The seed with the sun's love in the Spring becomes the rose

[Lyam]

Spring 40th, 512 av Lyam was on the university gardens, sitting on a wood bank before a little table where two books were lying wide opened. The first book was no more than his herbalism journal that Paul had given him back the former morning, full with new notes about different flowers and methods. The second was of course Paul’s book, in which Lyam was now copying flowers drawing and experiences plans. The deal between the two young men was a real success; they both had a complete journal with well-written texts by Paul and well-drawn pictures by Lyam. If it was true that it took them twice the normal time, Lyam was glad having Paul to write his course while he was still unable to take proper notes, and Paul was only too happy to share his notes against Lyam’s drawing that were far better than his. Lyam dunked his feather on the black ink and drew a new flower the fastest he could; with the burning sun, the ink was drying very quickly at the tip of the feather. Between two lines, Lyam raised his head to gaze at the beautiful blue sky. It was only the middle of the spring, however the garden was of full of people, and many of them were already in shirts and shorts. Lyam smiled; for once, the fact that he was stripped to the waist would not shock anyone. He dreamt during few seconds, looking at the shining flowers around him, the green grass that was calling him for a sleep but finally went back to work: he had to finish before the sunset, and he still had a lot to do.

[Nira'lia]

Nira'lia had two books in her arms: one about herbalism, the other one about medicine. Since she was leaving the city in a few weeks, she had to remember to return them soon. The Konti was trying her best to study as much as she could before the day that she left for Alvadas. It was quite difficult though, as herbalism and medicine were usually taught by a mentor. Also, they were best learned through practice. It would have been much easier if she could have the chance to enrol in the university, but it was too late for regret now. All she could do was to try to learn as much as she could from books and from watching her mother. She walked through the University garden. The Konti liked this place -- the scenery was superb, and she liked watching the students go about their everyday lives. As usual, she envied them. Most of them were wearing light clothes because of the warm weather. Nira’lia herself had also decided to forego of her coat for the day. Passing by a shirtless man who was seated with books before him, Nira'lia felt curious. She only caught a glimpse of what he was doing, but she saw that he was sketching something on one of the books. He had his back to her, and so she decided to inch closer, going as silent as she could so he wouldn't notice that someone was peering over his shoulder. He was drawing flowers! His sketches were good, and Nira'lia was very much interested in the task he was doing. She felt awe and found herself imagining how these flowers actually looked like in real life. The Konti saw that aside from the drawings, there were also scribbled notes. Interesting! She just stood there, watching him – and she had no idea that he was a Kelvic and that it wouldn't take much for his heightened senses to notice that she was there right behind him.

[Lyam]

Lyam heard some quiet footsteps behind him but first did not react; many students were actually going behind him to join another part of the garden. But as he did not hear the footsteps moving forward, he turned more careful. Soon, he heard the silent sound of a little breath just behind him and could almost feel the gaze that was peering over his shoulder. Moreover, he could see on the grass a part of a shadow that did not belong to him. Lyam smiled. “If you come closer you would see better,” he said without raising his head. He finished his drawing while the curious spy was moving and sitting on the opposite bank. After few seconds of silence, Lyam finally gaze at… her. She was a blond-haired girl with a childish face and ivory skin. Absorbed by her wonderful blue eyes, Lyam took some time to notice the iridescent white scales that covered some part of her body, and her strange webbed fingers. With her white clothes, she was to Lyam’s eyes like the moonlight shining in broad daylight. He shook his head to stop having a stupid face and smiled to the girl “I’m Lyam. I guess you’re quite interested in flowers?” he added, designing the book he was drawing in.

[Nira'lia]

Feeling intensely embarrassed when he had addressed her, Nira'lia could do nothing but keep quiet as to not disturb his concentration. A tint of red crept up to her face as she felt incredibly silly at her actions. However, she decided to accept his invitation, as she felt very curious as to what he was doing. Nira'lia took a moment to peer at him. She saw that he was a tall man, and somehow, there seemed to be something very animalistic about his features. She guessed it may have been simply by the way he presented himself. After simply letting her stay there, he finally decided to take notice of her. He had stared at her with a face that she couldn't understand, and she stared back, blinking. When he finally spoke, she realized that she was being addressed. "I'm Nira'lia..." she responded with a soft smile. "I'm... I'm interested in herbalism, so I guess that would be a yes. What are you doing...? Is this an assignment in one of your classes?" She took a seat beside him and peered more closely to the drawings he was making. Nira'lia didn't even think about how rude she was being, or if she was invading any boundaries -- she just wanted to understand the task at hand.

[Lyam]

Lyam was not surprised that Nira’lia – that was her name – was interested in herbalism. After all, he barely knew someone who was just interested in flowers for their beauty. However, he was more surprised when the girl stood up again and came just by his side. This was certainly a normal behaviour for humans but his wolf nature felt very tense to it. But he decided to remain pokerfaced and also concentrated on answering Nira’lia’s questions. “Yeah, kind of. I’m indeed studying herbalism and I’ve made a deal with another guy of my class. Those books are our journals, see? And well, I make the drawings while he writes the notes. In that way we have a very complete article about everything we see in course. And well, we have both shared our former experiences too…” Letting Paul’s journal open so that the ink could dry properly, he took his owns to show Nira’lia their work. He explained her one or two things, answering her technical questions when she had some. Then, designing the girl’s books, Lyam remarked “I see you are studying too. Why do I have never seen you in the herbalism class?”

[Nira'lia]

Nira'lia listened to him talk about the journal, feeling the excitement rush in her. Her pale cheeks turned slightly pink from the enthusiasm. The Konti could be childish at times and was very easily impressed, and this was one of those times. She thought it was very clever to pool resources with someone else. But, most of all, she found the idea of compiling your own information very helpful. She leaned forward to get a better look at the journal Lyam was showing her. It was a picture of a flower she had never seen before, with long petals and a vine-like stem. Though the sketch wasn’t perfect, she found the details that Lyam was able to incorporate in it amazing. Nira’lia glanced at the notes that came with it as well – it was a rare flower that could be found in the mountains that surrounded Zeltiva. It had minor healing properties, and when brewed in tea, could help calm the mind. ’Interesting...’ she thought. Nira'lia wondered if she could pull off the task of keeping such a journal. The Konti didn't really have much practice in drawing, but maybe if she tried hard enough, her childish sketches could actually look like plants. Aside from that, she believed in practice -- that even if her initial sketches looked odd, they would get better and better with time. "Oh, I'm not..." she laughed as she realized that he had arrived at the conclusion because of the books she was holding. Nira'lia stared at the books for a while before putting them away. "You really wouldn't see me in your herbalism class because I'm not a student. I just come here to borrow books from the library." Smiling, the Konti looked at him, her eyes flashing brightly. He was easy to talk to. Lyam was a stranger to her, yet she found herself at ease. "Is it difficult to sketch? Because I think it's a wonderful idea. I do believe that this would be a very good learning tool for me... what do you think? Should someone like me without any drawing skills even try?" she chuckled. As if suddenly receiving an epiphany, Nira'lia held out her hand. "Could I borrow your pen...? And do you have some paper you could waste? I'd really like to give it a try!"

[Lyam]

Nira’lia seemed first marvelled by the idea of holding a journal then very excited to try drawing something herself. Lyam smiled gently but hesitated about how to answer. Was it indeed difficult? Not to him in any case. If he could barely write, drawing was pretty easy. So he decided to sidestep the question. He took his feather and gave it to the young girl and tore a white page of his journal. “Here you are,” he said “Let’s begin with something easy…” He skimmed through his journal until he found a nice yellow flower that was certainly one of the easiest to sketch: tulip. Without really thinking about what he was about to say, Lyam began to explain in a slow and reassuring voice: “ Flowers sometimes look complicated. But I can assure you that despite their seeming complexity; flowers are very easy subjects to draw. Because they allow you to make slight inaccuracies going unnoticed to a human eye. All plants are like that. The one you’re going to draw is a tulip, one of the spring’s flowers. Ready?” He smiled to give her some assurance and continued “ Look at my sketch and concentrate on three important features of this tulip: how the stem is curved, how the leaves are shaped, folded and the proportions of the head of tulip to the whole flower. Basically, if you can capture these 3, you can draw proportionally well-balanced flower. Now be cool and don’t think too much, let your wrist guiding you. Draw the stem by one single and weak pencil line. Remember how the stem is curved?” Lyam continued to guide her line by line until something that approximately looked like a flower appeared on the paper. OOCI let you choose whether I’m a good teacher or not

[Nira'lia]

The konti felt nervous as she took the feather pen from Lyam. She took a while to stare at the drawing of the tulip he was showing her. Nira'lia always felt uneasy when she tried new things, and this time, there was even someone else there to watch her. However, she somehow felt comfortable at the fact that his voice was so gentle, and it encouraged her to try as hard as she could. She started from the bottom, because that's where he started describing the tulip as well. Nira'lia drew a small curve, trying to mimic the flower's stem as best as she could. He had told her to do it in one weak line, and she just couldn't control her hand as much as she wanted. Her first try was shaky, and it was obvious... but she needed that shaky first try. She smiled to herself and attempted to sketch the leaves next. It was more complicated, because as he said, some of the leaves were folded. The konti did her best to copy the strange shapes that the leaves produced. Next, it was the head of the tulip -- and this seemed to be the most difficult task of all. The shapes of the petals were much more intricate. The konti’s eyes were stern and serious as she focused all her attention to drawing the petals. She listened to his voice as he continued to give her instructions to do so. The konti blinked and took her hand away from the paper. She was done, and while it was nothing when compared to what she had copied, it came out better than she thought. The konti moved with a certain kind of grace in everything she did, and this was evident in her first try in drawing. She had started off shakily, but she had a natural way of holding the pen and drawing lines, and that produced an amateur but clean drawing. Somehow, she was able to sketch the tulip in a way that it looked like a tulip... if you knew what you were looking at. He was a great teacher, Nira'lia thought. She felt proud at her first try. Grinning, she looked up at him and held the paper up by its corner. She showed it to him, her eyes twinkling brightly. "Well, what do you think?"

[Lyam]

Lyam looked at the sketch Nira’lia had just done and checked his own. They looked familiar… kind of… for someone who wouldn’t be very careful. Lyam had a little mocking smile when he answered “This is not so bad for your first try. But honestly what you’ve just drawn is a mountain weed, nothing to do with a tulip. The leaves are straight here and you made a curve instead and this petal is more like this, see?” He laughed gently: “But well, it’s nice enough to be stick on your wall!” Lyam could feel the girl’s deception, even if she tried to hide it: wolf sense. So he put his stuff on his bag that was lying on his feet and stood up. “Come on,” he said, holding his hand out to the girl “Let’s give it another try.” He walked then through the garden, looking for a nice tulip to draw. He found it with ease and sat just before it. The glints of the sun on the yellow flower were wonderful and Lyam missed suddenly the coloured inks of the library. He really should buy some, some day. He tore two other piece of paper from his journal, and gave Nira’lia a real pencil while he was taking the feather and the ink. “Ok,” he began, “Now it’s up to you. You already know the flower, now just… feel it.” He did not add anything and began to draw on his own piece of paper, taking his journal as a support. But he did not concentrate only to the flower but instead to the whole place behind it. The real effect was amazing; a single yellow flower that seemed very big because it was very near, in the middle of a place with many empty banks, many people in the grass and a fountain where some students were splashing each others. He gave his best to catch the effect but the lack of colours would not help him.

[Nira'lia]

Nira'lia couldn't help but laugh. It was an enchanting sound that she made in reply to Lyam's criticism. A mountain weed! She wasn't expecting that. Gingerly, she had taken his hand to be helped up from her seat, even if her mind was telling her not to. She didn't want to offend him, though, and he didn't know about her Konti gift. As soon as their skins touched, she saw clear images of a boy with his parents, playing in the lake, taking a picnic, basically just having fun. The feeling of happiness that Nira'lia felt was warm and inviting, and she thought to herself, maybe she agreed to take his hand to be able to take a curious glimpse. As they faced their new model, Nira'lia made an effort to take a suspicious look at his own drawing. He was not only drawing the flower, but also the background to it, of an image of strangers having fun. And she realized that it resembled the vision she had just seen a few moments earlier. Perhaps he misses his parents? thought Nira'lia in her mind, but she didn't ask. She stared at him for a while, wondering what he longed for the most. Smiling, she focused back on her own piece of paper and started to sketch the flower with the little skill that she had. She found it much more difficult than copying the drawing earlier, because this time, the flower was real. It swayed to the wind, and she had a hard time drawing it because the flower wasn't on a flat piece of paper, unlike earlier. The konti tried her best though, drawing the lines and curves with the pencil, focusing on one of the petals... and when she looked back at the flower, she couldn't help but frown when she saw that the wind had changed its angle. Nira'lia went back to her drawing, struggling draw the flower in the most natural way she could. Nira'lia peered at Lyam's drawing again, and it was more complete than when she last looked. The landscape of the people and the surroundings was much more defined now. Even with just a pencil, he was able to capture the basic essence of the scene. "That's pretty good... though you're being way too advanced, teacher!" she said, grinning. She showed him her drawing, which was actually a bit worse looking than her first one, because she had a difficult time drawing something that kept changing positions. ”It’s... even worse... but what do you think about this one?”