Ebony Mist -Original

Part VII: Runaway Kitten

Alaura opened up the wardrobe in her room to see what she had available to wear. She was not surprised to find a small variety of darkly colored dresses to choose from. Mostly darker hues of blue and green painted the fabrics the cloths were made out of. Deciding that this meant it didn't matter which she chose, she grabbed the first one and pulled it out to replace it with the blue one she had been wearing before.

While she dressed, Alaura grudgingly thought about what to paint, as the master had commanded her to. Nothing harmful, she didn't want anymore accidents to happen. Her eyes strayed to the dead garden below her window, and she knew exactly what to do.

After pulling on some comfortable slippers that had also been in the wardrobe, the princess left the room and found her way back to the chamber that held the canvases and paint supplies. As she walked, the torches lit long enough to light her way before snuffing out behind her, guiding her through the halls. In the room, the fire lit to life as she opened the door. Standing there, she examined the different sizes and wondered which to use, and how to bring everything to the garden.

Before worrying about transport, she moved around some of the smaller sized canvases to find two she liked. She found an oval shaped one not much bigger than her hand to use to start, then a rectangular one with the height of her waist, and twice that lengthwise.

Once they were picked out, she went to the paints, and regarded how to move the chest containing the tools she would need to paint. That's when both the chest and the canvases lifted up, floating. Alaura looked astonished, only to catch red at the corner of her eye. Looking to the door, there sat Xi, the lantern on his tail shaking back and forth.

"Where to, princess?" Xi asked in a dull, bored tone. Alaura found herself messing with the hem of her sleeve nervously, his earlier comment about wanting her for breakfast making her uncomfortable in his presence.

"The courtyard, you know, the dead garden below my window," she told him.

"Outside? As you wish. It is a warm day with a gentle breeze," Xi told her, turning away from the room, the floating items following suite.

"It is? Good, that means the paint will dry faster," Alaura said, following him and the paint supplies from the room and down the hall. Through glass double doors they stepped out to the courtyard, to find that the demon had been right. The chill from last night had lifted to be a pleasant and sunny day, almost making the dreary castle pleasant. Alaura examined the courtyard now that she stood inside it, gauging where to sit.

"Here, in this corner," she said, keeping her distance from the cat, who set down the chest and canvases. Alaura went to the chest and found the pieces to an easel inside, which she had noticed earlier. Alaura started assembling the pieces. "I wish I had a stool," she sighed.

"Coming right up," the red demon cat said, and trotted off, disappearing before reaching the door. Alaura stared at the spot he had vanished from for a moment before returning to her work, setting the smaller canvas on it first, and going through the colors and brushes. Anything she would ever want for painting was here in this chest. Every brush, palette knife, or tool was there, along with every major, and many minor colors. What she didn't have could be easily mixed to make just the color she needed.

Without waiting for Xi, Alaura got to work with the canvas, putting globs of paint on a palette and picking out paintbrushes. Her hands worked swiftly to put color on the blank whiteness. Every stroke brought the image to life until soon on the canvas lay curled up a sleeping kitten. Just then, Xi appeared beside her, a stool floating next to him, and coming to set behind her. Violet eyes looked up at the painting.

"What a little cutie-pie. Reminds me of my own kits," Xi said with a nod. Alaura looked down at Xi with surprised at the remark, not expecting it, but the demon already disappeared.