Prepare The Way [Solo, Flashback]

by **Nira'lia** on June 24th, 2012, 7:46 pm

15th Fall 494 AV

After more than a season, Nira'lia and her family were finally able to purchase a cottage for themselves. Nira'lia was actually amazed by this, since she thought it would take much longer to purchase one. Somehow, they had been able to work and scrap together enough money to buy a simple and single room cottage. It barely had anything in it, but it was much more than they had ever had. The place came with a hearth and a few simple pieces of furniture. Like her sisters, Nira'lia had to spread a bedroll out on the floor every night.

Nira'lia was not yet used to being 'free'. It took some time to getting accustomed to their new life, but it was the kind of change that one would welcome fully. Nira'lia was only fourteen years old, but in all her years she knew nothing but the life of a slave. She resembled a nine-year old human and also had the immaturity of one, and as such she was often treated like a child by her mother and sisters who were all decades older and were 'adults'.

"Nira'lia, here's some money," her mother told her as a pouch full of coins was pushed into her hand. "Go buy a Tarot deck from the Treasures of the Sea. You remember where it is, right?"

She nodded. She remembered it being beside the General Store. Nira'lia could recall the owner, a man named Raleaph. He was a man with so many stories, all which left her at awe. Nira'lia could sit around all day and listen to him.

"Hurry up and get back here right away. We'll do some readings."

Nodding again, the young girl tucked the pouch in her pocket and made her way towards the door. Her mother had been telling her recently that she would soon be trained more in fortune-telling. She already had a slight knowledge of reading tea leaves, but most of the time, she saw nothing but wet blobs of dirt attached to a bottom of a cup. It frustrated her mother to no end. 'Fine, let's get cards... it might be easier for you,' was what she was told.

She had been born with Avalis's mark. It allowed her to see into the past, and this was an ability she had always had. However, her young mind was still too immature to fully grasp the concept. She could look into a person's chavi at will, but she couldn't really understand what she saw. There were also times when visions would appear before her, and these were situations which confused her even more.

Nira'lia wasn't actually very interested in fortune-telling. Truth be told, she found medicine and herbalism much easier and more fun to learn. However, unlike her sisters, she was not born with Rak'keli's mark. Having the power of sight was difficult to handle if one did not learn how to.

According to her mother, learning about fortune-telling would help ease the strain that Avalis's mark gave her, even just a bit -- and it was always better to start off young. Her tasks as a slave back in Sunberth had been concentrated on the mundane, such as tasks that any other child could do. She had been trained during the rare times that there were opportunities, but that wasn't enough. Nira'lia had memories of her slavers telling her that if she wasn't naturally adept at her abilities once they needed it, they'd just sell her to the highest bidder. The thought frightened her, and she could still remember how her other sisters or nieces had been pulled away by force, never to be seen again.

The child pushed the memories away. She buried them in a crevice in her brain and put her focus to the present.

Nira'lia walked through the streets of Zeltiva. Several people turned their heads to get a look at her, for it wasn't everyday that they saw a pale child with gills, webbed feet and scales. In the end though, she was happy at the fact that she no longer had to be wary of danger. Zeltiva was safe, or that's how she viewed it as at least.

She soon found the store named Treasures of the Sea. The Konti entered the small place and took a quick glance around. Raleaph was currently attending to a pair of people, and Nira'lia could hear that he was rambling on and was in the middle of one of his stories. Since he was busy, she decided to explore a bit on her own. The store was filled with a large assortment of junk. Strange trinkets were displayed everywhere, and there was no underlying theme to them. Raleaph seemed to collect what he could and put them on display anywhere there was space.

A strange necklace caught her eye. Tilting her head, she looked at it with much curiosity. It was a string of iridescent stones that seemed to shimmer in different colors. Aside from that, there were strange symbols on each stone -- symbols which were almost unseen.

"That was once owned by Kenabelle Wright, my dear," said Raleaph's voice as he finally approached her. She didn't know it, but he actually had no idea where the stones were from either. "It was gifted to her by the Goddess Priskil, and it was a beacon for hope when she believed the sea would never return her safely to Zeltiva."

Nira'lia stared. The names were foreign to her. "Kenabelle?"

Raleaph gave a laugh. "Shall I tell you about Kenabelle Wright?"

An expression of enthusiasm spread over Nira'lia's face. She very much wanted to hear about this person named Kenabelle Wright! Raleaph always had the most amazing stories to tell, and she wanted to hear them all. However, she remembered the task at hand, and forced herself to keep on track.

"I-I can't, I need to head back home right away. My mother sent me here to see if you had a Tarot deck."

The storekeeper nodded and left her there, standing. He proceeded to rummage through a shelf. Patiently, she waited for him. Nira'lia found it amazing how he remembered where to find things amidst all this.

by **Nira'lia** on July 5th, 2012, 5:56 pm

Raleaph soon came back with a deck of cards in his hands. Grinning, he said to her, "Ask me something, dear."

She blinked. Randomly, she asked, "Will I be a fortune-teller?"

The shopkeeper picked a card by random and placed it on the counter between them. Curiously, the Konti stood on her toes to get a better look at it. The card had a picture of a blind-folded woman who held two swords in her hands. It was the Two of Swords.

"What's that mean?" asked Nira'lia, staring at Raleaph.

Shrugging, he placed the card back in the deck. "I wouldn't know," he said politely. "Ten golden mizas for the deck."

Nira'lia nodded and rummaged in her coin purse. She counted ten golden mizas and placed them on the counter. Raleaph put the cards in a wooden container and handed it to her.

"Thank you!" she said, before making her way out of the shop. With the box in her hands, she walked towards her home. All the way, she attempted to remember about the meaning of the Two of Swords. She could have sworn she knew the answer, but at the moment, she couldn't recall it. 'Perhaps I'll just ask later...' she mused to herself.

A distance away from her home, she could spot her older sister attending to soil pots right outside her house. She was seated on the ground and had dirty hands as she proceeded to place what appeared to be stems in the pots.

As soon as Nira'lia was close enough, she stood beside Cecilia with an interested expression. "What are you doing, Cecilia?" she asked. Nira'lia wanted to help.

"Replanting some sage, Nira," replied Cecilia. She didn't even look up to acknowledge her sister further. "See here? You can cut off the green stems and they'll grow into a new plant on their own."

Nira'lia watched Cecilia do her task. She had a fully frown sage plant in a pot and was cutting off stems and putting them in the empty soil pots.

"Why?"

"Sage is a medicinal plant."

"What can it be used for?"

Cecilia looked a bit cross now, but she kept her patience for the sake of her younger sister. The older Konti patted the soil around one of the newly planted stems, smoothing the soil around it. "It can be used for infections... it can aid against a sore throat... why are you even asking? Do you want to help me?"

Upon seeing Nira'lia nod, Cecilia pulled over a soil pot that had no stems in it. She gestured for Nira'lia to take a seat beside her. The younger Konti placed the box of tarot cards to one side and plopped down on the ground beside Cecilia. She had a huge, goofy grin on her face as she listened to Cecilia's lesson.

"You pick one of these outer, younger stems..." said her older sister. She showed Nira'lia the difference in the stems. Cecilia held a particularly green stem and held the shears at a fourty-five degree angle. "You want the green ones, not the woody stems. Okay?"

Nodding fervently, Nira'lia took the shears that Cecilia handed her. Since Cecilia had not cut the one she had used as an example, the young Konti decided to take that one. She mimicked Cecilia's position of the shears from before. When she thought it looked right, she cut through the stem and held it in her hands.

Cecilia shook her head, saying something about the stem not being cut off as it should be. Nira'lia stuck her tongue out at her sister. She was pleased with her work and was stubborn enough not to care about what Cecilia wanted. "Fine... okay, pluck off the leaves on the lower two inches."

After she did what Cecilia had instructed, Nira'lia was taught to make a small hole in the soil with her bare hands. She actually liked the feel of the damp soil in her hands as she made the hole she was told to do. Then, she was instructed to place the stem in the hole and hold the stem in place while smoothing the soil around it.

"Easy, right?" asked Cecilia. "What we need to do now is to keep it watered. We don't want the soil to dry out. It's going to take about thirty days for the cutting to form roots, and—"

"Nira!" called out another familiar voice. Cecilia and Nira'lia both looked up to their other sister, who was standing by the doorframe of their house. "What are you doing? Mother has been waiting for you."

Receipt :

by **Nira'lia** on November 10th, 2012, 6:17 pm

The young Konti put up her dirty hands. She had a guilty expression as she attempted to explain herself. “I just wanted to learn how to replant sage…” she said weakly. Rebellious kid that she was, the girl was still very much petrified of her stern mother.

“Oh, relax,” said Cecilia. “Just go wash your hands and head to mother.”

Nira’lia stood up. She was disappointed that she wasn’t able to do more with Cecilia, but she had to heed her mother’s wishes. The Konti ran around the house and towards the back to find the bucket of water that they kept there. As soon as her hands were clean, she ran back and fetched the box of cards that she had left. Finally, she ran into the house. Lianna, her mother, was seated by the table and was tapping her feet impatiently.

“Uhm, I just…” the young Konti started.

“Just get here. You have wasted enough time.”

Dejected, Nira’lia took a seat beside her mother and placed the box on the table. She watched her mother examine the deck. Her face scrunched now and then as if disapproving of something, but she never spoke about it.

For half a bell, Lianna would put up card after card and expect Nira’lia to dictate the general meaning of each. Nira’lia got most of the answers wrong, but Lianna chose to go on. For each card, she was made to remember two to three words that described its theme. The concepts that she was being made to memorize seemed simple, and this was strange to her.

“I have seen your do tarot readings before…” Nira’lia finally said with much curiosity. “You seem to say a lot more than three words per card. I don’t understand.”

There was a hint of a smile on her mother’s lips. She looked at the card in her hand before answering Nira’lia. “Well, of course, Nira. You need to interpret your readings according to the situation at hand. These words I am making you remember are but here to guide.”

The Konti blinked. That made sense to her. But her mother was not done; she chose to go further into that line of learning.

“For example,” said Lianna as she spun the card in her hand around. It had the illustration of nonchalant looking man. The words at the bottom of the card read ‘The Fool’. “What does this card represent?”

Nira’lia racked her mind. “Fearlessness, imagination, and open-mindedness.”

The young Konti disagreed greatly with the words that this card represented. In her mind, it was not foolish to hold those concepts to the heart. The words did not make sense to her at all, and her naïve mind was stubborn in that aspect.

Lianna nodded. “That is correct. And let us say the person you are reading for is at a loss when coming to a decision. Let us say… the person would wish to take a journey, but he is unsure of what he is to face. And then this card appears. What do you believe would the reading be?”

by **Nira'lia** on November 10th, 2012, 6:53 pm

Nira’lia stared at her feet. She swung her legs back and forth, her mind focused on the question. She hated giving the wrong answer. The distinct expression of disappointment that her mother gave her when she was wrong always plagued her mind.

“Well, the person… let’s call her K’mara—”

Lianna blinked. “Why are we naming her after your sister?”

“I don’t know, I just need a name,” the young Konti gave a shrug. “K’mara was the most scared when we got here. She’s always afraid of new things. Like the person in your example.”

Her mother looked thoughtful and startled at that, which was uncommon. Lianna was not aware that Nira’lia, at such a young age, was already this intuitive about those around her. Nira’lia was still young, practically a child. Lianna gestured for Nira’lia to continue.

“K’mara is afraid of what she has to face. She would rather stay in her comfort zone,” explained Nira’lia. She could remember the first few days they had arrived in Zeltiva. K’mara never would have said that she preferred a slave’s life, but she was very much unsure of thinking for herself. She was much too accustomed to being told what to do, and she appeared to believe that if she made a mistake, it was because of her own inanity. “But this card tells her that what she needs to do is to be fearless. To make decisions with an open mind… uhm… that’s what I think.”

Lianna seemed satisfied with that answer. She put the card back in the deck. “However, just remember not to give them all the answers. Sometimes they have to come to conclusions on their own as well. In this case, you can’t tell K’mara what she should do. All you can do is suggest, and it’s really better to be vague about it. It’s terrible to dictate what one must do.”

And that was why Lianna was always vague about her readings. Nira’lia did not know that until this moment. Lianna liked to speak in what most called ‘riddles’. It was only now that the young Konti realized that this was actually on purpose.

It was all so complicated. It was terrible, but Nira’lia would rather be replanting sage at the moment.

“Perhaps there is something you would want to ask the cards as of now?” asked Lianna.

“Do I need to ask a question?”

“No, but it would help.”

Nira’lia shook her head. She had a question in her mind, but she wouldn’t ask Lianna about it. In her mind, she was wondering if she truly had to learn fortune-telling over medicine and herbalism. She just didn’t enjoy it as much. “I don’t have a question, but I would like a reading.”

by **Nira'lia** on November 11th, 2012, 11:11 pm

“Very well,” Lianna answered curtly.

Soon, Nira’lia’s mother had picked a card from the deck and laid it on the table. The young Konti peered at it, and was startled to see that it was the same card that Raleaph had shown her earlier. For the second time that day, the Two of Swords had been picked for her.

“Tell me the meanings associated with this card,” her mother instructed.

“Uhm, well… it’s… refusing to decide, blocking emotions. That’s all I remember.”

“Correct.”

Nira’lia watched with a frown as Lianna started to put the cards back in its wooden container. As she watched her mother, Nira’lia decided to connect the card with her situation, just as Lianna had said. Her main issue at the moment was that she really did prefer to learn about medicine rather than fortune-telling.

But, then… what would Lianna say about that? She had Lianna wonder out loud before that she wished Cecilia and K’mara had been born with Avalis’s marks instead. Nira’lia never asked for the reason, but Lianna appeared to be happy that at least one of her present daughters had the same mark as her.

Nira’lia was young, but she chose to hide many things. She wanted to go back to Mura, but she knew how much her mother didn’t want this. As much as it broke her heart, Nira’lia never spoke about it.

“If you wish to say something, you really should.”

Her mother’s voice had snapped Nira’lia out of her reverie. Puzzled, the young Konti looked up at Lianna. “What?”

“I know you heard me. If there is something you are hiding, it would be best to tell us. These cards do not only serve to give advice. They also serve to reveal the truth. The Two of Cards… really, it is not healthy to not be vocal about what you want.”

Nira’lia was utterly confused at the moment. Nira’lia practically gaped at her. How did she always seem to know everything? lSomehow, she felt tricked. It was as if that last reading was a way for her mother to see into her soul. There was so much about fortune-telling that Nira’lia had yet to understand, and it appeared that Lianna had just gathered more information than Nira’lia had hoped.

“There is nothing I am hiding!” Nira’lia replied stubbornly. Her cheeks flared in a childish way. “If I need to be truthful, I will be truthful!”

Lianna shrugged. She pushed the box to the side of the table and walked to the side of the room where their food was stored. It was time to prepare supper. Nira’lia stayed in her spot by the table, pouting. She was unsure of how much time passed, but K’mara was soon beside her and poking her cheek to get her attention.

“Did you learn a lot today, Nira?”

“Yes,” replied the child. She was staring right at her feet.

K’mara smiled down at her little sister. “Do a reading for me?”