A/n: I was reading through the story and I realized that I SKIPPED A CHAPTER!!! So now all the chapters are mixed up!

BIG OOPS!

Sorry...

Oh! And a BIG thank you to Actaeon for helping me get the story to flow better and for being a great beta-reader! THANKS!!!

An Artist's Tale
Chapter 6: Mommy?

Faerena's POV:

I looked up as a single musical note pierced the air and something clear zoomed right up to me, stopping just before it smacked in to my face. I blinked, rubbed my eyes, then blinked again.

Am I seeing things? I wondered in confusion as I blinked a couple of more times, but my mind refused to believe what my eyes saw.

"There are no such things as dragons." I said firmly as I squeezed my eyes shut. "And when I open my eyes there won't be a dragon in front of my face." I opened my eyes and met the amused faces of Mister Goldeye and Miss Chandler and no dragon. I sighed and then screamed and toppled backwards when the glass dragon's face popped into view. It had been on my head. My head hit a water pitcher and I slipped into darkness.

"….her siblings? I'm too young; I'm only fifteen you know. Plus I've got Keth to teach!" I woke up to hear a grumpy voice complaining. Without opening my eyes I could tell that I was lying down on a bed with a cool, wet cloth my forehead.

"Ugh, what happened?" I asked sitting up and opening my eyes. I rubbed my head, wincing when it pounded and I knew that I would have another bruise to add to my collection.

"Oh good you're awake." A man with short blonde hair with a white spot on top of his head smiled at me. He had twinkling blue eyes and an honest face. "I'm Keth Warder." He spoke slowly, carefully pronouncing each word.

"Renee Massey." I gave him my name in return.

"We were just talking about you," Mister Goldeye said stroking his mustache. "Tris would like to teach you but we do a lot of traveling and in a month or so we'll be leaving."

"I never said anything of the sort!" Miss Chandler-Tris- said indignantly. "Surely there must be some type of art mage in this village."

"None that I know of," I spoke up, "and I know this town like the colors of my paints."

"Renee is right, like lightning mages, artist mages are very rare," Mister Goldeye said.

"Why is that?" Keth asked curiously.

"I don't remember exactly why," he smoothed his mustache, "but I think it has something to do with their power of bringing things to life. If I remember anything else I'll be sure to inform Tris." He glanced at the clock, "I've got to go and get dressed now, I have a meeting in five minutes." He dashed out of the room after patting me on the head. A minute later we could hear him race out the door.

"I don't get it," Tris grumbled to Keth. "You brought Chime to life and nothing happened to you, right?"

"Maybe it's a different type of bringing things to life." He suggested.

"Who's Chime?" I asked.

"The glass dragon," the two of them answered at the same time.

"Oh," I blushed. I should've guessed. After all, the dragon's voice did sound like a wind chime.

"Have you had breakfast yet?" Tris asked me when my stomach let loose a growl.

"Yes, but the food at the orphanage is nasty." I looked at her hopefully, "we had lumpy porridge, fruit juice, stale toast, and a slice of cheese." Keth made a face.

"Would you like to eat another breakfast, a better one?" Tris asked smiling kindly. She didn't look so scary when she smiled, in fact she almost looked nice. "You look like you could use one."

"Yes please!" I jumped out of the bed and ran to get my shoes on, tripping over a big white dog (whose name, I learned later, was Little Bear) sleeping in the doorway.

At a restaurant:

"I wanted to discuss something important with you," Tris said thoughtfully sipping her tea. "Hey are you listening?" She snapped. I shook my head, too busy stuffing food in my mouth to answer. "Never mind, I can wait." Tris grumbled, cradling her head in her hands.

Keth snickered about to take another bite of his toast and chomped down on his fingers instead. Tris had swiped his food using a bit of wind and glowered at him.

"Sorry," Keth mumbled, "can I have my food back?"

"It's may I not can I." Tris told him. "Your grammar is terrible."

"I grew up in Namorn, so what?" Keth argued, "come on give it here." Tris obliged grudgingly and turned to me.

"You ready to listen?" she asked, I nodded in reply. "Okay well I'm not sure how to say this, but would you mind if you were separated from your siblings?" I glanced up startled.

"You're joking." I told her, but as I looked into her eyes I knew I was wrong.

"Do I look like one to make jokes?" She asked me with a frown and I shook my head. "I didn't think so. Now answer truthfully, would you mind being separated from your siblings?" I looked at the mage who was the same age as Kalmia and Crystal, her gray eyes were level. I thought for a moment before answering.

"I love my family a lot, and if we were separated I don't know if I'd be able to handle knowing that while I'm happy with a new family they're stuck in the orphanage." I said slowly, "but if I knew that they had a home somewhere together I think I could get by with seeing them every so often." I thought some more and then asked her why.

"If they were sent to a temple to learn and you would arrive a few months after them, do you think you could live like that?" She asked.

"I guess so…" I looked from Tris to Keth who grinned sheepishly and shrugged just as confused as I was. "…But why?"

"Goodness this is embarrassing, but would you like to come and live with me?" Tris's face turned the color of her hair and Keth and I both gaped at her as though she had two heads and a tail.

"You mean...you want to be my mommy?" I asked her wide eyed, after I finally managed to find my voice.

And that's when the shouting began…