Chapter Text
Day 1 of the exhibition
“Looks like higher powers are asking you to quit. Maybe it’s time to finally listen, eh, Ess?”
Essek simply raised the middle finger over his shoulder in the direction of the voice and went back to trying to make his zippo work.
Of course this didn’t stop his brother. Very few things did and Essek had to get over the fact that he was no longer on that list.
“Such a gentleman,” Verin chuckled, leaning his back against the railing, his elbow next to Essek’s. “Rough day at work?”
“More like a rough month,” Essek said around the cigarette that was still in his mouth. He hit the lighter with his other hand and tried again. Finally, a small flame sprang to life. Only after he took the first drag and let the cloud of smoke out through his nose, Essek raised his hand for Verin to fistbump. Life always seemed a little easier when it was seen from behind a gray veil.
“Let me guess, that guy from Rexxentrum again?” Verin grimaced and waved a hand, trying to disperse the smoke Essek blew his way.
“It’s always like that with new shareholders before they learn their place. Nothing I can’t manage, it’s just tiring to have to deal with this.”
“Don’t you have like… A secretary to do things you don’t like?”
Essek rolled his eyes. He loved his brother more than anyone else but he was happy Verin had found his way outside of the family company and wasn’t there to make Essek’s day-to-day life even harder than it already was. Of course this divergence of paths came with a side-effect of spending little time together and mostly in situations like this - when both of them had been contacted by their mother’s assistant, telling them about this or that event their family would be ever so grateful if they agreed to attend to show their family’s support for less fortunate or upcoming political stars or something similar.
“So what’s on the menu tonight?” Essek asked. He was done with his cigarette and that meant it was time to get inside and pose for some photos with people who always seemed a little too eager to shake his hand or wrap an arm around his shoulders.
“Some new art revelation from the southern coast making her international debut,” Verin supplied, used to the fact that Essek paid little attention anymore to those events.
Essek groaned in irritation. He threw the rest of his cigarette on the pavement and ground it with his heel. “I hate art exhibitions,” way too few numbers for his liking and too many people oh-ing and ah-ing at something they just pretended to understand. Verin took a pamphlet out of his pocket and handed it to Essek who quickly scanned it - being caught by a reporter and not knowing the title of the thing would be embarrassing. “‘Nine nights of Love?” He raised an eyebrow. “Do you know what this reminds me of? That fundraiser with a charity auction where you..."
Verin snatched the pamphlet back and smacked Essek on the shoulder with it. “I’ve read the reviews and it actually seems quite good,” he always had a soft spot for art. It was a good thing, something Essek was grateful for. It meant their parents would show Verin off to their guests, making him recite poetry or discuss plays over a plate of canapés while Essek could focus on studying.
It also meant they both had their own thing and nobody could make them compete with each other.
“Whatever,” Essek shrugged, fixing his coat. “Guess I’ll let you take the lead this time. Let’s go.”
The inside of the Marble Tomes Conservatory was filled with people in rich dresses, smiling and striking poses in front of a dozen figures whose faces were hidden behind cameras. Colourful sashes hang between the columns and lights were cleverly dimmed aside from those strung along a path guiding the visitors towards one archway covered with a heavy, green drape. One of the employers of the Conservatory, or maybe someone who worked directly for the artist of the evening, was pulling the fabric to the side to let the guests in. It looked like the rest of the building was closed for the night.
They left their coats in the coat room, posed for a few pictures, answered a few questions and laughed dismissively at some more - the usual deal.
“Light help us if that's what the entire evening will be like,” Essek whispered to Verin from the corner of his mouth as they freed themselves from the paparazzi. The whisper fluently transferred into a charming smile aimed at the person standing at the archway, a donation box next to them. Without thinking, Essek took out his wallet and put a few hundred bills into the box.
“Oh, that’s the most kind of you, sir,” a firbolg nodded his head at Essek and Verin and opened the passageway for them. “Have a nice evening, gentlemen.”
Once the curtain fell back into place, the corridor they stepped into was completely dark. It grew eerily quiet too: the noises of the main foyer were muffled by the fabric and there was no sign of the guests who stepped into the corridor before them. The brothers stood for a moment in silence.
“Don't.”
“I'm not saying anything,” Essek replied, a corner of his mouth twitching in amusement.
“But you're thinking it. I can feel it “
Moving forward a few steps, Essek felt another thick curtain. “Aha, there we go.”
“There” turned out to be another room which could only be described as… green. Green rug forged a path between crates with fishing nets, mounds of sand and piles of rocks and seashells that smelled of brine. Atop a sword stuck in the floor was a tricorn hat. Light from some hidden machines danced across the ceiling and walls, giving the impression of an underwater chamber. It even felt colder than the previous room they’ve been in.
And at the centre of all that was a statue. A figure of a half-orc wearing simple trousers and no shirt. It was the size of a person, although the artist made it more slender than the half-orcs Essek usually saw in the streets of Rosohna. The lighting made the gray-white stone the sculpture was made of have the faintest greenish tint to it. The model has been caught in a moment of standing over a table, studying a map. Probably. A bright-green ribbon was tied around the figure's eyes, an unexpected flash of colour against the washed out colours of the statue.
“Wow," Verin said and Essek was inclined to agree.
It was good. Really good. All the muscles were well defined and natural-looking, like this was really flesh and skin and not stone. If Essek had stumbled into this room by accident when it was low-lit like now and he didn’t know it was a sculpture exhibition, he would have mistaken it for a person - the slope of the back and the wrinkling of clothing were done so masterfully. In fact…
He stepped closer to the statue, inclining his head to peer into the shadows created by form and light.
“Essek,” Verin hissed in a warning and Essek immediately stepped away from the edge of the rug, just as the curtain behind them moved, letting in another pair of visitors.
“Isn’t this young mister Thelyss?” one of the people called to them, completely ignoring the statue, and both brothers smiled in exactly the same way. Some pleasantries and best wishes to their mother later, they could move further into the room.
“I just had to take a closer look. It looks… Too real,” Essek explained, even though Verin didn’t ask.
“That’s because Miss Lavorre is an exceptional artist.”
“Perhaps, but is she really this good? I mean, this thing looks ready to come down from its podium any second.”
“Captain,” Verin said. Seeing Essek’s confused look, he sighed. “That piece is called Captain. There was a plaque. And you seem to forget that it’s an exhibition . I can bet you ten gold pieces that everything here is designed to make you believe these things are alive. The lightning, the props surrounding the sculpture, the smell, sound,” only when Verin mentioned it, Essek noticed a quiet humming of waves coming from around them. “It’s a multi-modal experience. A work of a genius,” Verin smiled, his eyes shining. He looked so young when he was like that.
“Only ten gold pieces? Why so stingy?”
“Oh shut up. As if you need more money.”
The second room was blue. Not like water or sky but the deeper blue of fountain pen ink - a colour Essek often used when signing paperwork. While the previous one had easy to decipher imagery all along, this one wasn’t decorated at all except for blue lightning. Footsteps were still muffled by the rug but even a whisper seemed to echo in these empty walls. It felt a little like the other room had sucked out all the sensations and left this one lacking. The only thing waiting for visitors was a statue of a young, human woman.
Just like the other statue, this one was also immaculate. The figure was sitting cross-legged, back straight and eyes closed, like she was meditating. And, just like with the previous one, this statue also had a ribbon, but this one was blue and wrapped around the hands, not eyes.
Serenity, read the plaque next to this one. It gave Essek creeps.
Entering the third room, Essek had to blink a few times at the sudden, bright light. This one was filled with flowers, small white blooms and slightly larger, trumpet-shaped purple ones covering a statue of a sleeping woman, like a burial mound. She was tall and broad-shouldered, her hands wrapped around a pommel of a sword lying on top of her - a pose one imagined when thinking about a noble warrior’s tomb.
“The sleeping knight?” Essek looked at Verin. There was this mount in Ashkeeper Peaks that, if you were to the west of it and squinted just right, looked like a profile of a sleeping knight. Every kid in the Dynasty knew the tale of an army that was supposedly sleeping in the caverns there, ready to defend their country from a terrible danger.
“I doubt it. Unless other rooms also have some link to different mythologies that escaped me,” Verin scratched his chin in thought. Essek followed his gaze to a plaque placed among the flowers. Commemoration.
“How long are you staying in Rosohna?”
“Probably until the end of the week. But I should be back for the end of the year party,” Verin said. He gestured with a thumb towards the next room, wordlessly asking if Essek was done here.
Essek shrugged and followed after him. Art exhibitions were hardly places with many things to do, at least in his opinion. “Should I let mother know that you're bringing a plus one, so there's no awkward situation this year?”
“I did tell her! She was the one who chose to forget. And no, thanks, this year I'm taking a page out of your book and I'm planning to come alone.”
“Ha ha. Very funny,” Essek pushed past Verin and ducked under the curtain into the next room. He stopped so abruptly that his brother bumped into him from behind. “Oh, you've got to be…” he started to say but shut his mouth as soon as he saw a group of people standing not far from the entrance. Fortunately, they were too busy ogling a showpiece presented in this room.
“Ogling” was one of the most appropriate words for it, along with “giggling” and “twirling their hair at”. Unlike the previous two sculptures, or even the first one of the mysterious Captain who's been presented in a static position, this one looked like the figure was only momentarily stopped and should start moving again any second now. This one was stretching, sitting in half-split with the right leg pointing backwards while the left one was bent in the knee, one hand holding to the ankle, the other hand placed on the ground, as if for support. The tiefling’s head was tilted back, the long line of the neck exposed. But, by all means, this wasn't the only exposed thing.
While other sculptures were either made with clothes or covered in flowers, this one was gloriously nude with only a neon-pink swathe of fabric placed across one hip and crotch. Other visitors seemed to be more interested in that area than anything else in the room.
“Why would she paint on a sculpture?” Essek begrudgingly moved closer to the statue. Green, blue and red paint - peacock feathers and birds of prey - covered the entire left arm of the figure and a large portion of its back, all the way down to the divot created by a curved spine.
“Looks to me like this one’s supposed to symbolise the artist finding her Voice,” Verin said while pointing at the plaque. “Makes sense given how Miss Lavorre works mostly with paints. Of course it could also be something else,” as Verin was talking, Essek noticed some of the other visitors glancing curiously in their direction. Maybe because they've recognised them, or simply were interested in hearing what Verin had to say. Either way, they didn't have time.
“Did I mention I made a reservation in a restaurant?” Essek tried to sound like he was mentioning this offhandedly. “Thought we could eat dinner together.”
As always with his brother, mentioning food worked wonders.
In the fifth room, sunflower yellow surrounded them from all sides. Walls were lined with strings of buttons and trinkets moving this and that way with soft clicks and clacks, pulled by some mechanism hidden from the audience. And again, a statue in the centre.
Embrace, this one was called. It was a plump halfling, not tied with a ribbon but wrapped in a yellow sash that covered just enough to keep it decent while, once again, leaving very little to imagination. Lying next to an assortment of cushions with one arm covering the eyes and with real grapes placed in the other, it looked like a figure caught in the aftermath of revelry or during an evening rest. A bottle of sherry was standing open nearby, the sweet, alcoholic smell permeating the room.
Essek let Verin stare at the figure for a few moments while he fished a phone out of his pocket and opened his emails.
“I'm sorry sir, but you can't take pictures here,” a smiling attendant appeared out of nowhere, starling Essek.
“Pardon? Oh, no, naturally, I was just checking my messages,” he tilted the screen just enough for the woman to catch a glimpse of a wall of text he received from the chief of technology.
“Still, I'm afraid I have to ask you to turn your phone off, sir.”
“Surely it won't be a problem if I quickly finish this off first, right?” Essek hated to use his privilege like that but he hated even more to leave work unfinished.
The attendant stood awkwardly next to him while his fingers moved across the screen typing the reply but she didn't try to stop him again. He felt more than saw Verin stepping next to him, indicating that they could move on and, with a skill acquired sooner or later by everyone forced to multitask in the modern world, Essek followed after Verin into the sixth room, eyes still glued to his phone.
He probably would have walked out of it without glancing up even once if it wasn’t for Verin saying, “Looks like this was the last one.”
“Are we done already?” Essek gave the room a cursory glance. It reminded him of a waiting room at the therapist - walls lined with wooden panels with occasional burnt-orange decorations. A coffee table with a flower vase. Few bookcases with an eclectic mishmash of magazines and books with cracks on their spines. A horrible, dollar-store bought plastic clock shaped to look like a cat was hanging on one wall, each tick of it accompanied by cat’s eyes moving left and right, left and right.
At first, he didn’t even notice there was another sculpture in there. Mostly because it looked like someone was trying to hide it among the mess - an orange silk cloak was thrown over the figure, revealing only part of one leg and two arms from elbows down. Essek started to walk back, curious if any other part of the sculpture would be visible from another perspective but Verin called to him from the doorway, gesturing for Essek to hurry.
“That wasn’t that bad, was it?” Verin asked as they walked out of the last exhibition room and were guided through a smaller passage back into the foyer of the Conservatory where they could retrieve their coats.
“Could be worse,” Essek admitted. Near the exit, he spotted a blue-skinned tiefling he immediately recognised from the pamphlet Verin had shown him earlier that evening. She was wearing a shockingly green dress with so many ribbons that Essek wasn’t sure if parts of the corset weren’t just a mesh of tightly woven, colourful silk. He pointed with his chin in her direction. “Isn’t that Miss Lavorre? Do you want to go say hi?”
“Would you mind?”
“Not at all, people from work have already been pestering me,” Essek lifted his phone.
For the next few minutes, he busied himself with replying to emails and silently cursing those of his employees who didn’t answer him yet. Really, if they had a gut to expect him to work after the office was closed, they should at the very least be ready to do the same.
A sound of loud laughter made Essek look up. It was Miss Lavorre, laughing at something Verin was saying. When she calmed down, Miss Lavorre stepped closer, taking his brother’s elbow and gesturing excitedly with her free hand. Essek saw Verin nod his head so quickly it was a miracle he didn’t injure his neck. Verin said something too and from the way his face lit up, Essek knew they were talking about art. Then, Verin seemed to remember he wasn’t alone, his eyes darting towards Essek.
Essek raised an eyebrow at him and tapped his wristwatch. Dinner reservation, remember?
Verin looked down at Miss Lavorre and back at Essek, making the same face as when he was five and begged Essek to let him have Essek’s dessert. Can we go some other day? Please!
Essek rolled his eyes, placed a hand next to his ear like it was a phone and finished by flicking his fingers in a shooing gesture. Fine. I’ll call you later. Go have fun.