5th Saun, 720
Location: Luna's Dream Orphanage
As soon as Ari'sora was outside, she took to the air, flying well above the trees that might decide to fall on her at any time; when she was safe in the sky, nothing could crush her to death or bury her alive. The flight to the orphanage wasn't a long one, but it did give her time to think. So when she arrived at the orphanage, she had a few ideas of what the kids might be able to do to boost the morale of the refugees if they hadn't come up with one of their own.
As it turned out, her ideas weren't needed. Once she had gotten inside, the kids swarmed her, telling her that they wanted to give the refugees a gift of some kind because a tangible gift would last a lot longer than singing a song or telling a story to cheer them up would. A gift would be something that they could look at whenever they needed to. Ari'sora pointed out that the memory of listening to a song or a story given to them with the intent of cheering them up would be valuable in its own right, but in this case, she agreed with the children. Several different crafts were suggested and discarded. Some because they required skills or supplies that the children simply did not have. Others because it would take too long, and the children wanted something that they could give the refugees totrial. It was Felicia who suggested making pictures for the refugees. Several of them wanted to paint pictures, but the last time they had had a painting trial, the kids had gotten more paint on themselves than they had on paper. So Ari'sora suggested drawing pictures, and the children quickly agreed.
Ari'sora quickly got the supplies that the kids would need to draw their pictures. It wasn't long before sheets of blank paper were handed out, and sets of colored inks were spread out on the table for the kids to share.
"Aren't you going to draw some pictures too?" Lia asked.
Ari'sora looked at the young child for several trills. She hadn't planned on joining the kids in their activity, but it seemed obvious from their expressions that they expected her to, so she agreed. Deciding to draw something was the easy part. But what should she draw? It had to be something fun and cheerful since the whole purpose of making these pictures was to boost the morale of the refugees. And since she had no real skill when it came to drawing, it had to be something that was easy to draw.
Ari'sora took a look at what the kids were drawing in the hopes of getting some ideas. Some of the kids were drawing themselves doing things that they loved to do while others had chosen to draw something they loved. Others were drawing cheery suns with smiley faces, or fields filled with flowers. Flowers. That seemed like it would be easy to draw. And flowers were delicate, beautiful things. Who didn't feel better after looking at some flowers in full bloom for a while?
Decision made, it was time to get to work. Ari'sora pictured her favorite flower firmly in her mind, and began to draw. Unfortunately the image she held in her mind's eye looked absolutely nothing like the sad attempt she had managed to get down on paper. The line she had drawn for the stem was crooked and wobbly. The petals weren't all the same size, and many were misshaped. Even the circle she had drawn for the center of the flower looked weird to her.
"It's harder than it looks, isn't it?" Stephan asked.
Ari'sora looked up at the thirteen arc old boy. His own drawing was of a peaceful scene of a pack of wolves frolicking in the forest, and it was very good. It was clear from his work that he had a true passion for drawing, and that he had been honing his skills for arcs. Ari'sora wondered if he wanted to be an artist when he grew up.
"What am I doing wrong?"
"Nothing really. Drawing is easy. Anyone can put ink or pencil to paper and draw lines. But drawing well...that's hard. It takes a lot of practice. Arcs worth. You can learn some techniques from books, but having a teacher really helps too."
Ari'sora nodded.
"Don't worry. It doesn't matter if your picture is good or not. We're trying to make the refugees feel better, not impress them with our talent at drawing. They've lost everything, so giving them a gift that shows them that someone is thinking about them will mean a lot to them. It's the thought that counts. It won't matter if the pictures were drawn by a master artist or not; it just matters that we're thinking about them, and wanting to cheer them up."
Ari'sora stared at Stephan for several trills.
"Aren't I supposed to be the one who is saying these things to cheer you up?" she asked at last.
Stephan grinned at her.
"Maybe. But sometimes you adults need to hear stuff like that too, you know."
They got back to work. Ari'sora got a new sheet of paper so that she could start over from scratch, but her second attempt wasn't any better than the first.
"Here. Use this when you try to draw a straight line. It will help." Stephan told her as he handed her a sheet of paper that had been folded in half so that it had a slightly raised straight edge.
Ari'sora started over yet again with a third sheet of paper. Her picture overall wasn't any better, but her straight lines were at least straight. Stephan's little trick had helped.
"Thanks." she said sincerely.
When everyone had finished their drawings, Ari'sora gathered them up and cleaned up the supplies. She told the kids to go play then went off in search of her boss. She found Felicia in her office busy with some paperwork.
The kids have finished the drawings they wanted to make for the refugees. If you want, I can take them over to Beacon when I leave totrial." Ari'sora offered.
Felicia accepted Ari'sora's offer with a grateful smile, before turning back to her work. It was a clear dismissal, but seeing how busy Felicia was, she didn't get upset when she was dismissed so abruptly. Instead, she headed into the kitchen to see what they had in the way of ingredients for making dinner.
