I have made it! Just before the deadline!
I.O.N.
Enjoy!
In the front entrance of a rather extravagant house, a mother was saying goodbye to a pair of teenaged twins, while holding an exhausted four-year-old. "Thanks again for letting us watch her ma'am." one twin said.
"Yeah, Olive is just the sweetest!" Her sister added, making little cooing noises at the sleeping toddler.
"Oh, it was no trouble for me girls! I was able to take a nap for the first time in a while." The mother seemed to hesitate, "Speaking of Olive, her birthday is coming up soon and since her father is still out, we were hoping that all of you could show up?"
Their eyes lit up, as they said, "We would love to! Of course, we'll have to ask Nora, but I'm sure she'll agree to come!"
"That's wonderful! Make sure that Manon knows this goes for her too."
"We will miss Lila!" Ella and Etta chimed as they dashed down the road leading away from the house.
Lila laughed a little as she waved them goodbye. Then she readjusted how she was holding her daughter and went back inside. As she walked towards Olive's room, Lila could hear two maids gossiping. Pausing for a moment she listened in.
"Those girls are just too sweet!"
"I know! But I have to admit, I can hardly ever tell them apart."
"I know what you mean. So was Ella the one in blue and black or was she the one in yellow and white?"
"Your guess is as good as mine!"
Shaking her head good-naturedly, Lila resumed walking.
The court painter looked over the crowd of townspeople and villagers angrily trying to find his apprentice. Finally, he spotted the young man's bright red hair amongst the almost monotones of browns and blacks. The young man was apparently oblivious to his impending doom as the court painter tore through the crowd, people hurriedly moving to make way for the extremely tall man. "NATHANIEL!" The older man bellowed, "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?! I'VE BEEN SEARCHING FOR YOU SINCE SUNRISE!"
Nathaniel bowed his head sheepishly, "I'm terribly sorry Master Demarcus. I woke up early and the sky looked more beautiful today than it usually did, and I-"
Demarcus cut him off abruptly, "Spare me your excuses boy! Because of you, we are late! And Marc is already at the castle!"
"Late? I didn't realize -"
"It is not your job to realize, boy. It is your job to be ready when I tell you to be! Now let us be on our way!" With an angry huff, master and apprentice began the trek to the home of royalty. On their way, Demarcus continued to berate Nathaniel.
But as the walk drew on, Nathaniel's mind began to wander to the beautiful scenery of the surrounding area, and his fingers began to itch with the desire to draw his surroundings and he wished he had kept his charcoal and paper out instead of shoving them into his bag.
Suddenly, Master Demarcus went silent. At first, Nathaniel thought he was going to be berated for getting distracted, again. But then he realized, his master had stopped yelling at him because they had come into hearing range of the castle guards.
Those at the front gate bowed their heads and allowed the two artists to enter, one of them quietly uttering to Demarcus, "His Majesty is waiting for you in the painting room." Demarcus gruffly nodded his head in acknowledgment.
When they arrived in the painting room, Nathaniel saw that Marc was indeed already there and had most of their master's equipment set up. Most of it was different paints which were relatively light, but the large canvases that were already set up were much heavier and usually required two people or more for any ease in maneuvering.
The red-headed young man shot his fellow apprentice an apologetic look as their master prepared the final bits of equipment he didn't trust his students with. King Ali was getting into the position his court painter had suggested when his dear friend Rose ran into the room.
While it was true he had only met her seven years ago. When she had shown up at his doors two years later looking like her world had just come crumbling down, he had immediately welcomed her as his official guest.
Rose frantically looked around the room until her eyes landed on Nathaniel, who was busy smoothing out some of the wrinkles one of his drawings had gotten after being roughly shoved into his sack.
"Is there something we can help you with Rose?" Ali asked.
"Yes! I mean... if it's not too much trouble, could I borrow Nathaniel for a while?" She seemed to think for a moment, "OH! And Max too if he isn't too busy."
"Well, sir Demarcus, can you be persuaded to spare one of your apprentices?"
Demarcus stared at Nathaniel for a moment, while Nathaniel tried to make himself look as innocent as possible, "I really shouldn't, after all the time I spent looking for him." Rose deflated a little, "But, he and Marc won't have anything to do for a few hours yet, so I suppose he can gO?!"
As the painter finished his sentence Rose rushed him for a hug, "Thank you so much !" Then she grabbed the two apprentices and practically ran out of the room with a brief, "Bye Ali!" over her shoulder.
As they rushed through the castle, Marc managed to say that he would like to spend his free time in the garden. So Rose released his wrist from her surprisingly strong grip and said she hoped he was able to draw something wonderful, before taking off again. This time with Nathaniel running beside her.
After some minutes, they were finally able to find Max in the library, with a stack of books taller than himself. "Max!" Rose shouted.
Startled the book worm looked up, "Yes Rose?"
"You've gotta come with us!"
"Where?"
"To the docks!"
"I see. Juleka has returned. Very well. Let us go."
"YAY!"
Despite his frank manner, as the three of them left the castle, Max could be seen running just as fast as his friends. All the guards saw, was three trails of dust leading out of the front gates.
So believe it or not, this chapter was originally supposed to only have Lila and the twins in it. But that was like two hundred words, so I added the rest of it.
Comment what you thought!
Hope you enjoyed!
Thank you all so much for taking the time to read this. Have a nice day!
See ya next time!