Chapter 196: Making A Mess
The first thing they did that morning was sweep with the straw brooms that had been brought for just this purpose. Bertrand had balked at that, but Simon had insisted it was a vital part of the process. It wasn’t, truthfully, but it would make what was coming next easier.
Next, they went back up to the clifftop, and in the full light of day, Simon bid his student study the dark canyon floor below. “Tell me, Bertrand, do you see the canvas we have prepared?”
“I do,” he agreed, “But it is too dark for charcoal. Are we going to use chalk to draw this time?”
“Draw?” Simon asked. “You said that your hand would not obey your mind. I think we will cease with the drawing and try something else.”
“Oh?” the young man expressed surprise. “What did you have in…”
Bertrand’s words trailed off as Simon moved to the wagon, picked up the closest vase, and then, without a word of explanation, threw it over the cliff, where it shattered into a million pieces on the ground below.
The boy only looked on in shock as Simon reached for the next one. “Well, what are you waiting for?” Simon asked. “Help me get these down there so we can get started.”
“Get started? What? Master, stop!” Bertrand cried out as Simon through the second vase down to join the first. “What are you… why are you destroying such beautiful…”
Simon stopped the boy’s speech by thrusting the third one into his hands. “You said that your art was getting nowhere because your hands would not produce the beauty you could imagine, so we are going to try something else,” Simon said closely, forcing Bertrand to meet his eye. “I have found you the most beautiful ceramics in all of northern Ionia. You could ask for no finer materials, and together, you and I will try our hands at mosaics instead.”