By Elizabeth Jane Shelton

Scarlet slammed her textbook down in front of the Head T.A. of Color-Based Synesthetics. “Teach me color transfer.”

The tired-looking elf didn’t look up from his book. “Hello to you, too, Scarlet. And no. You can’t learn color transfer for two more years.”

“It’s important, Aeris!” Scarlet let the indigo spirals of her urgency seep into the visible spectrum. Aeris’s synesthetic magic found colors in words, not souls, so he couldn’t see her colors unless she let him. “I need it for a grand gesture.”

Aeris glanced up, arching an eyebrow. “A grand gesture?” His face betrayed nothing, but Scarlet’s gift let her see the clouds of sky-blue curiosity gathering around him, nearly the exact same shade as his eyes. She didn’t need others’ permission to see their emotions. They were as easy to read as Aeris’s book. On the surface, at least.

“Oran almost broke up with me yesterday. He thinks I don’t appreciate him enough. That he’s never good enough for me.” She bit her lip, remembering Oran’s sickly shades of persimmon and chartreuse as shame and guilt colored his words. “I want to give him something with his true colors so he can see how incredible I know he is.”

Aeris was silent. Scarlet couldn’t help activating her magic to see just a little deeper. The curiosity remained, along with a few crimson strands of… was that jealousy? After years of their friendship, she was pretty good at reading Aeris’s emotions, but she still couldn’t decipher everything. Aeris played his colors close to his chest.

“You’re reading me, aren’t you?”

“What? No…”

Aeris rolled his eyes. “Scarlet. I can tell when you’re poking into my private thoughts.”

“Just your emotions,” Scarlet grumbled.

He sighed. “Fine. What’s in it for me?”

“The usual?” It wasn’t the first time Scarlet had begged a magical favor of Aeris. Usually, she gave him three chances to read someone’s emotions for him, watching some interaction and reporting the specified person’s true feelings. Not the most ethical, but she had little else with which to barter.

“Technically, this is against academic policy. We’ll get in trouble if they find out. And it’ll take time.” He shut the book and crossed his arms. “I want ten reads.”

Now it was Scarlet’s turn to roll her eyes. “Five.”

“Seven.”

“Deal.” She held out her hand, and they shook. “Now, let’s get started.”

***

Day One

“Nothing’s happening, Aeris.”

“Be patient, Scarlet. It takes practice. Now, focus on just one color. What do you see?”

“Irritation.”

“This is why you’re not supposed to learn this for two more years.”

Day Six

“Aeris, make it stop, make it stop!”

“I’d definitely call this progress.”

“You can undo this, right?”

“Oh, no. This is called consequences.”

“Get back over here so I can try some consequences on you next!”

Later, Oran asked, “Scar? Why is your hair changing colors?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

Day Fourteen

“That’s it, Scarlet! Now concentrate, and redirect that magic…”

“I’ve got it! I’ve got it!”

“Perfect! Now try it again with me. Others’ colors are more difficult.”

“Is that… sadness?”

“Of course not.”

***

After three weeks of tutoring and more mishaps than Scarlet anticipated, she pulled threads of golden pride, silvery exhaustion, and canary annoyance from Aeris and imbued them in a small, round stone. “Ta-daa! A gift, for your troubles.”

He rolled his eyes but accepted it. “You still owe me seven readings.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Scarlet’s excitement swirled around her in indigo streams as they walked through the garden to the dining hall. Finally, she could show Oran just how colorful his soul was. He wasn’t perfect, of course. Nobody was. But she loved the beauty of it all the same.

As they passed the fountain, someone giggled. Scarlet looked up to see Oran perched on the fountain’s edge, his arm around a woman.

“Oran?” Scarlet called hesitantly.

Oran jumped up, and the familiar persimmon and chartreuse flared around him. She had always assumed they were her fault, but now…

“Scarlet,” Oran said quickly. “This isn’t what it looks like!”

“Isn’t it?” Scarlet asked quietly, careful to hold all her emotions inside.

Oran hung his head. “Yeah. It is.” He swallowed. “I didn’t mean to hurt you, Scar, really. I tried to break up with you, but you wanted to make it work…”

“Well, by all means,” Scarlet interrupted, nothing betraying her roiling crimson rage. Or her own rust-colored shame. “Consider us broken up.”

“I… Sorry.” Oran hesitated, but finally walked away, the other woman smirking as she followed.

It took Scarlet too long to remember that Aeris was still there. “I, um… You must think I’m an idiot.” She couldn’t even look at him.

“Absolutely not. Oran’s the idiot, Scarlet.” Aeris’s shimmering rage was clearly visible, as was a deeper red compassion.

“I just feel so—so—stupid!” Scarlet slammed her hands against the stone fountain.

The rush of magic and emotion made her gasp. The fountain transformed from dull gray to a swirling explosion of colors across the visible spectrum, down to the water itself. Pinks, purples, and golds dominated, but streaks of red and blue accented the display.

Scarlet gaped. “I-I didn’t mean to…” She swallowed. “Where did this even come from?”

Aeris raised an eyebrow. “Scarlet, I may not see the color of souls like you do, but surely you know that this is you.” He ran a hand over the prismatic stone. “I think you did see Oran’s true colors tonight. Now, you can see yours. And if Oran doesn’t want this in his life, well, that’s his loss.”

Tears sprang to Scarlet’s eyes. “Wow, Aeris. That was almost sappy.”

“Whatever.” Aeris looked away, fiddling with his sleeve. “Look, I’ll waive the readings. Let’s just get ice cream or something, okay?”

Gratitude grew like stalks of sage. She’d always hidden her emotions with Oran, but with Aeris, she showed them easily. When had that happened?

“Yeah. Ice cream sounds good.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Elizabeth Jane Shelton has loved stories of every kind since she was young, although fantasy is her favorite. She strives to write stories that are both entertaining and meaningful, and she hopes to impact others and honor her Creator with her writing. If she’s not working on a story, it’s probably because she’s writing code at her job as a software engineer.

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