PM to join Starting out at the Gallery

[Eldrid]

8th Winter 515 AV

Eldrid remained silent as Narista Chevan showed her around the gallery. Despite her employer and guide's bubbly nature she found herself severely saddened by her inability to produce any form of completed art in her 5 day stay in Riverfall despite the marvelous ice formations she had seen the day she arrived. Residents said it had been there since the day before, and yet, Eldrid had not found any inspiration in the beautiful patterns.
"-and coming up in a matter of days is the Festival of Hope so you shall be setting up for that with the relevant themes of course." Narista said, interrupting the Akvatari's sullen musings with a warm smile, quite the antithesis to Eldrid.
"Thank you, I shall start seeking out some pieces for the exhibition as soon as I can." Eldrid replied as she worked up a smile for the human's benefit, she had asked for this job after all. Narista nodded in confirmation before she resumed showing Eldrid around the sizable showroom and explaining her duties working in the gallery.

Eldrid almost chuckled as Narista mentioned taking the tours slowly to allow guests time to appreciate the art.
"That won't be a problem, on the ground my fastest is somewhere between a shamble and a shuffle." She replied with a somewhat sarcastic note to her speech.
"That will do quite nicely here. Not to mention you'll have plenty of time to explain the art direction and interpretations of the piece during the tours!" Narista responded with further infectious, bubbly, exuberance. Unfortunately the infection was quelled rapidly by a veritable waterfall of crashing anxieties and disappointments within Eldrid, preventing her from sharing in the cheer.

"Thank you. But the Festival of Hope you mentioned? What exactly is it about?" Eldrid asked as she inspected some of the artworks on display for that day.
"Ah yes, you aren't exactly from this area . . . " Narista said as she pondered.
"Well, in short, the festival is a celebration of life in the face of the coming winter. It may be a good idea to read up on it in the library before you get started with setting up." She said before fixing Eldrid with another smile and closing off the tour. Eldrid thanked her once more for the employment and set about inspecting the pieces present in the gallery and planning small shifts for the exhibition.

[Eldrid]

9th Winter 515 AV

Eldrid sat quietly behind the desk of the Chevan Art Gallery where purchases and inquiries were handled. In her slender, delicate hands she held an aged, weathered, leather bound book. Zandar, the friendly librarian who had tracked down the book with uncanny swiftness and certainty despite its unmarked spine, had recommended it as a guide to the festivals and celebrations of Riverians such as the Festival of Hope. Eldrid's fingertips glided over the words, caressing the page lightly as she read and then scribbled down a summary of what she needed.

"Celebration of life . . . Denizens celebrate the passing of another season which has brought them more children to continue their legacy." She murmured softly as her ink stick scribbled the words down in the back pages of her blank book. It helped a great deal to use ink sticks when she was working in the gallery she had found, it limited the charcoal smudges on her hands which meant she could freely handle paintings that needed shifting. She noticed a small grey wisp on the edge of her vision, but ignored it as it faded out as quickly as it had appeared.

"Children of Riverfall each gather branches from a tree . . . " She continued, pausing from her jotting as a small mote of grey appeared before her. It faded rapidly as well though, causing her to dismiss it as a trick of the basement floors windows and torches before she continued. "And weave decorative wreaths and laurels from the b-" Eldrid froze. Before her floated an ethereal grey laurel made crudely from branches. At the same moment she stopped reading she noticed a ripple sweep through the laurel and moments later it vanished. She placed her ink stick down and reached her hand out to the area where the floating laurel had been. There was clearly nothing there now.
Did I imagine it? . . . Must have . . . Overly active imagination.
She thought as she shook her head lightly and picked up the ink stick once more, preparing to continue her foray into culture.

"The festival is closely related to Oriana. Many smaller capers are organised for the Riverian progeny throughout the day , along with a scavenger hunt. The grand prize for the winner is a bear-totem . . ."
Eldrid froze again with her mouth open and leapt back slightly almost causing her toga to catch on her chair. Her wings fluttered vigorously to hold her airborne as she came back down and inspected the ethereal, grey totem which had appeared. She reached out a hand and attempted to grab the totem, scarcely able to contain her surprise when her hand closed around the prize. It felt as hard and smooth as glass, with similar coldness but none of the usual glazed translucency or weight. She shifted the totem to the table, scared that dropping it might cause it to shatter. Eldrid sat, gazing from the totem to the book briefly before she picked the book up in both hands and continued reading.
"Carved from sturdy, solid wood in an intricate style. . ." She echoed the words on the page and glanced to the totem. Before her eyes the colour and texture of wood filled the totem as if liquid wood had been leaked upon it. Soon after a collection of intricate depressions, grooves and raised edges scored and snaked their way around the totem, as if some invisible force were carving them while Eldrid watched. She placed the book down and reached out for the totem once more. Now she could feel the grain and roughness of the wood. The weight as well, it was heavier now. She turned it over in her hands repeatedly as she tried to fathom what had just happened. Then, about a chime later, the totem vanished. Dissolved into grey mist whilst she still held it.

Eldrid reeled back in surprise before she collected herself again and edged closer to the book.
I'll take it to Zandar tomorrow . . . Right now I need to finish researching . . .
She thought to herself, still not quite sure as to what had transpired.
From that moment on she read in hurried silence, burning through the sections regarding children making rings around Priskil's tower and lighting lanterns placed where branches had been removed for laurels or wreaths. She was not keen to see what else might appear.

[Eldrid]

10th Winter 515 AV

Eldrid sat behind the Chevan Art Gallery desk once more, however this time she had no book with her.
"I know what I saw . . . Why didn't it happen when Zandar read though?"
She murmured softly as she thought out loud. She could not fathom what she saw, it had definitely happened though. It was just like that day soon after she had arrived, when all the sugar in the Blue Gem had been replaced with salt. Nauti had not been please at all, and yet nobody could understand how it had happened, yet it had definitely happened.

It was then that a browser entered the gallery, disrupting Eldrid's musings. She floated into the air and fluttered over to the visitor, putting her worries out of her mind and mustering her best smile.
"Good day Sir. Would you like me to take you through our artworks today?" She asked warmly, genuinely grateful for the temporary distraction. The male Akalak wore a large fur cloak over his normal clothing and leather bracers. The brown fur contrasted greatly with his midnight-skin, a sight Eldrid was still becoming accustomed to since her arrival.
"Why yes, that would be enjoyable."
He replied, a slightly odd lilt surrounding his common accent. Eldrid proceeded to escort him through the paintings, moving along the ground with her tail as she did. The great decrease in speed resulted in more time for conversation regarding the different pieces as they moved through, and meant Eldrid could keep the most hurried customers busy for quite a length of time. For some, this may have been annoying, but most of those visiting the gallery were there to appreciate the art.
"Ah, here we have a depiction of a forge. A marvelous rendering created by one of the Valkalah students."
"Indeed, the detail on this one is exquisite."
"Yes, if my memory serves, Narista Chevan mentioned the artist worked for almost a full year on this piece alone. The results speak for themselves."

The banter between Eldrid and her nameless customer continued almost non-stop as they moved through the art gallery. Eldrid found herself standing on the backfoot in the battle of artistic knowledge, this man was clearly well versed in art, and had a home ground advantage to boot. As the paintings became more interpretive however, Eldrid found herself shifting more into a comfort zone so to speak. She could hold her own quite well on interpretive know-how, it was the point where she found poetry and painting became one.
"In this painting we can see the artists representation of the enormity of certain challenges faced by young Akalak men."
"Ah, I see. At first glance it appears to be a simple hunting scene."
"Indeed, but if you look at the way the artist replaces the hunters weapons with restricting chains you can see the ways the hunter is held back. . . Ah and here we have a rather striking painting of a Zith hunt."
Eldrid continued through the tour, retaining her own opinions on the cultural representations of certain paintings.

At the end of the tour Eldrid found herself selling 2 beautiful pieces to the knowledgable male.
"Thank you for visiting. Please be sure to come by during the Festival of Hope, we will be featuring some specially selected pieces in the exhibition." She said as she saw to the exchange of mizas and goods as quickly as she could. Such large quantities of capital often made her feel uncomfortably responsible.
"Ah yes, about that. I actually wanted to find out if I could have a piece of my own featured in said exhibition."
He replied with a quick, winning smile. Eldrid stopped and fixed him with a small thoughtful look. Her general reaction to unexpected information was to pause and consider before she acted on anything, and right now, she was ecstatic that this stranger would feature a piece for the exhibition.
"Yes! Yes of course! Can I just take down your name? And the name of your piece if applicable? I shall need the actual piece to be in before the day of the festival of course."
She said as she pulled out a sheet of parchment to scribble on.
"Yes, of course. My name is Hyrenal Altvis. The piece is titled 'Hope rides the Wind'"
He stated cheerfully as she jotted the details down.

With that Hyrenal left the gallery and Eldrid quickly made arrangements for the artpieces to be delivered while adding the new entry to her festival roster. The drama regarding the book temporarily forgotten.

[Eldrid]

13th Winter 515 AV

An icy draft blew through the corridors of the Valkalah Academy, but on the basement floor, where the Chevan Art gallery resides, the small group Eldrid led through the art exhibition was unaffected. The temperature of the basement floor always possessed a slightly chillier touch than the surface floors of the academy, but it was nothing the wide shouldered fur cloaks and elegant coats of the ladies and gentlemen couldn't handle. Their guide, an elegant yet delicate looking Akvatari, wore nothing besides her race's traditional clothing however she too was immune to the wintry effects thanks to her race's gift of temperate endurance. All around them, ice cold gemstone carvings and clay sculptures dominated most of the central floor space while painting canvases and mounted sketches covered the wall spaces whose colours created an altogether muted scenery, contrary to expectation. Eldrid had chosen to change up the pieces on display with a few of the more wintry creations. This way, she was able to create a more subtly beautiful scene in preparation for the vibrance that would soon grace the gallery on the 15th of winter. The Festival of Hope. She had already been sorting through several of the more notable local artists' works, as well as many of the more novice student pieces. A vibrant spread had been planned out for the themed festival exhibition. It would run for at least 10 days in Eldrid's mind, and she would rotate the creations daily, allowing as many pieces to find the admiration they deserved during the festival. There was even a childrens' artwork segment which would appeal to the more artistic riverian progeny as well as showcasing the talents of those being celebrated during the festival.

All of these thoughts and plans ran through Eldrid's mind simultaneously as she explained the merits of Surakal Arctos' Winter Falls piece, well, the merits which went further than the pun within the name.
"Whilst this piece uses understated tones and textures to portray the still life of the frozen falls, we can see the real focus of the artist within the intricacies he uses elsewhere in the painting. Here the artist has paid painstaking attention to the riverfall docks, an influx of life and livelihood for any city. This focusing of detail can often demonstrate priorities for an artist, even if the artist did not consciously intend for their feelings to show. This is also demonstrated in Surakal Arktos' emphasis of Nysel's Tower. The artist's well-known connection to The Dreamer, or the God Nysel, is common knowledge and quite often manifests in his more dreamlike creations. Over here we have Surakal Arktos' portrayal of a child's dream of a winter forest. The diminutive stature of the protagonist in this image demonstrates the overwhelming nature of the world from a young Akalak's perspective." The exhibition moved through the collection of Surakal's pieces, which Eldrid grouped together because the artist was not one that could be easily explained in little segments. She had noticed, albeit only when it was completely obvious, that the length of stable subject often lulled the more casual visitors into a small trough of boredom. This was usually alleviated when she moved onto the pieces of Nimlar Kanu, a local artist who had come by the inspiration for his peculiar and hypnotic pieces through the use of substances such as Warp and Winger, obtained during his trips to Wind Reach. Eldrid always found the most peculiar patterns in the forms of his paintings. She often encouraged guests to search for their own perception of his works, what it was that their eyes found. This interested her poetic side, the side which often saw peculiar connections where there were none, a great deal. Discovering what a random group of visitors saw in the strange patterns of a narcotic painter often gave Eldrid small snippets of ideas for poems, unfortunately the ideas never developed beyond snippets.

The small group moved around the room slowly as Eldrid shuffled along answering various questions about the art as well as the odd bold one regarding her own strange appearance. She often found it hard to believe that other cities were this unfamiliar with her race's appearance, either that or she simply found the ignorant souls amongst the normal folk. Suffice to say, she had answered quite a vast array of questions regarding her tail, which seemed to be more interesting than her wings. Despite the minor annoyance caused by this, she usually persevered, helped along by an actual question regarding art, often mercifully timed by a considerate visitor as well. Eldrid was happy to answer questions as well as she was able, and the blessing of a constant display meant she only had to learn the stories of a few pieces at a time. The coming rotating display for the festival would be her greatest challenge so far, along with the children's section. She did not wish to downplay the importance of that section, but she had struggled to decide on something she could say regarding the younger citizens' creations. A prepared speech might have been a good idea, but that would constitute reading aloud, something Eldrid had found to be out of the question as of late.

Her mental meanderings where soon brought to an end when she found herself reaching the end of the guided tour and inviting the guests to continue browsing at their own leisure or to approach her if they wished to buy a specific piece for their own home. The usually gloomy Akvatari couldn't help but smile slightly amidst the world of art she had found herself embroiled. At least here she was sure to find some form of inspiration for her own work.