Early RedWolf driving me crazy but I GENUINELY LIKE THE ASPECT WHERE KANA DIDN'T "SAVE SHAYAN" BECAUSE SHAYAN WAS CANONICALLY ALREADY QUESTIONING THANAGARIAN CULTURE and it gives them a much more meaningful dynamic: Shayan finally had someone he trusted to learn with. Because Kana, even if Shayan was a little douchey about being Thanagarian, never wrote off Thanagarian culture, deemed it as evil, and more importantly—HE CAN ADMIT WHEN HE WAS WRONG AND HE LITERALLY DID WITH THANAGAR'S PLAN TO SACRIFICE THE EARTH. That would matter a lot to Kana.
She would never dismiss or write off the fact that he DID agree with endangering the Earth but she also knows, DIRECTLY FROM HAYTHAM KENWAY'S MEMORIES, how a person can become that way so she never judges it but she also doesn't let it slide, she just understands his past is heavy, he's trying to unlearn, and more importantly—this is something she knows about him. Never something she uses weaponizes against him. BUT I LIKE THE IDEA OF THEM CLASHING SOMETIMES because when Kana joined the team, she was quiet, hung out with a select few, she wasn't rude but never spoke up unless another perspective needed to be added and Shayan had chosen Earth but now questioning Thanagar but not wanting to reject an entire culture and way of life he was raised to have so he'd subconsciously compare Earth to Thanagar and get defensive when people villainized Thanagar...but didn't know how to defend Thanagar without sounding like he condoned it but it's still his home so he didn't want to reject it so he'd just get frustrated with people. BUT IMAGINE WHEN HE AND KANA FIRST INTERACTED and he notices that when he talks about Thanagar, others are like: "Uh, dude...they literally tried to sacrifice Earth!" And Shayan got defensive, Kana would just go: "You say your people value strength. But strength that cannot exist beside others without erasing them is not strength, it is control." And Shayan would HATE these moments because some part of him agrees and the other part HATED that he agreed because he does love Thanagar.
But imagine him watching her spar because he was going to use the sparring room next and he's all: "You would have made a good Thungarian. Y'know, If you didn't hold back so much." And Kana, still practicing with her tomhawks, just goes: "That is not the compliment you think it is." And Shayan assumes she's just villainizing his people and goes, "Do you think you're better than my people?" And Kana just goes: "No. What I do think is that you are viewing my strength through your people's standards...and erasing the my people's cultural context I define my strength by." And Shayan's ears going red before he's all: "That's not- I wasn't-...I was COMPLIMENTING you."
Kana: "It sounded like you can only praise me as an equal by reimagining me as Thanagarian...and by implying my restraint is somehow holding me back."
Shayan: "You humans are incredibly stubborn, you know that?" And Kana wraps her chain around her wrist as she winds up for the next throw of her Tomahawk and goes: "That's a very broad statement." And Shayan shoots back: "That stubborness nearly doomed your planet and mine!" And Kana pauses before she says: "You mean when we refused to let ourselves be sacrificed?" And Shayan frowns and goes: "I MEAN when Earth refused to cooperate when the stakes were planetary extinction!" And Kana just tosses her sharpened Tomahawk at the dummy before she tugs it back and is all: "Ah, so you expected that we should have agreed to die."
Shayan: "That is NOT what I said, you're putting words in my mouth-" and that's when Kana geta ready to throw her other tomahawk and says: "Because you are defending a decision where one planet was willing to accept that allowing another planet to die was the only solution." And Shayan, feeling that familiar pit in his stomach because now he's backed into a corner where he does sound like he's defending it, just decides to get even more defensive before he's all: "You're simplifying a complex situation! Thanagar has brought order to chaos on multiple planets, we are protectors! We were just...wrong that time."
And Kana notices how he sounded different with that and her eyes briefly side eye him before going back to her sparring: "Yes. You were wrong about that and if your people had realized that any later, this planet would have been dead. So you can not be upset if people form opinions based on what they've seen..." but then Kana looks up at him and goes, "but...something tells me your frustration lies less with Earth and more in trying to contextualize Thanagar to Earth."
And Shayan just goes: "My frustration lies within you not being able to take a goddamn compliment." And Kana rolls her eyes and goes back but then Shayan listens to what she said and goes: "...Look, you humans get this bad impression of my people—WHICH I GET—but I KNOW that's not all there is to my people but I can't explain it to any of you guys without sounding like I'm defending it or having you guys remind me how much you hate my planet."
And Kana just silently stands there and goes: "I do not hate your planet, Shayan. I hate their notion that they believed they had the right to make a call on a planet that was not their own. No planet, or way of life, should ever be erased just for another to thrive." And Shayan just goes: "...But you're still making assumptions." And Kana goes: "Because it sounded like you were defending your planet's decision...but I'm starting to think you do not like seeing it reduced to the damage it caused while also admitting accountability. I will never agree with Thanagar's decision about Earth nor can you ever give me a good enough reason to. But loving your culture and questioning it is difficult, especially when others already have a certain view."
And then she picks up her stuff and goes: "I do not think you are a bad person and I do not think your people are evil, especially when they made that decision. But they still caused harm. Your people make things strong, powerful, and built to last. That's admirable...but it becomes dangerous when it can not coexist with others." and then she silently exits the training room before she stops by the door and says: "...I stand by what I said...but I'm sorry if you ever felt ashamed to be proud of your culture because of this. I will not tolerate justifying Thanagar...but I'm not opposed to learning about it." And then she continues.
