Amentia

Chapter 57 - An elaborate sketch

When Almar and Meira went downstairs the next morning, they found Nina sleeping on the couch hugging her sketchbook with both arms like a treasure. She looked even more like a child than she usually did. They made sure to be as quiet as possible, because she looked exhausted even as she slept.

It wasn't until the entire troupe was sitting at the table having breakfast that Nina opened her eyes and woke up in a daze, not remembering ever going to sleep. Her short hair was pointing in three different directions and she had dark circles around her eyes. However much sleep she'd got, it hadn't been enough.

She rubbed her eyes furiously and flipped the open sketchbook to look at the drawing she'd been keeping close to her heart while she slept. She had to blink a few times to force her sight to focus. She pursed her lips and tilted her head. It still didn't look right.

"You will have to let go of that drawing at some point," said Birdie very loudly right into Nina's ear, catching the attention of everyone else in the room.

"Damn it, Birdie, keep it down," said Nina, rubbing her ear.

"My job is to make noise that you can't ignore, so no," stated Birdie and hovered in front of Nina's eyes to give her a stern look. "You won't get a truer drawing than that one and you know it; show it to them."

Nina looked down at the page again, unconvinced. She hugged the sketchbook again and turned her head to look at the troupe, who had of course been watching this exchange attentively from their seats at the table. Nina looked into the eyes of each member, lingering a moment longer on Adam's. Birdie disappeared as Nina got up from the couch to walk to the table, hesitation clear in her face, and maybe with a bit of fear too. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and flipped the sketchbook to reveal the drawing. In the darkness of her closed eyes, Nina heard a few soft gasps as a first reaction followed by a heavy silence that seemed to last a lifetime.

"Did anyone else just hear her voice?" asked Almar, breaking the ice.

Nina opened her eyes just in time to see everyone nodding in response. She searched for Adam's eyes and found tears coming out of them. Zoe, who always had such blank facial expressions, was openly crying as well. Everyone stared at the drawing with glassy eyes and expressions of the utmost awe.

"It's... it's not my best work, I... some of the proportions are off and... the hair is... it's probably not curly enough..."

"Nina..." said Ruvyn, her voice almost cracking from the emotion. "I knew that face for over thirty years. I assure you this drawing is absolutely perfect."

Nina inhaled sharply and released the air slowly. She looked down at the drawing once more before giving it to Omylia to pass it around the table, finally letting go of it.

It was simply Maylin's face turned just a little bit to the side and her upper torso with her arms crossed. The portrait had no color, no background, and very few sharp edges; it was merely an elaborate sketch. Nina had left it in that style on purpose because drawing from memory didn't allow her to draw an exact and clear reproduction of the subject. She had tried to clean it up, but it didn't quite work. It just rang truer as a sketch; it left it more open to interpretation. After all, Maylin had been a difficult person to figure out; her lines weren't clear because she was many things and very few things at the same time. And Nina knew that an accurate drawing wasn't always a true drawing. Maybe the proportions weren't completely right, but everyone felt Maylin's presence in that drawing so strongly and so clearly that it was overwhelming. They could almost hear her talking to them, and that smirk on her mouth was practically yelling her deep and scarcely-present laugh at them. The crossed arms added a nice touch, making her seem self-confident as she always was, and both disapproving and proud depending on how you looked at it. Somehow those crossed arms showed all the usual attitudes Maylin had. The eyes were especially true; Nina had put more effort into them than everything else. They had her kindness, boldness, rudeness, selflessness and strength. All of Maylin was there on that page, even if the drawing wasn't actually close to reality. The heart and soul were there, clear as day, and it was the only thing that mattered.