Selfless Love

Paint

As Riftan made his way back to the training grounds after lunch, he passed the room he and Maxi had designated as their children's playroom.  Usually, when he walked by this room, he could hear the voices and laughter of his children as they played together. Not today. Today the room was silent. His curiosity got the better of him as he quietly slipped into the room trying hard not to disrupt the oddly quiet moment. 

He walked into a brightly lit room and found his wife and children painting. Maxi painted a lovely image of the mountains of Anatol. Andrew had painted what Riftan assumed was some type of battle. And little Victoria had created a chaotic storm of at least a dozen colors on her little canvas. Maxi had used brushes, but her children had decided that they thought finger painting would be much more fun. 

The trio sat atop a tarp that had been laid out and stretched to all four corners of the room, in order to protect the floor from paint spills. The tarp crinkled under his feet as Riftan walked towards his family. The rustle of the fabric under his heavy boots alerted them to his presence. Maxi and her children stopped working on their pieces and turned their attention to the tall knight standing just a few steps away. 

"Hi Dad!" Andrew called happily. "Mom introduced us to painting."

"I see that," Riftan said warmly. 

The knight stepped forward, closer to his son's canvas to get a better look at it. 

"You painted a battle?" Riftan asked. 

"Yes!" the boy exclaimed, proud that his father could tell what he was trying to convey. "I was painting the final battle between the Remdragon Knights and Sector, the dragon!" 

Riftan stared at the painting a little while longer. It was messier than his mother's but now that he knew what he was looking at he had a better understanding of what the shapes were supposed to be. The silver and blue streaks towards the bottom of the canvas were his men and the massive red and black shape above the men was the dragon. Its wings, which were disproportionate triangles, were spread wide and a long thin yellow line was angled down from the dragon's head towards the knights. It was breathing fire down on them. Riftan cringed internally at the memory of that day. Perhaps the knights had done too good of a job telling Maximilian about the events of the campaign, which she had then conveyed to their son. 

He leaned down and kissed the top of his son's head, a gesture of pride as he internally beat down the horrors of what he had gone through. As horrible as that time was, he should be proud that his son had painted it and he should feel grateful that he had lived long enough to see paintings of his battles. 

Riftan gave his son's shoulder a gentle squeeze and offered a warm smile before walking over to his wife. Maxi's gentle smile chased away the haunting memories of war that had nearly choked him. Her recreation of the Anatol's mountains was breathtaking, the contrast and depth she had created made the painting feel almost alive. He could tell she had put a lot of heart into this painting, wordlessly expressing her deep love for Anatol, their home. 

"It's almost as lovely as the artist who created it," he said with a smirk, knowing his words would turn her cheeks a beautiful shade of red. 

"They weren't always this nice." Maxi said with a tight smile, turning her gaze from her husband back to her art, unable to hold his gaze as her cheeks flushed. "I started painting during my time at the Mage Tower. It gave me something to do when my mind couldn't handle another minute of studying. It made me feel peaceful, almost happy and it kept me busy so I wouldn't have to think about how much I missed home."

How much I missed you.

Victoria squealed as she spilled a small cup of blue paint onto the floor, which grabbed her parents' attention and kept them from spiraling into the painful, nauseating feeling from the memories of their forced separation. 
Riftan walked over to his daughter and knelt next to her. He looked back and forth between the canvas and his little girl, trying to determine what she had created.

"It's a rainbow, Daddy." Victoria said proudly. 

Riftan stared at her creation a little while longer. Besides the wide variety of hues thrown across the canvas the image looked nothing like a rainbow, but she was obviously proud of her work and therefore he thought it was beautiful. He smiled at her. 

His daughter smiled back as she reached up and patted her tiny hand against the left side of his forehead. He felt something wet drip across his face as her hand brushed against the side of his face but thought little of it. 

He stood up and turned to face his wife and son. Andrew had walked over to his mother so he could see what she had been working on. Their eyes grew wide as they met Riftan's gaze. He watched as his wife pursed her lips together in a thin line and her shoulders trembled. Andrew clamped his hand over his mouth and quickly averted his gaze.

Riftan didn't understand their odd reactions until he briefly caught his reflection in the adjacent window. His lips twitched as he tried and failed to hold in a laugh. From his hairline, down the left side of his face to the edge of his jaw, his daughter had left a trail of dark blue paint. He now understood what his family had found so amusing. Victoria had made Riftan her human canvas. 

Maxi giggled, unable to help herself. Riftan narrowed his eyes at her as he looked at his wife with a sharp look of determination and a hint of mischief. He bent down, smearing green paint on the top of his finger before swiftly walking toward his wife. He moved too fast for her to escape, and he marked the right side of her face with a streak of green. 

She inhaled sharply, utterly stunned, before grinning at him playfully. She grabbed some red paint and smeared it across Riftan's forehead. He took a bit of orange paint and swiped it across his son's face who looked completely baffled having been utterly blindsided. 

Paint flew in untamed chaos and soon the family of four was covered in a rainbow of color. Maxi and Victoria had yellow paint in their hair, Andrew had purple splotches on his boots, and Riftan had a jagged pattern of red and green across the back of his shirt. 

Their children found it to be hilarious and burst into a fit of giggles. Their children's laughter was contagious and Maxi and Riftan soon found themselves laughing merrily at the ridiculous sight. 

There came a knock at the door just before Ruth stepped into the room. 

"The knights were wondering why you haven't returned to the training grounds," said Ruth as his eyes wandered, inspecting the mess. "I see you were...busy." 

"If by that you mean spending time with my family then yes, I was busy," Riftan countered. 
Ruth huffed.

If there was one person in the world who was more uptight than the Commander, it would be Ruth. He never seemed to know how to have fun, not that the Commander was anything less than fierce and battle hardened, more than worthy of his titles, but his children had shown him that it was okay to let his guard down for a moment and have a little fun.

"Children?" Riftan called, with a heavy layer of mischief in his voice. 

"Yes?" the young children answered curiously. 
Riftan's gaze remained locked on his old friend. The smirk on his face slowly melted away leaving a stone-cold expression, an unnatural mask of a calm composure he used on the battlefield. 

Ruth paled. 

"I believe Ruth would love to be your next canvas." Riftan said coolly. "Have at it, and...make the biggest mess you can."

Andrew and Victoria's eyes widened with excitement as wicked grins spread across their faces. Maxi and Riftan weren't sure who screamed louder, the children as they charged forward or the mage as he braced for impact. 

NOTE: If given the opportunity, what do you think Riftan would have painted? Comment below.  : )