“Here you are, Anna,” Arian announced as she set a binder and a charcoal pencil on the table in front of me.

It was a few days after the incident with Lady Shian and her friend and I was glad to put those memories behind me. Another warm sunny day shone outside the windows of my quaint hall and my friend stood over me with furtive eyes.

A smile spread across my lips as I opened the binder and revealed a thick stack of papers. Their sizes were slightly mismatched but I brushed a hand gently over the rough edges. “You made this yourself, didn’t you?”

I raised my eyes to my friend and found her blushing. “Y-yes. The way you described your old journal I knew nothing like this could be found in the heavens so I thought I would make it by hand.” She bit her lower lip. “Is. . .is it alright?”

I stood and wrapped her in a tight hug. She stiffened for a moment before softening. I drew us to arm’s length and had trouble keeping tears out of my eyes. “It’s perfect.”

Her face beamed and her cheeks reddened. “I’m so glad to hear that.”

“It’s so perfect,” I mused as I scooped up pencil and paper and hugged them against myself, “-that I’m going to try them out right now.”

“Would you like me to go with you?” she offered.

I laughed and shook my head. “It wouldn’t be very exciting for you to watch me draw but I promise to show you what I come up with. That is if you don’t mind staring at some squiggly lines.”

She shook her head. “I would love to admire your work.”

“Don’t get your hopes up too much,” I warned her as I skipped over to the door. “And don’t worry about lunch. I’ll grab something in the kitchen.”

There was a bounce in my step as I strode down the paths toward the quieter garden spots. Arian and I had explored much of the area within a few miles of my new home and I was mostly acquainted with the roads, though sometimes I did find myself turned around.

This was one of those times.

I traveled up and down the paths and stairs, past many a lovely gazebo and through a few small woods before I stopped at the top of a flight of stairs. My steps had taken me to a place I hadn’t seen before and didn’t quite know how to return to the house from. The steps led down and intersected with a path that followed a small gurgling brook. A cluster of rocks and lilypads formed in front of a painted wooden bench.

My heart leaped at the beautiful scene as did my artistic impulse. I hurried down the steps and past the shading tree to sit on the grass in front of the bench. The cool lawn and sweet-smelling flowers flowed over me and the solitude of the simple garden allowed me to take as much time as I needed. I bent over my paper with my pencil in hand and began sketching the lovely landscape in front of me.

I was so engrossed in my work that I didn’t hear the soft pad of feet nor even the groan of the wood behind me. One spot in particular had my attention, a lovely lilypad nestled among the rocks under which most of the fish were partially hiding. I leaned back and furrowed my brow as I studied my work versus the real thing. There was just something off about it that I couldn’t lay my finger on.

“You are missing the shadow of the lilypad over the water.”

My heart stopped for a moment before it restarted, and now it was in overdrive mode. I whipped my head around and found myself staring up into the indifferent face of Lord Eastwei. He lounged on the bench with his head cradled in one palm and his eyes on my picture.

I hugged the sketch against my chest as the color drained from my face. “P-pardon?”

He nodded at my sketch pad. “You are missing the shadow. That is why your sketch appears incomplete.”

I mechanically jerked my head downward and reluctantly drew my sketch far enough to study the picture myself. He was right. I was missing that obvious bit of detail.

I bent over the picture and immediately began rectifying my error. After a few moments and some well-placed shading, I drew my notebook away and examined my work. It looked perfect, or as perfect as my unskilled hand could offer.

I smiled up at the lord. “Thanks. I would have been beating myself up for a while if you hadn’t told me what was wrong.”

He slightly inclined his head and closed his eyes. I took that as a hint that the conversation was no longer desired. He was so close now that I could see the soft lines of his face and the picture-perfect raise of his eyebrows. My artist’s hand twitched at the thought of drawing something other than plant life.

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

I cleared my throat but a voice interrupted me.

“Dadan! Dadan!”

Eastwei let out a heavy sigh as Shian made her appearance from the direction of the steps. She had a bright smile on her face until she noticed me. Her good humor dropped off like a rock out a window and she knitted her eyebrows together in a silent fury.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized without any enthusiasm as she looked between us. “I thought you were alone.”

“I was just leaving,” I told her as I climbed to my feet.

Eastwei opened his eyes and they fell on me. “Your sketch is incomplete.”

I smiled and patted the sketchbook. “That’s okay. It’s not very good, anyway.”

“Do you sketch?” Shian wondered as her gaze invariably fell on my book.

“A little,” I admitted as I looked for a way out of there. There was a narrow grassy path between the boulder and the stream.

She held out her hand to me. “Please allow me to see it.”

I clutched the book against my chest and shook my head. “You really don’t have to be so polite. It’s not a very good sketch at all.”

“Allow me to be the judge of that,” Shian insisted as she strode up to me. She tried to grab the book but I tucked it behind my back.

The other goddess tried to snatch it again but ended up pushing her body against mine. I lost my balance and my eyes widened as I fell backward toward the narrow waterway. Injury would have been the only result if a soft red light hadn’t surrounded me. I stiffened and looked about myself in shock.

The light suspended me just above the mouth of the waterway. Bright red sparkles floated around me and a soft warmth enveloped my person. I looked at Eastwei and saw that his unoccupied left hand was raised and the same reddish glow emanated from his two longest fingers. He drew his fingers to his right and the light floated me in that direction.

The magic glided me over to the grass on the opposite side of the bench from Shian and set me on my butt. I stared dumbly with my sketchbook clutched against my chest as the glow vanished and the warmth faded.

“Be more mindful of your surroundings,” Eastwei scolded me.

I eased myself onto my shaky feet and nodded. “Y-yeah. If you’ll excuse me.” I hurried off without waiting for a reply.

I must have still had quite the look on my face when I finally made it back to my little hall because Arian greeted me with a worried expression on hers. “Are you well?” she asked me as she grasped my arm.

I managed a stiff smile. “I’m fine. I just had a-” You didn’t quite have an accident my inner thoughts reminded me. “I just had a run-in with Shian and Eastwei, that’s all.”

Her eyebrows shot up. “You did? What happened?”

I laughed. “I almost fell into one of the streams. Fortunately, Eastwei caught me with his magic. At least, I think that’s what he did.”

Arian’s eyes grew as big as my sketchbook. “You witnessed him use his magic?”

I blinked at her. “Yeah, why? Doesn’t he use it as often as anyone else?”

She slowly shook her head. “Not at all. Indeed, it is a very rare occasion to see him use even the slightest hint of magic and he has not used any great strength in tens of thousands of years.”

My mouth slowly dropped open. “That. . .that’s a long time, even for you guys, right?”

“A very long time.”

“Why doesn’t he use his magic?” I wondered.

“He conserves his magic in case an emergency should arise.”

A snort escaped me. “Then I’m glad he used it for my emergency but now that you told me what it’s for I feel a little guilty.”

“Well, it was only a little bit of his magic,” she pointed out. “Perhaps he will not even notice.”

“Yeah,” I agreed as I looked down at myself. “It hardly seemed to even bother him moving me like that.”

“That is because you are very light,” Arian complimented me as she looked down at my book. “But did you get a chance to draw?”

My eyes lit up and I nodded. “Yeah. It’s just a little sketch, though.” I opened to the first page.

Her mouth fell open. “That is wonderful! You have a great talent!”

I blushed and closed the book. “I’m just okay. Anyway, let’s get something to eat. I forgot to grab lunch.”