The Mantis Continuum - Book Four - 33. Chapter 33 - Paint

The kids and queens stopped right outside the mystic’s house where Bivon’s cart was still parked, and he knelt down in front of the girly phenomenon and her bizarre brother. “Jzuna, Thech, thank you both for what you did in there for Lahari.”

“We just wanted to help her,” Jzuna replied.

“What you can do is stunning!” he declared to them both. The charred and blackened corpse they left in Brokenpointe flashed into his mind, and he tried not to picture it.

“Bivon, you aren’t leaving town, are you?” Dotty Marbles asked him. “Our event is only a couple of days away, and we’re about to take these three on an adventure. We gals and Thech would love for you to join us.”

“Yeah!” Fennah shrieked. “Please, come with us, Bivon!”

The big red-bearded man laughed, and he replied to Auntie Peg, “No, I’m not leaving yet, just wanted to give Lahari and her dads their space. It was quite a long journey from Hazel Cove, so Tophilogin and Theolan invited me to stay for a while.”

“Every time you say the mystic’s name,” Dotty Marbles replied, “it’s like my brain hiccups, and it takes me a second to register who you’re talking about.” She pulled a silly face and laughed at herself.

Bivon chuckled and turned to little Fennah. “And I’d be delighted to join the five of you for an adventure.”

“First, we need to pick up Ninyani,” Auntie Peg stated. “He’s been staying with a friend of ours. She doesn’t live far, just across the neighborhood.”

Soon they arrived, and Ninyani scurried out of the house when he saw the queens and the children coming up the path. He ran over and said, “Zular is so glam!”

Auntie Peg snickered. “Did she teach you that word?”

“You know I did!” Zular declared, stepping out into the sun behind the boy. “I’m glamtastic and fabulicious!”

“Mmm, mmm, mmm,” Auntie Peg hummed at Zular, “you are indeed!”

Dotty Marbles pouted dramatically at the four children and asked in a whiny voice, “We might not be as exciting as Zular, but you kids like spending time with us, don’t you?”

“Oh, yes!” Fennah cried in delight.

Jzuna added, “Thech and I like you both so much!”

Ninyani dutifully repeated something Auntie Peg had said to him when they first met. “Well done, you must always give a compliment to someone who goes fishing for one.”

The queens and Zular burst into cackling laughter that made the four children giggle, and Bivon could not help but chuckle along as well.

“Righty-oh, off we go, little ones!” Auntie Peg said, and the group of seven headed out in the morning sunshine.

“Bye, Zular!” Ninyani called back to her, and she blew him a kiss.

After just a short walk, the group arrived at the supply depot in Shifton where the queens had gotten most of what they used to clean and prep the large empty building over the past several days. Auntie Peg led them to the paint section.

“Kids, this is where artists come to get everything they use to create the lovely murals that are all over Gate Town. Dot and I are happy to announce that we are done with grey paint, and we would like each of you to pick out two colors. They can be any colors you’d like.” She stepped back and let the three children see the rainbow of options.

“What’s this about?” Bivon whispered to her, and Fennah eyed the queen in case she was about to divulge the details she had kept from them all, but Dotty Marbles replied to Bivon in a singsong voice.

“Can’t tell! It’s a secret!”

Fennah rolled her eyes, and Auntie Peg laughed as she positioned a flatbed cart by the shelves of paint. “Once you select the colors you each want, we can put them in this to wheel over to the space,” Auntie Peg informed them.

“Thech would like green and green,” Jzuna stated.

“Perfect,” Auntie Peg said, “I suspect he wants two different shades of green.” She pointed at the lightest yellow-green. “You’ll let me know when I get to the colors you like, won’t you Thech? This one?”

He did not reply.

She moved her finger to the next slightly darker shade, but he did not move. However, as she shifted between chartreuse and emerald, Thech began to quiver.

“Let’s doublecheck,” Auntie Peg told him. She pointed at chartreuse and he fell still, but sliding her fingertip back to emerald caused him to sway. “You’ve got it! And what’s next?”

“He likes the really dark green,” Jzuna said.

“Dark green,” Auntie Peg repeated, and she pointed at the paint can at the opposite end of the hue’s spectrum. It was labeled deep aquamarine.

Thech did not react.

She moved on to the next. “How about this one?” she asked, but again, Thech did not give her any sign. Then her finger landed on a rich earthy color called chocolate mint, and Thech hummed. “We’ve got our second green! Are you happy with these two?” she asked, holding up the cans of different greens.

Thech responded by lumbering over to stand beside Dotty Marbles, who replied for him. “I think he is indeed! Peggy, do you want to take the cart once these three have chosen as well, or should I?”

“Why don’t I take it, and I can meet all of you after at Edgecity Park?”

“We’re going to a park?” Fennah asked in delight.

“We most certainly are,” Dotty Marbles replied.

Jzuna’s voice stated, “I’d like yellow.”

“Righty-oh,” Auntie Peg said to her, “which shade brings you joy?”

The can of golden sunshine lifted off the shelf, hovered, and it floated down onto the wagon.

“Wondrous,” Dotty Marbles marveled.

“Ummm…” Jzuna’s voice hummed as she considered her options.

“I want this one!” Fennah stated, grabbing the handle of a can labeled lightning lavender. It was very heavy and almost slipped from her little fingers, but she managed to get it onto the flatbed beside the other cans of paint.

Ninyani followed Fennah and picked up the color right beside the one she had chosen. It was labeled soft pink. He placed it with the others, and in the section of blues he found the color’s match, soft blue.

“I think I’d like this one,” Jzuna said, levitating a can of midnight purple off the shelf.

“Can I pick black?” Fennah asked.

“Honey,” Dotty Marbles answered with a grin, “you can pick any color you’d like, but don’t you want something bright and more, I don’t know, fun?”

Fennah’s exuberant expression fell ever so slightly. “But I like black.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Dotty Marbles said, “don’t listen to silly old me. If you want black, you take black!”

With the colors of paint selected, Auntie Peg headed off in one direction with the cart rolling behind her, and Dotty Marbles led Bivon and the children another way.

“Dot, where’s the park?” Fennah asked.

“It’s not far. We’ll be there shortly, but first, let’s get coffee and surprise Peggy with a cup.”

“You know where I’d love to go,” Bivon commented, “the Shifton Drinkery.”

“Delightful,” Dotty Marbles replied, “why don’t we head there?”

“What are we doing with the paint?” Ninyani asked.

“Yeah, what are we doing with the paint?” Fennah repeated.

Dotty Marbles answered with a smirk. “That’s a surprise for everyone!”★