That is true that he wants to be special and he is driven to be above average. I was wondering if i should make him innately special as well, if only so that the fact that people are trying to manipulate him and use him was better motivated. But it is often overdone. I would prefer it for his drive to be the only thing to make him special.
However, if he is not special, then he must do something that precipitates the action.
The problem is that i have a 13 year hiatus where there is an uncomfortable status quo, and his arrival at his aunt's house, disrupts the status quo, either by creating an opportunity for one side to gain something more, or the other side to attempt to regain something that has been lost, preferably both. It would be better if his action caused this, but an intrinsic quality of his bloodline or something, would also be... traditional. So, I think from both of these responses, an intrinsic quality is not preferred, and it should instead be an action that he takes which initiates the series of events of the story.
What on earth (or in khejara) could that action be?