Remember that Chaghan had very little tolerance for opium, judging by how strongly he reacts to it in The Dragon Republic...considering that he and Altan spent so much time together, I find that detail so beautiful
Chaghan knew Altan used drugs, yet he never seemed accustomed to their effects himself. It leads me to wonder whether Altan simply didn't smoke much, or didn't feel the need to, when he was with Chaghan
Maybe Chaghan's presence gave Altan a sense of peace that opium never could
some of the cike silly moments "The Cike aren't so bad once you get to know them, I mean, we kill people on orders, but on the whole we're quite nice."
Altan Trengsin //Speer, Les souvenirs d'une patrie perdue//
a.n. I wrote mainly for myself because I needed comfort for Altan. I came up with this idea and I cried while writing it realising it could never be canon for obvious reasons, however this is my guilty pleasure and it's extreme fluff, deal with it
genre: fluff (Altan Trengsin x reader)
words: 1.8k
cw: AU! the massacre of Speer and the poppy wars never happened (yes I needed comfort don't come at me), Altan is down bad for the reader, Rin and Hanelai are amazing, probably ooc but idc, overthinking reader, use of y/n once (I hate it but oh well)
!!! : english is not my first language so yeah, feel free to give advice and sorry for my mistakes <3
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As the ship was approaching the island, your heart started beating faster against your rib cage. Leaning against the ship’s railing, mind lost looking at the waves shattering and hearing the sea roaring under the rising sun, you were taken aback when strong arms hugged you from behind.
“What’s on your mind? I could hear you thinking from my cabin” Altan’s voice muffled, his lips on your head giving a soft kiss as he took in a deep breath. His body was warm against your back and it felt like you could live forever like that, held in his arms, lulled by the sea.
“Are you happy to go back home?” You asked barely more than a whisper, eyes fixed in front of you, he wouldn’t have heard you over the waves if he hadn’t been so close to you. He said nothing at first, his hands on your waist soothing your tense body, you hadn’t realised you were so anxious until now.
“Do you—” His voice unsure “Do you wish to go back?” You turn to him shocked. Never could you deny him from going back home, not when you knew how much he missed it, how hard it was for him spending five years at Sinegard away from his homeland.
“I could never” You assured him, turning slightly to face him “Just, what if they won’t like me?” His features softened, a warm smile appearing on his lips, while one hand went to rest on your cheek.
“They will love you for sure, no need to worry.” It wasn’t much, but Altan didn’t give you time to worry further, shutting all your thoughts with a soft kiss. As your body melted into his you could feel his smile on your lips, and you smiled back.
It would have been just fine.
It wasn’t going to be fine.
You felt nauseous, your stomach closed, guts tight. Altan got off first, a smile brighter than ever on his face, eyes shining, and he turned to you offering his hand to help you getting off the ship. You needed that, you really needed him to keep you steady because your legs felt so numb they appeared ready to give in at any moment.
The warm sand under your feet felt grounding, Altan’s hand in yours, as he looked at you to check one last time if you were sure, giving you a chance to back off. You were scared, sure, yet you couldn’t back out now, it wasn’t a choice, so you just nodded and how his face lit up from excitement, was enough to know it was the right choice.
You and Altan met at Sinegard military academy, both Irjah’s pupils, however he followed lore classes with Jiang, while you continued strategy. However your bond only grew tighter: late nights spent together, studying afternoons in the library, festivity too short for him to go back to Speer so he just stayed with you. And now he was going back home to officially introduce you to his family.
You heard stories, he used to talk a lot about his homeland when he missed them the most, late at night, eyes fixed on the Phoenix constellation. They sounded fine, really, you were just terrified they might not have liked you; Altan was their pride, a real golden boy, and you could see why, yet you were you, and it was good, you were a top student, smart and fast at learning, you aced every test in school, yet it was hard if you were going to be compared to him, what if they thought you weren’t enough for him?
Your head was spinning as he led you through roads immersed in nature, flourishing vegetation surrounding you, shades of bright green never seen before and flowers of different colours. Then he stopped, his broad shoulders in front of you, shielding you from the view in front of him.
“We arrived” Altan told you, a fast glance at you and before you could answer, you heard a loud scream as a young girl jumped in his arms, hugging him tight.
“You're finally back Altan! It was so boring without you here!” The young girl should have been just a few years younger than him, her features resembling his. Altan laughed, a laughter coming straight from the bottom of his heart, reciprocating the hug.
“Rin, I hope you haven’t bothered aunt Hanelai too much” He chuckled, eyes shining. He was finally home.
“She doesn’t know the meaning of the word calm” A firm voice stated, you turn your head just to see a woman looking like the older version of the girl in Altan’s arms, her eyes filled with softness, despite the strength given from her presence alone. She was terrifying in the best way, a powerful woman, her face sharp and stern manners, yet from her gaze you saw a deep love for his family.
“Hanelai, it’s great to see you again” It was your first time seeing Altan so much Altan. He wasn’t a soldier, nor a student, he was just a boy surrounded by his family, and it was really heart warming. Suddenly his eyes went wide open.
“Mom, dad!” He let go of the girl, Rin, who huffed upset, running towards two other people. The couple waited for him with wide arms, glossy eyes, as they held their son again. Your eyes were fixed on Altan, clouded from tears, and he never looked alive like he was in that moment, a soft smile placed on your lips seeing the person you loved so much being so happy.
Other people started gathering around Altan, greeting him, bright smiles on their faces, patting his shoulders, while you just stood where he left you, hidden by some plants, watching gratefully from aside, knowing you would have felt too much in this moment.
You were so focused on Altan, that you didn’t notice a pair of eyes looking keenly at you.
“Are you not going to introduce your guest to us? It’s a bit rude of you, Altan” Hanelai's voice mocking him, her gaze burning through you, a smirk on her lips.
You froze. Altan turned in your direction and suddenly understood your restlessness, he immediately came to you, taking your hand in his, a warm look in his eyes before he turned to his aunt, smiling.
“Seemed like I lost my manners, I want to introduce you to y/n” His head snapping in your direction, eyes fixed in yours “My girlfriend.”
The silence was loud, you had no strength to look at the reactions happening around you, grounding yourself in his gaze, confident and soft.
“So someone finally took you” You heard Rin exclaim “Oh girl, are you sure?” She laughed as Altan turned to her trying to slap her jokingly, running to catch her. You laughed, tension dissipated a bit as you watched him playing with Rin and heard people around you chuckling in agreement to Rin’s words.
“You’re welcome in our family, darling” Hanelai approached you, a motherly look in her eyes, a hand resting on your shoulder “I’ve never seen someone look at our boy with such love and selflessness, nor I’ve seen Altan being so soft and loving with anybody else.” You were grateful for such kind words, blush creeping on your neck now that you were at the centre of their attention, yet all the anxiety was long gone.
You were introduced to a vast group of people, from his close family to acquaintances curious to see who was the girl who managed to win Altan’s heart. And it was good, really. With Hanelai taking you under her wing, daring anyone to even glance bad at you, and Altan staying by your side all of the time, his warm presence comforting you, you felt safe, they made it feel like home for you too.
That night they all celebrated the return of their boy, on the white beach you never felt so free. People dancing and singing, children running and playing on the seashore, adults chatting and joking, it was a form of freedom you never get to experience in the strict cities of Nikan, and you allowed yourself to relax and enjoy the moment.
Rin led you in a group of young girls and women, dancing around a bonfire and asking you gossip from your relationship; How did you fall in love with someone so stubborn and annoying? Was he snooty at school? Was he good in bed?
You laughed hard, nearly choking on your own spit, cheeks red from embarrassment, as Rin stepped in to help you.
“Enough, I don’t really wanna know these kinds of details about my cousin.” You glanced at her thankful, and she just winked back, a knowing smirk on her lips. In the background, sitting on the sand looking at you, you locked your eyes with Altan who appeared to be talking to Hanelai.
“Go to him” Rin nudged at your side, the other girls chuckling in approval. You thanked her again and then approached him. When you were close enough Hanelai smiled at you nodding “I’ll leave the two of you alone, lovebirds” She teased, before heading back.
You were left speechless for a second, but then you only chuckled and shook your head, you already liked how straightforward they were in this family. You took a seat next to Altan, his eyes fixed on you, an intense gaze you never witnessed before.
“You are beautiful” He just murmured, taking you by surprise.
“Thanks, you're quite good yourself” You replied, eyes scanning his beautiful features and sliding down on his bare torso.
“I mean it” His hand went under your chin, forcing your gaze to meet his. “I never thought I could love you more, and here I am; I can’t stop to think about how beautiful you are when you laugh with my family like you were meant to, your smile bright, and I can only imagine about how I want to be yours forever”
You looked at him, heart blowing up in your chest, and you did the only reasonable thing you could think of. You kissed him. His lips warm on yours, already knowing each other really well, melting in his touch. You heard distant commotion and Rin yelling something, you got away from Altan’s lips laughing softly while he just huffed bothered by the reactions, both of your cheeks bright red and breaths still closed to each other.
“You know,” He started, his gaze low on your lips “My aunt told me that I should keep you close” He snorted “As if I was planning to lose you.”
His eyes back to yours, filled with love, and you had one coherent thought.
Fuck off.
You kissed him harder, hands flying around his neck as his hands went to rest on your waist keeping you steady. You both smiled in the kiss.
“I’m not planning to let you go anywhere else too, Altan Trengsin.”
I was just thinking the fact about how Altan was tragic from the beginning, first being kidnapped and tortured acquiring an addiction to a drug you don't have access, when saved finding out your own people is in ashes and that now you have to live and serve the people who did it (without knowing) and study your ass off to acquire perfection at combat and academically totally alone, not even a friend or someone to guide you, knowing that there it was no one at his backbone that he couldn't fail and it all with a crazy goddess nagging him speaking at his head, suffering prejudice from his peers, and I was reading TPW again and when I reached the chapter of the festival I was thinking of how Altan had no one to be at the festival with him or to be with him and he got used to always be the best but then he got at a war were he had to be a leader of unstable people, deal with Battles and the goddes getting more and more string at your head just to at the end die destroying the very thing who was the first to break you and end up being the indirect reason that the other last one of your people is going insane
