Swans and Klons Read Online Free PDF Page B

Stencil Pavlina’s early art—what Rubric had seen before—had been so lighthearted. What had happened to her? Whenever Rubric had pictured meeting her mentor for the first time, she had imagined they would chatter happily together and they would understand each other perfectly. She had never envisioned being intimidated and puzzled by her mentor. Or being completely tongue-tied.
    “Is this all recent work?” she asked.
    “I haven’t really been working on anything lately. The muse has not called on me.” She gestured to the slaughtered unicorn. “So what are you experiencing when you look at this piece?”
    “I don’t know,” Rubric said. She felt thicko. “I don’t know what it’s about.”
    “Go on, take a stab,” Stencil Pavlina encouraged. “There’s no right or wrong. I’m just curious what you get out of it.”
    “Um, I guess a unicorn is a symbol of happiness and girlish innocence,” Rubric hazarded. “But a unicorn is an extinct animal.”
    “Mythical, actually,” Stencil Pavlina said. “They were never real.”
    “Oh.” Rubric felt even more thicko.
    “Please, keep going!”
    “Since the unicorn has been killed, I guess that means…um, whatever it is, it’s not good.”
    “That’s wonderful,” Stencil Pavlina enthused. “You’ve really hit the nail on the head. The dead unicorn is my metaphor for the emptiness, betrayal, and ultimate sterility of art.”
    “That’s pretty chilling,” Rubric said slowly. “For me, art is an unending fountain of happiness and inspiration. I don’t see how it could cease to be the greatest delight of my life.”
    “Yes, I felt like that at your age too,” Stencil Pavlina said. “Nurture that feeling. Keep it alive as long as you can.”
    Rubric felt an icy finger of doom trace across her heart.
    Stencil Pavlina pulled on a bell rope that dangled from the ceiling. A Gerda appeared.
    “More lemonade for our guest, Gerda,” Stencil Pavlina said, stroking Gerda’s arm. Her gesture gave Rubric the creeps. It seemed almost sexual. Aside from the ick factor, how could a Klon be capable of consenting to sexual stuff with a human?
    Gerda bowed and left the room.
    “The Gerdas are a great consolation to me,” Stencil Pavlina said. “It is sad that art and literature are all our Jeepie Type has to cling to. And yet they are not enough to get us through this life.”
    Could this be some kind of test, Rubric wondered. Was Stencil Pavlina deliberately tormenting her?
    “You may find that to be the case for yourself,” Rubric said with as much dignity as she could muster. “But things will be different for me.”
    Panna Stencil Pavlina blinked. Gerda returned noiselessly to give Rubric her lemonade. Rubric took a big gulp. She had forgotten the big bird-shaped ice cubes, and some of the lemonade dribbled out of the sides of her mouth.
    “I’m glad you have such strength of character, Rubric. I respect that,” Stencil Pavlina said, with a hollow, artificial laugh.
    Rubric didn’t feel like she had strength of character, not with lemonade all over her chin. She wiped it with the back of her hand. Her hand was shaking. She stuffed it in her pocket, but the hand holding the glass was rattling it with her tremors.
    Get a grip, Rubric told herself. Don’t be intimidated by the Panna. She’s really weird, and you don’t have to take her seriously. But then Rubric was swept by a wave of disappointment more desolating than any feeling she had ever known. For if Panna Stencil Pavlina was just a big weirdo, what was the point of this?
    Stencil Pavlina was saying something about the amazing work they were going to do together. Rubric concentrated on nodding and looking interested even though her mentor’s words were just flowing meaninglessly by her. The birds on the ceiling caught her attention again. They were really something. At the very least, Stencil Pavlina was a master craftswoman. Rubric didn’t have the first clue how to make stuff like