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“Sometimes there's nothing you can do. [...] Sometimes they don't have enough to fight with.”
― Tamora Pierce, Briar's Book

“Brahma and Airavata

Long ago in lands of golden sand
Brahma turned to Saraswati
and gently kissed her inked hand....”
― Muse, Enigmatic Evolution

“I had henna done once at a street fair outside the bookstore where I worked in high school," Zoey said. "Vines, all down my fingers, like that. Only not as pretty as yours."
"Vines symbolize perseverance," Charlotte said. "Flowers mean joy. The sun represents eternal love. And the moon, here, is the power of change." She pointed to her knee. "Birds are supposed to be messengers between heaven and earth." She indicated a peacock on the other knee. Birds had always been her favorite to draw. Then she touched a circle on her leg at the hem of her cutoffs. "This is a mandala. It represents the universe."
Zoey looked impressed. "I had no idea it all meant something."
Charlotte put her hands back in her pockets. "In all my years, I've never encountered something that doesn't mean anything.”
― Sarah Addison Allen, Other Birds: A Novel

“What Zoey had mistaken for tattoos on her arms and legs was actually henna. Some of it was dark brown, as if done recently, but some was lighter, almost the golden color of Charlotte's skin, like an impression left in sand. Her face was narrow, her eyes were large and blue, and her blond eyebrows were feathered into unruly wings at the tails. She was fascinating to look at, like a piece of art you had to stare at a long time before it made sense.”
― Sarah Addison Allen, Other Birds: A Novel

“She looked down and saw in surprise an elegant pattern of flowers and vines that wove around her fingers, and in the center of her palm, an open eye.
"This is so you will see yourself as I see you," Nour said, her eyes prickling with tears.
Dina stood and turned to face the mirror. For a moment she did not recognize her reflection. That woman was beautiful, glowing, beaming a smile, kindness and joy radiating from her. That woman was Dina. That's me.
The hex had felt insurmountable, impossible to break, even once she had known she was the cause of it. It was one thing to be told she needed to love herself to break the curse, but quite another to do it in practice. But as Dina looked at herself, everything fell into place. Her family accepted her for who she was. And if she told herself that she was worthy of love, then it was true. And if it was true, there was no need for the hex anymore. No need for that wall that she had built between herself and others to keep them from seeing her as she truly was. Scott loved her, and she loved him. And they would be okay.
She shuddered in a breath as the insidious magic of the hex began to dissipate, like ashes blowing away after a fire's gone out. Then her ears popped, and the hex was gone.
Dina looked across at her mother, smiling through her tears.
"It's gone," she cried. "Mama, I'm free.”
― Nadia El-Fassi, Best Hex Ever