Forgotten; Worshipped (Imported from Ao3)

7

The next morning Aaron's eyes fluttered open to the soft light of the sun shining through the bars on his window into his face. The sun's light was incredibly soft, not a harsh glare as it usually was during summer, even during summer mornings. It was pleasant, but Aaron felt as though something was wrong somehow. Something was wrong somehow. He slightly lifted his head, careful not to move too quickly or too harshly as to not wake Alexander up. Thomas stood in front of his window with a hand lifted to about chest level and glowing a soft gold. Aaron looked at him with a confused, half asleep stare and studied him for a moment. only now Aaron really noticed the odd-looking robe the god was wearing. It was cut in such a way that most of his back was exposed and Aaron noticed something like a tattoo. He blinked and shook his head and looked again.

Did that thing just move? Aaron's eyes widened and he was immediately fully awake. He stared again and sure enough, the tattoo was in constant movement. It was a sun with an intricate, very detailed pattern inside and around, which was in slow but sure movement, turning in a circle. Aaron's mouth fell slightly agape in confusion and he slowly and carefully removed himself from out of Alexander's arms and chest. From the new angle, he could see some of Thomas' face, which was flushed red and frozen in a forced, focused glare at the sun. His left hand was stuck in a stiff fist and his brows furrowed strongly. A soft growl escaped his throat, barely passing the deep scowl on his lips. Whatever he had been doing, he seemed to be done and relaxed his features a bit. His hand stopped glowing its soft gold and Aaron barely heard a soft sigh from his as Thomas let his head drop a bit and he rubbed at his temples. Aaron looked him up and down, noticing the lack of footwear and the high amount of golden bracelets, everywhere on his body. The golden bracelets were placed neatly everywhere in odd, but beautiful, entrancing patterns, winding up and down Thomas' arms. All of the god's jewellery was gold, no gemstones. Aaron suddenly felt uncomfortable. He was born into a rather poor family and was taught from day one to appreciate everything in life that he was given or earned himself. He gave a quick look around. The room was perfectly beautiful, perfection from the ceiling to the floor, and so was every other room or hallway within the palace walls. He never appreciated anything given to him by any human after he was brought to the palace. He didn't like to think about the day he was 'discovered'.

It was a winter day and he had been sent into the town to try to get a good deal on wool for firewood so that his grandmother could make blankets and clothing from it. He sighed. The firewood on his back was so heavy and the winter wind was so harsh against his freezing body. It didn't help much that he didn't have any footwear and countless holes in his already worn-thin clothes. The market was half empty; not a promising sight and Aaron cursed with gritted teeth. The snow stopped falling about an hour ago, which had prompted Aaron to try to go to the marketplace to get the wool. Luckily the woman selling the wool was at her usual place. A smile dared to show itself on his shivering and blue face as he approached the woman.

"Good day to you, Miss," he did a short bow of his head and the woman eyed him with suspicious eyes, "I'd like to trade wood for wool, please."

"I hardly got a use for wood, boy," she spat and Aaron swallowed hard.

"Please, Miss, please trade with me your wool for firewood, Miss. The winter will become unbearably cold, Miss. And the wood you have might run low in the middle, Miss. You'll be happy you have more," he insisted, but the woman just scoffed.

"How much wood you got?" she asked.

"Fifty pounds, Miss. Enough to get through half a winter, Miss," he said with confidence and the woman looked him over a few times and sighed.

"Load 'em off here, boy," she pointed to the ground next to her and Aaron nodded with a bright smile and a sigh of relief, "I'll give ya then enough to cover it. You, boy, you're lucky you got that pretty face one wants to do things for. Otherwise you family would not have survived any winter."