Seeing her reluctance, Mika couldn’t help but let out a deep sigh.
Then, gently, he asked, "Do you...do you possibly hate your mother for what she did in the past?"
Astrid looked up at him.
For a second she said nothing. Then a faint, wry little smile touched her lips, though there was no real happiness in it.
"How could I do sothing like that, Mika?" She murmured. "How could I possibly hate her?"
Her gaze drifted sowhere far away.
"No matter what happened...she’s still my mother. The one who gave birth to . The one I looked up to more than anyone else when I was little. She was my idol."
Her smile faded into sothing sadder.
"So how could I ever truly hate her?"
But then her eyes darkened.
"At the sa ti..." She said slowly. "I don’t know how to feel about her either."
Mika stayed quiet.
Astrid lowered her gaze to her own hands.
"The mont she took the demi-humans side back then, sothing broke inside . Sothing I still don’t even know how to na properly, let alone fix."
Her voice grew quieter.
"I felt betrayed, Mika. More betrayed than I had ever felt in my life."
She swallowed.
"I always thought...no matter what happened, Mama would stand beside . That if the whole world turned against , she wouldn’t."
"That she’d never leave alone in sothing that hurt so much."
Her fingers tightened.
"But she did. Or at least that’s how it felt. And after that..." She gave a small shake of her head. "I don’t know how to approach her anymore."
Mika watched her carefully.
"She isn’t just my mother." Astrid continued. "She’s the symbol of everything I stand against. She’s the face of coexistence. The one person in the world who represents the idea of pulling both worlds closer together."
Her voice beca more strained.
"And I’m the exact opposite. Everything I’ve built, everything I lead, everything I say...it opposes the very purpose she has devoted her life to."
She looked up at him then, and there was real helplessness in her face.
"So what am I supposed to do with that?"
Mika thought for a second, then asked,
"But what about Nuri? She’s a demi-human too. And you don’t seem nearly as unwilling when it cos to her."
Astrid shook her head imdiately.
"Nuri is different."
"How?"
"Because she’s..."
Astrid hesitated, then frowned as if annoyed at herself for not having a more elegant answer.
"She’s just different. I’ve known her from the beginning. I know who she is. I know how she thinks. I know what she ans to ."
She looked away.
"With her, I can ignore the fact that she’s a demi-human."
"But with your mother, you can’t." Mika said.
"How can I?" Astrid gave a bitter little laugh. "She doesn’t just know demi-humans. She stands for all of them. She protects them. She gives them a place. She believes in them in a way I simply can’t."
Her eyes sharpened.
"And I can’t accept that."
Mika leaned back a little.
"Then stop trying to push them all away. Let it go. There’s no point chaining yourself to the past forever."
The softness vanished from Astrid’s face imdiately.
"No."
The word ca out firm.
"There is absolutely no way I can do that, Mika."
Even though her voice wasn’t loud, it had that hard edge he knew well.
"I can accept Nuri. I can make an exception for her."
"But not for anyone else. After everything I’ve seen—after everything they’re capable of—I know the world isn’t safe with both races coexisting. They can turn on us in a matter of seconds for their own desires. I’ve seen it happen."
She straightened, conviction burning in her eyes.
"That’s why my life’s mission is to push them back. To protect our world. And my mother? She’s on the complete opposite side of that mission. We’re enemies, Mika. Enemies with opposing goals."
Her voice lowered slightly, pain bleeding through.
"So even if I forget about what happened in the past—even if I try to let go of that betrayal—I don’t know how to approach soone who is fundantally my enemy."
"I-I don’t know how to reconcile that."
Mika listened quietly.
Then, slowly, a smile spread across his face.
"You say your mother is your enemy." He said gently. "But what about this?"
He reached into the pouch and pulled out another body pillow.
This one was different.
This one had Nadia’s face on it.
Not the grand, untouchable Nadia the world revered.
Not the terrifying political figure.
But Nadia with a soft, motherly expression. Warm eyes. Gentle hands. The kind of look only family ever really got to see.
Astrid froze.
Mika held it up and glanced at her.
"Can you really say she ans nothing to you if you kept sothing like this?"
Astrid looked at the pillow for a mont. When she finally answered, her voice was very quiet and vulnerable.
"Like I told you...I don’t hate my mother."
She reached out and took the pillow from him carefully, almost reverently.
"At the end of the day, she’s still my mother. No matter what she does. No matter what I say. That won’t change."
Her fingers brushed over the printed fabric.
"I still love her."
But then her eyes showed conflict as she said,
"But loving her doesn’t solve anything."
She reached out and gently touched the pillow’s face.
"We’re separated by distance. By ideology. By everything. Both of us can’t reach each other."
"We’re both stuck in our positions, and I genuinely don’t know how to feel about it."
She pulled the pillow closer, hugging it.
"Sure, I have this. I talk to her sotis, just like I do with you and the other pillows. I pretend. I imagine."
"But when it cos to actually talking to the real her?"
She shook her head.
"I don’t know what to say. I don’t know what to do. It’s not sothing I can deal with right now."
Mika let out a long sigh.
This was different from the others.
With her sisters, it was complicated but manageable.
With Nuri, it was difficult but possible.
But with Nadia?
This was the core wound.
In the past, Astrid had felt an overwhelming sense of betrayal when her mother chose to stand with the demi-humans instead of with her.
That wound had festered and grown until it encompassed Nadia’s entire life’s work.
They were now leaders of opposing factions, standing on opposite sides of an ideological war.
They both loved each other.
They both wanted to connect.
But they were enemies.
And Mika didn’t have an imdiate answer for that. This wasn’t a problem that could be solved with a conversation or a forced collaboration.
This would take ti. Thought. Careful navigation.
He needed to think about this more.
For now, he decided to lighten the mood.
"Well." He said, glancing at the pouch. "I think there’s one more body pillow in there. Way at the bottom. Let see if I can reach it."
He assud it would be another funny one.
Another absurd version of him or one of her sisters.
Sothing they could laugh about together and ease the tension.
He reached in.
But the mont his hand entered the pouch, he noticed Astrid’s expression shift.
Her eyes turned into pins with sudden, horrifying realization.
"NO, MIKA! PLEASE! "
She lunged for him, panic flooding her features.
"ANYTHING BUT THAT! THAT’S THE LAST THING YOU SHOULD SEE!"
But it was too late.
Mika’s hand erged.
Clutching one final body pillow.
The mont he saw it, his joyful expression vanished.
Replaced by pure horror.
Absolute disbelief.
Because this pillow—
This pillow showed him completely naked.
His chiseled body on full display, posed as if he were lying in bed. Every muscle defined. Every contour visible.
But that wasn’t the shocking part.
The shocking part was what covered his crotch.
A dildo.
A large, prominent dildo, sticking straight up and tall, strategically placed but doing absolutely nothing to hide what it was implying.
And with that simple addition, the innocent body pillow has turned into a sex doll.
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