#kachiri

I’m prefacing this to say that I am a Twilight fan.

I also happen to be a critic of it.

Descriptors of the Amazon Women

Here is a physical/vibe description of the Amazon coven from the Twilight fandom site, based on the description from the Breaking Dawn:

Both of them seemed as if they’d been stretched--long arms and legs, long fingers, long black braids, and long faces with long noses. They wore nothing but animal skins--hide vests and tight-fitting pants that laced on the sides with leather ties. It wasn’t just their eccentric clothes that made them seem wild but everything about them, from their restless crimson eyes to their sudden, darting movements. I’d never met any vampires less civilized (Breaking Dawn, pgs. 612-613).

BD/Bella makes it a point to set the three women apart from all the other mentioned vampires with images of “hyperanimality” (a word I just made up) and freakish unruliness.

With descriptions as “restless crimson eyes” and “darting”, we get the impression that the women have an energy or give off a certain aura/vibe that disturbs the viewer/Bella.

By the word “stretched”--as in their faces, legs and arms--we understand that they have bodies that are distorted. Specifically, their bodies are exaggerations of a “normal” body. The same goes for their height and musculature, which seems to be emphasized by the “stretch” of their limbs. 

And with descriptors like “wild looking” and “less civilized”, the book makes it a point that out of all the vampires Bella has personally met, these women are by far the most intimidating and strange.

Too strange. Too foreign. And as if they are a constant threat. Bella avoids the sisters whenever she can in BD  and tries to minimize their time with Renensmee due to this impression.

Finally, we note that the it isn’t just that these women are too strange, but that they don’t wear modern human clothes. Which are taken to be the “right” sort of clothes a vampire could wear. 

We may take this to mean that modern human clothes are just meant to be representative of what is “familiar” to Bella (who used to be a modern human and is very used to seeing all the vampires she knows as wearing modern human clothing no matter if they drink animal or human blood). Most of the vampires she interacted with were still relatively close enough to human populations to steal/buy articles of human clothing to clothe themselves. 

However, how Zafrina and Senna are dressed factors into how dangerous and not “right” or trustworthy they are in Bella’s eyes, the latter who still doesn’t calm down after that first impression.

Here’s more from Breaking Dawn:

Despite their fierce appearance, they listened very calmly to our story, and then allowed Renesmee to prove the point. They were every bit as taken with Renesmee as any of the other vampires, but I couldn’t help worrying as I watched their swift, jerky movements so close beside her (pg. 613)

Reminds me a lot of how some parents are cautious of how their kids interact with animals that should be domesticated enough to trust a three-year old around, but has those damn big horns.....

Bella is also supposed to be the person we are supposed to view the entire Twilight universe, not just as the chose POV, but she is thematically on the side of the “good” people and the “good cause” (vegetarian vampires). The entire plot of Twilight positions the Cullens and people resembling them and their actions in the highest esteem and the moral standard. And there is little castigating the Cullens and their actions aside from how their presence affects the Quileute tribe, and even then the books didn’t give enough attention to it-- compared to the Cullens’ individual plights...or we get most of the images of their suffering through second-hand accounts. 

So we, as the readers, are supposed to view Bella’s POV as the perspective that is “correct”. Or if not that, we are supposed to be emotionally guided by her POV. Which can be dangerous since people/fictional characters see things differently for different cultural, philosophical, and psychological reasons. Bella has a very particular way of viewing things that arguably makes her a sometimes unreliable narrator. 

We’d have to remember that she is still a person and not omniscient or all-knowing.

Some Visuals

So in the books, the coven sisters kind of look like this below. 

(Ignore the smiles and inaccurate clothing, I’m making a point here please!!):

Left to Right: Kachiri-Senna-Zafrina 

Closer to real-world clothing (except the fur)

Clothing closer to that described in the book Breaking Dawn

Not the movies’ depiction below (clothes are closer than first sim version, though):

Left to Right: Zafrina-Senna

The Patanal Wetlands (Markus Mauthe @Greenpeace)

Colonization and Globalization

All of this visual information, plus the fact they had darker skin than European descended/white vampires, leads me to believe that there’s something racist going on here.

Spoiler Alert: There is.

Why would Meyer uses such adjectives as “civilized” and “savage” along with distorted physical features to define, describe, and emphasize the sisters’ weirdness if not to point out how freakish they are for being so different from the vampires that Bella’s used to seeing/meeting? Who all happen to be white/European? 

The Egyptian coven aren’t an exception, even though some people would argue that Egyptians are “white” and not POCs (saying that North Africans are white or Middle Eastern). Firstly, the Egyptian coven, at least Amun and Kebi, are ancient Egyptians and the ancient Egyptians....who the heck knows if we can even apply modern racial categories to a territory that has had its borders and rulers and its very people experience multiple intermarriages, expansions, conquests, and contractions? Please. Which then lends to modern Egyptians....

Why suggest and repeat the danger of these women to the point where we don’t really get a hint of their actual personalities, like we do with Siobhan? Why use such words that reflect the same terms that imperialists and colonizing Europeans used to describe various native peoples to discredit their worth for their own political and economic interests? 

Say someone were to argue that the sisters are very violent. This quote disproves that notion:

Despite their fierce appearance, they listened very calmly to our story, and then allowed Renesmee to prove the point (pg. 613)

And further on,

the argument ignores that they didn’t fight anyone at any time/they are not and never were confrontational

they were very gentle with Renesmee--the only biological and emotional “child” and the most vulnerable “innocent” of the group present--when they did interact with her

both Siobhan and the Denali sisters, especially Kate, are supposedly the female vampires with both the preference for violence/full acceptance of doling out physical pain AND the ones with the most militaristic experience. At least with the explicit demonstrations the book gives. Siobhan is a strong-assed, tall-assed woman (muscled and 6′2′’) who easily killed her rapist/ “sire”/creator as a newborn, and Kate is very much proud of being able to disable others with the pain she can inflict with her gift.

The Amazons’ supposed unrestrained aggressiveness suggests that the seeming of the Amazon vampire women equals their being.

A)

Say they were “violent”. 

Most vampires in the novels see fighting as, if not exactly natural or pleasurable, then inevitable to participate in.

Though there are many vampires that don’t want to fight or aren’t usually looking for one (Renata, Carlisle, Esme, Bella, etc.), we are told/shown that vampires usually begin and end conflicts through intimidation and outright attacks. 

We see it with Kate, Victoria, Emmett, and Jasper, Maria, Felix, Cauis, Emmett-- the list goes on (to name a few who aren’t psychotic like James). 

Plus Twilight conceives vampires as being unable to handle being around other vampires for long because of instinctive compulsions to ward other vampires from their claimed territory/close companions/authority.

Thus most Twilight vampires were already shown to be “unrestrained” and very willing to fight other vampires in the mind of defense and or pursuit of power. Unless the vampires they were facing were the Volturi or a bigger coven they faced. 

Why would the Amazons be any different? Yet the Amazon women are the only one vampires the Bella thinks is threatening?

Without race being mentioned, it’s shallow and shortsighted. And it is so absurdly shortsighted it is racist. Of both Meyer and Bella, who we see also being unreasonably anxious while driving through a “dangerous” area, heading to J.Jenks.

B) 

Of course they’re wearing animal skins!

What else would they wear? Being a group of self-isolated vampires who live out in the utter wilderness for miles around?

They’re not likely going to sit around and weave clothes out of fabrics that won’t either last as long as leather or would require them to visit human dwellings more often than they would like. Since the Amazon coven members only travel out of the Patanals to feed. 

They could even go totally nude if they wanted. Who will see and judge? Their other two best friends who long ago learned not to care? (Or--for some of us who think that them being in a polyamorous relationship-- their maybe lover?)

Various pre-historic and ancient European peoples also wore animal skins alone or with other fabrics. The Patanal sisters are assumedly ancient vampires, so they’d adopt the wear of whatever human society they previously were a part of. Why would they feel they need to look human when, unlike the European vampires, the geographical situation they are in has humans not urbanizing the deeper pockets of South American wildlife? They’d also don’t currently interact with humans just like other vampires don’t unless it’s to feed.

Just on the economic principle alone, using most of the animal’s carcass is actually economically sound and a traditionally indigenous practice that shows an awareness of how they survive on the materials from the earth and know they need to curb/organize how they use those resources. I’d call this rather civilized.

So they are not absurd or abnormal for wearing animal skins and the fact the book tries to make it evidence of their monstrousness is exasperating.

It is very reminiscent of the European/white anxiety of non European landscapes and the control they want to exert over them. 

A theme that was heavily supported in Joseph Conrad’s novel Heart of Darkness, which posits that it is the greed and delusions of the conquerors (European imperialists) that will destroy themselves and the natural things around them. The book itself still degrades the intelligence of the native Africans who are featured in it. At the same time, it reveals the anxiety that develops from European and white U.S. imperialists’ desire to utterly control those with the nonwhite bodies and the resources they wish to use/possess. 

Thus, there is a fear of those entities and the very landscapes they use to survive and live, coupled with the “harshness” of the environment (more intense climates and dense with diverse lifeforms than the cooler regions of the middle-north North America and northern Europe) presents an ever-present threat to those that wish to control it. A fear that presents itself as a fear of the landscapes being “too unexplored” or not explored “enough” (unknown), hiding “fantastic” or “monstrous” things that also pose a sort of threat to the control/order to be imposed on that land. 

The same land that is, on some level, understood to not be the Europeans in the first place, yet justified as supposed to be theirs.

Why do the Amazon Coven Sisters Even Have a Name From an Arguably EU Myth When They Are (Ancient?) Brazilian Vampires? 

A) 

The Amazon/Patanal vampire women are not white--the “white” that some people or eugenicists would classify the Amazon women of ancient Greek myth. 

I recognize why Meyer would think to call them “Amazons”--aside from the fact they travel/live near the Amazon rainforest. 

They are women with no external contact (with men, the Volturi specifically, and all other vampires aside from Carlisle just a few times) 

They are described as “fierce”--suggesting that they are fighters and that violence is a central part of their existence and habits.

If you’re going to lay it on that heavy--calling them the “Amazon” coven and describing them as “fierce” as if they are “special” warriors/violence-dealers--isn’t it weird to do that to women who wouldn’t necessarily call themselves that? 

If you’re going to say these are actual people that live in your created, mirrored to the real-world universe?

Most likely, if the sisters had to have a coven name that is derived from their home region’s name (like the “Alaskan”/“Irish”/”Egyptian”/”Romanian” covens), they’d call themselves by whatever word in whatever language for that region they had prior to becoming vampires. 

Cause the ancient natives of the Patanals, the Amazon forest, south America in general definitely didn’t name their lands “Amazon” anything.

Or after learning English, they’d call themselves the “Brazilian” coven. Or better yet, the “Patanal” Coven. Because they don’t interact with humans and haven’t done so since they were turned except to hunt and feed on them.

So who is naming these covens? (Answer: Meyer) Do the vampires themselves refer to covens by these names? If it’s mostly just Meyer naming covens for us as readers to easily identify them (because there doesn’t seem to be evidence of vampires actually referring to each other as “[...] Coven”), it didn’t make sense to call a nonwhite group of women a white/EU moniker because these women aren’t white and are not European/Mediterranean.

For all the emphasis she places on these women being not white, you’d think she’d just let them be not white and give them a not white name at least.

B)

The elongated features of the sisters don’t make sense when we compare them to the real world natives of the regions. 

This matters because Meyer’s universe is an exact copy of the real world in which we live, and she uses actual groups that exist in real life (ex. the Quileutes) for her story. This universe isn’t another planet, fictional or otherwise, and it’s doesn’t seem to take place in another dimension.

The sisters, when they were human, were natives of the Amazon rainforest or those living near the Patanal wetlands. They’re supposed to look like the natives of those places. And the natives, of most tribes and groups, are usually shorter and stockier than modern Europeans--with wider, but not longer facial features.

Meanwhile, Nahuel (who is what we’d call mixed-race, with a 1600s European father and an 1800s native mother) and Huilen (another S. American native) are shorter than most of the vampires present. 

Huilen is canonically 5′0′’ while Nahuel is 5′7′’.

Zafrina is 6′1′’; Senna is 5′11′’; Kachiri is 6′4′’. Canonically.

Why weren’t the sisters as short as Huilen or Nahuel were described to be? 

Answer: It looks like that Meyer was trying to emphasize how physically intimidating and how not “normal” the Amazon women were. To do that, she sacrificed/dismissed/ignored accuracy for a particular, unnecessary and disrespectful, superficial vision of otherness.

Some Visuals

The Yudja Tribe (Ricardo Moraes @Reuters)

The Wayapi People (Alan Tormaid Campbell @Guardian)

What is so Crazily “Different” or “Bad” about their Isolation?

The descriptors of them being too strange and distorted takes over their entire characterization. The implication of the description also suggests that their looks and vibes are they are just too frightening for them to interact with other vampires peacefully or appropriately.

As if the women would seek that out or wanted to be a part of the grand vampire society. As if the prospect is itself is desirable.

A)

Along with the description of how “weird” the sisters are, the book suggests that they are “wild” because they have lived by themselves without any other interaction with a vampire for who knows how long (before Carlisle) and continue to not have those interactions with other vampires after meeting Carlisle (except for him and the Cullens, and even then, very infrequently). 

Unlike the Denali sisters, the Amazon/Patanal sisters enjoy a sort of liberty and peace in being so isolated, which I do think that Meyer is trying to suggest.

Repetition: The sisters don’t leave their home in the Patanal wetlands except to hunt humans. The Volturi and every single vampire other than the Cullens who appeared in BD didn’t even know they even existed until then. The Amazon coven didn’t bother to look for romantic/sexual connections (what’s shown and implied anyway) as the Denali sisters do. The sisters enjoy each other’s company only and are perfectly fine with that.

Meyer suggests that because the sisters don’t interact with other vampires or humans, they don’t have to actively face whatever social/territorial pressures the nomadic vampires of the northern regions face. They do what they want when they want and they don’t want/need much. There are no fierce power struggles or searches for more power among the three or towards other covens (of what we know/is given). 

A Long Note

But the way Meyer shows vampires generally socializing or being in covens and yet tells us that most vampires are either alone or run around life with just their mates seems to contradict her claim that her vampires are usually solitary or in mated pairs. The claim that vampire covens only get bigger than 2 or 1 is because of power and temporary protection becomes belied when we notice that vampires like Laurent still seek out covens to be protected even though vampires are supposed to generally avoid bigger vampire covens for safety.

All of the shown vampire covens have gotten together/were created due to the creator/leader wanting protection, power, companionship, or love---a few of those things or all of them simutaneously, as Meyer has written/retconned in her Illustrated Guide.

However, Meyer also claims that nonveggie vampires that get together into 2/3+ covens usually get together and stay together for only socio-political domination and not emotional intimacy or companionship, like the Romanian and Egyptian covens before the Volturi came and rocked them. She then suggests the Volturi aren’t exempt from that pattern. We can argue that with Charles and Makenna & James and Victoria and the later pair’s continuous cycling of third members that vampire social groups exist as Meyer said they do because Charles and Makenna are alone and James and Victoria never have a third member for long.

But James was a psycho who sometimes actively killed several other vampires for fun with Victoria’s help, including some of those third members, as  how the baseball scene in Midnight Sun has me thinking. James and Victoria are a pair that can’t be used as the rule or example for how presumably average-thinking vampires get together and stay together in covens.

Charles and Makenna are just one shown portrayal of how mated pairs do not have hanger-ons and we don’t have a shown history of them not having hanger-ons. It’s suggested that they never had another vampire join them in the  Guide since there’s no mention but again, it’s not shown against the idea. POlus those two also interact with Makenna’s infinity-great uncle Luca and presumably her human family and the Volturi even though the underlying reasons for that is due to Luca possibly doing this to sexually abuse his female relatives and the Volturi wanting to keep tabs on this family. In fact, it is because of the  distinct weirdness of Makenna’s background that we can’t use her and Charles as a example of the vampire norm.

And Meyer’s only portrayal of nonveggie vampire covens in the entire series has us seeing more than vampire mate pairs and lone vampires: the Egyptian coven has 4, the Denalis have had up to 5 members at a time and even as nonveggies there were 4, and the coven I’m writing about now has 3 members. Though Charlotte didn’t like it, at one point she, Peter, Alice, and Jasper were in a 4-person coven. Since we have no scene showing us how much Charlotte wanted Jasper out (but not Alice, she liked her) and how much Peter was willing to actually kick Jasper out even though we are told he alos grew tired of Jasper’s moodiness, there’s a capacity for us to believe that it wasn’t enough for Meyer to just say that these 4 could have compromised and lived in emotional peace with each other for as long as humans do.

But what’s also weird is that most, if not all, vampires are supposed to be already very emotionally isolated and capable of being very violent, as I’ve already said. Most are solitary and nomadic, only forming bonds through wary interactions because of that violent territorialism. As Meyer says in her website.

Example: In a flashback in Midnight Sun, a young vampiric Edward immediately pondered whether he could take on Siobhan the first time they met and then realized that he’d have a very hard time--supportive of how vampires have the instinct (or learn to have one) to fight each other.

So what about “normal” vampires’ interaction is “civilized”? If anything it’s the opposite of “civilized”, if we think being civilized is living with other in peace and trying to solve differences through discussions.

And if anything, Carlisle and Esme are the “weird” ones for not being as aggressive and confrontational as most vampires! (As a matter of perspective.)

Funny, since Meyer already came with the sense that the Cullens are the weirdos for not thinking or acting that humans are just food, like other vampires do.

B)

The sisters seem not to bother restricting their behavior in order to comfort others’ sensibilities if it’s not in their own interests. Except w/Renesmee, and that suggests they aren’t savage, brainless, and more bestial than other vampires or play human in any way, shape, or form--except for choosing to clothe themselves at all. 

That one scene in BD where Zafrina tested Bella out and Renesmee accidentally saw the frightening vision Zafrina made for all the other grown vampire adults. How did that happen? Bella wasn’t able to keep her shield up.

And if we argue that the Amazon women should have known to not create such visions for Renesmee to even encounter....

Alice & Edward were all for Renesmee getting aborted to save Bella even though Bella herself didn’t want that---these two, more Ed than Al as well as Jacob, were at one point the enemies of Renesmee, no matter their reason. Understandably, since this offspring was ripping Bella apart and they all love her, but that doesn’t erase the fact that they wanted to go against Bella/the mother’s wishes and remove something/someone she loved. Even if Renesmee had inadvertedly influenced her the way hybrid vamps seem able to do even while in the womb.

Zafrina did know; it’s just that she’s not going to consider absolutely everything because she isn’t a mom and is not Renesmee’s mom. She has never had a deep stake in another person’s psychological development the way a parent does, and her gesture for making non-scary images for Renesmee to enjoy before this incident shows that she isn’t clueless.

Someone could argue that the sisters shouldn’t be so aggressive since they are so isolated and free from typical vampire conflicts that they shouldn’t feel compelled to be ready to fight so often. 

Aside from the fact that I just explained that 

they aren’t more aggressive than other, usually white, vampires who constantly fight amongst themselves

that they didn’t fight anyone at any time, and that they were very gentle with Renesmee

I also think this is also a misunderstanding of them being witnesses in BD versus who they are apart from being witnesses in BD.  

As witnesses, many of the vampires there were expecting that the Volturi would be at least a bit physically confrontational. Likely, would that not put any smaller group of vampires on edge, having a larger group of vampires come towards them? Such a huge and disproportionately gifted group of vampires with the intent to kill? Especially ones that they never interacted with? Even if not it wasn’t the Volturi, they are meeting vampires other than the Cullens, for the very first time. 

Again as a rule, Twilight vampires don’t gather together for spontaneous hangouts without there being a tense, near violent atmosphere or if they became friends. Which itself uncommon enough to be noticeable. 

Aside from Edward and Siobhan, we know that Victoria had to evade the vampires in the American South even though she never met them personally because she knew she wouldn’t be asked questions before she’d be attacked. Aside from the deep history of newborn wars and Victoria’s anxious nature. Victoria didn’t know about newborn wars until she got to the South and observed. Garrett, despite being more easygoing than other vampires, hasn’t either been able to join a coven or maintain another friend like Carlisle (that we know/were shown). 

The Amazon sisters, after all, are also only in the BD confrontation for the charismatic Carlisle.

These other vampires? Who they? 

Even if the sisters have the potential to be bad asses/praise-worthy fighters or scary and crazy violence-dealers, opposing numbers are a variable that can still be intimidating or be pause-worthy situations for any seasoned warrior. 

Last Thoughts

A Quick Note to Pros and Antis:

Yes, it is the responsibility of the reader to be learn how to separate questionable behavior/ideas from the story’s goal/the author and to focus more on changing real life so people don’t feel entitled to treat others certain ways.

However, it’s also important to consider that many people, throughout human history, have both independently learned or analyzed situations through the media they have. There is a reason why riots occurred after political theater productions.

This doesn’t mean we should censor and prevent people from reading or writing questionable content or content that makes us uncomfortable--actually it’s the exact opposite. We must also learn how our entertainment tries to encourage us to focus on, forget, devalue, and value certain things at certain times and in certain situations.

You can enjoy a product and think of how it affects you or has gotten you to love all or some of it and/or hate a few things about it. You can find deep emotional satisfaction in a story while also grieve over its failures or concerning patterns.

But you need to interact with the thing before you go crazy.

Two things can happen or be true simultaneously.

Looking at Twilight as a Black Person:

The obviousness of the racism in Twilight intimidated me as Black girl. How was I supposed to find relation to anything in the series when there’s detailed discriminatory fictions right in my face, when I have found many before? What did it say about me that I was so taken with the characters when this depiction exists? For me there was a cognitive dissonance that was surreally jabbed at by the several racist moments in Breaking Dawn, when (as a teenager) wanting melodramatic and a simplified plot with a “love-is-forever” story--to diminish the days’ pressures--found so much more. 

As a Black girl, you’re forced to either absorb the imagery either as an intellectual “note” (which you struggle to do because it’s personal and there’s a risk of your just internalizing so you may avoid what’s happening) or you’re forced to stop altogether and point out every racist feature and how it is racist to yourself (justifiably) as you read, in real time, to fight against the tempting compulsion to ignore the moment and deny the observation of racist implications. Again, as a teenager.

Sometimes, you feel as if you are the crazy or difficult person for seeing racism. Which in itself then compels many people, I imagine, to just either ignore the racism to enjoy everything “else” in near-delusion/delusion--very bad, because the racism is an accepted device to structure the story-- or you sit there angry and resentful because the fantasy has excluded you for being Black and you were literally just looking for a good time and other people refuse to accommodate you, intimidated by the “race card”.

Twilight has the weird and dangerous phenomenon of ignoring its own racist developments/plot structure, so when I remember certain details and scenes like these, it now makes me eager to confront them. I don’t feel “crazy” for immediately sensing racism when I was a first-time reader.

Responding with a confirming hum, Kachi couldn’t deny Nadia’s perceptiveness of her. With a blissful sigh, Kachiri let herself be tenderly persuaded, with a tug on her hair, into laying her head back, giving Nadia more playground and allowing her to inspect the top of her beloved’s head for more flowers. “They did smell amazing, Nadia,” she admitted, her nose still faintly making out the sweet scent of this particular flower. It really was no secret that a lilac bush could always invite Kachi for a minute of staying and wondering just how it could smell this good. Then again, this had been the first time she ever bathed in it, only knowing it as a remedy against fever and digestive problems until now.

However, the smell was barely able to take hold anywhere anymore, as Kachiri was more or less engulfed in Nadia’s very own lavender scent, coating the room into the calming smell. And that was much appreciated by Kachi, who - when she wasn’t talking with Nadia - was fighting the anxious bubbles in her stomach. It didn’t go unnoticed by the former princess sitting behind her, as always, Nadia being extremely perceptive of the people around her - especially someone so dear as Kachiri was to her.

“What’s wrong?” she asked. Kachi hesitated for a moment before telling her, unsure if she should even bring up the topic again. It was nothing new that the talks around the palace were something Kachi had gotten better with, yet, dreaded still as she simply couldn’t keep up with nobles. Nadia was a natural talent, paired with years of experience how to handle these people, but Kachi was only now learning, and that day again, had left her exhausted.

“I was just wondering if I might have angered the Duke who you introduced me to today? He didn’t seem too happy as he left for his afternoon rest.”

Nadia’s touches never ceased or changed as Kachiri opened up about her worries. In her heart, she knew, Nadia wouldn’t judge her for something like this, but still, it was hard to open up about her weaknesses to someone as great as the Countess. “You mean because of the fig-trees? When you said you’d prefer a field of sunflowers over a garden full of figs anytime?”

Nadia’s words were followed by a rare snort as she remembered Kachi’s words from that afternoon, soft laughs falling off her lips. “D-Don’t laugh!” Kachiri stuttered lightly, a bashful blush falling onto her cheeks. “What if that changes anything with the connections of his lands with Vesuvia?”

“Oh, Darling,” Nadia chuckled. She reached past Kachiri towards the brush she had taken with her into the bed, finding Kachi’s hair to finally be free of flowers and ready to get brushed by a tool instead of her fingers. “First of all, it’s my duty and responsibility to be liked by them, not yours. I have to represent Vesuvia, but you are free to speak as you want and see fit.”

“Secondly-” Carefully, Nadia began to brush through Kachi’s sensible hair, knowing it had the tendency to be quite hard to shape and get through despite the conditioner they had used on it beforehand. “Ah, there’s a knot,” Nadia warned, interrupting her own speech and using her fingers once more to untangle the strands of hair tied together. Kachiri had to wait for another breath or two before Nadia went back to her words, after she freed the hair, readying it to be brushed through now.

“Secondly, I like it much better when at least one person in court speaks her mind, instead of fifty others only nodding and bowing.”

Kachi knew it was a compliment, her lips curling briefly into a smile before reality pulled her back. Despite Nadia’s encouragement, Kachi still felt the responsibility on her shoulders to be liked, too, especially now that she and Nadia had grown closer more than ever. It meant she was going to stand by her side more, and as such, she wanted to support her partner as best as she could too.

“It’s just…” Kachiri let out a long sigh, shrugging lightly in frustration as she found it hard to put her thoughts into words. “I am not someone exceptional, or extraordinarily smart or pretty, and I feel like I need to do more to earn--”

Cutting herself right off before she could say anything more, Kachi bit her lip, trying to brush off the topic with a quick, yet awkward, laugh. “‘Your place’? Is that what you wanted to say?” Nadia caught her red-handed, even though she had yet to stop her brushing, remaining as calm as ever. Kachi sighed deeply as she felt busted by Nadia’s sharp wit. If anything, Nadia wasn’t a woman you could keep something hidden from easily, which was a pain whenever her birthday came around, and there were presents to hide.

Finally, the brush was set aside, as Kachi felt two hands on her shoulders, squeezing them lightly. “Kachi? Look at me, please.”

There was no reason for Kachiri not to follow Nadia’s request, despite finding herself unable to maintain eye contact with Nadia’s eyes, which were as purple as the lilac flowers. But before she could duck into herself like a child about to receive a scolding, Nadia pulled her into a sudden hug, giving her a tight squeeze, unlike the usual tender embraces Kachiri was used to from her.

“As long as you want, your place will always be here.” Raising some butterflies in Kachiri’s stomach, Nadia slowly let her go, but not without lifting her face by her chin so the two of them could face each other properly. “No matter what you do, things are not eaten as hot as they are cooked here, even if they seem to have a serious impact. And while I say it’s my responsibility to take care of anything that might occur, it helps me a lot to know I have you by my side to mend all the things that could come my way.”

She smiled as Kachi blushed over her words. Letting go of her chin, Nadia leaned forward to kiss her forehead, bringing her hands to Kachiri’s cheeks to tenderly caress them. “You’re perfect just as you are. And besides, you are the hero of Vesuvia! Don’t think I would let anyone who might take offense in something minor like your words, forget what you did for all of us.”

There wasn’t much Kachiri could return back at Nadia, the Countess having a way with her words that left Kachi with nothing but butterflies in her stomach. Sometimes, it could get really tough being the partner of someone so rational, yet kind. But hearing she had all this trust and respect from Nadia, who Kachi loved and idolized in many aspects of her life, certainly helped calm her.

“Also!” Nadia picked up, suddenly perking up and climbing off the bed. “Your words gave me such a good idea for tonight’s outfit!”

As if on cue, a knock echoed through the room, Nadia calling a tender, “Come in!” at the door, which opened to reveal Portia peeking her head in and grinning. “I got them, Milady!” Portia announced, door flying open widely to reveal another bucket full of flowers in her hands. The bright yellow, palm-sized flower heads were everything to Kachiri, immediately bringing a smile to her face, which Nadia perceived with a satisfied expression.

Portia didn’t waste time to bring over the sunflowers, setting them down next to the bed, before taking place at the edge of it herself. “Ready for some flowers in your hair?” she asked, expression turning into confusion when both Kachi and Nadia couldn’t help their voices rising in a laugh. “I am, apparently, a flower catcher, after all,” Kachiri chuckled, and Nadia agreed with a nod, climbing back behind her on the big bed.

It was a surprise that Nadia would arrange sunflowers for hair decoration, but Kachi was thankful she did. They were her favorite flowers after all, and it put her into the pleasure of having Nadia braid her hair loosely, whilst Portia handed her one flowerhead after the other. Nadia was well aware that anything too strict or a big up-do might be complicated once Kachiri’s hair dried. Then again, both of them enjoyed a more natural style anyway. Kachi sat back as she got pampered with some more soft touches, and tending to her, Portia giving away the reason for all of this.

“Nadia thought it would be grand to show the Duke just how much prettier sunflowers are after you mentioned them to him.”

“Nadia…” Kachiri gasped, surprised to find out that Nadia had thought this through way beyond sunflowers being Kachi’s favorite flowers. “That’s so sly!” she added, chuckling, and Nadia’s lips curled into a knowing smile, the three ladies falling into soft laughter. “Well, I believe he just has to appreciate your taste a little more, you know?”

Portia hummed loudly in agreement, leaving the room for the enclosed closet, gathering the evening clothes as Kachi presumed, while she and Nadia were left behind in silence.

“Thanks, Nadia,” Kachi eventually muttered sheepishly, slightly embarrassed.

For the first time, Nadia’s diligent fingers halted their movement, processing the words before continuing with their work. “For what, my Love?” she asked, voice soothing and calm, fitted to the situation. “Just…” Kachiri let out a short laugh, lifting her hand and gesturing from side to side aimlessly. “Everything.”

Blushing lightly, Kachiri fidgeted with the hem of her bathrobe, twirling it between her fingers. “Accepting me and fixing my mistakes… I’ll work even harder on myself in the future, I promise!”

Tender chuckles fell off Nadia’s lips as she finished braiding Kachi’s hair, pulling her fingers out of the artwork that was the big braid interlarded with the strongly shining, yellow flowers. Instead, her hand dropped to Kachiri’s, tugging her gently after Nadia off the bed and towards the large mirror in the corner of the room. “Look,” she pointed at Kachi’s reflection, wanting to show off how sweet she looked, with the soft braid from one side of her head to the other.

The golden gleam in her hair matched perfectly with the sunflowers decorating her now, together with the green of her eyes, which blended in as if they were stems. “I have a wonderful, beautiful partner. Every day I wake up with the rays of light, lucky to look at my personal sun sleeping next to me.” Nadia mused, hands on Kachi’s shoulders as she looked at her reflection in the mirror, standing behind her.

“I could never put into something as simple as words, how grateful I am, and what admiration I harbor for the strength you give me every day. So please, never feel less than deserving of everything that I can offer you, Kachiri. You made me the person I am today, and this person wants nothing more than to show you to the rest of the world, declaring you are the sunshine in my life.”

By now, it was impossible to hide the bright blush on Kachi’s face, especially when so exposed to her own reflection. All she could do is bring her hands up to her mouth, trying to shield it from revealing that huge, dorky grin on her lips. Though, Nadia had long seen it flash through the gaps in between Kachi’s fingers, a smile just as wide on her own face, proud and happy. “Let’s face the Duke and whoever comes afterwards - together, alright?”

“Okay,” Kachi agreed, turning around to face Nadia head-on for the first time. Their arms were quick to wrap around each other, lips finding the other like a perfect fit. After all, they were a well-attuned couple, knowing each other’s actions like their own. Through the affection and tender caress of her cheek, Kachi could feel Nadia’s strength and determination. Nadia was ahead of Kachiri already when it came to faith in herself and also in Kachi. Still, she’d be sure to take an example, wanting to give back exactly what Nadia offered her.

They only separated as they heard the shuffling of fabric, Portia returning from her scavenger hunt for evening clothes, laying them out on the bed. “What did I miss?” she asked chipperly, as she found the couple still united by their arms around each other. “Or… was I interrupting something?” she eventually figured, blushing lightly as the awkwardness hit her. Kachi and Nadia exchanged a quick glance before they started laughing, denying Portia’s worry, instead, opening up their arms for her to join them in a group hug.

“Careful now, we wouldn’t want the flowers to fall, would we?”

Laughing, Portia eased her heartful hug, and Kachiri chuckled. “We’ll show the Duke just how much better sunflowers are compared to figs!” she announced, now in agreement with the other two who were already doing their best to speak this into reality.

“You’re going to show him, Kachi!” Portia encouraged, and Nadia gave a sophisticated nod. “You can do it.”

Smiling from ear to ear, Kachiri let out a strong, “Yes!”, all the anxiety of the afternoon gone, as she knew that the people she could always count on, had her back. And in an instant, she was tightly smushed back between Nadia and Portia, their hug resuming as they all grinned widely.