Painting with Luci

[The Humble Sage]

“And a very good portrait…” The Sage answered absently, squinting at the script with suspicion. “But there’s no need for flattery here, my dear.” There was no mistaking the symbols, they were the same as the ones in the journal he had found. Yet while that text remained elusive, its meanings impervious to his best attempts at deciphering them, these letters formed themselves happily and contentedly into neatly packaged parcels of information. Exactly what I want to see… in more ways than one…  

Coming back to the present situation, the Sage noticed that the stained-glass girl had moved to begin another piece. “Not to seem forward, but I have a few questions.” He called, moving over to speak with her again.

“Sure you do.” She answered, still painting, “you’re not dead yet, so you’ve gotta have questions.”  The Girl paused, and looked at her can, then began painting again.

The Sage barely registered that she had a new color as he spoke “This is no vision is it? You are both aware of my presence and fully tangible. What is this place?” His tone was even, not accusatory, but lacking the relaxed whimsy of his prior speech. His hand tapped against the side of one leg in agitation, as the nonsubstansive nature of his surroundings began to set in.

The visions he had read of were much more structured. The Seers spoke of the experience almost like it was a play, where the events occurred with or without the consent of the beholder, and if anything was to be gleamed it was on the Seer to bring the knowledge back to the real world. No, this is not a vision of heretics, more probable our good friend Omni has decided to meddle once again… Do my antics grow stale so quickly? He thought with chagrin

“Do I look like a vision?” She asked simply, looking at him with a playfully askance glance. The Sage thought for a moment before answering, his arms crossed as he pondered the implications of the question.

“You aren’t a vision.” He answered at length, “You’re a prism.”  There was no response from the girl, so the Sage explained further “You take in your surroundings with an unrefined experience, then display them, pouring out from a bottomless decanter. Your kaleidoscopic shell appears opaque, but your core is a mirror. You reflect the world you take in, become what it is, become what it needs. The light goes in, and you send it back in scattered hues. Yet the light is still there, you keep but scant rays for yourself…” The Sage trailed off, he was practically muttering to himself at this point. “What is your calling, Girl of the Chapel’s Eves. Why do you pursue this path?”

There was silence, then the click of metal on metal as the Luci shook the can she held. The rainbow-hued artist did not look at the Sage as she replied, focusing entirely on her artwork, “You’re right. It’s not a vision… but I suppose it could be visionary. You could say this is a staging ground, a station of sorts. We’re waiting, but that doesn’t have to mean we have to be stationary.” The girl smiled and looked up at her newest creation. the iridescent lizard blinked as its extruded eye roved, taking in the meaning of its newfound existence. Luci peered at the piece with an intent focus, tapping her cheek with one finger as she pondered the artwork. “he needs a branch.” she decided after a time, then moved over to the backpack for another can.

Squatting down she rummaged through the sack, “There are people, there are things they need, there are things I can do. If there’s a mission for me somewhere in between the three, I suppose that isn’t for me to say...” She stood back up, a fresh can of paint in her hand and looked back at the Sage with a wry grin “but I certainly wouldn’t call myself a missionary”