Akari looked like he was about to lose his mind. Yuze was so red he resembled the precious red stones locked away in Eirian's closet. Kai Low looked as outraged as some of the young women Eirian had seen in High Society who ended up with empty dance cards.
And Eirian was having far too much fun. So much so that Chenzhou would probably frown in disapproval if he heard in public, then privately shower her with gifts for defending Yuze and sticking it to Akari. Chenzhou didn't dislike many people; Eirian's husband was somehow one of those people who liked the human race in general, but she was not, and she definitely had a list of people she hated. Chenzhou hadn't even managed to muster up any hate for the Arnheim's or his ancestors when they'd been researching his family, and their darker deeds had come up. He mostly just seemed to pity people who let hate corrupt them to such an extent. He was a good man, as annoying as it was at times.
Far better than the man Yuze had chosen to marry when he was young and stupid. Kai Low was harder to get a read on. He was young, brash, and angry at the world, and that much he couldn't hide. But there were moments she was starting to notice, ticks almost, that gave glimpses of what was hidden beneath. The same way Chenzhou chewed on his lip or Mingzhe got that little wrinkle between his eyes when he frowned. The same way Brendan focused so intently, tongue poking out, when he was trying to figure something out.
Kai Low's whole face screwed up when he was trying to understand something, and he could never quite hide how much he disliked the fact that he didn't understand to begin with.
Even now, Eirian suspected he looked angrier than he actually was. He was frustrated because he couldn't understand why Yuze would have married someone like Akari, and yet, he'd apparently refused Yuze.
Which was interesting, because Yuze definitely hadn't shared that story when he was telling them what had happened with the Bandri.
"You're the one who hurt him?" Akari sounded angry now. "And you have the nerve to insult me? What right do you have to even speak to him?"
Kai Low didn't look at him, didn't even acknowledge his words. He was still focused on Yuze, looking right through Eirian, who was standing between them. Any other time, she'd be insulted. "Do you think I'm like him?"
"What does that mean?" Akari demanded.
Yuze looked between them, torn between embarrassment and fury. He couldn't seem to gather his words, too overwhelmed by the giant scene Akari and Kai Low were causing. The children nearby had stopped playing to watch, and their parents were starting to join them to watch, summoned by the raised voices on a street where that didn't normally occur.
Kai Low finally turned to him, clearly upset that Yuze wasn't answering him. "What do you think it means?"
"I think you've forgotten your place, boy!" Akari's composure was slipping with each word.
"My place?" Kai Low's voice rose with each word. "My place? My place is none of your business? Your lot are the only ones who care about that kind of nonsense."
Which wasn't strictly true, but Eirian wasn't going to point that out right now.
"I've only seen you once, and I already know you're not fit to share a marriage bed." Kai Low hissed.
Akari's chest puffed up. "What would you know of marriage? Your barbarians. You rape and pillage and take whatever you wish without ever considering anyone else."
"We are farmers." Kai Low hissed. "We may fight over land sometimes, but we fight off you people more than anyone else. You don't even come to take our people or our crops; you simply come to destroy. Tell me which is worse? Death or a new life."
"A life of slavery." Akari snapped.
It was rather unfortunate that Eirian found herself agreeing with Akari on this point. It made her feel a bit gross.
"At least they're alive! They could earn their freedom. The dead can't come back to life!" Kai Low stuck a finger in Akari's chest, making the other man go nearly apoplectic. "If this is how you treat those you love, it's a miracle they're not all fleeing to us in droves."
"So, they can live in dirty tents and scrounge for everything? Don't be stupid. No one wants that life." Akari scoffed.
Eirian felt Yuze stiffen next to her, and Eirian did the same. Akari's words were sounding more and more extreme and under the laws of the Camelia Kai Low had a bit of leeway to defend his people.
"Our way of life existed long before your stone city." Yuze's eyes turned cold. "And it will last long after your stone walls fall. You know what you are?" He didn't pause to let Akari answer, just dug in deeper and continued. "A little man trying to be big. You don't even care about him really, you just care about how it reflects on you. Even when you're talking, you're not talking to him, you're talking at him. Like you think he's too stupid to understand. But you're the one who doesn't. Lord Rong was strong enough and smart enough to withstand a week at the whip. Do you know how few people do? You should be celebrating him, instead, you berate him in front of strangers?" Kai Low's lip curled. "You must hate him to treat him that way."
Akari's fists clenched at his sides. "I don't hate him." He sounded surer of that than of anything else he'd said so fa,r and a pit formed in Eirian's stomach. "I worry because I love him. A child like you probably doesn't understand what a healthy relationship between equals looks like, but it isn't all love sonnets and physical affection. True partners learn to listen to one another, to recognize when one is wrong and the other right. That doesn't mean it's easy."
Kai Low laughed, mean and sharp. "If you loved them, you wouldn't corner them on the street and embarrass them."
Yuze shook silently next to her, so minute Eirian only noticed because she was still clutching his arm, and his shoulder was pressed to hers.
"You think you love him, but your love is conditional." Kai Low accused.
Akari sneered. "Where did you even learn a word that big?"
"We're not illiterate!" Kai Low shrieked. "You think because we don't speak the same language that we can't read or write? We've been doing it longer than you've existed."
"And yet you refused to learn! We could teach you so much, but you'd rather sleep with animals than become more."
This argument was all over the place, Eirian noticed. Both of them were too angry to remain logical. Akari hardly had any interaction with the tribes or any responsibilities that had anything to do with them. Eirian wasn't sure where this level of hatred came from.
She glanced at Yuze, but he looked as confused and surprised as she felt by the way this was going.
"You're the animals!" Kai Low accused. "You treat everyone as if they're below you, and they're supposed to follow your guidance to become just like you. What if that's not what they want? There are other ways to live! There are other ways to love. I would never berate someone I loved like that. Not even in private. You speak respectfully to the people you love. You support their choices even when they're not the same as yours."
"What a childish idea. One of you has to make the decision; if you're both making different decisions, then you're not in a relationship. You're not making decisions together." Akari shook his head. "Relationships are about sacrifice. Two people working together."
Yuze shifted next to her. Eirian squeezed his arm in silent support.
Kai Low paused before he answered. Long enough that a smug look of victory came over Akari's face. But then he spoke again. "Love is about celebrating someone. The person you love. Despite their faults and the things you don't share. You celebrate that they exist because their existence makes your world better. More beautiful. It doesn't matter if you don't share the same opinion on everything, only that your love is strong enough to make the difficulty of working together worthwhile. You can't love someone you want to change into someone else. You can't love someone whose choices you don't trust or believe in."
Akari fell silent, and so did the watching crowd.
"Well said," Eirian broke in. Ready to end this entire run-in. "There is no one person in a relationship who is always right or wrong. Relationships ebb and flow like the Far Water. It has highs and lows and never looks the same from one glance to the next. It is ever changing, ever growing, and the people in it must grow, or it fails and falls apart." It was a lesson Eirian was learning, but one she found heartening more than anything else.
How boring it would be if everything were the same day after day.
~ tbc