another idea that was hanging out in my sticky note for a while. took about a week, spiraled just a smidge when it wasnt turning out the way i imagined, and now here we are

theres a lot going on here, and a lot i wanted to convey. what youre seeing is the final negotiation over isotta and orchidees marriage contract. vatatsa lingers at the edge as the orchestrator of all this, offering a rare approving smile to her daughter (not that she would ever let isotta know shes approving of her). i almost included seelie in the back, but i thought it was important here that orchidee be alone with no one to vouch for her. trying to suggest here that while isotta has no ill intent toward orchidee, shes getting a little frustrated with her. theres this sense that shes like, "hey, i dont like this either, i would rather be monogamously married to my minotaur wife, but your extreme distress is getting a little offensive. like i am NOT that bad, i think im pretty nice, so can you just be cool"

i wanted to include a lot of details that come across as the tiny things your history teacher might point out in an old painting. can i be pretentious for a sec? the shadows cast by the balcony evoking prison bars, the door without a handle to escape, the candle about to be blown out (which i stole from waterhouses lady of shalott, dont tattle). a little displeased that one of my favorite details is very hard to see in the final, but theres a droplet of ink thats fixin to splat onto the parchment. orchidee is about to make her mark even if she cant bring herself to lower the quill