[ Tim notices that the response seems automatic. Not felt as strongly as it has been in the past, a script that he's reading from, instead of from the heart. Despite his own urging, it carves out an ache in his chest for him. It's easy to forget how young Aemond really is, and how little he knows of things that many take for granted, due to his particular circumstances. Tim's own first taste of disillusionment wasn't pleasant.

He smiles gently, and reaches carefully for Aemond, to cup his cheek the way he had in the hallway last month, when he first declared Tim a brother. Valonqar. ]

I am different here. I'd be disowned if they knew what I was. But here, I'm free to love. I'm free to learn. I worked in an office for a lawmaker before, and now I'm in a contest of swords, under the tutelage of a prince. Everything is different.

[ Except for Hawk being here with him. Even that, while still complicated, isn't complicated for the same reasons that it had been back home. ]