain yourself."
"You worry too much! I merely told the servants where to hang what, and laid a few flowers here and there and left all of the heavy lifting to Ser Harlan." She replied with a laugh before absently rubbing her stomach. "Though all of this excitement has been reached the babe, it's been kicking like mad all day."
Aemon's face lit up at that and he smiled down at Alerie, a grin happily plastered across his Valyrian face. "You see! That's my son waiting to come out and fight the world!" he announced a little too loudly, causing Alerie to look around with a slight blush.
"Or it's your daughter eager to join in on the festivities." She chided happily.
Aemon took his wife's hands in his own and gently kissed the back of them before grinning back at her. "Boy, Girl, it makes no difference as long as they're happy and healthy."
Alerie opened her mouth to respond when suddenly a messenger came into the room hurriedly and rushed up to Jaehaerys and whispered something in his ear before rushing back out of the room. Jaehaerys clapped his hands together loudly getting the attention of the guests. "It has been brought to my attention that the King's entourage has just arrived at the gates of Summerhall and will be with us shortly. I'd like for everyone to get into position please!"
"Well that's our cue my love." said Aemon as he and Alerie walked over to join the rest of the family who stood in front of the partygoers, waiting in rapt silence as they heard the familiar sound of the kingsgaurd approaching.
The great doors opened and in walked King Aegon, tall and proud with his vibrant gold silver hair that hung past his shoulders and deep purple eyes, he looked every bit the strong Targaryen king of his youth with only the occasional lines around his eyes and mouth to betray his seven and fifty years.
The king gave the great hall a brief look and with a hint of a smile stepped aside and ushered forward his Lord Commander to get a look at the festivities who was met with a cheer of congratulations from everyone in the room.
Ser Duncan the Tall stood in surprise as he looked at all of the various guests smiling back at him and turned to the King in confusion. "What...?"
Aegon smiled broadly at his oldest friend and put his hand on the big knight's shoulder. "Did you really think we'd forgetten your name day?"
Dunk looked down at his best friend in shock and then looked at all of the people, every one of them smiling at him, genuine smiles of love. He looked up at the decorations adorning the great hall and all of the foods prepared, the musicians playing beautiful melodies. "All of this….all of the effort, the time you must have put in…." trailed off the big knight, his knightly composure lost as he was seemingly overwhelmed and to the surprise of everyone Dunk started to tear up a little. "I…thank you…..thank…you."
Rhaelle hurried up to the big man and wrapped her slender arms around his large frame squeezing him with all her might. Looking up at him with her big violet eyes she flashed the old man the most dazzling smile she could muster and went on her tippy toes to kiss his cheek. "Of course this is for you Uncle Dunk, if anyone deserves this it's you. All my life, you've always been there for us, always kept us safe and kept us true. You're the best man I know Uncle and don't you try to telling me and anyone else here otherwise!" and with that tears began to roll down Rhaelle's beautiful face as well and she smiled happily up at him before giving him another great hug.
In an act that was practically unheard of the king himself embraced Dunk as well much to the surprise of those in attendance. Aemon couldn't but smile madly at the sight of his father, his sovereign, acting so human and without thinking began to clap slowly and soon the other guests began to join him in a symphony of applause and cheer.
Eventually the guest of honour managed to pull himself together and went to properly greet his guests, people from all over Westeros such as members of the Dornish court as well as members of House Osgrey and even a few bannermen from the North, all people whom Ser Duncan had helped or in some way served.
Alerie excused herself and gave Aemon a quick kiss before she went to speak with Jenny about some matter, leaving the young prince to stand about amongst the hordes of party goers. He was just about to fetch himself a cup of dornish red when he felt something tugging at his side and looking down he saw his nephew Steffon looking up at him excitedly.
"Uncle, father wanted me to tell you that he and uncle Duncan will be riding on the morrow and that you are invited too." said the boy dutifully.
Aemon smiled and ruffled the boy's coal black hair. "I'd be delighted to come lad. Now run along and play with your cousins."
After his little chat with Steffon, Aemon finally managed to get Dunk away from all of the various guests trying get the big man's befuddled attention and walked him over to one of the tables to fetch them both a cup of wine.
"None for me thank you." said Dunk gently. "I still need to be at my best to protect the King."
Aemon scoffed at that. "Just one cup, surely you won't be too badly affected by a single cup or I'll have to start calling you Dunk the Drunk."
Dunk smiled lightly at that and accepted the cup. "Fine, but just the one. You should know better than to tempt an old knight. I could still teach you a thing or two, drunk or not."
Aemon laughed happily at that before his violet eyes began to soften considerably. "I can still remember when you first taught me and the Dragonfly how to ride, how to swing a sword….all my life I've wanted to be like you, to be as brave as you. That was my biggest dream as boy, to grow up and fight in the Kingsgaurd by your side."
"And thank the Gods you didn't! Or else you wouldn't have married that lovely wife of yours!" replied Dunk, giving the young prince a light slap on the back. "She's good for you." He added after beat. "You laugh and joke with everyone and you smile easily, but we could still tell that your sense of humour was just armour to keep others from getting too close, we were worried, me and your father, honestly that you were unhappy….but then you met Alerie and you seemed to open up more."
Aemon looked away in shame as he absorbed what Dunk had told him. He knew what they were saying was true, that he used to be distant from everyone, including his family and that he still was to some extent. In my defence, it's hard to have a deep and meaningful when your father is the most powerful man in the world…
"She makes me happy."
Dunk gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze. "I'm glad, truly I am….now if you'll excuse me I think Ser Harlan has just eaten a piece of my lemon cake." Aemon smiled faintly as he watched the big knight hurry over to Ser Harlan by the sweets table and begin to chastise him.
Finally he decided to go and sit with his wife, who was currently deep in conversation with Duncan's wife Jenny. The latter's brown hair was, as usual, adorned with flowers and Aemon could tell by the way she was fidgeting that she wasn't comfortable in the dress Duncan had bought for her. Even her posture seemed so slouched when in comparison to Alerie's. Despite her being here with all of us she's an outsider too in her own ways…
"Ah, Aemon there you are! Jenny wanted to ask you something." said Alerie, gesturing for the young prince to come sit.
"Ask away." He told Jenny happily.
Jenny leant forward and locked her brown eyes with his violet and in a hushed whisper asked "Did you dream of the fire?"
Aemon looked at her in confusion and then at Alerie who did nothing but shrug. Was he being made fun off? "I have many dreams sweet Good-sister and on occasion they include fire but I'm afraid you'll need to be more specific."
Jenny frowned a little but patiently explained it to him. "Have you dreamt of a small island consumed in black flames with countless bodies littering the sea around it?"
Aemon watched her carefully and after a beat shook his head in the negative, deeply confused by her words. Jenny just gave a defeated sigh at that. "Oh well, I suppose it's just Duncan then…I wonder if he'll want to dance?" and with that rose from her seat and wandered off without another word.
Aemon looked over at his wife with a raised eyebrow. "What was that all about?"
"Oh she's been going on and on about dreams, I told her you were prone to having vivid dreams too." She replied casually.
"You actually told her about that?" he asked incredulously.
"To be honest I just wanted to see the look on your face when she told you about her dream." said Alerie, with a cheeky grin spreading across her face and before he could say anything in retort she quickly gave him a deep kiss silencing his thoughts.
After a moment she broke away and gave him a dreamy smile before slowly rising from her seat, using the table to help support her pregnant body. "The little one is causing grief again; I'm off to bed my love."
"I'm not far behind you." He told her before leaning up to give her one final quick kiss and watched as she and her ladies in waiting slowly made their way out of the great hall and up to the bedroom she and Aemon shared upstairs.
For a while the young Targaryen simply sat in silence as he tiredly watched his friends and family dance and laugh with each other and found himself quietly feeling a little more optimistic than he had been in a long time. But then he saw a young man hurry towards his father and after giving a quick bow he whispered something in the King's ear. Whatever it was made the colour drain from his face and harshly whisper something to Jaehaerys and Dunk which likewise made both men to look at him in shock. Eventually the King had to excuse himself but bid his guests to stay and enjoy themselves for as long as they'd like.
Aemon spotted Jaehaerys about to leave as well and hurried over to him, grabbing his arm a little too tightly causing his sickly brother to look up at him with a wounded look. Aemon knew he'd feel bad about it later but right now he was determined to find out what was going on. "What is it brother, what's happened?"
Jaehaerys gave him a conflicted look but finally said it. "Tyrosh has fallen to the Blackfyres."