Solo How About a Little Fortune?

[Amelia Cross]

[69th day of summer 513.a.v.]
[The Docks]
[Early morning]

Earning money in Zeltiva was pretty much the same as it was in Ravok. You wake up in the morning, and you look for some fools who were easy enough to catch on your bait. The exception here was, that she had no way of lifting herself up to the more influential and steady people, since here unlike Ravok, she was below a zero. In Ravok she kept the status of the daughter of an agent, not like it gave her a title, but it still gave her enough opened doors to walk through. Here, everyone seemed to lock them in front of her pale nose once they came to realize she wasn’t native, what was easy considering she talked differently…accents.

Either way, Amelia was walking along the dock area of the city, hoping to find someone simple-minded enough for her to fool. Not that her trade wasn’t true and her skills poor, she just found it easier to work with people who won’t question much of anything that she said. Usually those were young girls between the ages of 16 to 25, whose main concern was getting married and giving birth to a dozen of children...with exceptions of course, like Amelia herself who would prefer luxury and a constant change of the man by her side.

Her walk by the docks, shuffling her deck didn’t seem to be of much luck though. Everyone in this city was so deep in their own world, so deep into things of their own that they had little to no time to spot or even respond to the fortuneteller. Needless to say, she was highly offended by such behavior! Her trade was not to be taken lightly and she was not to be ignored! She was a Cross!...but that didn’t mean a thing here. ”I suppose I should start remembering how life was back in Syliras…that’s going to make my life easier here” she tried to comfort herself ”at least there is fresh air here and no knights!” she cheered in her mind…just before a strong scent of fish hit her nose…

The girl was about to give herself a mental face palm, but she heard a soft, innocent voice call from behind her ”excuse me, Miss, are you…are you a fortuneteller?” the voice called and Amelia instantly turned around, to view a couple of young girls. Bout were clearly in the sun a lot as they had clearly tan skin, bout shy and bout had dark, almost black hair with interesting highlights, yet they weren’t similar enough to be called sisters. One had grey, almost white eyes, what seemed to be highly intriguing to the girl, while the other seemed to have the most brilliant, emerald green eyes. But it wasn’t really the eye color that made it clear they weren’t sisters, it was the overall shape of their faces and how different they were, the noses and eye shape, one seemed to be more physically fit than the other. Then again, they might be half-sisters? Or cousins? ”that doesn’t really matter, now does it?”

”yes, yes I am a fortuneteller” Amelia’s voice adjusting to a more gentle and soft tone, not to frighten the girls who seemed to be on the shy and timid side…and it seemed to work as the girls smiled brightly at her ”We, we have the miza, would you please read our fortune?” Amelia just nodded.

[Amelia Cross]

Now, what mattered was to actually find a place where Amelia could read them to, the city was a busy place and there was little to no areas where you could feel alone. These girls seemed worried, she didn’t want to have people running around and dropping glances at them. The poor things would only get more stressed and might not even be fully interested in the reading, what she didn’t want to see, considering that the girls were young and not the type of customer she’d be interested in fooling.

She looked around, her face was still as she tried to spot a place that would be fitted. Nothing aside from a bench seemed to be even a good option, so she had no choice, the bench it will be. Amelia waved with her hand towards the bench ”Follow me” she said to the two girls as she began walking towards the bench and sat down on the edge of it, leaving enough room for one girl to sit on the opposite side of her, and have some space in between them to actually lay the cards out. The two girls were hesitant to follow, but soon enough they did.

The green eyed girl sat on the far end of the bench, while the other sat in between. ”Oh no, We need that little room right here, please””I, I understand” the girl said as she got up and walked behind the bench, resting her elbows against its back as she curiously watched what would happen next. Though it seemed her friend didn’t really want to be the first ”what’s the matter?” she asked, but the girl didn’t really answer. She just looked up at her friend and made a few hand gestures that seemed to be highly unclear to the fortuneteller ”I, my friend, she can’t speak…she’s mute” and this seemed to cause the slightest bit of sympathy to crawl out of the Cross.

Only a chime latter did Amelia realize, she had never read a fortune to someone who is mute, so she had no idea how this would happen. ”but you do hear me perfectly fine, right?” Amelia asked the mute girl, and the girl just nodded back at her. ”ok then, we should not have any trouble then” she smiled, a bit more full of emotion now. Seemed like the mute girls smile had worn on Amelia.

She handed the mute girl the deck of cards, handling them with great care. For Amelia, cards were live. Cards were like little creatures, alive and with a mind of their own. ”shuffle the cards, then give them to me, and tell your friend what is it that you want to know so she can tell me, got it?” the green eyed girl nodded and began shuffling the cards. It was clear that she was not experienced with it at all. The cards seemed to lay awkwardly in her hands and there was little to no rhythm in the way she did it. Then again, playing cards were not a big thing among women in general and so, it was not that surprising that a young girl couldn’t handle the cards that were even larger and cards were bigger.

Once she was done shuffling the cards, she handed them to Amelia and looked at her friend. The hand gestures seemed to be highly complex, then again, Amelia had never before met a mute and thus, it seemed to be a whole new art. ”she wants to know will she ever return to Avanthal, will she be an Ice maiden an….what was that last thing?” the young girl repeated the same gestures, just a bit more slowly so her friend would pick them all up with no trouble. ”she wants to know will she join the Ice-watch”

”Avanthal? But that is so far…are you by any chance, natives, Vanthas I mean?””Sort of, I am Mia Snowsong, a Vantha, but my friend is a kelvic cat, right Umi?” the girl smiled at her, and she nodded back. Amelia only now noticed that the girl indeed had split pupils.

[Amelia Cross]

Amelia had little to no clue what an Ice-maiden was, or what the Icewatch was, after all, the lands were distant and she knew little to nothing about them. Actually, all Amelia knew was that some of the best crafters and storytellers come from the lines of native Vantha, that a goddess looks over them and walks as their equal…but everything else, was sort of a blur. So she couldn’t really help but ask a question, this time, not even to use the information against the customer, but just because she was sincerely curios. ”I’m sorry, but I don’t know the terms, what is an Ice-maiden and what exactly is the Icewatch?””The Icewatch is the guards of Avanthal, they consist of Vanthas and their kelvic bondmates, polar bears…occasionally they have exceptions and the Ice-maiden, is someone who isn’t married by a certain age, I don’t remember the age though”

It all seemed to be quite natural, but she didn’t see how a girl as young as this might wonder about being an icemaiden, Amelia would turn 21 in winter, and she still had no desire to be married, tied down to a man. But wait, didn’t the kelvic girl have to be a polar bear to join the ice-watch, the girl said she was a cat. Well, she isn’t getting paid for thinking things over, she better start dealing down the cards, and since the girl had no desire to think over the past, she just pulled out 3 cards to represent her future.

Amelia flipped the cards and pointed her finger against the first card, ”this stands for your love life, and…” she toke a pause while looking over the card. Amelia had to admit, the card that stood for ‘lovers’ and was brightly turned upwards, it could only mean that the girl would have an amazing soul mate. ”You won’t be an ice maiden, because I see clear and pure love in your future” Yes, love, but not the kind the girl expected. Amelia had trouble identifying with this card, but in all truth, the card stood for her bond mate, rather than a lover. Then again, a little girl didn’t have to know those things, they would only bother her.

As for the second card, that stood for her job and potential there, she couldn’t tell anything good at all. She saw it written there, that the ice-watch was not for her. What didn’t really surprise her, but could she find the gut to actually tell that to an innocent, mute child who only wishes to protect the city she wished to return to? No, she couldn’t break her dreams ”it will be perfect, you will join the guards!” Amelia said with a smile, only to see the mute girl brighten up and cheerfully show some hand sings to her friend.

”she is happy to hear that, you gave her hope, and that also means she returns to Avanthal, right?” well now, she didn’t have to lie, because the city of ice was clear to be present ”yes, she will return to the city”

The last card, was not much of a challenge, she only had to glance at it for half a chime, to see that it stood for, death…the girls life will be a happy one, but it will end soon, probably soon after she returned to the city of auroras, it was sad really. Amelia couldn’t tell her that, no, she didn’t have the gut to tell the child she would die. ”A happy life, you will lead a happy life and die of old age in your sleep”