The crowds gathered at the Lion Gate and King's Gate only began to thin after nightfall.
The followers of the Seven who had chosen to leave King's Landing vanished down the southern road like an ebbing tide.
Torches lit up one after another along the city walls, casting flickering light and shadows over streets that had grown much emptier.
Standing at a window high in the Red Keep, Aegon took one last look at King's Landing as it fell quiet in the darkness, then turned away.
He took off his black outer clothes and lay down on the broad, soft bed.
Outside the window, the night wind moaned as it swept across Blackwater Bay.
He closed his eyes and soon sank into a dreamless sleep.
The night passed uneventfully.
Early the next morning, Aegon woke while the sky was only just beginning to brighten.
After a quick wash, he changed his outer clothes and stepped out of his bedchamber.
His destination was the Tower of the Hand.
The tower stood not far from Maegor's Holdfast and served as both the workplace and residence of the Hand of the King.
These days, it was where Jon Connington toiled day and night.
Since Aegon's landing, ever more lands needed governing and ever more affairs demanded attention, and almost all of it had fallen upon the old knight's shoulders.
Seeing Aegon arrive in person, the guards at the Tower of the Hand dared not bar his way and bowed to him.
Aegon nodded, entered the tower, and climbed the spiral stone staircase.
The stairs were rather narrow, with torches set into the walls at regular intervals to light the passage.
When he reached the door to Jon Connington's study on the top floor, he found it slightly ajar.
Aegon gently pushed it open