#Shapur's disdain towards the injustices... it's being reinforced Lol

[tired-reader-writer]

Oh man having a sort of general idea and like, I don't know how much sense this will make but like

Arslan, when he comes to Ecbatana with Shapur (probably bc he's curious, no one else in the clan will even approach it), borrows a small room in the palace or smth and has it as a small clinic/medical office? If he'd be allowed? Maybe Shapur could help with that?

And then shenanigans in the style of The Apothecary Diaries unfold, where he's not only healing ppl but also getting roped up in some mysteries... and making friends with servants and stuff and he becomes pretty well-known among the palace people... and the marzbans as well.

Which begins to irk the Crown Prince, f!Arslan. The boy isn't very popular with people, both because Andragoras systematically isolated him and because he's prone to lashing out and is generally Not Great towards servants and stuff.

And Arslan... definitely notices that. And since he doesn't want a jealous Crown Prince on his tail, and because he keeps getting roped up in investigations and mysteries, certain people might start targeting him too because they don't want their secrets exposed.

He's definitely noticed the looks the Shah has been giving him, even when he's been doing his best to avoid encountering the royal family at all costs.

So he takes down his small medical corner and moves out to work under some clinic in the city instead, outside and faraway from the palace.

Though the conversation he has with his father the night he decides to remove himself from the palace should be interesting. Shapur thought his son would do just fine, and he's seen how he's been making new friends, so to hear that his son feels... unsafe, to say the least...

Because look, see.

You being innocent doesn't mean you'll be saved from unjust punishment.

Arslan has seen and known it well.

What happened to his parents, what happened to his brother and Golnar, what happened and is still happening, how the clan is made of people who'd been forced to flee, how the clan still gains new members to this day...

If the people in power deem you a nuisance and threat, they can and will use any excuse to get rid of you. Sometimes an excuse won't even be needed if you're lowborn enough.

Just because you're right doesn't mean you can always count on it to have a right to speak out either.

And if something happens to him... what if the trail leads to his family, his clan as well?

So, he leaves the palace and goes to work outside the palace instead, just so they'd feel... less threatened, I suppose.