Chapter Text
"No! Don't take him away!! He's my - my - he's my good luck charm!"
The palace attendants scattered away from the unexpected yell. All eyes went to the center of the room. It had been years since the Crown Prince had raised his voice like this.
Faced with such a fierce response, the Guoshi of the Xian Le Kingdom looked like he was going to tear his hair out from frustration.
"Your Highness," he said in a long-suffering tone. "A person is not some sort of good luck charm that you can just dangle around your waist. Especially not this one."
The ‘person' was still there. It was a boy, a small child, who looked like a black shadow in a brightly lit room. His head was wrapped with bandages and his entire body was curled in on itself, tight with pain. He was covered in dirty, ragged clothing. His skin was covered in cuts and bruises.
Xie Lian had his arms around the boy in a fiercely protective hold. His white sleeves had been stained black by the contact, but he didn't seem to care at all. All he seemed to care about was keeping the boy away from other reaching hands.
"I won't let you take him away," Xie Lian said stubbornly.
The boy clung to the arm wrapped around him with a death grip, his little fingers twisting into the white fabric. His face was buried into Xie Lian's sleeves. It painted him into a pitiful picture, as if he were just trying to hide away from the world, having finally found a place for reprieve.
"You're being unreasonable," Guoshi said.
Xie Lian's eyes flashed with a rare anger.
"This boy has done nothing wrong! In fact, he's the one that has been wronged, and you want to just throw him back out into the streets? After what Qi Rong did to him?"
"Your Highness..."
"Is this the lesson you want me to learn? To turn a blind eye to this?"
The implication was obvious: if so, then what kind of teacher are you?
The Guoshi sighed heavily, sensing tempers flaring. Xie Lian took a breath to calm himself down as well. The boy in his arms remained completely still, helpless in the midst of an argument about his fate.
"Your Highness, that's not a fair thing to say."
Xie Lian lowered his head a little. He felt a little sting of shame. His Guoshi had met anger with patience, and Xie Lian understood now that he spoken too harshly.
"I apologize," Xie Lian said stiffly.
His Guoshi waved a hand. "I understand that seeing Qi Rong's actions have angered you greatly," he said. "I am greatly disappointed with him as well. What he has done cannot be excused -"
The boy in Xie Lian's arms made a little, abortive jerk. Xie Lian instantly hugged him a bit closer.
"- but still, Your Highness. Aside from all of that, this boy is dangerous."
The boy in his arms didn't look dangerous. If anything, he was quiet now, almost deathly so. Even if he had the energy to speak, his voice would have been ragged and weak.
Xie Lian had held him through the worst of his tears. Little by little, the sounds had drained away until he was now in this state - exhausted, eyes glazed over with pain the way soldiers sometimes looked when they were on the brink of death.
Xie Lian had seen his subjects cry before. He had seen cries of rage, of despair, cries of frustration and cries for help. Most of them had been directed to his father and mother, the King and Queen of Xian Le. There had been enough pain in their voices to make a lump rise in anyone's throats. There was no end of suffering in this world. He knew this. But he had also never been moved like this, by the sheer intensity of someone else's feelings.
He felt restless. Like he had to do something, or else he would regret it for the rest of his life.
"Enough," Xie Lian said to his Guoshi. His voice was firm with conviction.
"You may call him a curse, but he has been the opposite of that to me. Take the parade, for example. He could have died falling onto the streets, but I was able to save him in time. Now, the citizens know that I care for their lives, and this parade will be remembered for a hundred years. If that is not good fortune, then what is?"
From any other mouth, these words would have sounded unbelievably arrogant. But the Crown Prince of Xian Le merely delivered them as if he were plainly stating his case.
The Guoshi pinched the bridge of his nose. He looked like he was trying very hard not to sigh. Even now, all Xie Lian cared about was saving people. But surely this was too much!
"What you're saying makes sense," Guoshi allowed. "But still, this boy is cursed. He is too dangerous. A Star of Solitude can bring down great calamities onto your heads, calamities great enough to topple nations and shake the heavens. He has the unluckiest of fortunes."
"Then I'll just reverse them," Xie Lian said simply.
Everyone in the room simultaneously felt struck dumb.
Hearing something like this was like hearing someone declare "then I'll become a God!" Only, much to their chagrin, the Crown Prince was exactly the sort of person to say such a thing.
"You - you can't be serious," his Guoshi stammered. "Did you hear a single thing I said? This boy is cursed! This is not something easily countered! His Fate is not something that can easily be trifled with."
"Just because it's not easy doesn't mean it shouldn't be tried," Xie Lian declared. "If he can be saved, then he should be."
Guoshi squeezed his eyes shut. Anyone could look at him and understand that, internally, he was thinking Why must I deal with someone so ridiculous?!?
"Not even the gods in Heaven would dare to say some of the things you're saying right now."
Xie Lian became serious.
He said, "I understand, Guoshi. But I cannot allow myself to leave this boy to the whims of fate. I saved him from death once - I want to see it through. Can you trust me?"
His fingers gripped the small boy's shoulders. His chin rested softly on the top of the boy's head.
To outsiders, it looked as if they had known each other for years instead of days. They clung to each other - one too tired and weak to defend himself, and the other desperate and determined to take up the task.
"Fate is not something easily changed."
"I know."
Guoshi snapped him a disappointed look. "Only a child would answer that easily."
Xie Lian lowered his eyes. "Please."
He had never pleaded like this before. Seeing him like this, Guoshi felt a sharp pain in his chest that was both a mixture of pride and frustration. How could he not? He had watched over this boy ever since he was old enough to speak. He, more than anyone else, understood how Xie Lian could come to say such a thing.
He reached out and placed a hand on Xie Lian's shoulder.
"You could be bringing doom down upon us all," he said gently. "Not only yourself, but your whole country too. Anyone would tell you that a single life is not worth it. You may be on the path to Ascension now, but you are not a god yet, Your Highness."
"I have to try."
His Guoshi's hand was a heavy weight pinning Xie Lian down.
Xie Lian felt the strange sensation of being trapped under the weight of an entire mountain. He was fighting against something that would not move, the weight of the entire world, all to protect the small space between his arms, and the boy that he protected there. The boy in his arms felt like a fragile shell that any amount of pressure would crack. For some reason, Xie Lian was terribly, irrationally afraid of letting that happen.
He looked up at his Guoshi, meeting his eyes.
"Please."
His Guoshi's heart was not made of stone. Seeing this, his heart cracked a little - just a small, fine line, thin as a hair.
Xie Lian had never asked anything from him before.
"You shouldn't -" he tried to say, but it was already too late. The strength in his voice was faltering. His conviction was draining away. The crack widened slightly as Xie Lian stared at him imploringly.
This was madness. All signs pointed to this becoming an unmitigated disaster. And yet, he couldn't help but be reminded of another time, another Prince - a boy, really, who had judged the Heavens and thought he could do one better.
It could go differently, this time. Maybe where one failed, another could succeed. After all, wasn't that why he was here in the first place?
Seeing that the Guoshi was faltering, Xie Lian dealt his final blow.
"Guoshi, please."
No one could resist that tone of voice. Guoshi crumbled like a sack of boulders that used to be a wall.
"Fine," he snapped. "One month. I'll allow him to stay, but he must cause no trouble, understand?"
All the air seemed to rush out of Xie Lian in one breath. He looked up, wide-eyed. He looked just as stunned as Guoshi felt.
"You can't keep taking in strays like this, Xie Lian."
"He's not a stray," Xie Lian said automatically.
"If he shows any signs of being a danger to you or to anyone else around him, I will take him away, and I will hear no more of this."
"Yes," Xie Lian blurted out. In his arms, the boy was shifting, a little awareness returning to his eyes. A gathering light. He had been listening, this entire time.
"I promise," Xie Lian said earnestly. Around the boy's shoulders, his fingers started to shake. "I promise. You won't regret giving me this chance. I swear it."