Aaron/Huaisang - Early

[creeksidealtarboy]

He was simply Aaron when his boat landed on the coast. He remained only Aaron when he was pulled from the small boat and taken to a healer, who found him not only alive and breathing but strong and capable. He was taken in by a clan, a strong clan, one of rules and laws and principles, and Aaron began to thrive there. He doesn't talk much, chooses to smile and fake his way through most interactions, but he proves himself to be a diligent student and learner. He spends his time reading or practicing, and they assess that he isn't too far behind his peers. He will catch up eventually.

But there's the matter of his appearance. He's an odd child, fair of skin and hair and eyes. He's been able to prove himself with his own clan, but that doesn't mean that the others will think the same of him.

Comments

[threedontknows]

Huaisang remembers the day that the foreign boy was taken in by the Gusu Lan. It's all the young Nie disciples could talk about when word reached them in the Impure Realm - they heard he had white skin, yellow hair, blue eyes. They would stay up late spooking each other will silly stories about how the Lan Clan had adopted a ghost, and during the next Lan lectures they would sacrifice the weakest disciple from each clan to it.

His brother had taken him aside the month prior to sending him to Cloud Recesses. He'd been two years too young for the lectures, but he'd been slow to develop a golden core so Da-ge had insisted. And because he knew his little brother, he talked about the foreign disciple that the Lan had taken in, sternly warning him to be on his best behavior and not disgrace the Nie with his actions (or reactions).

Huaisang thinks about that moment as he walks up the long stairwell into Cloud Recesses, his retainers trailing him and his brother looming ahead looking very much like the capable clan leader that he's grown into. It makes Huaisang feel very small, and being left here without him makes him very scared.