"Dear mother and father,
I've accepted a new job. I'm still working as a painter, but I'm working in the capital now. I'm working for a mage named Ode. I'm not sure about his family name, but I don't really mind.
In these last two days I've seen such fantastical things. My world was truly so different before meeting him. How's Gwen? I know she doesn't like it when I go long without writing. I'll try to visit you within the next three months, but I'll attach the address to this letter.
With lots of love,
Thames"
Thames allows the ink to fully dry as he switches into more casual clothes for his shopping trip. He smiles at his dark green greyish pant and tucks in a white short sleeved collared shirt.
Tightening a belt around his waist, he walks back over to the desk, folding the letter in half twice then putting it in his back pocket.
Guess I'll go find Lindel.
He checks himself before leaving the room,
closing the door softly behind him.
Following the hallway back down, he finds himself at the entrance, and turns down the path Lindel went. Immediately to the left he sees a room with two larger couches across from each other.
They seem to be made of a nice black fabric. Between them is a polished oak table.
Not seeing Lindel, he continues down the hallway. Entering the kitchen of the house, he looks around.
To the far right, past a round wooden table with four seats, is another door. Next to it starts to countertop, wrapping around most of the kitchen.
Towards the center of the countertop is a sink with stained purple and gold glass above it. The glass makes a crude flower.
The kitchen is decorated in flowers as well, all light coming from opened windows.
Just as Thames walks through the kitchen, the knob on the far right door jiggles, and the door opens.
Behind it stands the demon lady, Lindel. Her eyes squint at Thames then she walks to the round table. The chair loudly scrapes against the hard floor and she sits down.
She just stares at Thames in silence. After a few moments of Thames observing the kitchen, Lindel breaks the silence.
"We needa go shopping. I'll give ya a tour of the capital while we're at it too."
Thames' head snaps to her as she started to speak.
"…Okay. What do we need?"
She pulls out a crumpled up piece of paper and reads it out.
"Bread, butter, salt, pepper, cheese, and whatever you want."
Her nails tap against the wood as she continues to stare up at him.
"Will we be leaving now?"
"Lemme get changed first."
She says and abruptly gets up, and walks out the kitchen. Thames watches as she heads towards the exit, then turns towards the hallway with their rooms.
"Wait for me by the door!"
She yells back at him.
Couldn't she have gotten changed first..?
He shakes his head and walks back towards the entrance.
After a couple minutes of waiting, Lindel returns to Thames.
She changed into a flowing black dress. It stopped just above her knees, and had pink flowers embroidered along it. Her hair had also been tied into a bun, gold earrings hung from her earlobes, and she had a gold helix piercing.
Her hands were also adorned in various gold jewelry, but Thames could tell exactly what they were. Her purplish pupils still shone through her long bangs which were pushed to either side of her face.
"Ready?"
Thames asks while looking away.
"Mhmm."
She brushes past him and walks out the house, he follows after her.
"Should I have gotten better dressed?"
"Not if you don't wanna."
"Mmm.. Okay."
They turn to the left, going back to the Lino Market. Slightly behind her, Thames' gaze repeatedly gets lost in her jewelry and nice clothes.
I should have gotten better dressed.
He sighs while looking down at his more relaxed clothing.
Eventually, the two reach the market again without saying anything, but Lindel kept glancing back towards him.
She walks up to a tent which smelt like various seasonings and herbs like thyme and pepper.
"8 ounces of pepper and salt please."
She raises up her fingers to symbolize eight.
"Right away missy!"
The elvish man starts to weigh out the salt and pepper. He had an old looking scale, it creaked as he adjusted the amount.
"Would you like the pepper ground?"
"No thanks."
She responds flatly as he tapes up the two packages, labeling them as salt and pepper respectively. Lindel puts them into a sack she brought from home, and turns back towards the busy market.
"Eight copper dollars please."
She takes out a small leather wallet and sets down a silver dollar. The man quickly gives her two copper dollars in return.
"Have a good day."
She nods and points further in.
"Cmon Thames!"
As the two continue to walk around, occasionally stopping at tents to buy the remaining goods Lindel needed, they eventually find themselves at a tent selling paint.
Lindel gets close to his left ear to whisper.
"Careful with her.. She's good at selling ya stuff.."
She chuckles and pushes Thames towards the tent being ran by a grey demon lady.
She had a warm looking cloak draped over her, dotted with paint splatters.
"Do you have twilight purple? Oil paint."
The lady smirks as she reaches down, her long nails clattering against a jar.
"How much ya want??"
"A medium jars worth should be fine.."
"Someone likes twilight purple.. Wouldja care for a jar of midnight blue to compliment it? Only a silver dollar extra!"
He grimaces as she states the price, and looks back at Lindel. She just shrugs at him.
"Sure.. A small jar of midnight blue too. Do you have any palettes?"
The demon lady, who was at about Thames' eye height, sets down the medium and small jar of the two paints, then grabs a larger paint palette from a box.
"Will that be all, kind customer?"
He nods while doing the mental math for the prices.
"Five silver dollars and two copper dollars."
He fishes into his pocket and pulls out a wad of silver dollars Ode had given him. He counts out six dollars and sets it on the table before grabbing his items.
The demon lady's eyes twinkle as she takes the dollars, setting down eight copper dollars as change.
Thames takes the money and shoves it back into his pocket, then turns towards Lindel.
"Wanna put those in here?"
She raises the sack full of groceries towards Thames.
"I can carry that."
He says while reaching his hand out.
"Mmmm 'kay."
She hands him the bag, and he puts his paint supplies in it.
"Then should we leave?"
"Yep! Got everything we need I think!"
She looks up at the sky, the sun now gone and the moon taking its place. As the stars start to twinkle she glances down towards Thames.
"Promised you a tour, but it'll have to wait for tomorrow! Sorry.."
She chuckles dryly while turning to leave the market.
"I'll make ya dinner to make up for it."
"Sounds great to me!"
He yells past the now rowdy market, walking closer to Lindel.
"Stick close to me, Thames. Streets get busier at night!"
She grabs his arm and starts pulling him gently, directing him out of the market. Leaving the lightly covered market, the sun sets completely and the street lamps flicker on.
Thames and Lindel run through the street under the twinkling stars and the waning crescent moon. Thames' longer hair flows back as he chases after Lindel, the scent of flowers and ash filling his nostrils.
Before he even realizes it, the two of them makes it back to Ode's home. Both of them, panting, but Thames was clearly more worn out.
Setting down the sack on the road, he rests his hands onto his knees.
"First time runnin?"
She asks jokily in between gasps for air.
"You sound worse, Miss Lindel!"
"Please!"
She raises both hands in protests.
"Miss Lindel was my ma! Call me Lin!"
Thames rolls his eyes.
"Okay Lin, you don't sound better than me!"
She laughs and slaps his back, walking past the wheezing painter and into the house.
He looks up at her figure, contrasting the dark house. Thames follows after her as she lights up the oil lamps around the first floor, and enters the kitchen.
"Set the bag on the table.. What're we feelin like for tonight? Lin's famous sandwich?"
"What makes it famous?"
He asks honestly.
"It's made by me, duh!"
A stupid look crosses her face as she responds to his equally stupid question. He blinks a few times to process her response, but she quickly grabs bread and cheese from the bag.
"Sit! I'll get everything cooked!"
She points at a seat with a knife she took from a drawer, he quickly listens to her and sits.
As he watches her cut the cheese block and butter the sliced bread, he continues to fixate on her flowing dress and shining jewelry.
Almost as fast as he sat down, she presents him with a mediocre looking cheese sandwich. It was untoasted, had no butter, or sauce. He glances at it, then up at Lin who had already begun stuffing her face with her dry sandwich.
"What?"
She asks with her mouth full.
"Nothing at all."
He shrugs as he bites into his sandwich, and, as expected, it was very dry and bland. He chewed it up slowly and swallowed it in a big gulp, but he was satisfied. It reminded him of the sandwiches his sister begged him to make, and the sandwiches he lived off of in Nira when he couldn't get corn.
"So? Pretty famous, right?"
She asks eagerly while licking her lips.
"Mhm! Obviously you're a world class chef."
He responds in sarcasm, but quickly finishes his sandwich and looks up at her.
"Could I paint a portrait of you?"
She gasps and grabs her chest.
"My! The world famous painter, Thames, is asking to paint me!"
He waves her off.
"Yeah it's an honor! You'll have to make sure to keep it so you can brag when I'm known by everyone!"
He responds haughtily.
"Sure man! Paint me then!"
"Do you have paper?"
She thinks then pulls out the crumpled paper which had the grocery list on it. Lin straightens it out and presses it flat in front of Thames. He carefully watched her hands and their rings.
"Will this work?"
She presses her hands on her hips while looking down at Thames.
"Of course! I'll be right back though."
Thames quickly leaves to the paint room Ode had shown him, and grabs a smaller container of grey paint along with a white and black.
Returning to the kitchen with the paint, he takes the palette he bought and puts globs of white, grey, twilight purple, black, gold, and midnight blue.
With an honest smile, Lin looks down at Thames again as he focuses on his paint.
"Should I sit in front of you?"
"Oh sure!"
Lin drags a chair out to right in front of him, their knees close to one another. She props her chin up on her interlocked hands as she stares at him.
"Perfect!"
Turning to the crumpled paper, he begins to paint her body first, using mostly grey, but also mixing some grey with white to outline her lighter skin. As he finishes her body, almost perfectly replicated on the paper in oil paint, he uses the midnight blue to make her short dress.
It flowed to just above her knees, and he then used the white to draw small flowers onto it. He then used the grey again to draw her arms resting on her thighs.
He glances back towards her face, their eyes interlocked as he painted her black bun.
Her face, which was heavily pierced with gold jewelry, clearly took him the longest. He kept turning to reexamine her as he painted on her nose ring and pretty purple eyes.
Finishing it with her bangs slightly covering her twilight eyes, he sets the palette onto the table and presents the portrait to her.
"All done, Lin."
Her eyes move up and down the picture as she examines it closely.
"It's perfect!"