The Artist in the Basement Pt.1

Alvarian Castle East Wing. Sparring grounds.

Mel and Nana are in their training gear working on hand-to-hand combat. Emile is watching from the sidelines, sharing a cupcake with his thunderbird, Raicho.

Nana pauses for a minute to catch her breath. Mel hops from one foot to the other, while signaling for her student to try again. Nana refocuses takes a deep breath and sprints toward the woman. With lightning-fast speed she zaps forward only leaving sparks of lightning in her wake.

Mel scans around the area trying to predict when Nana would strike. Nana suddenly appears crouching right in front of her , going for the right uppercut.

Mel instinctively goes into flight mode using wind from her mouth to create distance. Nana is sent flying and struggles to gain her balance mid-air. She holds on to nearby branch on an old tree.

"Come on Nana! Put some more umph into it! You don't wanna be like your brother!"

"HEY! *cough* *cough* " Emile yells as he chokes on the cupcake and drops the rest of it on the ground. Raicho quickly swoops in and flies off with the cupcake and rests on the same branch of the old tree.

"Oi! Bring that back here you GREEDY BASTARD!" Emile yells at the white bird with gold stripes and beak.

"Kaw!" The bird screeched before it opened its beak and shot a little bolt of lightning, right at Emile's head.

" Ow!Ow!Ow!Ow!" Emile bent down and grabbed the now black burnt part of his bedhead in pain.

"Good job Raicho!" Nana smiled at the bird, who certainly looked pleased by his actions. It walked over to Nana and pecked her hand that held the tree playfully.

"N-no Raicho!" Nana lost her grip and came crashing down into the bush behind the tree.

"HA!" Emile snapped back. Nana lifted her finger and shot a bolt of lightning straight at Emile. Emile hurriedly cowered behind the bench he was sitting on.

"Okay I think that's enough for today! ha-ha! ow!" Mel laughed so hard her stomach hurt. " Oi! Raicho" she reached into her pouch and threw up a tiny bite-sized biscuit. The bird kawed in delight before swiftly capturing the treat in midair. It landed on Mel's stretched out arm and earned itself some pets. Mel couldn't see what was so bad about the bird. Maybe it just liked her more.

Or so she thought until Raicho, as hungry as his master, started flying around Mel's pouched demanding more food.

"Raicho! Alright Alright! " The bird did not stop until Melanie lost her balance and fell down hard on her butt. Raicho didn't even feel sorry, he just landed next to the fallen pouch and began munching on the rest of the snacks.

"Ow! " Mel rubbed her sore butt as she got back on her feet. "Raichoooo, shoo! Those are for all of us!" The bird tried to stick its tiny tongue out before resuming his borrowed meal.

Nana got out of the bush, and painfully removed some of the thistles stuck to her. She frowned at the bird and summoned her own magical pet.

"Bolt! " she sighed and pointed to the bird. " Go." The fluffy white Japanese Spitz run toward the bird barking as loud as it could. The bird flew off to a nearby roof and kawed back at the innocent white dog. Raicho, wasn't a dog type of person or well bird , they were always so messy and had more saliva than their mouths could contain. They weren't as elegant as birds , but many humans seemed to like them a lot more nonetheless. Bolt, after a job well done ,snuck some treats himself before running back into Nana bringing them both to the ground.

" Good job boy!" Nana said as she lifted the dog off her licked face. She sat up on the floor and placed the dog beside her. The dog nudged Nana with its foxlike pointed muzzle and cute button black nose, its curved tail wagging excitedly. It had a gold collar with the Raiden's and trademark lightning bolt and another birthmark of one on its right hip.

For the Spitz it had been too much time away from his mistress and he was taking in all the love he had missed out on.

"Aww Bolt! You're as cute as ever!" Mel said as she squatted to pet the dog's head.

Emile, now that things had died down , came out of hiding and towards the two ladies. Raicho flew down onto his shoulder, for Mr. Beaks here, that was enough distance from the dog.

After he had enough pets and treats from everyone, being the dog it was , it went to ease itself on the old tree. On the way back for more affection, Bolt noticed a dark figure on the roof. Even he was smart enough to know that a friend wouldn't be lurking way over there. The dog barked and looked at the roof trying to draw attention to it but by the time they came rushing over , it was no longer there. Humans could be a little dumb sometimes, no? but that was okay for Bolt he still liked his just fine.

***

In a dimly lit room that wreaked of too much perfume, pictures of Nana Lyn Raiden hung on every corner of the wall. Some of were her in her armor, others in her training gear and even more recent photos of her in the summer dress. Next to each picture was an elegant painting , almost as lifelike as the pictures themselves.

On a dressing table with a cracked mirror, the weird boy from the shops sat in stealth armor . He had one hand in a glove and the other wrote on a piece of paper. He smiled and hummed as he wrote. He let out a huge sigh when he reached the end of the paper.

"Oh! How I wish I could have taken in more of you earlier!" A frown etched on his face, " Only if that mutt had been quiet!" He punched the already cracked mirror. His mood quickly back to a cheerful one as he picked up his paper and held it to his face.

"But alas! I was able to work on this masterpiece so nothing ventured, nothing gained!"

He dabbled the sheet in perfume, rolled it and sniffed it like it was an illegal substance the author clearly doesn't know about.

He dropped his letter down and made his way to one of the walls. On that wall only his most treasured piece stood. A framed picture of Nana smiling with her hair flowing in the wind. For over a minute he just stood there staring at the image.

"Oh I almost forgot!" He dashed to the table and brought back a brown hairbrush with yellow bristles. He beamed at the picture and passed his free hand over her hair . " I haven't brushed your hair today."

He took his time brushing over the glass , humming as the bristles screeched, echoing unpleasantly across the room. " Your hair is quite stubborn today. I did tell you the sunshine at noon, wasn't good for it." He stepped back to examine his imaginary work, " but not to worry I, Den--"

"DEN ZEL!" The voice of an old woman shook the room. " Yer' better stop playing pretend over der and come open the darn shop!"

Den Zel , frustrated by the interruption, punched the glass frame right in Nana's face. He quickly rued his mistake, taking the picture out of the frame and cradling it in his arms.

"No no no no ! You know I didn't mean it." He lets out a nervous laughter, " My anger just gets the better of me... sometimes?" .

"I'll come drag ya out maself!" The old woman yelled her steps getting closer.

Den Zel places the image on the dresser and changes out of the stealth gear into his regular work uniform. A brown long-sleeved round neck shirt with black trousers and an apron. He tidies his ginger permed hair and ties the rest in a bun. He rushes to the door and opens it just in time meeting the old woman, his grandmother right in front of it.

"What you got going on in der" She tries to peek in.

Den Zel, laughs, shuts the door and walks toward the shop pushing his grandma with him like a trolley. He hurries outside and changes the sign to open, and business for their little café had begun.

---

"Here's your order sir." Den Zel said politely as he placed a cup of black coffee and two delicious looking muffins in front of his customer.

"OH ! Den Zel this looks amazing." The man replied, his mouth watering. He had a brown wig on with a huge coat and a moustache that looked like it had been drawn.

He took a sip of the coffee and bit right into the muffin. He swallowed and let out an "Ah" of satisfaction. The funny looking man relaxed in his chair and almost forgot himself before quickly fixing his hair. For a moment there, Den Zel could have sworn he saw blonde hair.

" I'm glad you like it" Den Zel's smile was infectious, " you don't look like you're from around here but you do seem to know my name." His smile still remained. This time with a hint of suspicion.

" O-O-oh! Y-your name and the Zeldrick cafe have spread quite a mile. I came all the way from my village just to try it." The man replied, clearly caught off guard. He quickly devoured the rest of his tea , paid for the meal and bolted off waving at Den Zel in the distance.

"Hm. Weird guy." Den whispers as he watches him go on from the door.

In an empty alley, well almost empty alley, the man met with two younger people. He took off the wig and coat and wiped the moustache of his face leaving smudges of black marker.

" This is stupid! Are you even sure that's him?" Emile asked the two.

"You got free treats on us so don't complain. You smell like Muffins and a monday morning" Nana retorted smelling the muffins and black coffee on him.

"Leave the rest to us." The slightly shorter black haired boy answered grinning mischievously, as he held his staff. "Trust me."