The room around her seemed dark because the roof blocked out the sunlight from behind. Juinlift blinked, her eyes adjusting to the different lighting inside, and used the opportunity to look around.
There was a staircase to her right and a small corridor ahead. On the other side, there was a door that let through some light at the side but she couldn’t make out what was behind it. Instead, she turned to the left, finding a large room that took up almost half the space of this floor. Clearly, this was the room she had seen from outside.
Juinlift took half a step, her gaze wandering: Paintings were displayed on the walls all around the room, some of them simply hung up on a small rope as they were while others had been framed before they went up. Some additional paintings were displayed on easels or rested on waist-high pedestals, taking up the space below the ones that had been hung up. Overall, there were likely two dozen paintings or so.
As for the woman who had made them, she was standing right in the middle of the room, a large piece of cloth beneath her feet, an apron haphazardly thrown over her clothes, and a brush and a color palette in hand, working on her next piece.
Juinlift had walked into the room so quietly that Stiwa hadn’t even noticed her and simply continued to paint as if she was alone. Juinlift smiled and tiptoed closer, peeking over the painter’s shoulder to get a closer look at the painting. As expected, it was another beauty in progress.
This one held a basket in her arms, a longish one that was almost half as tall as her own figure. She smiled at the viewer, her eyes seeming to sparkle with joy as if she was proud after having just finished weaving it or as if she had bought it after wanting it for a long time.
It was a little strange to see. Baskets — even though they were Juinlift’s source of living — were still something that most people saw as ordinary items for everyday use. But in the eyes of this painter, they seemed like something extraordinary, something beautiful that deserved to be painted. It was quite endearing to see.
Juinlift didn’t want to disturb Stiwa at work so she turned around after one look and instead studied the rest of the room more closely, trying to get a feeling of how the other woman lived.
Almost at a glance, she realized that her sister might have been understating when she said that Stiwa came to buy some baskets every now and then. She had seen the counter from outside but had focused more on the things she wasn’t familiar with so she hadn’t registered it at first. Now that she was deliberately looking for them though, she found several of the smaller baskets on top that were barely as high as a palm. One held brushes, one engulfed a vase with a bouquet of fresh flowers, and one even contained a handful of small stones that Stiwa had picked up from who-knew-where.
Juinlift raised her brows and looked for further baskets in the rest of the room. She didn’t have to search long. Her wares were distributed throughout to the point where she couldn’t help but feel that the painting of the beauty surrounded by baskets hadn’t come just from imagination.
Looking at this house, there really was the possibility to stuff a room full of them: One basket stood beside the door, currently holding an umbrella. Another one stood on the ground beside the counter, containing some crumpled-up pieces of paper. There was one in the corner of the room, standing right next to a painting on one of the larger pedestals. A bouquet of flowers had been stuffed inside, the delicate petals repeating the colors from the painting beside.
Even in her own family’s house, she didn’t think they had this many of them. It made her wonder just what the painter was thinking. Most of the baskets didn’t look like she needed them at all. For example, if you already had a vase for your flowers, why put it in a basket? She really wasn’t sure about that.
While Juinlift was looking around, Stiwa had finished the next part of her painting. She turned to look at the door, wondering whether Juinlift would come by soon. She had actually thought she’d be there bright and early but now, several hours had gone by since the market usually started and there still wasn’t a trace of her.
Not seeing anyone at the door, she pursed her lips and wanted to go back to painting when she finally noticed the movement behind her. Surprised, she turned around, her brows jumping up when she realized that she not only hadn’t noticed that somebody had come in but that she had apparently missed the arrival of the person she had waited for.
She tsked at herself for being too focused on work and then called out. “Oi, weaver girl! How long have you been standing there?”
Juinlift turned back to her, laughing when she saw Stiwa’s expression. “Why? Are you afraid I might have seen something I shouldn’t have seen? Didn’t you say yesterday you would hurry home to tidy up? If you didn’t get around to it yet, I’m afraid you couldn’t have changed it even if I loudly announced myself when I came in.”
Stiwa looked around pointedly and then turned back to Juinlift. “Doesn’t it look tidy?”
Juinlift took another look around as well and had to say that, well, with everything being kept in baskets, it really was tidier than the usual home. It even had the air of being especially put together with everything looking so similar. “Well, it seems you did a good job, Ms. Painter.”
“That’s the way I always do things. Whether it is painting or tidying, these hands are able to do it all.”
“I see, I see.” Juinlift laughed and shook her head at Stiwa. This painter, if her hands were only half as deft as her mouth, then surely, she could do a lot with them.
“Well, I have to admit that part of it is surely also because there is a good place to put everything. Did you see the baskets I bought?” Stiwa wriggled her eyebrows at Juinlift, looking very much as if she was waiting for praise.
Juinlift raised her brows in response. “I don’t think there would’ve been any possibility to overlook them. There seems to be one in every corner.”
“Not just one in every corner. I made sure there is one in every corner, along each wall, and another one if there is a certain distance between them. In case you weren’t looking at my walls to see all my lovely paintings, you would at least stumble over one of the baskets while you were walking around.”
Juinlift chuckled again but didn’t bother to answer. Anyway, she would be able to recognize her own baskets, wouldn’t she?
Stiwa laughed as well and then pointed up to the ceiling. “Do you want me to show you the rest of the house? I just have to lock the door so nobody breaks in.”
Juinlift nodded, not hesitating at all. She had come here to have a look around, right? Why wouldn’t she want to see the rest as well?
Stiwa gave a hum and rushed to grab the key from a small basket behind the counter. Then, she made a dash to the door before anyone could stumble into the house and hurriedly locked up before she came back. “Alright, weaver girl, we can go then. The house isn’t as big as it might seem. Since you’ve already looked around down here, there is only the second story above left. Let’s go up there, shall we?”
Juinlift followed her over to the staircase she had seen in the corner before. At that time, she hadn’t taken a closer look, feeling that it looked quite unassuming compared to the room on the left. Looking up now, she realized that there was more to see than she had realized.
Even more paintings hung on the wall next to the staircase. They were a little smaller than the ones in the main room but all of them were framed as if to show that these were all finished and ready to be sold.
Juinlift couldn’t help but feel confused. “That room on the first floor, is that where your customers go?” She didn’t think that anyone would pay attention to the staircase so these paintings … were they even supposed to be sold? Maybe they were just … mementos? But then, they didn’t look that way either unless, of course, Stiwa’s mementos included beautiful women once again. Not that Juinlift would be surprised if they did.
Stiwa nodded in response to her question. “It is! I use it to show off what I’ve recently made. If somebody likes one of them, they can buy them directly. Then I’ll have more space to hang the new ones. Otherwise, I just switch them out every now and then. Finishing one can actually take a few weeks because the paint needs to dry in-between.”
Juinlift gave a hum. She didn’t know much about painting. In fact, yesterday at the riverside was the first time she had seen a work-in-progress. She had already felt that it was incredible but compared to the ones in the room downstairs, it really hadn’t been that detailed, lacking a lot of depth. That was probably what would be added in the later stages. “So, do people really not mind always buying paintings of beauties?”
Stiwa laughed. “I don’t think it’s necessarily the same people buying the paintings over and over again. But yeah, most don’t mind so I usually paint whatever I like. Admittedly though, I also do some paintings on request. Some customers do have something very specific in mind every now and then. If that’s the case, I’ll invite them to the back to talk it through and see if it can be done.”
“I see!” Juinlift hadn’t known that Stiwa was also doing commissions. She hadn’t expected it either from the little the painter had said at the riverside. Instead, she would have thought that Stiwa just painted her beauties and that was it, even if it seemed odd to her. Knowing that this wasn’t the case, Juinlift felt intrigued. “So, if you paint for them, are you still just painting beauties? Or do you also paint other things for them?”
Stiwa looked over her shoulder and grinned. “Well, I’m known for painting beauties so the people that come to me are naturally the ones who want to have a beauty painted. I don’t think that there have been many people who came to me and wanted to have something else done. And usually, I’m able to convince them to still let me include a beauty. You know, I can be quite resourceful.”
Juinlift chuckled but didn’t say more. They had just reached the top of the staircase so she focused her attention on her surroundings again. This place upstairs was different from the floor below in that there wasn’t just one big room. No, instead, this place looked like the kind where a person was living: A small corridor led around the staircase and toward the other side while several doors hid the rooms in the rest of the house from her view.
Stiwa waved at her, leading her over to the door that was furthest away from them on their left. “Actually, the house isn’t as big as it might look from the outside. There’s just a couple of rooms up here. But there’s a nice balcony out the back. I think you’ll like that so let’s go there first!”
Juinlift definitely liked the sound of it and stepping into the room that Stiwa had entered she understood what the other woman meant: The room wasn’t big. It only held a bed, a small table, and a dresser. The wall on the other side opened up to a window and a door that led onto the balcony though, giving it the illusion of being bigger than it actually was.
Stiwa opened the door to the balcony and waved Juinlift outside, leaning backward against the railing. “How’s this?” She motioned over her shoulder, a bright smile on her lips. The garden down there was her pride and joy as far as it concerned her work outside of painting. Naturally, she hoped that Juinlift would like it.
The weaver girl followed her and also leaned against the railing, holding onto it while she looked out at the garden behind the house, the breeze blowing through her hair.
She hadn’t known what to expect. When it came to Stiwa, she had seen her for half a year once every few days but they had only started to talk yesterday and there hadn’t been much information contained in those words. So to be honest, she hardly knew anything about her and never knew what was ahead.
Seeing this place, she felt a lot closer to her. “You cultivated this yourself?” She wasn’t sure but the way Stiwa looked gave her this feeling. Otherwise, she’d probably just point at it and tell her it was the garden instead of asking her about it.
Stiwa nodded. “Yeah, I did. Originally, there was a garden but it seemed a bit … monotonous? When I started out painting, I painted a lot of flowers and plants, actually. There wasn’t much to see her though so I went out to find more. Later, I started bringing them back and planting them here.
“Now, when I do those commissions, I always like doing it out there if the weather permits it. It allows me to have many different backgrounds even though it’s all happening in the same garden. Not to mention that all women are beauties and all flowers possess some kind of beauty themselves. And what’s better than two beauties in one picture? So I try to get as many kinds in there as I can.”
Juinlift looked around and realized that what Stiwa was saying was the truth: There was a path leading around the outside of the garden and another two leading straight through the middle. The aisles that resulted from this setup had been planted with different kinds of flowers. In fact, each aisle itself was again split in a way so that you could see a different kind of plant from each direction. Naturally, the walls surrounding the garden hadn’t been left out either.
With this kind of garden, no matter who Stiwa invited here and when she would always find a fitting background for them. And even though she couldn’t judge it quite as easily from up on the balcony, the paths were likely big enough to sit there and paint as well, making it a pleasant experience to sit there for those commissions. “What if one of them doesn’t like flowers?”
“I’ll make something up.” Stiwa tapped her temple and then motioned over to the other side of the balcony. A small table and a set of chairs were arranged there. “Want to sit down? I could make you some tea maybe and I think I have some cake in the kitchen.”
“Oh, I’d love to. But how about showing me that kitchen first? I believe you promised to show me the house, after all. While I do like your garden I haven’t forgotten about that.”
Stiwa grinned. “Sure thing!” She strolled back into the bedroom, leading Juinlift back to the corridor and to the room next door.
Surprisingly, this one turned out to be the aforementioned kitchen. It wasn’t much bigger than the room they had just come from, once again proving that Stiwa had been right when she said the house wasn’t big. There was hardly enough space for a few cupboards and the stovetop. Not even a small table fit into the kitchen so that explained the setup on the balcony.
Juinlift raised her brows, quite surprised when she saw this room. In her family’s house, the kitchen was the heart. Other than the area for cooking there was a big table that everyone could gather at. So seeing such a small kitchen that barely allowed room for one person to move around felt odd to her.
She looked around some more and then couldn’t help but turn back to Stiwa with a puzzled expression. “If this is your kitchen, do you always eat outside?” The balcony was lovely and so was the garden down there so she could imagine that. It still seemed strange though. Right now, winter had just passed. The temperature was getting higher again and it had to be nice sitting out there with the gentle breeze blowing through your hair. In summer, it had to be even better. But in the cold months, sitting there just seemed so … uncomfortable.
Stiwa laughed in response. “Good catch, weaver girl! I do most of the time when it’s warm but I have an even better place when it gets cold again. Do you want to see? I’ll show you in a minute! First, let’s make some tea and grab the cake though.” She filled the teapot that was standing to the side with water and put it on the stovetop to boil. Meanwhile, she fetched a box of tea leaves from the top of the cupboard, putting it down next to the stovetop. Then, she grabbed two plates, handing one of them to Juinlift with a smile. “Here you go!”
“Oh, that’s a lovely cake.” Juinlift turned the empty plate in her hands, giving Stiwa a questioning look.
“Oi, weaver girl, don’t be this impatient! You’ll get your cake soon enough. Although I guess it’s no wonder you’re being impatient. Who can say no to a lovely piece of cake? I’d be on the edge of my seat as well if I had to wait for it.” Even though she said so, she first went to grab two spoons, putting one of them on Juinlift’s plate with an exaggerated motion that was probably just meant to waste more time.
Juinlift raised her brows at her. “Is that cake of yours still baking that you are playing for time like this?”
“No, not at all. It’s been baked long ago. After all, I knew you’d be coming over so I got up early to make sure everything was ready whenever you’d turn up.”
Finally, she walked over to another wooden box that Juinlift hadn’t taken note of before. Taking off the lid, she revealed a cake that really looked stunning. It was round with a sand-colored bottom and a white layer above, as well as some blueberries to decorate the top.
Juinlift stared at it, her mouth watering. In her family, something like this definitely wouldn’t be put on the table but every now and then, Joem would sneak her a piece from one of the bakeries in the city. To be honest, she felt that those pieces looked pretty much like this specific cake as well.
Realizing this, she couldn’t help but tease Stiwa. “Oh, did you make that yourself? I have to say your hands really are quite nimble, Ms. Painter.”
For a moment, Stiwa seemed to struggle with her response. In the end, she took out a knife, cut the cake into pieces, and balanced one of them on the blade to transfer it to Juinlift’s plate. “I’d love to pretend I did but I know your siblings come to the city almost every day so I would only be setting myself up for failure. Actually, I bought this one this morning before you came to town. I figured that when you dropped by here, it wouldn’t look good if I did not have anything to offer. I hope you’ll like this one.”
“So where is it from?” Juinlift didn’t even wait to be shown the place that Stiwa had talked about before and picked up her spoon, taking a bite. The cake was just as good as she remembered the ones her sister brought. Actually, she was afraid that one little piece might not last her until they got to whatever room Stiwa had in mind for eating.
Stiwa chuckled when she saw her like that. She put a piece on her own plate as well and then cut a third one that was a bit smaller. Balancing it on the knife, she put it next to the one that was already on Juinlift’s plate. “It’s from the bakery on the other side of the street. Your sister should know it. It’s owned by a lovely old lady.”
Juinlift gave a hum and took another bite, feeling that this just had to be the bakery Joem liked to go to as well. Speaking of which … “Sounds as if you know my sister quite well.”
Stiwa smiled and took out two cups, balancing them in her other hand while she motioned over to the door with her chin. “Can’t say I do but as I mentioned, I’ve come by her stall every now and then to get some baskets for the house. So I’ve seen her around.
“That brother of yours as well. I assume he is your brother, right?” She wasn’t too sure if this was their brother or the husband of Juinlift’s older sister but she sure hoped it wasn’t the latter.
That guy was always making off pretty soon after they opened the stall. Afterward, you could see him running around somewhere in the city. In fact, he seemed to be doing anything but help at the stall. Having that as a relative was bad enough but it would be even worse if he had actually married into the family. She wouldn’t be wishing that on anyone’s sister.
Juinlift laughed and followed Stiwa out of the room. “Don’t worry, he’s just our brother. Anyway, I hope you didn’t forget about the kettle?”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll get that in a minute. I just thought we should go and put the plates down. I’ll get the pot right after.”
Juinlift nodded.
This time, Stiwa led her around the staircase they had come up earlier and to the only door on the other side. In front of it, Stiwa turned back to her, a bright smile on her lips. “Alright, the balcony in the back is really great and I’m super proud of the garden I made. But what you’re going to see in a moment is the heart of my home. You have to tell me that you love it!”
Juinlift smiled, quite curious just what could be the heart of the house if it was neither the balcony nor the room with the paintings of all the beauties on the first floor. It had to be something really amazing.
Seeing her expression, Stiwa finally opened the door with her elbow, pushing it further open with her butt before stepping to the side and letting Juinlift go in first.
Juinlift only took two steps before she stopped, her eyes widening slightly. She probably should’ve expected this. Since there was a roof over the entrance, it wasn’t too strange to think that there was a room over the entrance as well. Or maybe it couldn’t be called a room. It was actually just a small chamber, just big enough to take a couple of steps forward but it was cozy.
There was a bay window overlooking the street past the roof over the entrance to the house that took up almost the whole wall on the opposite side. A bench led around the window and the short span of wall next to it while a table took up the middle of the room. The cushions on the bench looked soft, and there were sketches strewn everywhere. It indeed looked like the kind of room where a painter would be spending most of their time in their own home.
Juinlift smiled and carefully went to put the plate down on the table. She made sure not to touch any of the pieces of paper and even looked up at Stiwa to make sure she wasn’t overstepping here. “I guess we should be careful with eating here. Are you sure it’s alright?”
“Don’t worry about that. They are all just rough sketches. I use them to pin down inspiration whenever I get it. I rarely even use them as they are. I have to make several of them until I’m satisfied and can get to the real painting. So they’re nothing you have to consider much.” Stiwa put her plate down as well while she explained, and placed a cup next to each of them before she waved back to the kitchen. “Anyway, I should go and get the teapot first. You can have a look at the sketches in the meantime if you want to or just look around further. On the other side of the staircase is still a storage room left so you could take a look at that, whatever you’d prefer.”
Juinlift nodded. After Stiwa left, she picked up some sketches to make room on the bench before sitting down. First, she took a glance out of the window but, to be honest, she didn’t care too much about what was outside. Rather than that, she was indeed more interested in having a closer look at what Stiwa spent all her time doing. Thus, she picked up the sketches again.
