Catarina (catdevigri) wrote in no_true_pair, @ 2010-08-16 16:35:00 |
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Entry tags: | ! 2010 eight characters challenge, author: catdevigri, fandom: the secret of kells, pairing: aisling/brendan |
Difference (The Secret of Kells, Aisling/Brendan)
Title: Difference
Author: catdevigri
Fandom: The Secret of Kells
Pairing/characters: Brendan & Aisling
Rating: PG
Warnings: Set several-years post-movie. Kind of a downer.
Word count: 534
Prompt/challenge you're answering: Everyone sees Aisling one way, but Brendan knows Aisling's true face
There was no easy way to convince the other citizens of Kells that Aisling was not a heretic, a witch, or some other sort of undesirable. She made little to no effort to disguise her other-ness. She dressed strangely, clad in pale, unearthly garments that echoed the ethereal quality of her white skin and hair. Brendan really was at his wit's end about how to handle the matter. His words could not cut through the fog of superstition and suspicion that enshrouded the place and its people, no matter how hard he tried. He was the abbot, but that did not make him any less impotent. Everyone listened to him, but just because they heard him didn't mean they were automatically able to believe. Each day of his life, Brendan learned a bit more about both the goodness and the pettiness of people.
The other monks thought that perhaps change should come from Aisling's side, not the peasants' (and certainly not theirs). It was easier, some argued, for one person to change than many. It was better, some said, for the outsider to alter herself to suit the shape of the community. If she truly wanted to be a part of it, wouldn't she be willing to? And all this was, of course, to be considered in light of the face that most of the citizens of Kells, both monks and peasants, did not fully approve of their young abbot associating so closely with what was surely a dangerous and non-Christian woman.
Brendan did not know how aware Aisling was of their distaste. He would not speak of it to her. Nor would he ask her to change. It didn't seem right. Jew or Greek, male or female, servant or free? If Aisling was a good person -and she was- and if she would believe - oh, how he wished she would- she would be good enough for God.
Of course, Aisling knew. Brendan always thought she had a thousand ears, and in a sense she did if one were to extend her reach to include the animals and spirits of the surrounding forest. She was aware of much more than an ordinary person. The differences were both positive and negative. The complaints of the people did not hurt her so deeply, but seeing the pain they caused Brendan did. The way they spoke, the things they spoke of... Aisling could not help but hear the distance between herself and the folk of Kells.
There was a distance between herself and Brendan as well. She was less willing to admit to this. He spoke of many things she did not and could not understand. And kind as he was, he was older now and less open to change. There was much he did not know of her people and the forest. Perhaps she could tell him, but it was unlikely that he would learn properly. When he had been forced to flee Kells he had lost his best chance.
Even that she wondered at at times. Would he have accepted everything she wanted to tell him even then?
"Aisling," he approached, quietly and almost reluctantly, "Do you have a moment for us to talk?"