"
How do we begin?” Ashka asked, and Rufio turned towards the large fire-pit that was nestled in the dry, cracked dirt outside of Ferem’s Fortunes. It was still warm, but they needed the light. The small, freckled woman gestured for them to
join her
when ready.
Before she went, she pointed to a lean-to constructed against the side of Ferem’s tent.
“You can leave your strider there. There is a little water. Or bring him, if you have questions about your bond.” Her ochre gaze flickered to Ashka’s cousin, and she decided aloud.
“I’ll read your cards first.” Rufio settled herself cross-legged by the fire-pit, far enough away so as not to be in its crackling heat, but close enough to the warm glow it shed for seeing. As they waited for Ashka, she rolled her shoulders lightly and took deep breaths. It eased out stiffness and tension. She cast her eyes towards the flicker of the flames against the ground.
Watching the shadows and light dance, the fortune-teller picked up the thoughts that were buzzing in her mind and, one-by-one, imagining them as rocks and stones, set them down in a neat pile on the ground, taking the chime that Laena made herself comfortable to ground herself and make herself more aware and open to the women who'd sought their reading.
Settled now, Rufio took the deck of cards and deftly split it in three and laid them face-down on the dirt briefly, before she switched one of the piles around so they were facing upside-down and gathered them up into her hands again. She shuffled them for a tick, two ticks, then repeated the splitting and turning upside-down until she felt satisfied they were well-shuffled.
Abruptly, she held them out to Laena to take, hoping to startle the woman lightly; scattering intimidation with the art of crafting suspense.
“Shuffle the cards, while you do, think of what it is you want to ask them.” Rufio told her, her tone neutral, bereft of the flowing, Shiber softness with which she had spoken before.
Although she wanted to craft suspense, she did not want to intimidate the woman. Consequently, seeing apprehension in Laena’s hesitation, Rufio smiled encouragingly.
“Don’t be frightened of the cards, sometimes they tell you things you already know, they bring clarity.” A guide, not set in stone. As Laena took the cards and shuffled them, Rufio’s attention was drawn by dust and grit grinding under Ashka’s feet as the cousin joined them by the fire-light. Returning her smile to Laena, she gestured quietly in grass-sign, when ready, cards on the ground.
With that, Rufio laid her hands palm-up on her crossed calves, offering the woman respectful space as she gathered her thoughts and feelings and decided what she wanted to ask of the cards. Occasionally, Rufio’s gaze flickered to Ashka, watchful for emotions that might play across her face, gathering a sense of the women sitting with her.
When Laena had finished shuffling and set the card deck on the ground, Rufio smiled and separated the deck into three once again, laying each smaller deck out in a row. With a deft hand, she took a card from each deck and laid them in a row in front of Laena, before flipping each card over in quick succession.
Past. Rufio signed over the first card in the row, elaborating its meaning,
“This card tells us what has led you to this point. The things in the past that are affecting you now.” The fortune-reader leant over the card, gazing at it with a furrowed brow.
Across the card’s surface was painted an old man with a swarthy, painted face, wearing raven feathers about his shoulders, holding a rain staff. A shaman.
The Heirophant. It was upside-down; reversed.
“You are feeling restricted and confined.” Rufio began,
“You have been following the herd, afraid to step out on your own.” Surprise lifted the card-reader’s brow, and her head tilted in
considering agreement. Laena seemed to follow her cousin, looking to Ashka to lead her.
Was this why she had no strider yet? Rufio wondered.
Lifting her ochre gaze to Laena’s, Rufio tapped the card and smiled warmly.
“Now you realise that things do not have to stay the way they always have been. You are ready to challenge the opinions of those around you, you are ready to challenge tradition and forgo the beaten path.” Unconsciously, Rufio was rubbing the black ink laid into her left forearm with her right palm as she spoke.
Realising herself, she stopped, and reached to tap the second card.
The Present, her grass-sign indicated. On this card was painted a man sitting with his arms folded, nine cups lined up on a shelf behind him.
Nine of Cups, reversed as well.
The immediacy with which the meaning of it struck her made her smile deepen and her shoulders shrug, faded scarf lifting about her cheeks as they did. She wasted no chimes in extending its meaning to Laena.
“You are feeling disappointed. There is something missing in your heart. You are seeking inner fulfillment.” Gently, Rufio suggested,
windmarks, strider, The Bond. Rufio let the woman breath for a moment, waiting quietly a chime if she wished to seek comfort in the presence of her cousin. When she thought the woman was ready, the fortune-teller tapped on the last card in the row and signed above it
the future, “This card is where the gods and your own spirit speak wisdom.” On the final card was painted a hand, extending from white fluffy clouds, holding in its palm a coin with strange symbols etched onto its center. Beneath the coin and hand, was a lush oasis. Plants and flowers were in bloom, painted delicately in colours seen in Summer-time, while blue paint shaped a creek flowing generously through the lush foliage.
The Ace of Pentacles. It was the only card that sat upright.
Rufio gestured
prosperity, abundance and beamed,
“This card has a joyous message for you, Laena. It is telling you to attract what it is you seek. Be open, and be brave. A strider will choose you, but you need to stay true to your heart.” She gestured to the first card, and signed for
make your own path "-This card is saying: you have to get out there, find what you seek."Sitting back up a little, the fortune-teller grinned, happy to be giving a positive message, for once. With Laena’s reading finished, she gave the woman a little time to breath and take in the messages, asking questions for clarification if she wished.
When the Windrunner cousin seemed to settle again, Rufio’s gaze turned to Ashka, who she had almost seemed to have forgotten, absorbed as she was in Laena’s reading. A gleam flickered in her eyes like in the fire snapping beside them.
Now,
it was Ashka's turn.
