Chapter 21
Well now that the bed is fixed, I remember the original reason I came in here.
“Auri, you hungry? I’m ready for lunch.” She glances at Rauk hesitatingly, but I’m not going to let him keep her in here.
I walk over to the bed. “You ready?” Thankfully, she’s already dressed for the day.
Elowen helped with that. “Hang on, Kiddo.” Her arms slip around my neck, and I lift her.
My arms and back scream at me after yesterday, but I’m not about to show weakness in front of her brother.
“What are you doing? You could drop her.”
I roll my eyes as I put her in her chair and stand up to face him.
“And yet, I didn’t.” She wheels out of her room but not before stopping to look back at Rauk.
“Let’s see what Elowen made,” I say, drawing her attention to me.
She wheels out into the hallway, and I walk along beside her.
When we get to the kitchen, Elowen smiles broadly. “Who’s hungry?”
“We are,” I answer for both of us. I help her ladle out the broth and put a piece of crusty bread in each bowl and then carry them over to the table just at Rauk comes in.
“What happened out there?”
I look over at him with a raised eyebrow. “Is there a problem?”
“What did you do out there?” he asks again.
“Oh, you mean making this place less like a dungeon and more like a home to live in?” Before he can say anything, I add, “We thought Auri would enjoy it.”
He looks down at Auri, and I watch in fascination as his face softens. It honestly takes me by surprise. Actually, it surprises me so much, I miss what he says next. But Auri doesn’t. She looks up at him. “I really like it,” she says quietly.
He gives her a soft smile. “Good.” He takes a step back and doesn’t look at me. “I’ve got to leave for a few hours; I should be home for dinner.” He glances over at Elowen. “Thanks.” He walks out of the kitchen, and silence follows in his absence.
I decide right then and there to talk to him tonight. He can’t avoid me forever, and we have to talk about the war. There’s a sort of heaviness now that didn’t exist before, and I’m determined to get rid of it. “I have big plans for after lunch.”
Auri looks at me with a question in her eyes. “Weapons practice?”
“Nope.”
“Red?” she asks hopefully.
“She might stop by later, but no; not that.”
“Then what?”
I grin. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
She doesn’t crack a smile. “Yes.”
“You remember the one wall in your room that we left bare?”
“Yes.”
“I have a plan for it. Are you done eating?”
She wheels backwards. “Yes.”
I stand up and pick up my plate. “Go ahead and grab your plate. We’ll wash them and then get to our project.”
Elowen starts towards her, but I stop her with a shake of my head.
If Auri’s going to be independent someday, she has to start learning how to do some things by herself.
I want to help her so that she can do anything she wants to do and isn’t held back by her limitations.
It takes her a moment to figure out how to make it work, but she finally puts the plate on her lap and wheels over to where I’m standing.
I take the dish from her. We’ll tackle her being able to wash them at a later date.
When the kitchen is all picked up, I face Auri.
“Ready?” She nods, and I can’t help but notice how much more subdued she is.
I’m determined to bring up her spirits. I fill up a cup of water and bring it with.
On the way to her room, I grab the supplies I purchased from the market.
“What is that?” Auri asks, nodding at the jars in my hand.
“You have to wait and see.”
When we get to her room, I walk over to the wall and study it. I’m not exactly sure how this is going to turn out, but I really hope it works. “All right, Auri. How good are your artistic skills?”
She looks from the wall back to me. “Not terrible,” she finally answers.
“Oh, good because mine are terrible.” I put my supplies down on the ground and hand her a paintbrush. “We’re going to paint on this wall.”
“No, we’re not,” she responds straight-faced.
“We are. Better start thinking about what you’re going to paint.”
“Rauk will never let us do that,” she argues.
I open a small jar of yellow paint. “Good thing he’s not here to stop us then. What color do you want to start with?”
She stares at me where I’m crouched down next to her chair. “You’re serious.”
“I am.”
She looks from me to the wall and back again. “Shouldn’t we draw it first and then paint it?”
“Nah. We’ll just wing it. Now, what color? This is just a basic color set—red, blue, green, orange, yellow, white, brown, and black. If I knew how to paint spirit dragons, I’d do that; but I think I’d be better off painting something like flowers. Do you ever even get flowers here?”
She nods. “There are a few weeks in the year when the ice thaws. We get these perfect little yellow flowers.”
“I love that. I’ll do that. They may not be perfect, but if you can give me an idea of what they look like, I could probably do that.”
She turns her chair towards the bed. “I can draw them in my drawing notebook for you.”
“You like to draw?” She doesn’t answer, but she grabs a drawing pad from the drawer next to her bed. “Can I look at it?” She doesn’t give it to me at first. “That’s okay. You don’t have to show me.”
“I want to.” She hands me the book.
I take it carefully and start flipping through the pages.
“Auri, these are really good.” They’re young, but I can tell she has natural skill.
“You’re going to be an amazing artist when you grow up.
” I finish looking through the book and hand it back to her.
“Thank you for showing me. Can you show me that flower?”
She takes a few minutes to draw the flower and then hands the book back to me. “That’s what they look like, mostly.”
I look down at the flowers she’s drawn on the page and then back at her.
“Auri, if you never get out, how do you know what these flowers look like?” She drops her gaze, and I can see the guilt from here.
I wait for her to say something. When she doesn’t, I push a little.
“So you do go outside? Rauk hasn’t kept you banished to your room, has he? ”
She finally lifts her head. “No.”
I take a breath. “Auri, our friendship is based on honesty. If we can’t be honest with each other, we can’t trust each other. So let’s start over. Have you been outside?”
She nods. “Yes, but not for a long time.”
“Have you seen Nox?”
Her nod is a little more slow. “Rauk used to take me to see him and would let me sit on Nox with him.”
“Anything else?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “I still don’t get to leave the castle, though.”
“And that is something I will be talking to your brother about.” I look back down at the drawing she made and change topics. “Oh good; these flowers don’t look too complicated. I can try those. What are you going to paint?”
She's quiet a moment. “I’m sorry, Harper.”
I reach out and squeeze her hand. “It’s already forgotten.
Now. Let’s get to work. When you pick a color, let me know.
” I pick up the yellow jar again, happy I get to use it.
It just looks so bright and fun. I dip my brush in the paint and start.
A few minutes later, I step back and frown.
“That looked so much better in my head. What do you think?”
Auri’s already staring at my flowers. “They’re...good, Harper.”
“You paused,” I accuse, pointing my brush at her. “And then you said good. Everybody knows good means it’s terrible.”
The corner of her lips tug up. “They’re great.”
I look back at my flowers again. “I like them.”
“So do I.”
I look down at her. “Yeah?” She nods. “Good. Now what color?”
“Blue.”
I bend over and grab the jar of blue paint and a paintbrush. “Okay, Kiddo, show me what you can do.”
We work side by side all afternoon. I don’t deviate from my flowers, mostly because I’m scared to try anything else. I finally branch out and try a tree next. “What’s the brown thing?” Auri asks sometime later, when we finally take a break.
I frown. “It’s a tree.”
“Oh.”
I look at my tree. “You can’t even tell what it is? This is the trunk, and these are the branches.”
“It’s...definitely brown,” she says.
I look at my tree again. “Well, yeah. Trees are brown. I mean I can add stuff to it, but...” I put my hands on my hips. “It’s a tree!”
And then she does something completely unexpected. She laughs. I freeze, or at least I want to; but I force myself to not make a big deal out of it. When I face her all the way, she laughs harder. “What?”
She looks up at me, eyes bright. “You have brown paint all over your cheek. Oh, and a few specks of yellow.”
I reach up and feel the crusty texture of paint on my cheek. I look at my brush that still has brown paint on it, and in a move too quick for her to stop, I swipe the brush across her cheek. Her mouth drops open. “I can’t believe you just did that.”
I grin. “Sure you can.”
She suddenly swipes at my arm, and I look down to see that the back of my hand is now blue. “Oh, Auri. You did not just do that.”
She starts to wheel backwards, but I dart forward to get her other cheek. She shrieks and pulls away, and I end up getting her nose instead. “My nose?”
“It looks beautiful,” I tell her with a laugh.
“What’s going on?” That’s followed quickly by, “What did you do to the wall?”
My head jerks up to see Rauk standing in the doorway.
I glance down at Auri, but she’s staring up at me with wide eyes.
I take in the paint all over her face and can’t keep in my laugh.
I try; I really do, but it just bursts out.
Auri waits a beat, and then she joins me.
I look back at the wall, and she does the same.
I take in my tree and start laughing all over again; it really is terrible.
I finally get control of myself and turn to face Rauk.
His frown deepens as he steps towards us, and I suddenly move in front of Auri.
I lift my chin and stare at him. He stops right in front of me and stares down at me.
He doesn’t look away. “You don’t have to keep protecting her.
” His voice is low. “I would never hurt her.”
I cross my arms over my chest. “Well, you should tell that to your face.”
He stares at me, his expression unreadable. “It’s really hard to take you seriously with paint all over your face.”
I don’t know what to say to that. I can’t really tell if he’s upset or not. I turn so I can see Auri, and I watch as his gaze shifts to her too. “You too?” he asks, but his voice is softer now. “Did either of you manage to get any paint on the wall?”
“We did.” I turn to face the wall. “We did. Can you tell who painted what?” Rauk steps up next to us, and I take a step away from him, putting some space between us.
“Okay, I’m just going to tell you. This area was Auri’s.
She painted this section with the water and the snow. It's really pretty, isn’t it?”
He nods. “Good job, Auri.”
“And these beautiful flowers were done by yours truly. And what do you think about this tree? Pretty magical, huh?”
He stares at the wall and then glances down at me. “It looks like something you would paint.”
“You know what?” I start, but he stops me.
“It’s all wild and edgy and...dangerous.”
I look at the tree and squint. “You got all that from my tree?” He nods, and I lean forward so I can see past him to Auri.
“Told you mine was better.” I hear a tiny sound, but I know it was a laugh; and that makes my heart sing.
When I look back at Rauk, he’s staring down at me.
For once, he’s not scowling; of course, he’s not exactly smiling.
I’m not really sure what it is he’s doing.
Elowen’s voice interrupts us. “Who’s ready for—oh my.” She walks over to where we’re all standing and stares at the wall. “Is that a tree?” she asks, sending Auri and I into a fit of laughter all over again.