Those who have been following this series will know that I have been a little puzzled by the existence of two couple factions for Nick and Vachon, the Heartbreakers and the NightHaven (or Night Havens). Of course, it's hardly unknown for a character or even a couple to have more than one faction. However, if that is so, then faction lists usually make the distinction clear. For the Heartbreakers and NightHaven, though, I got descriptions like this one from the Forever Knight Faction Guide:

—  Heartbreakers --fans of Nick and Vachon; see also Night Havens

—  Night Havens --fans of Nick and Vachon; see also Heartbreakers

Oh, that is the sort of thing that is so helpful in telling them apart! So, on 2 August, I asked the FORKNI-L list for help.

Katrinka's response did, I guess, elucidate the Heartbreakers' position, "Us heartbreakers are kind of laid back. We like Nick and Vachon together. As friends? Why not? As more then friends? Sure, why not?" And as their founder, she should know. On the other hand, she also said she'd never heard of the NightHaven.

Well, the NightHaven have a website, which you can find here. From it, I discovered that the faction was founded by Elfin and Javiette on January 7th 1999. "No longer the only missing faction" (as they put it), their website contains a small but select collection of Nick/Vachon slash.

Of course, calling the NightHaven "the only missing faction" is hyperbole; but it does suggest that its founders either didn't know of the Heartbreakers or didn't find the earlier faction to be quite as...fulfilling...as they might desire. I was still left puzzled, though, as to quite how to interpret the situation.

Finally, among the old archived digests, I discovered a post from Brenda Bell on 6 June 2001, with a list of factions that included:

- Night Haven (Nick/Vachon)
- Heartbreakers (Nick *and* Vachon)

So clearly, at that time, the two were seen as different factions, taking different approaches to the relationship between the two men. I can only assume that, when the Heartbreakers were originally created (which was no later than May 1996), they were intended by Katrinka to cover the full spectrum of potential relationships between Nick and Vachon. However, by 1999, there was sufficiently little slash that Elfin and Javiette felt the need to form a new faction. In other words, this is effectively the reverse of the situation with the Unnamed Faction and the Cousins of the Knight: the UF are supposed to cover all aspects of Nick's relationship with LaCroix; but their approach is so often slash that the CotK was formed.

At any rate, it would seem that the Heartbreakers and NightHaven are, indeed, distinct factions—the latter being exclusively slash in focus. It therefore needs its own icon.





To get the snuggly closeness, I spliced together two screen captures from the same scene: in the first, Nick leant forward to speak to Vachon, who was turned away at the time; and, in the second, he had pulled back as Vachon turned round.

The icon is completed with the logo (running down the right side) and a faction symbol (bottom left). This simply crosses a sword with a guitar.

For those who are curious to see the symbol at a larger size, here it is: