Powerless and birds: Makoto Khitan's family tree (ft. a special guest- Kitt)
My favourite Lauren Roberts book is Powerful. It's not even a competition. I found Adena and Mak to be very cute and charming and likeable, and honestly I didn't even care about the plot that much. I would willingly read an entire book of Adena and Mak frolicking around and getting into silly nonsense adventures. No plot just vibes.
I just had to get that out there before I start this because I will never miss any opportunity to sing Powerful's praises. Best Lauren Roberts book.
One of the most crucial aspects of Mak's character is his familial angst. Now, lots and lots of things about Mak's backstory have been changed for this AU- to start, he's a high-ranking member of the renamed Resistance (the Rookery), and even though he shares a blessing-bird with Kai, I don't think he would be killed for it- but it is very important that I manage to adapt his familial angst somehow.
So I present one of my more wild family tree shuffles: Makoto Khitan is now Lenny's grandson. Just. Just bear with me here.
If you'll recall, Lenny is now the beloved leader of the Rookery. He's caring and jovial and... very, very old. He's going to die soon.
Mak is part of the Rookery's Murder. This makes him VERY high-ranking, and he's part of a very small, exclusive group that handles the bureaucratic parts of running the Rookery. People like Adena and Calum are 'typical' for people allowed to join the Murder; they're both very well-respected and all-around very competent. Mak is an exception to this standard because while he's an excellent organizer and blindingly intelligent and a perfectly good asset to the Murder, he... is awful at fighting. Absolutely awful. No one can figure out why. He's strong and smart and agile, but somehow none of that has translated into fighting skills.
But he's also old man Leonard's grandson, so Mak gets away with a lot in the Rookery. This is partially why Mak was able to secure such a high position of power... which is a bad thing. He's very smart, yes, but Mak should not be trusted with so much power; he is famously unreasonable whenever it comes to his loved ones.
Lenny was primarily responsible for raising Mak after his parents died; the two became rather close.
Lenny and his unnamed wife (she's already dead. She and Lenny are both extremely old; she probably died of old age at some point) had two children: twins. A boy and a girl. They were close as anything- it was like they could read each other's minds when they were children.
They drifted apart as they got older. The boy got more and more involved in Rookery business, while the girl... the girl loved her family dearly, and didn't want to leave them, but she secretly dreamed of having a safe, ordinary life. She often fantasized about defecting.
The boy would grow up and become Makoto's father. The girl would have a child, too, and that child is none other than Ace Elway.
That's right, folks: Mak and Hera are no longer related! Mak's new cousin is Ace. I'll write more about the cousin swap later- I have a good reason for it I promise!
Makoto Khitan had a relatively normal upbringing, raised by his influential father and his mother, a well-respected Rookery member in her own right. Adena, much like Paedyn, was an orphan taken in by the Rookery. He and Adena were childhood friends and very close.
He was fourteen when both his parents betrayed the Rookery; they sold out one of the Rookery's smaller bases in hopes of securing their own safety from the queen's soldiers. Makoto and Adena were both staying in that base that awful night; Makoto remembers huddling in a corner, bleeding from an awful slash that cut across his lip, while Adena, even smaller than he was and just as frightened, stood snarling above him.
Maybe Makoto's parents really were safe from the queen after that night, or maybe they betrayed the Rookery for nothing. No one would ever get the chance to find out, because the Rookery has a serious no-snitching policy. And they were mad.
The Rookery furiously hunted down the traitors, and when both of them were caught, Lenny gave the order to have his son and his daughter-in-law executed.
Lenny's daughter watched in perfect silence as her twin brother, her other half, was publicly executed. Then she went over to her parents and told them she was leaving the Rookery forever, and that she would be taking her husband and their young son with her- Ace is closer to Paedyn's age than he is to Mak and Adena's age (Mak and Adena have both been aged up), so he would have been an itty bitty toddler at the time.
Lenny let her go, and he would never see his daughter again. Makoto eventually grew up, and he would hate his parents until the end of time.
Mak is a huge grump, and, as Paedyn describes him, a worrywart and a total buzzkill. He's very serious and has trouble making friends and finding humour on his own. Adena is his best friend and the most important person in the world to him (it's mutual), but looking past all that devotion, Mak just really enjoys being around her.
His social circle is very small, but he is friends with Paedyn. He's frequently annoyed with her, but Adena loves her, so he loves Paedyn too by default.
In another life he and Mira would have been really good friends, their personalities just mesh together very well. They've always respected each other from a distance, and it's only after Lenny announces his intention to pick Adena as a successor that he and Mira start to bond; Mak's positive feelings towards Mira tripled the second Mira started loudly and enthusiastically supporting Adena's promotion.
They never got to be real friends, unfortunately. Mira was killed before they could properly bond, and that was that.
Speaking of, I don't think I want to kill Mak like canon does. He's either getting a different death or he's surviving all the way through.
I am planning on giving him one friend outside of Adena and Paedyn though, and this friend is going to survive much longer than Mira.
It's Kitt. The friend is Kitt.
@i-couldntfindanoncringeusername and @kittlover, this part's for you.
Kitt is a bit more rebellious in this AU. He puts up a responsible front, but in truth, he hates being the crown prince. Absolutely hates it!
He doesn't want to be Kitt Azer, heir to the throne and future king. He wants to be Kitt Azer, normal regular guy.
He's a bit naive and very adventurous. He desperately wants his mean scary father to be proud of him, so he tries to be a proper heir, but...
Way before he ever meets Paedyn, Kitt has gotten into the habit of sneaking out of the palace via the secret tunnels, while Kai and Gail cover for him. It's a bad habit that he's really trying to break, he promises! He's really trying super hard! He totally is!! Every time he sneaks out he insists it's DEFINITELY the last time, guys, seriously.
Kitt keeps telling himself this so that he feels less guilty, but eventually, Kitt will come to know the secret tunnels like the back of his hand.
On one of his first excursions outside the palace, Kitt is on a mission to buy clothes that will help him fit in a bit more. His princely clothes make him a bit of an eyesore outside the castle, and he's getting a lot of uncomfortable stares.
Meanwhile, Makoto Khitan is having a slow, peaceful day. Paedyn is off entertaining the masses with one of her street performances- she's showing off bird noises and educating kids on bird fun facts- and Adena is off doing important Rookery business somewhere. Mak's services as a blacksmith or a Rookery member aren't needed anywhere at the moment, so Adena left him in charge of manning her clothing store.
The title 'store' is generous, but there sure are clothes here.
Because of the Rookery's existence, Adena and Paedyn in this AU aren't 'living in trash forts' poor. They're better off financially in this AU; for example, they're living in a tiny, actively-crumbling building that doubles as a clothing store. Adena and Mak might both be high-ranking in the Rookery, and that gives them a lot of social clout, but it does NOT give them much financial stability, this is NOT a luxurious lifestyle.
Mak was doing the Powerless-universe equivalent of scrolling on Tiktok when the door creaks open, and in walks some rich blond guy who stops dead in the middle of the tiny shop and says, "I need clothes."
Mak squints at this obviously rich guy's VERY expensive, VERY fancy, VERY high-quality outfit. "And you came... here???"
Mak desperately wants to go back to scrolling on ye-olde-fantasy-Tiktok. Some rich indecisive blond guy is here and he's asking for Mak's advice on what CLOTHES to buy. Mak doesn't understand clothes. ADENA understands clothes. He doesn't know what he's DOING.
Somewhere in the distance, Adena stops in her tracks and feels a shiver go down her spine. She knows in her bones that something terrible just happened.
Adena is entirely right. At that very moment, Mak is helping Kitt pick out the ugliest colour combination known to man. They both think it looks great. Both of them have horrible taste.
Kitt goes to pay for the world's ugliest outfit. Before Mak can even name a price, Kitt pulls out a comically large pouch of coins and dumps the contents on the counter. "Is this enough to cover it?"
Mak stares at the money that's about to pay for three people's groceries for the next couple of months.
"No, you're actually short a couple silvers." "Oh, sorry! I'll get right on that."
Later, Mak is going to barge in on Adena and Paedyn, proudly showing off Kitt's pocket change like, "GUESS WHO SCAMMED A RICH LOSER TODAY"
Paedyn is so proud of him. She counts the coins, calculates how many sticky buns they can fit into their new budget, and listens enraptured to Mak's recounting of the day.
Paedyn sighs wistfully. "Man, I should really go date a rich guy." (Spoiler: she does eventually date a rich guy. Not this particular rich guy, but his brother. You know this).
From then on, Kitt keeps having occasional chance encounters with Mak and they become sort-of-buddies. They hang out when Mak happens to be free. Mak continues scamming Kitt out of his pocket change. Mak shows Kitt where to buy the best roasted radishes. Mak promptly gets bullied for liking radishes so much.
I distinctly remember Kitt as someone who is very charming and playful, and generally easy to like. Mak can't help but enjoy this rich blond loser's company and finds himself looking forward to these occasional visits.
Eventually, Kitt decides he trusts his new grumpy friend enough to reveal his true identity. It goes... uh... it goes...
"So what is your name, anyway?"
"...like the crown prince?"
"Fine. Don't tell me, then."
"Whaaat? I wasn't lying!"
Mak is in for a rude awakening one day lol
They're definitely going to bond more in the main plot but I'll leave it here for now. This is already so long.
