I was called to the castle early that day, all I had been told was that one of the royal families had requested a commission. Seeing as I was one of few elves located in the capital, I got a number of weird looks as I walked into the courtyard. A number of flower bushes, fountains, and hedges were scattered throughout it in orderly fashion. The flowers contrasted the green in varying shades of color. The man behind me lugged the tools of my trade, momentarily disrupting my thoughts.

When I turned my attention to the fountain, I noted the people standing beside it. The man I recognized, especially considering that just a few months ago he was announced as the new crown prince when the previous had been disinherited and fled the country. As an artist, my focus had never been on the country, but I knew that war was now being waged with the previous crown prince’s forces to the north. What caught my eyes was that the second prince was particularly beautiful for a man.

The woman beside him was also beautiful, and the thought crossed my mind that it’d be a pleasure putting their faces to canvas.

“You must be the artist my father commissioned, Miss Haera yes?”

“Yes, your highness,” I bowed my head, “What service did your father need?”

“We need a portrait of myself, seeing as I wasn’t the heir until recently, there was never a portrait for the hall. On a more personal note, I’d like to request a portrait of Lady Leora. A future queen must have a portrait for the hall at some point after all,” he smiled as the lady went red.

“Ryleigh!” the lady chided.

“Of course,” I lifted my head, “Is there anywhere in particular you have chosen? If not, I’d like to request we use this courtyard, it would make for the perfect backdrop in my opinion.” I watched as the prince rubbed his chin with a finger and nodded.

“You are the artist here, Miss Haera. There should be no issues with the courtyard being used, Leora?” He looked towards the lady at his side.

“Oh, yes, I’m sure it would look wonderful too.”

I smiled, “Then, your highness if you wouldn’t mind taking a seat on the bench beside the fountain, I’ll get started.”

“Ah, yes. However, I may have to meet with someone, would it be a problem if we were disturbed?” he asked as he sat down.

“It won’t be an issue if you don’t move, it’d be quite hard to pick up from wherever I was if you do,” I answered as I took the easel and canvas from my assistant.

I was halfway through painting the prince when a woman arrived, dressed in foreign clothes I hadn’t seen before. They were dark, the black a shade I hadn’t seen in cloth before, but what caught my eye was the brilliant shade of white her skins was. It looked like freshly fallen snow while the horns on her head were a different shade of black.

As I looked, crimson eyes met mine and I tilted my head for a moment before turning back to the canvas, and listened as the prince began to talk to the woman.

“It’s been awhile Ryleigh,” the woman greeted. “Is this your new fiancée?”

“Leora Chauvenne, my wife-to-be” the prince said with a grin, “Sizonel, a merchant of Inver.”

“A pleasure,” leora said.

“Likewise, Lady Leora,” I heard Leora respond.

My eyes remained on the canvas, only occasionally returning to the prince for reference. “Your highness, please don’t move too much,” I asked when I noticed he had shifted.

“My apologies, Miss Haera.”

“You’ve hired a painter?” Sizonel said as I felt her eyes burrow into me through the canvas. I remained silent, a slight discomfort set into my stomach.

“When my father asked around, she was said to be one of the best,” the prince responded.

“I see…” I heard her voice trail off into silence for moment. “She’s quite pretty, I must say, though I’m surprised there’s an elf this far out.”

My goal had, originally, been to travel the world and paint what I saw. However, considering the situation after I had passed through Snowsia, I had run out of money, and it was difficult to visit the neighboring nations. Thankfully, there was plenty to paint here for now.

I mused over the right color for the prince’s hair for a moment, before decisively beginning to mix the paint.

“Is she shy?” I heard Sizonel ask the prince.

“I’m not,” I said absent-mindedly, “I’m focused. Unlike scenery, people aren’t particularly still so I-“ as I tried to get another look at the prince for reference, I was shocked to see Sizonel had already arrived beside me. Her eyes were on my canvas.

“You paint scenery as well?” she mused as I stood there, frozen for a moment.

“Usually, yes,” I finally answered.

“Have you been to Inver?”

“I wanted to visit after I was done on this continent,” I heard the prince chuckling in the background and sighed, this was going to be a difficult bit of work. “However, I ran dry on funds and it’s difficult to visit Samhania or Ibor right now.”

“You definitely should visit,” her voice almost turned into a purr and I froze again.

“I-I’m sorry?” I spluttered, thrown off by her tone.

“You should visit,” she said with a sly smile, “The scenery is almost as pretty as you.”

I froze completely, I’d heard such compliments before but I’d never thought of myself as beautiful, and most of those comments I’d heard passingly before. Something was different about such a direct compliment to my face. Is she flirting, was this flirting?

“I can even arrange for you to visit the best places on the island,” she said.

“I-I-“ my thoughts failed to fully surface, each one falling to silence before it rose. I faintly heard lady Leora in the background.

“Oh dear, I think you broke her.”

Kaffeina

Hello everyone, I’d like to thank you for reading this series of oneshots.