[Kalandra]

Ivmar

As he watched Taron get slowly, painfully to her feet, Ivmar couldn't help but scold himself.  Why did he have to ask her to look at his work?  It could have waited until she'd had a break from posing for him!  His eagerness for critique had blinded his reason...and Taron was paying the price.  At least movement didn't seem to be that painful for her, or else he'd feel downright terrible.  Guilt was replaced by nervousness as Taron inspected the portrait.  Was it good enough?  Would she think it was terrible?  Ivmar was on the edge of doodling on the ground to calm his nerves when Taron spoke.

She liked it...she really liked it!  The way she spoke, it was obvious to Ivmar that Taron was impressed, awed, and pleased with his work.  His first reaction to this was relief, which was quickly followed by pride and pleasure.  This, his masterpiece, was coming along very nicely so far and it was great to hear praise for it.  "Thank you Taron,"Ivmar said with a smile, "I hope to do as well with Rosto and Sedra too.  As for myself...well, hopefully I do it well to keep the whole of the picture looking good, though I must say I don't care that much if I'm not perfect.  Glad you like it so far though!"

[Kalandra]

Rosto

Rosto and Sedra had silently agreed that they'd had enough hassles for the day.  The pair took off from the tree and glided on gentle evening breezes to the cave they were camping in.  There it was; an opening in a bunch of rocks, as indifferent to the world as when they first spotted it.  The sight of the cave soothed them and looked quite inviting.  Weary from the day's events, they flew in and landed just in front of Taron and Ivmar.

The pair had obviously been in the middle of a conversation centered around the art piece on the floor.  Rosto had no doubt that it was Ivmar's work, for only he could carve out a flat piece of rock in the same manner as a human might draw on paper.  From what she could make out it seemed to Rosto that the picture was of the four of them, but it was far from finished.  "That's looking really good Ivmar; I can't wait to see it once it's finished!" She glanced to her left at Sedra, wondering what he thought about the picture.

[Kalandra]

Sedra

It was getting late.  Sedra knew from the look Rosto was giving him that she wanted him to say something about Ivmar's picture, but he was hungry.  Neither he nor Rosto had had any dinner yet.  True, he couldn't be certain that Taron and Ivmar had eaten either, but they certainly had had plenty of time to do so.  Had they been hungry those two wouldn't wait on him and Rosto, would they?

Either way, the quickest way to his own dinner was to look at the picture and say something.  Sedra looked at it for a little while, not really taking very much in.  "Very nice Ivmar.  I see your love of art hasn't faded at all." Sedra could have slapped himself.  The least he could have done was sound remotely interested...instead he came off as exasperated.  He decided to try and make amends, saying "I'm sorry.  It's just my stomach, well, it's empty.  Can I take a closer look at your picture later Ivmar, once my hunger isn't distracting me?"