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A Family Portrait |
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'A Family Portrait' is a chapter of the comic, preceded by It's Faster With Two and followed by Spring Moon at Midnight.
Miriam finishes a meeting with Mr Wahed to commission a portrait of their family, while Musa works on some textiles. Miriam shows Musa the photo of the family she chose, and they disagree about whether their mother was a good person.
As a break, Miriam and Musa go to Nya-'Nyails' Nail Salon, where they would go as children. They go upstairs for privacy. Miriam recounts what their mother used to say about taking care of ones nails, that hands are gifts from the sibling gods so that one can to improve the world. Musa still can't forgive their mother for abandoning Zhen. Miriam reveals that she lied to Musa, that their parents told her everything about Zhen before they died, and she knows Zhen is in Kashgar.
Miriam tells Musa that she didn't say anything about it because Musa was only thirteen at the time; she overheard their mother and father fighting about Zhen, and they told her. She tells Musa that Huang Zhen was the son of their mother and a business partner she had an affair with in East Turkistan 24 years ago. She tells Musa their mother gave Zhen up for the sake of appearances. Miriam says their parents were never perfect and they wronged Zhen; Musa says its now their responsibility to fix it, but Miriam isn't sure he would want to be found. A cat watches the conversation from the window, possibly one known to Emira.