Thorn sat in the middle of the garden, a paper spread out between his paws and a bit of charcoal sticking out the side of his mouth. Scribbles were on the paper.  He had made attempts at drawing a few different items in the area.  A simple leaf, a tree, a pile of leaves, and a bush.  His lines had a tendency to start ok but then suddenly swoop out, growing thinner as the coal would slip out of his control.  The leaf was really a wavy circle with an attempt at triangular points sticking out.  The bush and pile of leaves were simply a bunch of scribbling scrawling shapes clustered together.

Thorn was frustrated, he could see the items.  On the paper, he could imagine how it looked just the same.  Unfortunately, he had a hard time using the charcoal, either between his teeth or between his paws.  A part of his mind felt if he could use the charcoal while in his mouth it could help him control a sword that needed fewer tiny details, right? It didn’t matter since neither was working though.

Thorn glared at the page, ears flat in sulk mode.  This wasn’t his first day trying to learn how to draw better but he wanted it to become perfect over a few days' time.  Days seemed a long time to a pup who had lived so little life at this time.  The truth was, the drawings were better than his very first attempt but that wasn’t saying much.

His glaring gaze looked from the paper and then towards the tree.  After a moment of glaring at it he just let out a sigh of resignation then back to the paper wondering what he was doing wrong.  If he couldn’t draw well his maps would never look good.

"Carpathius Family"

Gwynevere was on her way through the gardens with a basket of herbs and plants that she had just gathered from the greenhouse when she noticed one of her nephews laying with a piece of paper rolled out in front of him, his azure ears very noticeably pinned back in obvious frustration. Her steps slowed as she watched him curiously for a moment, quietly moving a bit closer so she could peek at what he was up to. Her mint and lavender gaze scanned the page, seeing the scribbles and squiggly lines that she supposed could be interpreted as leaves and trees if squinting and turning her head to the side. She couldn't help but smile a bit at the boy's efforts though and it was utterly adorable seeing him try. She didn't consider her some sort of amazing artist by any means, but she did have some experience with it and it was as good an excuse as any to catch a little bit of time with one of her newest family members.

She walked over to where he was laying, setting her basket down off to the side before she settled beside him. "Doing some drawing?" she asked, giving him a gentle smile. Gwyn reached for a bit of charcoal that was laying at the edge of the paper and held it in her paw stabilized with a couple of toes the way she could use a needle if she was stitching up one of her patients. "I like to draw some of the herbs and plants I'm growing sometimes," she added as she started to sketch out a long stemmed flower, giving it a few rounded leaves as she went. She used short, sketchy strokes so it wasn't a perfect, smooth line, but the shape was easier to get over all. "What do you like to draw?"

"Gwynevere Carpathius"

Thorn looked up as he spotted his dark-colored aunt coming towards him.  He offered her a half-hearted smile, nodding at her question.  “Hi, aunty Gwyn.” He glanced from her and back to his attempts on the paper. “Trying to, but I can’t make anything look right.”

His head turned to watch her as she picked up the charcoal.  His eyes were intent on how she held it in her paw.  It didn’t take long before her art started to take shape.  He could tell what she was making! Thorn had been trying to do long lines that had always skittered off but Gwyn was doing short strokes and that seemed to help her keep control of it.  At least Thorn imagined that was why she did short strokes.

“Hey, you’re really good!” The compliment is certainly sincere in its excitement.  The boy used both paws to grab the charcoal, carefully trying to hold it in one paw the way Gwyn had done.  It took some fumbling so he answered while struggling on the charcoal, “well, I want to make maps but if I can’t do basic lines or some way to mark what an object it is, then it’s a pretty worthless map.”  The charcoal was slippery on his smaller paw but Thorn decided it could work.  This was something that would be easier when he grew bigger.

Thorn used his free paw as a brace, the other paw gripping the charcoal as best as possible.  He imitated Gwyn, not making small marks at a time instead of one long line. “I’m gonna learn to make great maps.  Then I’ll travel all over to make lots and lots of maps.” Not all the lines connected as they should but trying to imitate Gwyn's drawing, he could at least tell this time it was an attempt at a flower, shaky as it was.  It was progress, and even if not perfect it was a big improvement in his mind.  “That’s better but, yours is a lot better still.”

"Thorn Carpathius"

Gwyn chuckled softly as Thorn complimented her drawing as she sketched out the stem and a few leaves before moving on to the petals, choosing something quick and easy like a daisy. "Well, thank you." With her quick flower finished she put the charcoal back down and watched as he tried to imitate how she had been holding it. He explained how he was wanting to draw maps, but that the difficulty had been just drawing basic lines and shapes. Gwyn reached over and gently helped him get the position right, but it was indeed difficult with his smaller paw. Of course, she could tell even just from the size of his paws that he was going to end up being as tall as his father so that problem likely wouldn't last for long. He seemed to get a better handle on it after a moment though and she watched as he started matching the flower she had previously drawn.

"I've also had a lot more time to practice," she reminded him with a grin as he said how her drawing was still better. "See how much better you've gotten just with a little practice? Just keep at it and try different things until you find what works for you. Do you think I became a great healer or that your father became a master swordsman over night? No, it took a lot of work and practice." She chuckled softly and lifted a paw to gently ruffle the fur on the top of his head. "And if you ever want someone to practice drawing maps with I'd be happy to join you."

"Gwynevere Carpathius"

Thorn was putting ample focus into his drawing attempt.  Thorn's tail flashed back and forth again as Gwyn helped him on trying to position the charcoal better in his paw.  Gripping it took a large majority of his focus.  It was as if he had to focus on gripping, making a few lines, then fix his grip once more.  As he worked on his leaf pattern he listened to Gwyn talking about having more practice.

“Well, I know you had to practice.  So how long did it take you and dad to get this good?” In Thorn’s mind of course a week sounded like forever in his mind.  Comparatively in his life span, it was a good percentage of his life after all.  Gwyn then made the wonderful offer to draw with him more.  Thorn's mind quickly went to one of the main things he couldn’t do without an adult.  “Can we go someplace off pack land to draw?  Somewhere I haven’t seen?” Then he could play somewhere new along with trying to map it.

“Either way,” Thorn added on, “I’d still enjoy drawing with you more, whether or not it's past our boundaries.” Thorn didn’t want Gwyn to think he only wanted to be with her if he could get a bit more freedom with it.

"Thorn Carpathius"