Work Text:
“Ena-chan!”
Ena jolted and jumped in her seat, hitting her head as she tried to get up. She felt a pain in her shoulder and she knew she must’ve slept weird. Wincing, she rubbed her head as she made her way to the door.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming!” She called. She swung the door open, “Oh, it’s you, Futaba.”
Futaba gave her a small smile before walking in. Originally, Ena would’ve prohibited anyone from going in because of the mess, but Futaba was a special case. She had seen the other girl get messy in turn, so she knew that Futaba would understand she was working.
Futaba, as usual, didn’t ask any questions, simply setting her bag down and turning to Ena with a troubled expression, “I have some interesting news.”
Ena leaned against the wall, hoping that the paint she felt on her face wasn’t as obvious as it felt, “Is something wrong?”
Futaba quickly shook her head and smiled, “Nothing’s wrong at all. In fact, I think you’ll be pretty happy when you find out but…” the troubled look returned to her face, “It’s a little daunting.”
Ena tilted her head and she continued, “You have a commission.”
Her spirits soared, “Really? Who is it?” She exclaimed, unable to keep the excitement out of her voice.
Futaba bit her lip, “Well, you see…”
Princess Yoisaki Kanade had been asked that morning to find herself an artist. It was customary for royal blood to commission an artist for a portrait painting, but none of the artists in the palace had particularly caught her eye.
She sighed, staring out the window at the land beyond. There was an abundance of painters in the capital city and she knew she couldn’t be picky when there was an expected date for these sorts of things. Still, the princess wished that it would be easier to figure this out.
“Your Highness?”
Kanade turned around to see Shinonome, a renowned knight working for the royal family. He had apparently come to the capital from a small town to follow his dreams, but those were mainly rumors.
“Yes?”
“The Duke of Aoyagi Manor would like to…” His voice trailed off as he noticed her expression, “Is everything okay?”
Kanade straightened, not realizing that her sour mood was visible, “What do you mean?”
“Well, you look a bit upset,” He gave a good-natured smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes, “You’re allowed to confide in any of us.”
Kanade had the feeling that he was only saying that to be polite, but there was a chance he could solve her problem.
“I’m looking for an artist,” She said carefully and he twitched, “I need to get someone to paint my portrait but there’s no one that catches my eye. Can you help with that?”
Shinonome went quiet for a moment before he spoke up again, as if he was arguing with himself and one side finally won, “I know…an artist. She’s hard to get a hold of when she’s working, but I know one of her friends.”
Kanade nodded, “Is she a friend of yours?”
He made a sour expression, “Not exactly, I’ll ask her friend to bring her here.”
“Can you bring me some of her paintings first? I’d like to see them before I commission her.”
Shinonome nodded and turned to leave, Kanade felt an odd satisfaction. Maybe she would be fine after all.
“Princess Yoisaki?!”
Ena gaped at the woman in front of her and Akito kicked her ankle. She winced at the pain and quickly collected herself, “I mean! I didn’t know that you would want to commission me of all people! For a portrait too, I didn’t even know you knew who I was at all–”
Akito kicked her ankle again and she stopped her rambling, glaring at him.
The princess had been studying her carefully, not saying a word. Ena internally worried if she had made a bad impression.
“This is the artist you were talking about, Shinonome?” The princess asked Akito. Despite asking him the question, her gaze never left Ena. She started to feel like a bug under a magnifying glass.
Akito hummed, “Yeah this is her.”
Ena swiveled, “You’re the reason I’m here?”
He ignored her and the princess continued, “What’s your name?”
It took Ena a second to register that it was a question meant for her, and an answer was expected, “Ah, My name is Shinonome Ena…Your Highness,” she hated the way her voice faltered.
“Oh…” her gaze flicked from Ena to Akito, “That makes some more sense then.”
Ena was about to ask what that meant but the princess kept speaking, “You can just call me Kanade.”
Ena felt stun locked, “R-right, um, Kanade…You want me to paint your portrait?”
Kanade nodded, a gentle smile on her face, “They left quite an impression on me.”
Ena couldn’t stop the grin on her face and she grabbed the girl by the shoulders, “Really? You like my art?”
Kanade seemed a bit surprised at the sudden contact, but she quickly adjusted, “I did,” she hummed.
Ena felt a hand on her shoulder jerk her back and she suddenly realized how close she was to the princess. Although she did step on Akito’s foot, she mumbled a small apology to the princess.
A moment of silence followed before Ena decided to break the silence, “Would you like to start…now?”
The question seemed to catch Kanade off guard a bit but she nodded, “We could move to my room then. There’s supplies that you can use.”
Ena nodded and Akito finally said the first words in the entire conversation, “Would you like me to wait outside?”
Ena couldn’t tell who his question was directed at, but Kanade nodded anyway, “I assume you prefer to work privately, right Shinonome-san?”
She nodded, “You can just call me Ena, but yeah I like to work alone.”
Akito gave her a look that she couldn’t fully discern, but he walked away and shut the door, leaving the two girls alone in the room.
Ena quickly set up her easel and studied her model. She needed this to be perfect, or else she wouldn’t know what to do.
“Um, Ena?”
Her head snapped to attention, “Hm?”
“If it’s possible…” Her words were slow and careful, “could you paint me how you paint regularly?”
She tilted her head, “What do you mean?”
“I’m worried that you’ll try to make everything perfect just because I’m the princess,” Ah, she got her, “but…I enjoy the impression that your art leaves. It’s what I picked out of all the artists I’ve seen.”
Ena’s breath hitched and she stared at the woman in wonder. A beat of silence passed between them before she quickly looked down.
“I promise to try my hardest, Kanade.”
“Thank you,” she couldn’t see her face, but she heard the smile in her voice.
She didn’t dare look up.