Khunbam week 2022

Lovelessness

Day 6: Happiness/Experiment

The law of nature is simple; happiness in the Tower is a curse.

In reality, the previous statement is objectively incorrect from start to finish. The laws of nature are never simple and this particular one is, by definition, connected more to humans than nature. Secondly, happiness, itself, isn't a curse–such a bold word–but simply its loyal companion. What one could describe as a curse, however, was love. And where love went, happiness followed and disaster struck; a sadistic mechanism to assist the process of natural selection.

Although many would call it 'the flower disease', the wording couldn't be more wrong. The flowers came out every time one would feel a strong sense of love for another being‐regardless of whether that love was requited, platonic or for someone who was no longer alive–so calling them a disease would be like branding a stomach's rumbling when hungry as something unnatural. Yes, coughing up flowers was a normal reaction, painless too, but it still carried some stigma.

Never coughing any was considered inhuman–even the Heads of the Families used to cough them–while coughing too many did not only take a toll on one's health but was also a clear sign of weakness. After all, the flowers would never kill you but coughing too many could lead in a very small oxygen reduction.

.

Aguero knew that the flowers were a bad omen. A sign of weakness. Kiseia had been a clear example of this. Not smart enough, not strong enough. When her mother had died, Kiseia had wept when she found out, the flowers spilling from her mouth like water, mixed with violent coughs, and had knelt in front of the corpse, her knees too weak to carry her. Agnis had taken one brief look at her before deciding she wasn't caught out for anything else than being a pawn.

Aguero had never seen her cough again after that except for when his sister asked the younger Khun to help her become a Princess. Kiseia had vowed to do whatever it took to help earning approving smiles from both Agnis and her daughter. Then, after they had left, Aguero had seen her spill flowers once more. She hadn't noticed him at first and when she did, she had looked ashamed. If Kiseia, who never held her tongue and who would rather eat all of her knives than agree with Aguero, had looked at him with shame because of her flowers, then they could only be a weakness.

Maria had managed to both validate and change that sentiment. She coughed freely, proudly even, and most of the Khuns found her weak for it. "How sad is it that we've taken something so beautiful and managed to villainize it?", she had asked him after coughing a purple lilac, "Look at it. How could it ever be bad?"

Aguero had to agree. Maria had a gift of not only finding beauty in things but also in helping others see it as well. He inspected the flower, it was small enough to fit in his palm, and a small smile appeared on his face. Familial love. Aguero never had someone coughing up flowers for him.

"I," he began but found the rest of the words hollow. He had felt his heart beat at the flower, he had been sure he would cough up a flower as well–he refused to believe he had coughed flowers for his mother and sister but couldn't for Maria–but it never came. "I'm sorry."

"Oh," Maria leaned closer and ruffled his hair, "it's not that simple, Aguero. The flowers are just a sign of a very strong love," she paused, uncertain of how to properly convey her thoughts, "their absence doesn't mean there isn't love. Just that it needs a little time to grow."

A kind way to tell him that she loves him more. Somehow, when they reach an end, when she is given the Jahad name and all that's left for Aguero is a dead sister and lilies her words seem fake.

.

Bam coughs up flowers three seconds after meeting him. Aguero offers to help him climb and the boy coughs hydrangea. He wonders if it's even possible for someone to love so strongly, so fast. It probably isn't, he concludes by the end of the day, the 25th Bam is just that extraordinary.