The short woman turned around to look at Ursula with her arm outstretched. She greeted her and introduced herself.
"I'm Dorothy. I appraise art." The introduction was so short. Dorothy pointed at the canvas that Ursula held in her left hand, "Is that what you want me to look at"
"Uh - yes." she handed Dorothy the canvas and waited as she looked at it. She was as quiet as when she first walked into the room. She carefully removed it wrapping. To anyone who didn;t know what was going on the might have thought that she was submitting a display for the Talents in The City showcase. Dorothy looked at the painting without so much as a change in her facial expression.
Ursula took the liberty to walk around the room looking at the various paintings. To her besides the fact that they were old nothing stood out as extraordinary. She looked at every painting in the large room trying to understand what fascinated John so much. In the end she settled to looking at the gigantic painting. She stood near its edge on the right side and thought, this is where he was seen last. From where she stood the painting looked enormous. She was near enough to touch it and was reaching to touch it when she heard an Ahem from behind her.
"This is quite something, did you do this?" Dorothy asked looking up.
"No, my brother did."
"The one who went missing?"
"Yes, I'm trying to understand where he might have gone, there's a bunch of these."
"What do his paintings have to do with his disappearance."
"He says in his Journal that his paintings are an extensions of his journal, and here we are."
"Your brother made these? He is gifted. I don't understand exactly what is going on but his technique alone is impressive."
"You think so? I read his journal and sorted all his paintings by order of date, since they are part of his Journal they might help me understand where he might go if he did so of his own will. So i thought that if i found and expert to help me things wouldn't be so hard."
"Whoa! Talk about pressure."
"Can you help, you will be well compensated."
"If the others are like this I definitely want to see them, so sure, why not. Tomorrow give me a time and place - and can you leave this with me."
A huge weight fell off her shoulders, In this instant she felt that she wasn't alone anymore. She had found an ally.
THE PAINTED WORLD
John had felt exhaustion hit as soon as they alighted the boat. He watched as the Old man guided his fellow captives to where food was waiting. He and Minerva stood on the small dock and looked on. After a few minutes the old man walked towards them and stood besides them looking at the group of people.
Everyone seemed in high spirits having just escaped from the infamous slavers. Hlora walked towards them with her husband and son. Her son looked incredibly like her, the same green eyes and intense colored hair. She was carrying two plates of food in her hands.
"It wouldn't be right in our two heroes didn't eat." she said when she was close enough
"Heroes huh?" the old man looked at John and Minerva and smiled, "I hope my apprentices didnt give you too much trouble."
"Far from it, If it wasn't for them we would be in a caged wagon heading for Inssan." she handed John and Minerva a plate each. The boy was standing next to John. he seemed to have developed an attachment to him. He looked up at him and said something but off course John didn't understand so he looked at Minerva for help.
"He said he wants to be like you when he grows up, you really should learn the language." she said
"Mention to him that that is near impossible." He said smiling at the boy. He had never seen such a look in someones eyes. This thought made him think of his father but let that thought slip away as fast it had come. He looked to his left and noticed that the old man was looking at him.
"What exactly did you do?" the old man asked.
"Why do I have a feeling that you already know, seeing as how you came to greet us like it was the most normal thing."
"I see you don't respect your master, should i intensify your training?" he said jokingly but with a serious expression, "I may be a sage but I am not god." Hlora and her husband were standing there awkwardly since they had no clue what they were saying.
"What language is that?" she had been dying to ask since she first heard it.
"He is from the west continent." the old man said matter-of-factly and she just looked at them like they were from the moon.
Her surprise would be the standard reaction if anyone said that they were from the west continent. This was because humans didn't dare wander into the west continent. It was also know as the Unnamed lands. The only thing that people knew about the place was that it was the home of all manner of great beasts and the race of Giants. Everyone who ventured there was never seen or heard from again. With all this in Hlora's mind, to see someone from the unnamed lands standing in from of her was quite the shock. She turned to face John again only this time her curiosity was even greater. Were there many humans from the west continent, did they live with the giants but she knew that even if she asked he probably wouldn't understand her.
By now most people had finished their food and were gathering around them as if waiting for instructions. While the gathered the old man and his apprentices were discussing how to deal with the large number of people. They could stay as long as they liked but that would probably be a bad idea since the thugs would surely come knocking sooner or later. Unfortunately for them trouble came sooner than expected. Dugald strode confidently towards to the front.
"Can I get a horse, I need to go and report this to my father." he said demanding. Under normal circumstances this kind of demand by a royal would be fulfilled easily. This kind of thing did not occur frequently otherwise the masses would start to think that they are being taken advantage off. But due to the good relationship that the ruing class had with their subjects most people would think that this was a huge deal. This was not one of those situations however.
"Who is this?" the old man asked in a voice loud enough for Dugald to hear.
"I am-" he begun.
"We know who you are your lordship." Minerva interrupted in a condescending tone."but this is not the time, besides we don't have any horses" Just at that moment the only horse in the stable made a loud sound adding to the humiliation.
"You know i have been meaning to ask, who is this clown?" John asked , He had noticed that every time this guy spoke up Minerva was seething.
"He's the son the lord of Castle Town." she said pointedly. John looked at the guy smiled and gave a small bow. Dugald's face was red from a mixture of emotions after seeing John do this while Minerva couldn't help but burst out laughing.
"Calm down now. we will show you how to get to Castle Town without coming into any trouble, but you are welcome to stay here as long as you like." the old man said to avert the situation. There were murmurs in the crowd but most seemed to agree to leaving. The old man asked those who wanted to leave to follow him. At this point John indicated to Minerva that he would be going to take a nap first. He was exhausted and in as much as his magic replenished very fast physical fatigue could not be avoided. He walked into the house and not soon after did Minerva follow.
JOHN.
A small boy walked down the stairs late one night. The lights were on at that hour which was very unusual. His mother was very strict about bedtime not only to the boy but to her as well' The boys father usually arrived home very late when the boy had already slept. He was used to sneaking around the house at the time he arrived to have him read a bed time story. On this night however it seemed so late. He was holding his stuffed simba that he got from his father on his last birthday.
He turned the corner into the living room and found his mother was lying on the couch with tears in her eyes. He had never seen his mommy cry before. She was startled to see him awake and tried to wipe the tears on her face.
"Mommy, why are you crying?" he asked tears forming on his eyes.
"Its nothing mommy has a headache," the boy seemed to calm down but he ran up to her and kissed her forehead.
"Now its gonna go away," he said looking at her with innocent eyes.
"Oh my sweet boy, come on lets go back to bed." tears almost came out of her eyes so she stood up to take him to bed.
"Mommy, wheres daddy?" a small boy asked his tear stricken mother. This was a question she had been dreading to hear.
"Don't worry , hes gonna be back soon." she could only say.
"Is that why you were crying," he asked again clutching tightly to his simba.
"Oh, John you always were so smart," she said kneeling before him such that their eyes were almost level. She could see that tears were almost coming out his eyes. "Don't cry -uh-" she said more to herself than to him. She took a deep breath and knew what she had to do.
"Daddy is gone, and he may never come back, but don't worry i'll be your daddy and mommy." she said this in one full sentence and she couldn't help her sobbing after she had finished.
"Was he mad at me? Is it my fault?" the boy asked amid tears.
"No its not your fault, its no ones fault." she managed to say.
"Don't worry mommy, I'll take care of you." the boy said wiping his tears.
John slowly opened his eyes to this memory. I have to go home now, he thought and got out of bed decisively. It was already dusk. Food was already being prepared but Minerva was not awake yet. To his surprise Hlora was in the kitchen making food while in the main room the old man, Hloras husband and son sat chatting slowly.
"You said there's a way to get me home. I need to go." John said firmly
"Just in time, I was thinking its about time as well