Chapter 65: The Bear Draws a Picture Book

Chapter 65:
The Bear Draws a Picture Book

 

I NEEDED TO THINK of what the story would be about. Of course, a bear theme would work well for this, given that the kid wouldn’t let me (a bear) go. But did I even know any picture books that had bears in them? The only one I could think of was the bear that showed up in that one Kintaro fairytale. The only other thing I could think of was that “Bear in the Woods” song. I tried to think up things from my childhood, but realized that there’s no way to remember things you didn’t know existed. All I could do was make this story about something near and dear to me.

I started drawing a girl.

Lady Flora was staring by my side. She might’ve been marveling at the fact that I was drawing, since she was being quiet. I based the girl on Fina. It’s easier to draw when you’ve got a muse.

“She looks exactly like Fina, doesn’t she?”

“Well, that’s because this actually happened to her.”

“Oh, did it really?”

Fina, who was the subject of this, was far away, nervously drinking something the maid had given her. I suppose a commoner normally wouldn’t experience getting their tea prepared by a maid. I burned through several sheets of paper. Finally, I got to the scene where the bear (me) would make an appearance.

“Why, what an adorable bear.”

I drew the cartoon bear (playing my role). Well, the one making an appearance wasn’t me, but actually a cartoon of a real bear.

I really wished I actually had colors, but I thought I was doing a pretty good job with just black and white. Maybe next time I’d try to look around for colored pens.

“Whoa…”

Lady Flora’s eyes glittered as she looked at the drawing of the bear.

“Regardless, this is my first time seeing such cute drawings.”

“Is it really?”

“I know many artists, but I’ve never seen drawings like this before.”

I finished drawing the scene of the girl and the bear meeting.

“What happens to the girl?” Lady Flora asked me.

“Look forward to when I draw it.”

“Then hurry and draw it—hurry!”

I started to draw the next scenes. After that, I finished the drawings on several more sheets. I drew the scene of the girl going back to her town at the end and the bear going home to the woods, and the picture book was done.

“It’s done…”

It only took me a few hours to draw what was pretty much a tour de force. I guess that’s what’s to be expected, considering I’m not a pro picture book author. I organized the papers and handed them to Lady Flora.

“Are these for me, bear?”

“I guess I’d be pretty jazzed if you read it.”

“Thank you, bear.”

She took the book happily.

“Good for you, Lady Flora. I will have this bound later so that the pages do not come apart.”

Lady Flora was engrossed in my picture book. The most important thing was that she was happy. I hadn’t used my bear abilities, but my own powers to draw it in those hours. I felt like it was the first time my own abilities had actually been useful in this world. As I stretched my back muscles and eased my shoulders, there was a knock at the door, and a maid came in.

“Lady Flora, it is meal time.”

“Then how about we head out, too?”

Ellelaura stood up. I followed suit.

“You’re going home already, bear?”

When Ellelaura told Lady Flora we were leaving, Lady Flora latched onto my clothes.

“Uhh, Lady Flora, I will come back again.”

“Will you really?”

“I will be at the capital for a while, so I will come again.”

“Okay, I see.”

Her little hand let go of my clothes.

“Fina, we’re heading out. You can’t be looking white as a sheet forever.”

“Y-yuna?”

Fina came back to reality. It was like she was in a whole other world until now. I figured Fina would faint if she knew what was in the picture book, so I just kept mum.

 

We left Lady Flora and the castle grounds. In the end, the only places we were able to see were the knight’s training grounds and the princess’s room, but I had my fill of the castle. I had my doubts over whether Fina herself enjoyed it. When we returned to the bear house, Noa was sitting at the front entrance. When she noticed us, she stood up and struck a furious pose.

“Where were all of you?!”

“At the castle.”

I gave her a simple explanation of the morning.

“Mother! Why do you go places without telling me? Please bring me with you.”

“But you just wouldn’t wake up,” Ellelaura calmly replied. “Besides, we decided that we would go to the castle after I got here, so there was no way to invite you.”

“You could have come back to the house or done something. Please don’t leave me out.”

“Then you should wake up bright and early.”

“Ugh…all right. But, please make sure you really wake me next time.”

“I will if you don’t tell me ‘just a little longer’ in your sleep.”

Noa turned bright red and went silent.

“But I can’t believe you’d know that we’d be here.”

“Surilina said that you were muttering about pizza when you left, Mother. I knew where you went immediately. But when I got here, no one was around. I’d like to have pizza again, too.”

“Well then, I’m about to make some, so could you give me a hand?”

I headed to the stone oven and started to prepare the pizza. Actually, the ingredients I’d gotten ready yesterday were still in bear storage, so all I had to do was measure them out, put the toppings on, and bake it. I finished prepping it, the oven started to fill with heat, and I put the pizza in to bake.

“Why, that smells scrumptious.”

“I’d like to eat something as delicious as this every day.”

“You’ll get fat.”

“This makes you fat?!”

“Yeah, since it’s got a lot of oil. At most, you should eat it only a couple times a month. And, if you eat too much, you’ll get tired of it, so it’s best to practice moderation.”

It wasn’t like you’d get bored of it if you had plenty of toppings though. I needed to search around the royal capital and look for more ingredients again. The quest for rice, soy, and miso continues…The pizza finished baking, so I pulled it out of the oven. I cut it into four portions and plated the works.

“Well then, I’m digging in.”

“It’s hot, so please be careful,” I warned Ellelaura, who was having it for the first time. It wouldn’t be good if she burned herself.

“Oh! It’s hot! But it’s very good.” She let the cheese stretch as she savored it.

“Yes, it’s delicious,” said Fina.

While everyone was eating, I got ready to bake another one. Yesterday, we stuffed ourselves to bursting point trying to eat two pies between four people. We had four people again today, but since Ellelaura was an adult, I thought two would be just right.

“Yuna, I can do it,” Fina offered to give me a hand between mouthfuls.

“You can keep eating, Fina. I’ll finish this right away.”

“But…”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Okay.”

Fina seemed apologetic. She didn’t need to be, though. I finished getting the second pie ready and ate along with them until the pie finished baking. Two pies turned out to be the ideal amount with an adult present; Ellelaura also had a favorable opinion of the pizza in the end.

“It really did seem like it was a bit oily. I kind of want something refreshing now.”

“In that case, would you like to have pudding as a palette cleanser?”

“I’ll eat one!” Noa yelled, raising her hand.

“Pudding? What could that be?”

“It’s a sweet and yummy food,” Noa started to explain in my place.

It was easier to just show Ellelaura, so I pulled puddings from my bear storage.

“This is pudding?”

“One for each of you.”

I only had a small stock of pudding left now. I’d eaten several on the way to the capital and since we’d gotten here. I was running low on eggs too, since I’d been using them in meal prep. Maybe I’d go back to Crimonia and get some?

“What is this? The pizza was wonderful, but this pudding is delicious as well! I think people would buy this if you went into business.”

“If you had a store, I’d buy some every day.”

Both parent and child praised me in tandem. Opening up shop might be doable if we got more birds to lay eggs, but how many birds did we have again? I left that stuff up to Liz and Tiermina, so I didn’t really know. Once I got back to Crimonia again, I’d need to ask.

It seemed like Ellelaura and Noa wanted to have more pudding, but I couldn’t be that free with my stock, so they’d have to endure without it. It wouldn’t be good for them to overdo it anyway.

“Yuna, thanks for today,” Ellelaura said.

“Taking a field trip to the castle was fun for me, too. Thank you very much.”

That wasn’t a lie. I had more than enough fun seeing the inside of the castle, even if it did nearly give Fina an aneurysm. I just didn’t think I’d be called into the princess’s room.