Amentia

Chapter 39 - The power of stories

The troupe began coming out of the stairs doorway in the next half hour, each in different states of sleepiness. Anna and Meiko seemed particularly well-rested.

"Look, look!" Adam said to Maylin when she sat on the table to have her breakfast.

He was waving Nina's drawing in front of her, keeping her from drinking her tea in peace. Maylin took the drawing to look at it just so he would calm down. While she observed it, Adam stood next to her imitating the pose in the drawing but with an exaggerated expression on his face. He'd been doing the same thing to each person who showed up in the living room. Maylin pointedly ignored him and turned to look at Nina, who was leaning against the back of the couch, eager to know her opinion but trying to conceal it.

"You saw right through him," she said in a tone that was both amazed and proud. She gave the drawing another glance and nodded. "It's very good, kid. Did you put magic in this?" Maylin asked as she returned the paper to her and took a sip of her tea.

"No. Why does everyone think I use powers to draw? What do you see?" Nina said, frowning and looking down at the drawing. It was a good drawing, a very true drawing, but what was magical about it?

"It's not something to be seen; it's felt," Maylin replied in a surprisingly solemn voice. "It's more than just lines on a piece of paper; it has your soul in it, clear as day."

Nina was elated to receive such wonderful compliments from Maylin, as she was a creature that was very hard to please. It was easy to forget due to her bulky and intimidating appearance, but Maylin was a great admirer of the arts; she wouldn't have joined the troupe otherwise. She was an artist herself, except her canvas was wood instead of paper; one only needed to look at the rooms and furniture of this house or the stage in the park to know how much she cared about detail and finesse. So her compliments carried a lot of weight.

"And you made Ahlit look far more interesting and prettier than he actually is," Maylin added returning to her light tone of voice.

"Hey!" Adam complained, and made a gesture with his right hand: with the fingers stretched and the palm facing in, his hand crossed the eyes from left to right in a rapid motion. Maylin in turn made the gesture of apology, though with just one hand because she was holding a piece of toast with the other: she put her left hand on her chest, then moved it across her eyes from right to left, and placed the hand back on her chest.

It hadn't looked like an angry exchange; it was quite the opposite. Despite the insult, Adam was still glad Maylin had called him Ahlit twice in just two days. She really was getting soft since the girls had arrived. Before, he was lucky if he heard the nickname once every season.

Breakfast was spent in discussion of the chores of the day. There was also a bit of a debate on whether or not they would perform. They had all agreed to do it the previous day, but that had been before the event in the afternoon had taken place. There were some who were just not feeling very artistic at the moment, so Az tried his best to motivate his troupe. He used his best storyteller voice to try to reignite a bit of the passion that had brought them together in the first place.

"This is exactly why we do this," he said. "To create a spark in dark times, to bring happiness to others and to ourselves."

Omylia was the hardest ones to persuade; Azariah had to bring out all his best words to get her to see a bit of light in the horizon. Anna was a bit worried about the wind around her; if she didn't find something nice to hold onto, she'd be in trouble soon. But eventually Az did convince her that if she participated in this play, she would feel so silly and warm inside that it would be impossible to stay sad for long. He actually acted out a few lines of the play to get a smile out of her to prove his point.