The evening shadows flicker and dance in the candlelight surrounding Taran as she bends over the desk I found for her, putting the final touches on her mask. She looks both hauntingly beautiful and macabre. She used a combination of charcoal and white and red paints to create a skeletal look. A thick layer of black surrounds her eyes, followed by white to represent the skull and red for her lips. She painted a small heart on her cheek.
"Beautiful," I say, walking further into the room. She smiles into the mirror as I approach and drop a kiss onto her head.
She turns in her seat to look up and me and gasps, jumping back. I grab her arm before she tumbles out of the seat and steady her.
"Diogo!" she says aghast, half reaching up toward my face. "Is it real?"
What she's seeing is a war
