Chapter 67

“Have you been painting long?” I asked, not sure what else to say and falling back on small talk from the era I’d grown up in instead.

“Only eleven years. I’m nowhere near as good as some of the greats,” the boy replied.

“Eleven years?” I asked. “That’s a huge amount of time. You must be a pro by now.”

“No. I still have a long way to go before I’m as good as some of the masters, but this will be good practice. I’m sure Tomichii will be pleased.”

It was all I could get out of the kid. Everything else was merely comments on things like asking me to keep a part of my body especially still.

Over an hour had passed when Tomichii returned. He immediately smiled and went over to the painter to see what had been produced so far. The two of them talked about things in hushed voices before Tomichii smiled and came over to me.

“Thank you, Markus. If you could return in a week’s time, we will continue it then.” Markus nodded and left as Tomichii reached for my hand and lifted me to my feet.

“I thi