Serenity

[Elnara Aldrich]

Painter’s Log, 5 May 2008

It’s always hard working from descriptions, but when the describer is good enough, then a quality picture is always possible.

This is something that I didn’t always believe. I always thought that a visual reference would be needed to do anything worthwhile. But now I know better. Now I have Shiro.

He’s such a good child. He’s smart, he’s polite, he always behaves … and now I’ve discovered that his memory is so good that he can describe a place accurately enough for me to paint what he says is a perfect likeness of the cave where Aragost took him during our last trip to Arda.

It was good to see everyone … it’s amazing how quickly families there can grow. Faster than ours. Uncle Elrohir and Aunt Haradhel already have two children, and a third on the way. Arwen especially is sweet. She’s always so eager to help … though she has her mischievous side. Disappearing and reappearing without the slightest bit of warning … at first it was quite startling, but after a while I grew immune to it. Really, thinking about it, it’s nothing more than Kaito popping up when you least expect him to.

Still, I think I do prefer the Southland to the Borderlands … the weather is nicer, always warm, and Aunt Lúthien is … well, let’s just say that I have more in common with her than I have with anyone in the Borderlands. Perhaps I’ll have to ask Mama if I can visit there again for a while.  

[Elnara Aldrich]

Painter's log, 25 June

Time has slipped away from me ... or perhaps it is my sudden business. So much has been happening that I simply have not had the time to write like I know I ought. Where to begin ...

A while ago, I met a Second in the Seconds World named Brooke ... she was quite different, I have to say. Whenever she was in contact with direct sunlight she would burn - quite literally, just about charring, within a matter of seconds. Yet the moment she was in the shade, like in a cave, she would heal up again just as quickly. I don't know what to make of it. Perhaps Shiro would know, he knows quite a bit.

Anyways, we were exploring a cave, since that was just about the only place Brooke could be, and suddenly the tide came in ... we were far too close to the shore, and it came in so quickly we barely got out ... all of my supplies, everything I had in my bag, was completely ruined. Almost all of the work that I had done so far in my life, save a few things that I had given as gifts. I think Aunt Luthien has a few of my paintings in the Southland, Papa of course has our family portrait album ... but other than that I think it was almost all destroyed.

So I have been busy these past weeks in renewing my stock of completed works - though I no longer take them with me, I leave them at home when I go to the Seconds world. I don't feel safe there anymore.

The first subject that I painted after that disaster was a boy that I met, named Kanki ... apparently I look quite a bit like his guardian. It startled both of us at first. He was a bit of a grump at first but when I was painting his portrait he actually became quite nice ... he's such a sweet boy. Since then, anyways, I haven't had trouble finding inspiration for my drawings. Strangely enough there are quite a few of him ... though I don't think I'll tell him. He would be so embarrassed ...

That's about all I can write for now, preparations for the wedding are keeping me busier and busier as well. Until I find time to write again!  

[Elnara Aldrich]

Painter's log, 16 July

Despite the preparations for the wedding, I have managed to find the time to slip away to the Seconds world for a brief respite from the chaos. Our family is growing still, and it grows harder and harder for me to find some time alone when I am at home.

While I was in the Seconds World, I met a boy named Kanki. He was ... irritated at first, when I spoke to him, but after a while I found that he really is a sweet boy. I painted his picture, and he drew a picture for his mother - who looks exactly like me, which is sort of scary - and then the two of us went to find her, and I painted another picture of them together. While I was painting, Kanki went through his first growth. He was frightened at first, but I calmed him down, I guess. It's always so exciting to see someone grow! He's going to be a right handsome man when he grows up, I can say that much for certain.

Time presses forward, and as always I have things to do. Until the next time I find time.  

[Elnara Aldrich]

Mother’s log
19 July

Yes, that’s right … I am a mother now. No, it was not in the traditional way … I have not found a mate, nor am I even old enough to have a child of my own … well, not in the Seconds way, anyways. No, I have taken after my own mother, and I have adopted.

His name is Ian. I was walking through the Seconds world one day and I found a vase … a vase that seemed to have been knocked over. Upon closer inspection, I found a Second inside it, lying with his feet out in the air, and his head inside his vase. I might have passed him by entirely, thinking him asleep, except that something about him seemed … off. The colour of his skin, perhaps … he was more than pale, he was just about purple. And thin. Too thin. At best, he hadn’t been eating right – at worst, he had been starving himself.

Over the course of the next week, I visited the vase every day and left food for him. Perhaps he simply didn’t know how to find edible food in the Seconds world, or perhaps he had something else wrong with him that prevented him from taking care of himself properly. At any rate, the food I left him disappeared, sometimes more, sometimes less, but it was almost two weeks before I finally saw him leave his vase and come into the sunshine.

He’s such a sweetheart … I wanted to weep for him. No one had ever looked after him, no one save me; no one had ever tried to find out what might be wrong with him, no one save me; no one had ever cared about what happened to him … no one, save me.

But things are all right now. I have taken him as my son, and he has accepted me as his mother. I suppose I could have taken him home and let Mother take care of him, and have him as a brother … but I guess I felt … a maternal instinct, from being the one to take care of him. It still hurts me, thinking about those words … that no one has ever cared for him until I did. No, I can’t pass him off to Mom, he’s mine to take care of, and take care of him I shall.

I will protect him with everything I have.  

[Elnara Aldrich]

Mother's log
1 September

I have taken Ian for a visit back to the Seconds world, where we are both from. It was a lot of fun - we went to visit Kanki, my dear friend ... his mother was not with him this time, which is perhaps a good thing, considering how alike we look. Poor Ian might have been confused ... but we had a good time with Kanki. I brought him the painting that I did for him, and hung it on his wall, and we had ice cream and a good solid tickle fight (which I'm afraid to say Kanki won, hands down).

There is little more to say ... we are still in the process of moving from the inn to the clan grounds, but it seems that Ian and I will have our own house, which I can also use as a paint studio and gallery. I look forward to it - though I also have to admit, it will be strange not living with Mother anymore. Still, times change, and I cannot live with her and Papa forever ... they are married now, and they will need their own space. Ian and I will do fine on our own. Perhaps we will take Skye in with us as well ... well, we'll see about that.  

[Elnara Aldrich]

Unexpected Question

For several days, Serenity had been mulling over a question. School had kept it off her mind for a while, but every evening she would worry about it again. Even Ian didn't serve as a distraction: on the contrary, he actually fueled her anxiety, and finally, she decided that there was only one thing for her to do.

She had to ask her parents.

And so it was that one evening, after she was certain the twins would be in bed for the night, she left Ian with Skye and headed over to her parents' house to talk to them. She knocked on the door before stepping inside, more to let them know someone was entering than for permission.

"Mama?" she called out softly, heading towards the living room where she knew her parents liked to read before heading to bed. "Papa?"

"We're in here!" Lore's voice floated out of the living room.

He looked up from what he was reading curiously, it was a bit late for Serenity to be visiting so it probably wasn't a social visit. However he couldn't imagine what it could be about unless something happened to Ian?

Elnara, rather than reading, had been writing in her journal (something she hadn't done in a while and wanted to do to keep track of the twins' progress), but at Serenity's voice she lowered her quill and set her book aside.

"Is something wrong?" she asked worriedly as Serenity entered the room.

Serenity smiled faintly and shook her head. She was glad Ian wasn't here to help her ask ... as much as she loved the little guy, she knew he would only embarrass her.

"Nothing's wrong," she assured her parents quietly, taking a seat on the couch across from them. "I just have a question, is all."

"A question?" Lore set his book aside.

It sounded important, but he also couldn't help but be curious because Serenity rarely had questions that required her to go directly to her parents about it.

Serenity nodded and cleared her throat. She honestly had no idea how her parents would take this request, but she had though of a few points that might help to sway them to her side.

"I was wondering," she said softly, "if ... if I could get a laptop computer. I know how much you hate them, Papa, but it would be so useful ... and if I could get the internet with it ... if it's possible ... I mean the only computers I can use now are at school, and I can only use them at certain times ..."

And for certain tasks.

"And the only one here who has a computer is Kali, and I really don't want to be bothering her all the time," she went on, as if she hadn't already been bugging Kali for a chance to check her email more than ten times a day. "And it won't be just for fun, either, I mean I could use it to sell some of my paintings, and it would help bring in some revenue ..."

That of course was only her secondary objective, but it was what she thought might help to convince her parents. After all, if she got a camera and could put pictures of her paintings on the internet, she could sell them to anyone, anywhere ... and she could take on commissions and such ... and she had heard of something called a tablet, which could be used to draw and colour pictures right on a computer ... that could be her source of income ...

She explained all of this to her parents, and then added, "And once I start making money from it I could pay you back and then pay for my own internet ..."

She didn't know if it was safe yet to add that she wanted to know if she could use Elnara's cell phone, since she didn't have one of her own and her mother never used it anyways ...

Whatever Lore had been expecting, that hadn't been one of them. He had thought of some dire problem that needed solving or something equally as awful. However the ask for a laptop and internet, well... that wasn't so much of a problem.

True laptops costed a lot, good ones anyways and Serenity was technically right. While he didn't like the internet a good amount of his research came from there (with the help of Yuki of course). Of course hearing about the tablet also interested him because he had heard of that as well. There were enough self help books on the tablet...

"You'll also need an art program for the tablet as well," Lore told her seriously, "But it is true. A lot of business is done on the internet for art. Internet while I don't like it, is mainly a visual medium."

Heck, he knew that even doing a simple logo for a big company could net her a few hundred.

Elnara shook her head. "I've lived here for a few years now," she murmured, "but I still have no idea what any of that is about. I leave the decision to you, Lore."

Serenity had hardly dared to hope that it would be so easy. "Then ... it's a yes?" she asked hesitantly. "Or ... maybe to help with the internet cost ... we could run a cable from the main house and split Kali's net? That would save us a bit at least ..."

The only catch was, she knew Ian would want use of the laptop as well, and she wasn't sure how safe that would be ... or what he could do with it, if she only had work programs on it (and the messaging programs she had heard so much about).

"Yes," Lore nodded, "But I want you to talk to someone who knows an extensive amount about computers and the internet, because as far as choosing a laptop and using the internet I don't know much about it. Also with Ian with you, it would probably be very wise to know, since.. well everyone gets curious and especially at Ian's age."

Those were his only requirements, otherwise he could afford to help Serenity out for a while. He hadn't used most of his savings in the whole time he had lived in this area of Gaia and they both had been blessed in that they didn't need to pay for their house.

Serenity's eyes lit up brightly, and she clasped her hands tightly in her lap. "Do you think it would be all right if I talk to Kali about it?" she asked, hardly able to sit still now. "Or should I ask someone at the store or something?"

Or maybe Gaunt would be the person to ask, he was smart - and he was in business, so he would know about costs and how to get around them.

"Kali would be fine, besides I think technology is her livelihood, so I'm sure she wouldn't mind," Lore murmured.

In fact she struck him as the type of person who would go on and on if you'd let her.

Serenity couldn't even sit still anymore, she was so excited.

"Thank you, Papa!" she exclaimed, jumping off the couch and hugging him tightly around the neck. "Thank you so much! I'll ask Kali tomorrow, and I'll make sure not to get anything without your approval!"

Elnara smiled at her daughter. She hadn't seen her this excited about anything in a very long time ... she was glad that there were still things that could do this to her. Though she couldn't help but wonder if there was more to it than just work ... no one could get that excited about work.

Lore hugged Serenity back but was utterly surprised by the response, after all it wasn't like he completely despise technology it was just he wasn't any good with it. Not to mention it wasn't like Serenity hadn't made excellent points, and they were excellent points.

"Glad to be of help," he replied lovingly.