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Lucerys is only 5 years old, but he was a "sweet boy" as his mother called him. Lucerys can't use the sword or even learn with his brother and uncles. He usually spends it with Helaena, his aunt. Learning to sew and embroider. With his septas at his sides, every day.
He is bored of spending all day sewing and embroidering, his little hands hurt.
She doesn't hate her aunt; in fact, she enjoys spending time with her, learning about her little critter friends and listening to her words. Clearly sometimes she doesn't understand certain things she says, but that's Aunt Helaena for the family. It's just that Lucerys would like to do something different. Only 5 years old, her curiosity is endless. She often explores the castle, with her brother Jacaerys, discovering corners and playing that her brother was her knight.
His uncle Aemond accompanied him half the time his brother could not, being a quiet and patient gentleman. Usually they could also be in the library, telling him stories from the books Lucerys is still learning to read.
Unfortunately his uncle Aemond could not play with him that day. His brother Jacaerys is always with his Uncle Aegon when he doesn't want to be with Lucerys, playing "big boy" games, he said.
Mother was with her little brother, Joffrey, who only slept. He couldn't play with Lucerys. Her father, well, her father was always busy. "Velaryon business," her mother once said.
Therefore, he decided that he himself would be his knight that day, no longer the prince in distress, no. He would discover the secrets hidden in the castle. Then he could show them to his brother and uncle. Even Helaena. They would be happy.
He ordered a small purse her grandfather gave her from a trip, made pancakes that her nanny usually let her keep in her room. She removed her small pearls from her hair, her mother said they were to dazzle her cuteness. Lucerys couldn't be cute that day, knights weren't cute. They were strong.
Grabbed his favorite red cape and his wooden horse, his favorite adventure companion. It was a lie, Aemond was his favorite.
With everything ready, he decided to leave. Escaping from his septas was easy, they didn't use to look at him much in his free time.
In the middle of a huge corridor he decided that he would go to the highest tower, he had never climbed so high, let alone without permission. But Lucerys that day was a knight and in the highest tower was always the princess. So he would go to rescue her. From what? well, Lucerys did not know.
The knights protecting the place were more difficult, if he wasn't with Aemond or Jacaerys, they didn't usually let him in on anything. Still, he did not give up, he would prove his worth. Whatever that means.
After being denied entry on several occasions, Lucerys decided that she would eat her pancakes to cheer herself up. Her little knight's pride was hurt, it was easier just to be the princess.
I entered a giant room, full of books. It was not a library, but he had come with Aemond. He called it "The room with silly stories", strangely enough it was Lucerys' favorite.
You weren't supposed to eat in that place, mainly a prince. But Lucerys was sad at the time, he didn't hear her septa in his head.
As he ate his third pancake, he remembered a book that had odd, but pretty pictures. Aemond didn't usually read that one to Lucerys much, he said the pictures were boring, but if Lucerys insisted he usually did. Aemond was a good knight, always at the will of his princess.
He decided to look for it himself, wiped his little fingers with the handkerchief that dad's friend Qarl had given him. He was Dad's personal gentleman, always at his side. He liked him.
I searched through the shelves, I didn't know what his name was (after all I couldn't read, yet) but I did remember his color. A nice green, like Aemond's clothes. Suddenly he stopped, he saw one, it wasn't the one Aemond used to read to him, but it looked similar. It had to be one with pictures, he decided that was the one he would take out. He could show it to Aemond later.
He threw out his arm, he wasn't that tall, he didn't need help, he could do it alone, he was a gentleman. Only the book seemed higher and higher. As he stretched to reach the book he wished he had Aemond with him, he always helped. He was also taller than Lucerys. Remembering her brave knight gave her an idea.
He leaned against a bottom shelf, stood on tiptoe, closed his eyes and stretched out his arm again. He reached for it. He smiled and threw it away.
When he opened his eyes, he was not in his little library. He couldn't even get a good look, it was mostly darkness. Small fires on the walls, that was his only light.
"Oh" thought Lucerys.
Where had he gone?
He stood still for a long time, book in hand. The wall behind him was just bricks. Maybe if he waited a while, they would come looking for him.
"If you get lost stay where you are" Aemond or Jacaerys used to tell him.
But a long time passed, and no one came. He reminded himself that he was a knight, a strong one, just like his great-uncle Daemon. He was the best of all, as his mother used to say.
Giving himself courage, he got up, it was time to investigate. He shook himself and adjusted his cloak. He was a brave Velaryon. What does that mean? Lucys didn't know, but his father always told him.
So, clutching the book as his only defense against the bandits in the tunnels. He was going to rescue a princess. Trembling like a leaf, he walked slowly.
He noticed that at some points there were small tunnels, where there were longer corridors. He did not dare to enter, most of them were totally dark. If he went, maybe he would be robbed, as his grandfather used to say every time he asked him to accompany him on his adventures. Lucerys did not want to be robbed, he still had lemon tarts to eat.
He continued walking, stopping when he noticed a staircase, lit with flaming torches. He began to doubt. Lucerys could keep walking, but wasn't it his duty as a knight to go up for the princess?
His little mind thought about it, hearing an Aemond-like voice telling him to just walk. But at the last moment he decided, he would go up. It was his adventure, not Aemond's.
He started up the stairs, feeling a mixture of excitement and nervousness. A little fear too, he admitted. He didn't usually do things alone, always accompanied. This was his first time having an adventure alone. Not even his little wooden horse was with him. Just a silly green book.
The green would no longer be his favorite color, he would tell Aemond to wear another color.
There were moments where he stopped, tired. The stairs seemed endless, and his little legs ached. At that time he missed just embroidering with his aunt Helaena and her septas. It wasn't that tiring.
Out of sheer anger he kept climbing, if he found a princess, he would tell her not to hide so high up anymore, it was very tiring. When he was the princess, no matter where he hid, his uncle always found him and he never looked tired, always with a small smile.
Lucerys doesn't know how much time passed when she arrived upstairs. Probably years, she decided.
Putting the book down, he began to touch the wall. Frustrated. He wanted to get out, not just find a wall, there was supposed to be a princess. Like his mom, to give him a hug. Little whimpers, sobs began to come out of his mouth, he wanted to cry so badly.
It was at one point, when tears were falling, that she felt something sticking out of the wall. Then she pulled with all her might. Suddenly, instead of leaning against the wall, she was looking at the floor. When she looked up, it was out. His little nose was red, and his forehead even redder, from the blow.
Lucerys, instead of crying again, smiled. He left that ugly place. He fulfilled his adventure. He stood, remembering that he forgot the book. Well, Lucerys wouldn't miss it.
He noticed that he was in the highest tower, there was no one there, not even a princess. But he didn't care, he really didn't care anymore. He was his princess.
The wind was strong, Lucerys felt it would blow him away and he couldn't, not without Arrax. He held on tightly, as he stood on his tiptoes to look at the view, impressed.
The sun was going down, he was going to sleep, as his mom said, the sky was a rare orange color. Lucerys watched in wonder and with a whisper said, "How beautiful."
When he began his adventure the sky was still blue, he noticed. He was also hungry. He wondered if mom knew where she was, surely she did, she always knew. He was getting tired, he really didn't want to keep walking anymore, it would be better if he waited for her in that place.
"Lucerys" he hears behind him.
Surprised, he turned around to see a beautiful woman, with honey-colored hair and blue eyes. She was slender, like his mother. She had a nice blue dress, pretty like the ones he rarely wore. He had never seen her before.
A princess, he realized, the one he had come for.
"You shouldn't be here, they're looking for you downstairs," said the pretty woman.
"I came for a princess," Lucerys said, embarrassed, suddenly remembering how shy he was with other people.
He noticed how the woman raised her eyebrows in surprise, but it didn't last long, because after a few seconds he noticed how she laughed.
Lucerys looked down further, her face red.
"Thank you for coming, but now you must come downstairs, your mother is worried," he told her.
"But a knight does not abandon his princess." Lucerys reminded.
"Thank you very much, but I'm really in no danger, so I detain the little knight from his charge."
"Oh, that can be done?" I ask, in all the stories I read with Aemond, that never happened.
"If a queen wants it, she can do it," she told him, approaching him. Lucerys noticed something in his hair, a crown, like her grandfather's, but smaller.
"But Alicent is queen and she always has Ser Cole" he told her.
He saw the look on the woman's face change, the same look Queen Alicent had when she looked at her mother.
Anger.
"She's not a Targaryen queen."
"Isn't he?"
"In name only, plus his blood is green," she said.
Lucerys didn't understand much, if he was honest. He doubted that Queen Alicent's blood was green, he really doesn't think that's capable, someone would have told him. But he just nodded, this woman looked very determined.
"What's your name? I've never seen you before" he asked.
"Alysanne," she said. She was beside him, smiling at him.
Lucerys thought of that name, he remembered hearing it, but not from where. He scrunched up his little face, frustrated.
"I really enjoyed this little chat, but you must come down Lucerys, a mother's pain is dangerous" he said, reminding her of the stairs.
"Wouldn't it be better to wait? I don't want to go down," he said.
"Oh little prince, sometimes you have to do things you don't want to do. Even if you do go downstairs, there's some nice lemon cakes waiting for you."
It was at that moment that his stomach decided to rumble, reminding him that he had to eat. He looked at her, embarrassed again, but found only a smile.
"Oh well, I guess so." He turned to the stairs, noticing they were on the floor. Even that she remembered coming through the wall. It didn't matter anymore, Lucerys decided, he was hungry and he wanted her mom.
When he looked back at the woman, she was gone. He was alone again, in the tower.
"Maybe she was blown away by the wind" Lucerys thought.
Well, he hoped to see her again. She was really pretty.