Triton's Destiny

Part Twenty-Three

Leaning back on his stool, Tristan tilted his head and considered the canvas in front of him with a critical eye. The piece was shaping up nicely, but there was always some little detail that needed more attention. He was finally satisfied with the top part of the work, the part he'd based on his reference drawing. The expression was soft, evoking a sense of peaceful contentment, and he was happy with the accuracy of the colors. But the bottom half of the canvas was still mostly blank and that's what was bothering him now.

He could finish the painting from what he'd drawn, but it somehow didn't feel right. Even though he wanted the focus to be on those beautiful eyes and that soft smile, it seemed strangely inauthentic to Tristan to continue with a direct translation of his drawing to the canvas. It didn't capture who Maki really was or accurately represent the beauty Tristan saw in his mind whenever he thought of the young triton. The piece needed more than what could be seen with the eyes. It needed a healthy dose of Tristan's imagination. He just wasn't sure how he wanted to express it.

Closing his eyes, he listened to the sound of the waves from the open windows. It made him think of walks on the beach, watching the sun set below the horizon, the stars appearing in the twilit sky, and the creatures that lived beneath the water. Maki was one of them. But when he walked on land, he was such a beautiful combination of his oceanic heritage and his human aspirations, a hybrid of land and sea. That was the dichotomy that Tristan dearly wanted to capture on his canvas. And that was the conundrum that had the perfectionistic artist in him perplexed.

He let his imagination wander as he thought back on the day he'd drawn Maki with the birds. What if he'd been outside? On the patio? No. On a rock out in the water. With the waves spraying up around him and the sun shining... Tristan's eyes popped open as he gasped. With the sun shining on his glittering scales. An excited smile curled his lips and he huffed a laugh. Yes. That's what he needed to paint.

The composition began to take shape in his mind. Maki's skin was grey in his triton form, mottled with black, with green stripes on his torso. He'd need to paint over the human skin he'd already done, add gills to his neck and fins on his forearms, adjust the shape of his ears to the pointed ones of his aquatic incarnation... Tilting his head again, Tristan studied what he'd painted so far. It didn't have to be changed. In fact, it could be a beautiful representation of Maki's transformation from triton to human. If he wanted to capture that magical bridging of two worlds, then he should leave the top of the painting alone. But then, he needed to paint Maki's tail just as lovingly as he'd captured his angelic smile. Shifting his gaze to his paints, he started planning the colors he wanted to use. And then an idea struck him that made him grin widely. Setting his supplies aside for now, he rushed down the stairs and yanked on his boots, heading out to the beach.

He'd amassed a respectable pile of shells and was still digging in the sand for more when a gentle hand curled around his shoulder and soft words caressed his ear. "Tristan? What are you doing?"

Turning to Maki, he beamed a smile at him. "Oh, good!" He pulled the triton down to join him on the sand. "I could use the help. I need a bunch of shells."

Maki set down the book he was carrying and began digging his own hole in the wet sand, pulling shells out as he encountered them. "What do you need them for?"

"I need the mother of pearl from them." Tristan pulled another couple of shells from the sand and added them to his pile.

"Do you just need the nacre?" Maki tilted his head with an adorably inquisitive pout.

"Yeah. I can grind away the shells after I clean them."

Maki hesitated for a second. "That'll take a lot of work for only a little usable product."