Colorful Complications

Photo by Elena Mozhvilo on Unsplash

Tiffy chewed her lower lip and waited long enough for the paintbrush to drip a lavender drop onto her pinafore. After another minute had passed by, she squared her shoulders and smeared the canvas with a smooth river of the colour. She dropped the brush into the apron’s front pocket and cracked her neck from side to side before taking a step back to admire her work.

“What a beauty.”

The canvas, plastered across a large window and backed by a piece of cardboard, was streaked in crisscross lines of lavender, grey and magenta to a background of white. Sunlight squeezed in around the uneven edges and illuminated the triumphant smile on Tiffy’s face…

— which got wiped out soon as she heard the hurried footsteps heading up the stairs.

Colour drained from her cheeks as she waved her hands in frantic motions, sending the pinafore along with all its affectations and attachments and the canvas flying across the room. They collapsed in a bundle behind a wooden cupboard in the far end of the room just as the door was thrown open.

Tiffy wheeled around on her heels and smiled nervously. For a portly woman, Orietta was far too quick on her feet! She did not even have to cast any spell to climb thirty-odd steps within fifteen seconds. Tiffy resented that speed often; she tended to use a flying spell even within the house.

Orietta swept her eyes around the room. When they landed on Tiffy, they narrowed into slits. “Were you painting? Again?”

“No…”

“Why is there a cardboard on the window?”

“Well…”

“And why is there paint on your fingers?”

Tiffy straightened the accused fingers in front of her face in an instant. “What? No! I cleared off all the smudges –” She bit her tongue and folded her fingers as she brought her arms solemnly behind her. She hung her head and sighed. “Did I do it again?”

Orietta shook her head and flicked her fingers. The cardboard creased into itself like slats. As a burst of sunlight lit up the room more prominently, she grabbed Tiffy by the shoulders and turned her around.

Beyond the window, hills and grass and buildings were covered in splashes of lavender, grey and magenta. People out in the streets had been doused with the pigment rain too.

Tiffy inhaled sharply and whispered, “So, the bit of cardboard was no good either? Colours still seeped out?”

“Oh yeah, sure. A flimsy little thing will block your magic!”

“What? If I don’t experiment, I won’t know what will control it!”

“Our walls don’t control it! I doubt much else will!”

“Our walls are made from my magic too, so they let the paints pass through without any protest. That’s why I tried to do it this time with the window open and with the backing of something not conjured by my powers. Too bad the experiment failed.”

“But why does Garana have to suffer because of your experiments?”

“Please, a little colour never worsened a landscape. If it were flowers, you wouldn’t blame them, right?”

“That’s beside the –”

“Besides, it’s water soluble paints. Watercolour, if you will. A little rain and it will wash right off.”

Tiffy tilted her head and smiled in the way she did when she was sure she had made an irrefutable argument. Orietta did not speak for a few moments, then hissed and pressed her thumbs against Tiffy’s temples.

“You idiot! Have you forgotten Garana’s Rain Sprite is in hibernation and won’t be up for another ninety moons? Who’s going to make it rain here, huh?”

“I…could…try…painting…transparent…colours…” Tiffy managed through clenched teeth, her eyes shut tight while she tried to pry her wife’s thumbs off the sides of her head.

“That’s not the same as making it rain!”

Orietta let her go. While Tiffy rubbed at the bruising skin, Orietta walked around the room, fixing first the cardboard, then making the hidden painting stretch over it. The lighting of the room dimmed once more, just as the paint-splotched pinafore tied itself around the culprit.

“Grab your paintbrush and lie down, quick. Drain some colour off your cheeks, for the love of Garana.”

When the representatives of the ministry inevitably arrived, Orietta apologized profusely before they could put the accusations into words.

“Tiffy’s had another of those episodes. The magic just exploded out of her. It had to manifest, you know.”

They knew. “But we’re afraid it’s not on behalf of Garana alone we make this intrusion. The Omen Bender builder has issued a Ban Notice to whoever is responsible. In this case, Enchanter Tiffy.”

The Omen Bender was a world famous amusement park built by Garana’s own Old Enchanter Clomin. Once inside the premises, the visitors were stripped of their powers. They then had to face every mind-boggling, horrifying ride like simple, vulnerable imps. That was the closest thing to mortality Enchanters got to feel in their lifetime. And it was tempting and thrilling, apparently, to millions and millions. Garana had one of the highest tourism rates because of it; right after Buriana, which was known for its gold flaked Firecracker Delight.

“Oh dear.” Orietta covered her mouth with one hand as she received the envelope. They were in the upstairs room, Tiffy sprawled out on the floor behind the group. She almost raised her head in shock at the announcement, but she bit the inside of her cheeks to keep in character. She loved the Omen Bender! How had she forgotten it was right beyond that hill behind their house? Paint must have splattered over half the property! How had she been stupid enough to paint by this window?!

The Ban Notice delivered, and the passed-out form of Tiffy recorded, the ministry representatives took their leaves. The bruises on her temples were the real thing they had come to confirm since it was a sure sign of a magical outburst. Theoretically.

The representatives did not mind the pretensions one bit — it saved them the arduous process of filing for a trial for magical misconduct. In fact, the pretensions were all the more welcome so they could log the evidence in and close the case. Neat and perfect. Less hassle. They could go back to sitting around again — ah! What a pleasure!

When Orietta returned to the room, Tiffy’s shoulders were slumped and her lips matched the curve made by her shoulders.

“People will clean their houses as they see fit. And themselves, goes without saying. Rest of it, they’ll see what they can do. That just means, they’re going to let ninety moons pass and let the Rain Sprite do what she must.”

“And the Omen Bender? Am I banned for a lifetime?” Tiffy asked in a small voice.

“Technically, no. Only until the colours stay up.”

“For ninety moons then?!” Tiffy exclaimed, horrified.

“Well, they are going to clean the park. Old Enchanter Clomin is by far the strongest magic wielder in Garana. But yeah, until the surrounding forests lose their off-season colours, you’re Banned.”

“Curses!”

Orietta helped Tiffy stand on her feet and cleaned her up with a wave of her hand. “Tea?”

“Yeah, sure, why not? It’s not like my world hasn’t just turned upside down.”

“Have you looked outside the window?”