No one knew afterward whether the painting titled Brilliant Imagination ended up in Lightchaser's hands or Cinders'.
When Rita finally started painting Beacon, she was instantly surrounded by Vineborne from both Starsea and Quiet Mountain.
Two Deceitful Blooms.
Two Cicadas.
Two Smoke Tunes.
And Spring Guest craning his neck from the outer edge because he could not squeeze in.
Rita genuinely could not understand what was so fascinating about watching her paint.
Her process was meticulous. One painting took at least ten days to finish, and some especially complicated worlds required half a month.
For most worlds, she only painted the backs of the inhabitants. She tried not to let any single individual stand as the sole symbol of an entire race.
But there were exceptions.
The moon foxes alone had hundreds of different tail and ear colors.
The owlfolk had countless wing patterns.
