June Drabble 2024: Radiance
The princess gets her portrait painted
Main Characters:
Jerike: Queen Regent, Nataani
Siso: Princess, Nataani-Mantoka
“Mamaaaa, how much longer?”
“Just a few more minutes, Siso.”
The four-year-old princess pouted at her mother as she squirmed in her seat before turning back forward toward the paintress.
“I’m almost done, Your Highness,” The paintress said. “I just need to finish your eyes.”
Siso tried her best to stay as still as she could, with her eyes as wide open as possible.
“I think I go blind,” She cried.
The paintress chuckled, and so did Jerike.
“If you did,” Jerike began. “Then perhaps that’d mean you were the one the Holy Scrolls speak of. The one who sees not of this realm but of the realm above, and will usher in the presence of the Good Hope. Wouldn’t that be cool?”
“No!”
Jerike and the paintress laughed again.
“Be at peace, your Highness,” the paintress said to the little girl as she made one final brush stroke on the canvas. “I am finished.”
“Yay!”
Siso hopped from her chair excitedly, as if she hadn’t just been grumbling, and ran over to the canvas to see the final product.
Her wide eyes grew wider as she let out a gasp. “OOOOOOO! Mama, Mama, Look! It’s me!”
Siso pointed her little hand up at the picture, hopping up and down on the balls of her feet. Her previous ‘agony’ now all but forgotten.
Jerike made her way over, combing her fingers through her daughter’s soft brown coils as she turned to look at the portrait.
It was perfect. Every crazy coil, every crease in her bright smile, even down to the gradient blend of orange and yellow that filled her daughter’s beautiful eyes in the light.
“You truly have a gift,” Jerike said to the paintress. “It was worth every penny bringing you out here from the land of Kyrin.”
“You honor me, Your Majesty,” The paintress said, bowing in deep respect.
“It is an honor well deserved.”
Siso tugged on Jerike’s royal gown. “Can we paint sisi next?” she asked. “Sisi next, pwease?”
The paintress raised an eyebrow and Jerike quietly chuckled as she scooped Siso into her arms and placed her on her hip. “One day, but right now, she’s still got some growing to do.”
“Okayyy.”
Jerike smiled at her daughter and gave her a kiss on her forehead. When she looked back to the paintress, Jerike saw the realization in her azure eyes.
“Your Majesty…are you…?”
Jerike smiled and lowered her gaze to her stomach, resting her free hand atop her belly. “I am.”
Beneath her touch, there was the smallest bump. “Siso is the one who made me aware. She kept saying ‘sisi’, and at first I thought she was pronouncing her name wrong, but soon I realized, she had sensed the growing life inside me even before I did.”
“Does the Captain know?” The Paintress asked.
Jerike shook her head. “I’m waiting to tell him until after Ahoaltin.”
“Ahoaltin!” Siso squealed. “Big party!”
Jerike smiled. “A very big party indeed, and Kenai is overwhelmed preparing the troops for the influx of Adonites from all across the five lands that will be coming for the celebration. I don’t want him worrying any more than he already does on top of his duties as well. But I know when I do tell him, he’ll be ecstatic.” She chuckled. “Even if he won’t show it when others are around.”
Jerike looked up at the paintress, whose mouth smiled fondly, but her eyes looked as if they held back tears.
“Forgive me,” Jerike said, shifting Siso more securely on her hip. “I should not have rattled on.”
“No, Your Majesty,” The paintress said, swiftly wiping at her eyes. “You have nothing to apologize for. The Father above has blessed you with a beautiful family. And the Nataani are truly blessed to have you as their Nagiisan.”
She bowed respectfully once again. “I shall take my leave. And when the day comes, it would be an honor to paint your second child’s portrait if you would have me to do so.”
“There’s no one else I would prefer,” Jerike said.
With another smile, the paintress bowed one last time and left.
Siso bounced on Jerike’s hip, pointing to an empty space on the wall above her bed.
“There, there!” she said. “Put it up there!”
“We will,” Jerike said. “Once it dries.”
“Okayyy.”
Siso turned to look back at the painting of herself, then up at Jerike. “Mama?”
“Yes, my love?”
“Why do my eyes shine two colors, but yours, papa’s, the pretty painting lady, and everyone else all have one color?”
“Because your eyes are a blend of papa and I’s. A gradient as beautiful as the sunrise itself.”
“But sometimes people look at me funny when my eyes start shining.”
Jerike pursed her lips and brushed a stray coil from Siso’s plump little face. “Those people don’t understand how special you are.”
“Why am I special, mama?”
“Because you are made in the image of God, just like them.”
“Are you made in image of God, mama?”
“Yes I am, and so is your father, and the pretty lady, and every other person with shining eyes you will ever meet. No matter the color, or the amount within them, each and every Adonite is uniquely and wonderfully made. Knit together-”
“In a mama’s womb!” Siso finished the phrase, pointing to Jerike’s stomach.
Jerike smiled brightly at her daughter. “Exactly.”
She planted several kisses on Siso’s cheeks, causing the little princess to squeal in delight.
“Sisi’s eyes should look like mine,” Siso said, wrapping her arms around Jerike’s shoulders “Except more orange. Like a sunset!”
Jerike rubbed her belly once again. “We shall see.”
“No matter what though,” Siso reached down and placed her hand next to Jerike’s. “She’ll always be my sisi.”
