Níya opened the door to her chamber and found Mású sitting in her chair staring at the portrait of Exada. She startled him with her abrupt and sudden entrance.
"I see you found my portraits. What do you think?"
"Ah…Ah…I'm not really sure. They are very beautiful. I couldn't bear to look at the picture of Matevak. Your painting of Exada is so beautiful. I don't want to know how you depicted The Dark Watcher."
She figured that he might have thought she just painted them, not knowing what they really looked like. But she knew exactly how the prophets look.
"Mású, I know this is going to be hard for you to understand, but I didn't just paint all these from my imagination…I've had these…I've…You aren't going to believe this…For years, I've had dreams, dreams about all prophets and Exada and Matevak. I can't even remember how long I've had them."
She didn't know what else to say at the moment. Níya waited for Mású to process what she said. He didn't look directly at her. He stared at the floor and said nothing.
Níya went to her writing desk and pulled a bag out of the bottom drawer. She sat in a chair next to Mású and pulled dozens of pieces of parchment from the sac.
"Ever since my first dream, I've been trying to draw what I saw. I didn't have these dreams every night, only every once and awhile. In some I saw all of them. Most dreams were only of one."
Mású lifted his gaze from the floor and looked at the pictures in her hand. She handed them to him and he flipped through the pages. Most of them looked as though they were drawn by a child.
"The more I tried to draw them, the better the portraits were. I finished all the portraits of the prophets and Exada three months ago, but I didn't know how to finish the one of Matevak. I waited and waited until I had another dream of him. Last week, I dreamed of him twice and I finished his portrait yesterday morning. After it was done, I ran to you and made this appointment. I wanted you to be the first one to show since you are one of my closest, most understanding friends. Would you like to see what the Dark Watcher looks like?"
Mású began to shake a little, but he reluctantly nodded his head. Níya stood up and walked over to the last wrapped portrait. She picked it up and slowly removed the cloth. The paint still smelled as though it was wet, but it was dry. Níya turned the frame around and faced the portrait toward Mású.
He couldn't believe his eyes. Although Matevak was full of malice, hatred, and bitterness, he had a sense of beauty about him. His body was lean and muscular with his bare arms showing. He had short black hair that was parted to the side and slicked back. Blue eyes peered between colored rings of black and grey.
Smoke billowed around Matevak. It seemed to be emitted from his whole being. In his hand he held a staff that seemed to be made of smoke in a solid form. He sat lounged in a throne made out a dead tree with its roots still embedded in the ground.
"This is the Dark Watcher? This is what he really looks like?" Mású grew pale and placed to picture on the floor with the others.
"Are you alright? Do you need to lie down?"
"No, thank you. I'm fine. It's just that, I think I've seen his face before. Well, I mean, without the rings around the iris and pupil. It was a long time ago, back when I lived along the coast. There was a raid on our town. My parents told me it was pirates, but I didn't believe them. I'd seen pirates before and none of them were as vicious as the people that attacked us. I didn't know what they were, but they weren't pirates. The band consisted of Mixes: Súri-Dákó mix, Kújí-Asde mix, Bast-Súri mix, Asde-Mekína mix, etc… There was every kind possible. Hair color didn't match eye color; traditional tunics didn't match traditional accessories. Since mixes are social outcasts in Kabíli, I thought it was a group seeking revenge for mistreatment and discrimination. But they attacked from the south not the north. The Mixes live in the north in Pórux, so I didn't know what to think."
Níya had always felt bad for the Mixes. She had decided that when she became queen, she would try to remove the prejudice of them. Mású, on the other hand, seemed to really hate them for what they did to his hometown.
"I'm sorry for what happened, but what does that have to do with Matevak."
Mású looked at the portrait of Matevak again. His body began to shake. Níya couldn't figure out if it was out of anger or grief.
"The man that led the raid looked just like Matevak. He held a staff similar to Mavtevak's and smoke filled the main hall before he entered. My little brother suffocated from the smoke as well as many other infants that were asleep in their cribs."
A tear fell from Mású's face as he dropped to the ground with grief. Níya went to him, placed her hand on his back and rubbed it in an effort to give him comfort. Tears continued to trickle down his cheek.
"I think I need to be alone for now. I need to know if that's who killed my brother." He pointed to Matevak's painting as he got up. Níya wanted to help him, but he had to trace through his memories and discover the truth. She couldn't help him in any way besides meditating and asking Takadí to give him strength.
Mású placed his hood over his head in an effort to hide his tear-stained face. He left the room without speaking another word. Níya realized she was covered in goose bumps so she put on her cloak to suppress her chills. She put away her paintings, hooded her face, sat on the floor facing her window, and began to meditate on Takadí.