The Dragons and Their Sun (aemond/oc)

rhaenyra XV

 A meeting was called to discuss what to do with Aurora's torturers. Rhaenyra wanted to go alone and leave Helaena to stay with Aurora. She didn't want Aurora in that room, having to relive her torture. Aurora disagreed, though. She said she needed to be there. Rhaenyra didn't want to argue with her after seeing a certain light in her eyes.

"You can leave at any time, alright? You do not have to stay if it gets to be too much," Rhaenyra told her daughter as they stood outside the doors of the meeting room.

"I know. But I can do this. I can," Aurora seemed to be trying to convince herself rather than her. She took deep shuddering breaths as she repeated the phrase softly to herself.

Rhaenyra squeezed the hand that was holding her arm, "You can, my brave girl. But you must know that you are no less brave if you need to leave."

Aurora didn't seem to hear her as she repeated her mantra under her breath. Rhaenyra's heart broke at the desperate plea her daughter was saying to herself. She felt powerless. Aurora's fight was internal; she didn't know how to help fight something she couldn't see. All she could do was provide as much comfort as Aurora would allow. Rhaenyra only hoped it was enough.

She waited until Aurora's eyes lost their lost look, and then she waited for her daughter to nod. Once she did, Rhaenyra nodded once at the guards, giving them the okay to open the doors and let them pass. The moment eyes were on them, she felt Aurora tense up. Rhaenyra gently stroked her hand to let her know she was safe. She was here.

Aemond stood from his seat, his face pinched in anger as he approached them. Rhaenyra felt the tension leave Aurora when her eyes met Aemond's. Rhaenyra watched the anger fade from her little brother's face ever so slightly when Aurora managed to slightly grin up at him. It was more of a grimace, but the intention was clear. Against every fiber of her being, she let Aurora take Aemond's arm and let him lead her to the table. He took her to sit between himself and Aegon, the latter didn't acknowledge them as he glared at the table. He only took his eyes away to glance down at his hand when Aurora grabbed it.

Rhaenyra nodded in greeting at everyone as she took her place directly across from Aurora; she wanted to be able to see her daughter completely. Once she was convinced Aurora was alright for the time being, she folded her hands on the tabletop and turned to her father, "I must admit my confusion as to why this meeting is even being called, Father. We know what must be done."

There was a tense silence before her father sighed, "I know what you all wish to be done. It's not so simple, Rhaenyra. I'm trying to make your brothers see sense before they decide to slaughter the entire Hightower bloodline."

"No one is speaking of eradicating a bloodline, Your Grace. Those guilty must be punished accordingly, or else it will be spread throughout the realm that someone kidnapped your blood and was not punished for it," Corlys was the voice of reason. Rhaenyra, personally, didn't see a problem with wiping out the Hightowers as a whole, excluding her children that shared blood with them. They were more Targaryen than they could ever be Hightower.

"We can't punish a potentially innocent woman because of one account of someone who was-" her father, smartly, stopped talking before he finished his thought. Everyone knew what he was going to say.

"Go on," Aemond calmly demanded his father. His face was blank, as usual, but the look in his eyes seemed like it could bring even the bravest to their knees. His older brother didn't look much nicer as he looked only a few seconds away from jumping over the table to land another punch on the old man. Rhaenyra was angry that he would be insinuating things about her daughter, but she was more focused on Aurora than her stupid father. The young woman was staring at the map of searched areas with a furrowed brow and an almost bloody lip from how hard she was chewing on it.