The sun was still lazy in the sky, hanging just above the roofs of Nyki village, when Victoric set her small wooden stool near the riverbank. A canvas leaned against a tree trunk, far too big for her small frame, but she treated it like a sacred treasure. A jar of water sloshed at her side, brushes dipped inside like spears ready for battle.
Her golden hair glowed like fire in the morning light, strands falling across her cheek as she squinted at the treeline across the river. "Hmm…" she muttered, puffing her cheeks. "Too green… need more not-so-green green." She dabbed her brush into watery paint and swiped it across the canvas with dramatic strokes.
Her little tongue poked out of her mouth in concentration.
Then came a voice from behind.
"Uhh… why are you painting a forest when you can just… look at the forest?"
Victoric jolted, her brush making a bold accidental streak across the sky part of her canvas. She whipped around, eyes wide. "Y-you again!"
Kain stood a few paces away, his dark hair messy like he had rolled right out of bed. His tunic was wrinkled, boots untied, one lace trailing like a lazy worm. His head tilted like a curious bird. "Hi screaming girl."
"My name is Victoric, not screaming girl!" she huffed, stomping her foot.
Kain grinned, showing a missing tooth. "That's a weird name."
"It's not weird! It's pretty. Mama says it's pretty."
"Pretty weird," Kain mumbled, plopping himself right on the grass beside her without asking. He leaned toward her jar of water and stuck a finger inside, swirling it. "Is this for drinking?"
"Nooo!" Victoric snatched the jar away. "That's for painting! You'll make it all dirty with your finger germs!"
Kain laughed, rolling onto his back. "Finger germs? You sound like the old priest when he tells us not to eat dirt."
"Because you're not supposed to eat dirt!"
"But it tastes like adventure," he said with absolute seriousness, making Victoric blink.
She shook her head quickly, deciding not to ask. Instead, she went back to dabbing her brush into the watery paints. She swiped gentle strokes of green, then a smudge of brown, humming to herself.
Kain sat up, watching her hand move across the canvas. "That looks nothing like the forest."
Victoric froze mid-stroke. "It's not done yet!"
"But the trees don't look like that. They're taller. Yours look like fat little carrots."
"They're not carrots!" she squeaked, glaring at him with red cheeks.
Kain tilted his head again. "Then why do they look so hungry?"
"They're not hungry! They're trees!"
"Well maybe your paint made them hungry," Kain said with a smug grin, arms crossed like he had solved the world's greatest mystery.
Victoric huffed so hard her hair bounced. She dipped her brush in blue and slashed the sky with reckless strokes. "Fine! Maybe it's not perfect but it's my forest!"
Kain leaned closer until his nose almost touched the wet paint. "Why is the sky blue though? Yesterday it looked kinda… orangey red."
"Because that was sunset," Victoric said like it was the most obvious thing in the universe.
"Then why don't you paint it orangey red? That would look cooler."
"Because…" Victoric squirmed. "Because I like blue skies better. They make me feel… like singing."
Kain blinked at her, then burst into laughter. "Trees that are carrots and skies that sing! You're really funny, screaming— I mean, Victoric."
Her pout softened, just a little. "You're mean."
Kain leaned back on his palms, grinning. "Not mean. Honest."
For a moment they were quiet, the only sounds being the birds in the trees and Victoric's brush swishing softly against the canvas.
But Kain wasn't good at quiet.
"Why are you even painting?" he asked suddenly.
Victoric paused. "Because… I like it."
"That's a bad reason."
"It's not! Painting makes me feel happy. I can make the world look how I want it to be. Not just how it is."
Kain tilted his head, trying to understand. "So… if you want, you can make the forest pink?"
Victoric smiled sheepishly. "Yes. If I want."
His eyes widened. "Do it! Make pink trees!"
"No! That would look silly."
"But silly is fun!" Kain hopped up and grabbed a spare brush from her jar, splattering water across his tunic. He jabbed it into her paint without asking and made a giant pink streak right across the middle of her forest. "Look! Now it's magical forest of candy trees!"
"KAIIIIN!" Victoric shrieked. "You ruined it!"
He froze, then giggled so hard he fell backward into the grass. "It's even better now! Candy forest!"
Victoric's face scrunched up as she tried not to cry. "It wasn't candy forest! It was real forest. The one across the river."
Kain blinked at her teary eyes and quieted. He sat up slowly, chewing his lip. For a second, his grin faltered.
"…Sorry."
Victoric sniffled, hugging her brush to her chest. "…You're really annoying."
"Yeah. Mama says that too," Kain muttered, scratching his cheek.
They sat in silence again. The breeze rustled the tall grass, carrying the scent of earth and river water.
Then, in his awkward childish way, Kain reached into his pocket and pulled out something. A tiny wooden carving of a bird, rough and uneven, obviously whittled by clumsy hands. He shoved it toward her.
"Here. I made this. It's dumb but… you can have it."
Victoric blinked, wiping her eyes with her sleeve. "You… made this?"
He shrugged. "Kinda. It was supposed to be a horse but… the legs broke. So now it's a bird."
Victoric held it gently, like it was fragile glass. A small smile tugged at her lips. "It's cute."
Kain's cheeks turned pink. "Don't say that."
"Why not? It is!"
"Because… I don't like cute things."
"Then why did you make it?"
Kain opened his mouth, then closed it, then frowned. "I don't know. Just did."
Victoric giggled softly. "You're weird."
"Says the girl who makes carrot trees."
"Not carrot trees!" she yelled again, but this time there was laughter in her voice.
They both collapsed into giggles, the tension melting away. Victoric dipped her brush in green again and carefully painted over the giant pink streak. Kain watched closely, leaning so near that his hair almost brushed the canvas.
"You missed a spot," he whispered.
"I know," she whispered back.
They looked at each other, eyes sparkling in the sunlight. Then both burst out laughing for no reason at all.
---
The morning drifted into afternoon. Victoric's painting grew brighter, more alive, though the trees still looked vaguely carrot-like and the sky was a little too heavy with blue. But it didn't matter. To her, it was perfect.
Kain never stopped asking questions.
"Why do you paint the leaves in circles? Leaves aren't circles."
"Why don't you paint the fish? They're jumping out of the river."
"What if the forest has a secret dragon in it? Can you paint that?"
Victoric tried to keep up, answering between brushstrokes, sometimes scolding, sometimes laughing until her sides hurt.
By the time the sun started dipping again, her canvas was filled with color. It wasn't just a forest anymore — it was her forest. Messy, bright, alive.
Kain stood beside her, arms crossed. "Still looks like carrots."
Victoric smacked his arm with her brush, leaving a green streak across his sleeve.
"HEY!" he shouted, but he was laughing.
Victoric giggled until she couldn't breathe. "Now you're part of the forest too."