I hope a certain someone doesn't find me

Beautifully carved wooden doors (bab) and window frames are a defining feature of traditional Omani architecture. Their designs are predominantly Islamic, featuring geometric, arabesque and floral patterns, with medallions and palm motifs often decorating the doors.

ok I say it now: the setup of the Varkas x Talia romance is bad and makes no sense. What do they even like about one another? You want me to believe Varkas loved her from the start? Talia is constantly screaming at Varkas, hitting Varkas, throwing stuff at him, insulting him and his family with racist slurs. When she does ask him for advice she does the exact opposite of the thing he suggests and intentionally dresses/acts in a way Varkas would find repulsive. His affection doesn't feel natural, it feels like the narrative is forcing him to care for an abuser he should have hated if she were not lucky to be the protagonist.

What I understand even less is how Varkas gives zero fucks about Ayla, the daughter of the woman who saved him and rehabilitated him from his religious trauma. Even if his feelings towards her were completely aromantic/asexual, he should have still felt a strong attachment towards her and acted protective of her. Varkas should have gone ballistic when he learned Ayla had been poisoned by Talia. This could have been the event that shattered their fragile "friendship". I don't understand how he is treating Ayla so coldly and distrustful as if she were the one who had been bullying her sister for years and plotting her downfall. Varkas acts as if Ayla was the daughter of an evil witch and Talia the daughter of his savior and not the other way around. So far Ayla has given Varkas no reason to believe she is up to no good and even if she were, what reason has Talia given him to care if something happened to her?

Really, it's frustrating that the author wants me to believe the guy who had nearly every emotion beaten out of him would fall for the most loathsome girl in the entire castle. Because that's what Talia is. She has no positive attributes except for her beauty and her tragic backstory. The author throws (1) scene of her saving a baby bird in, but it just feels lazy and manipulative, like she doesn't want to make an effort to give her protagonist any complexity and instead uses one moment of kindness and throws tons of trauma at her to conceal that the character she has created doesn't have any depth.

To me it looks like Talia just fell for Varkas because he was the only one who was nice to her and that it was a single interaction that transformed what could have been a simple childhood crush she'd eventually grow out of into an unhealthy obsession that would carry over into her adulthood. Part of me suspects that Talia's desire of wanting to steal something coveted away from her sister also plays a major role in this. Talia seems to be much more in love with what Varkas represents than what he is. He is handsome. He is a duke. He is the betrothened of her sister. He is a way out of her engagement to her mother's old lover and if she succeeds a trophy and weapon she can use against her sister to make her miserable and gloat in the face of her.

Talia herself doesn't really seem to have grown to know him during the 7 years he served her. She's always misinterpretating his actions, which only proves how little she knows about his true character and casts doubt on the love she supposedly feels for him. On rare occasions when Varkas shows signs of his own personhood and self-determined behaviour, Talia reacts with irritation and anger. When Varkas isn't acting like a mindless robot following her orders, she's quick to disciple him with violence.

Talia who is trapped in her infantile mindset and too busy wallowing in self-pity, is unable comprehend or empathize with another person's suffering. During her inner monologues she says there is no way Varkas could understand what she went through, even though we know as a child he had been tortured by priests into total obedience until he even lost basic instincts like eating and sleeping. The author could have had them both bonding over their mutual trauma. Heck, the author could have Varkas becoming attached to Talia because her abuse was undoing the healing the Empress had done and reactivating the brainwashing from the leader of the religious cult. Even Senevier grooming Varkas into being Talia's loyal attack dog & lover like the mother from I Lost The Leash of the Yandere Male Lead, would have explained Varkas' attachment to Talia and hostility towards the twins better than this. You'd have to be a masochist to put up with a woman like this.

“You seem to really dislike me.”

Like, you can see how happy he gets as he talks about it or how grumpy he gets when he doesn't have a proper place to swim:

And water is not only just fun thing for him but also something that brings him tranquility and helps him to relax:

(I literally feel what he says here😌)

And he loves fishing too:

And even in FSF he remembers the moment from FHA when he was fishing with Cu and Emiya:

(Also I don't know if that "splash" is reference to the sound or the name of his water park either way it's still cool)

"Where do we go from here?" (x)

"I miss you." (x)

"It doesn't matter." (x)

"How are you?" (x)

"I need your help." (x)

"What do you need?" (x)

"I have a plan." (x)

"There is something I wanted to tell you…" (x)

"What is wrong with you?" (x)

"Do you feel better now?" (x)

"I feel like I'm losing you." (x)

"What are we?" (x)

"Jealousy doesn't look good on you." (x)

"I think you are in love." (x)

"Can we talk?" (x)

"Are you afraid of me?" (x)

"Have I ever lied to you?" (x)

"I love you." (x)

"I hate you." (x)

"I thought you were dead!" (x)

"I said sorry. What more could you want?" (x)

"Please, come back to me." (x)

"I'm going to kill you!" (x)

"Nothing to be embarrassed about." (x)

"Why are you here?" (x)

"Do you want to be my date?" (x)

"I want to kiss you." (x)

"Are you angry with me?" (x)

"I could ruin you." (x)

"You don't understand." (x)

"I'm just so tired." (x)

"I have dreamed of you." (x)

"What do you want from me?" (x)

"Don't look at me like that." (x)

"Is this what you wanted?" (x)

"You're a bad influence." (x)

"I'm afraid." (x)

"You know you love me." (x)

"This is all your fault!" (x)

"This could be our end." (x)

"Are you crying?" (x)

"Can we please go back to how it was?" (x)

"Would you please just talk to me?" (x)

A collection of illustrations featuring the main characters of the novel Inner Palace: The Legend of Zhen Huan with their representative flowers from the manhua 甄嬛传·叙花列 Legend of Zhen Huan· Story of the Flowers:

Number 1:

Number 2:

Number 3:

Number 4:

Number 5: