I grin. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
She doesn’t crack a smile. “Yes.”
“You remember the one wall in your room that we left bare?”
“Yes.”
“I have a plan for it. Are you done eating?”
She wheels backwards. “Yes.”
I stand up and pick up my plate. “Go ahead and grab your plate. We’ll wash them and then get to our project.”
Elowen starts towards her, but I stop her with a shake of my head. If Auri’s going to be independent someday, she has to start learning how to do some things by herself. I want to help her so that she can do anything she wants to do and isn’t held back by her limitations. It takes her a moment to figure out how to make it work, but she finally puts the plate on her lap and wheels over to where I’m standing. I take the dish from her. We’ll tackle her being able to wash them at a later date. When the kitchen is all picked up, I face Auri. “Ready?” She nods, and I can’t help but notice how much more subdued she is. I’m determined to bring up her spirits. I fill up a cup of water and bring it with. On the way to her room, I grab the supplies I purchased from the market.
“What is that?” Auri asks, nodding at the jars in my hand.
“You have to wait and see.”
When we get to her room, I walk over to the wall and study it. I’m not exactly sure how this is going to turn out, but I really hope it works. “All right, Auri. How good are your artistic skills?”
She looks from the wall back to me. “Not terrible,” she finally answers.
“Oh, good because mine are terrible.” I put my suppliesdown on the ground and hand her a paintbrush. “We’re going to paint on this wall.”
“No, we’re not,” she responds straight-faced.
“We are. Better start thinking about what you’re going to paint.”
“Rauk will never let us do that,” she argues.
I open a small jar of yellow paint. “Good thing he’s not here to stop us then. What color do you want to start with?”
She stares at me where I’m crouched down next to her chair. “You’re serious.”
“I am.”
She looks from me to the wall and back again. “Shouldn’t we draw it first and then paint it?”
“Nah. We’ll just wing it. Now, what color? This is just a basic color set—red, blue, green, orange, yellow, white, brown, and black. If I knew how to paint spirit dragons, I’d do that; but I think I’d be better off painting something like flowers. Do you ever even get flowers here?”
She nods. “There are a few weeks in the year when the ice thaws. We get these perfect little yellow flowers.”
“I love that. I’ll do that. They may not be perfect, but if you can give me an idea of what they look like, I could probably do that.”
She turns her chair towards the bed. “I can draw them in my drawing notebook for you.”
“You like to draw?” She doesn’t answer, but she grabs a drawing pad from the drawer next to her bed. “Can I look at it?” She doesn’t give it to me at first. “That’s okay. You don’t have toshow me.”
“I want to.” She hands me the book.
I take it carefully and start flipping through the pages. “Auri, these are really good.” They’re young, but I can tell she has natural skill. “You’re going to be an amazing artist when you grow up.” I finish looking through the book and hand it back to her. “Thank you for showing me. Can you show me that flower?”
She takes a few minutes to draw the flower and then hands the book back to me. “That’s what they look like, mostly.”
I look down at the flowers she’s drawn on the page and then back at her. “Auri, if you never get out, how do you know what these flowers look like?” She drops her gaze, and I can see the guilt from here. I wait for her to say something. When she doesn’t, I push a little. “So you do go outside? Rauk hasn’t kept you banished to your room, has he?”
She finally lifts her head. “No.”
