A gift from the past to the future

Lucerys (II)

He lost count of how long he stood there, on top of the wall, the wind causing his hair to slap onto his face while he stared down at the sea so far below him Luke was certain if he fell it would be to his death.

His problems suddenly seemed insignificant.

He was insignificant, one day he would be dead, turned into ashes as all of his ancestors before him, and all these worries would be no more, just like he would be no more.

No matter what he did, the choices he made, none of it were a match for the infinity of the ocean, so big and deep their knowledge barely scraped the surface.

But what wasn't insignificant was the weight of knowing he would be responsible for people's life for years to come should he choose to follow what he was destined to.

And yet, the longer he stared at the wide ocean, the less fear he felt. Somehow, the dark thought that he couldn't possibly mess up in a way he would actually bring ruin to the world as it was now, lands and sea and sky, made everything much easier.

Luke was but a part of nature. Nature would always be above him in every possible way.

"Lucerys." He didn't even have to turn his head to know it was Aemond calling his name, his voice urgent.

He turned his head Aemond anyway.

"Yes?"

Aemond stared at him, his eye round. "What are you doing?" Aemond extended a hand, taking a couple of steps forwards, but not coming any closer. "Come down."

Lucerys snorted, realizing Aemond was afraid he would jump.

He did jump, but it was out of the cliff wall and into the solid, safe ground of the made up path in the wall, where guards did their rounds every morning and every night, ready to set lit the bonfires dispersed around it at the first sign of an invasion or attack.

Aemond grabbed his shoulder immediately, his fingers digging into the meat of it almost to the point of hurting. "What were you thinking? Standing on top of a cliff? What are you doing?"

Lucerys shrugged him off, but Aemond still held tight. "It's fine!"

"You could've fallen to your death!"

"I wasn't going to fall."

"It does not matter what you think, there could have been a gush of air, something could have scared you, you could have lost your balance-"

"I wasn't going to fall." He spat.

Aemond's hand dropped off his shoulders, and Luke internally winced in regret. If the roles were reversed, he knew he would be just as concerned, not knowing what was going through the other's head while they stood on top of the wall with nothing but the rocks below. And here he was, brushing Aemond's worries off.

He relaxed his features, that surely were pulled into a mean scowl, into something more pleasant, and addressed the real issue. "I wasn't going to jump, uncle."

"Then what were you doing?" Aemond asked, staring at him with an intensity that Lucerys had only seen in his mother before – whenever one of them got hurt.

He looked back to the sea, and the part of the Velaryon fleet that stood there, moored into the shore.

Reminding myself how small I am compared to the wide world. How my responsibilities are nothing but a flickering blink on the infinity that is time.

He sounded like a writer. Luke wondered how his life would be if he had been born after Joffrey and therefore could become anything he wanted. Would he become a writer? Write a novel like the many ones he read?