The watchers clan pt3

The air was damp in this part of the Watcher's territory, the silence broken only by the occasional drip of water falling beside them. Cailu, Jeon-e, Mer, and Valentine stood together, surveying the curved expanse of the wall before them. The gems embedded in the rock shimmered faintly, little white gems all over the place. Their luminescence, subtle but steady, gave the impression of stars caught mid-glisten, frozen in time.

 

Saikaam, the Watcher’s leader, stood a few paces behind them, his quiet gaze lingering on the reos. "You have been accepted into our ways," he said, his voice low and even, but quite stern. "Now you will paint a piece of our territory, and you will leave your mark, a symbol of unity between our paths. Paint what resonates with you, what speaks of this moment and of your journey here."

 

Cailu’s eyed the expense of the wall, nodding to himself. He turned to the others. "Do you want to paint a starry night sky?" he said after a moment, "Or maybe just the moon, like the tapestry we saw in the clothing room when we got dressed."

 

Jeon-e looked at the wall thoughtfully. "And the gems can be the starsstars," she added. "See how they shine?"

 

Valentine considered the wall’s curvature and the gems embedded in it. "I'm sure we can find some constellations to paint between the gems"

 

Mer nodded eagerly, looking around and trying to find clusters of gems together.

 

Saikaam approached, setting down round vases filled with a mix of paints, both vibrant colors and fluorescent hues. Each vase held a different color: deep indigos, silvery whites, the golden-yellow of moonlight, and the earthy browns of soil and bark. All colors they had seen were represented in the clothes they were wearing too. Brushes lay beside them, crafted from smooth wood and splintered at the end to create the bristles, with deep signs of teeth in the handles. They had been used many times, for many artworks, by the number of indentations.

 

"Take your time," Saikaam said, stepping back. "We will enjoy the story you will paint no matter what it is."

 

The four reos exchanged a glance, a shared breath passing between them, and then began. Jeon-e approached the wall first, gripping a brush between her teeth, and dipped the brush into the deep indigo paint. She swept a long arc across the surface and then kept going, going back and forth when her brush started running out of paint. Her strokes were fluid, forming the beginnings of a night sky.

 

Valentine joined her next, selecting a thinner brush and the white paint. He dotted the indigo with tiny stars, careful to place them where the gems already gleamed, trying to form constellations like the ursa major with the biggest gem he noticed on the wall. The interaction between the silvery white paint and the light of the gems created an illusion of stars winking in and out of existence everytime the crystals changed intensity in their brightness.

 

"Not too many," he said around the brush in his mouth. "let's see how it ends up first and then we can add more if we feel it's lacking."

 

Jeon-e nodded, stepping back to admire their growing canvas. "Perfect."

 

"What if we did the moon cycle?" Mer popped up randomly.  "it would look better than a single big moon. I don't know on which moon i was born, but i think it would be symbolic to have all the moons, so they can represent all of us."

 

The others thought about it a little and then nodded, and Cailu and Mer moved to the other side of the wall, each working on the moons. Cailu began with the full moon, smack in the middle of the wall, while Mer painted the new moon on the opposite side.

 

The four worked in a rhythm, their movements coordinated as they tried to paint without impeding the other. Jeon-e and Valentine switched seamlessly from the sky to the crescent moons, placing themselves in between the other two. Once Cailu and Mer finished the full and new moon, they also went to the next phases, the waxing and waning.

 

Saikaam watched in silence, his expression unreadable but his eyes sharp and thoughtful, but the four reos hardly noticed, too focused on their work and at how enjoyable the peace of it all was. It was admirable that the four reos wanted to paint something they had noticed the Watchers had a preference for, it made them thoughtful. 

 

Hours passed unnoticed and the reos stepped back only when the wall’s story felt complete. The sky stretched vast and infinite, dotted with small stars and with the full cycle of the moon, adorned by gold accents to make them pop. The gems also glittered white, dimming back and forth and giving the impression of the painting being alive. 

 

Cailu stood silent for a moment, his eyes tracing the moons before turning to Saikaam. "What do you think?"

 

The Watcher's leader stepped forward slowly, his gaze sweeping over the painted wall. He lingered on the moons, the stars, the effect the gems gave to the painting. He nodded, and that was it.

 

They had been accepted by the Watchers' clan.