Closed Jay's Fortune

[Lucas Arias]

OOC: Continued from here.

Spring 4, 516 AV

„A …. what?“ Lucas asked as Jay wanted to know whether he was a Svefra, and then he laughed out loud. “By Kelwyn, that’s the first time anybody has asked me that! People usually think that I’m an Inarta and ask me where I have stored my eagle, even though I’m not an Inarta either. I’m just a regular, short, red haired human, Syliras born and bred. My dear father is actually the head knight, although he doesn’t admit it publicly, because I’m a bastard.”

Truth to be told, Lucas’ father was not really Loren Dyres, but he liked to pretend that he was. It was a really good story, much better than the one where his knightly mother might have cheated on his equally knightly father with a random Inarta only to pass the bastard off as her husband’s child. Lucas really hated to think of that, although he always spoke of his questionable heritage with a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eyes.

"Well, you wouldn’t”, Lucas replied as Jay admitted that he had never seen a male Konti before. “Master Anselm is the only one of his kind, a freak of nature or the chosen of the gods, depending on how you look at it. All the other members of his race are women. Imagine being surrounded by thousands of pretty ladies! Sounds great, doesn’t it? Unfortunately reality is a little less great. Master Anselm wears a cloak all the time to hide his race. People have tried to kill him, enslave him and threaten him. He revealed his secrets to me though and taught me.”

Master Anselm had once told Lucas that he was not a male Konti, but since he had refused to take his cloak off and tell the former squire what he really was, Lucas had decided that his old teacher had been lying to protect himself. Besides, having the only male Konti in existence for a teacher sounded much cooler than being taught by … whatever it was that Master Anselm really was which was probably something lame and at least mildly disgusting.

“What are you by the way? You look a bit like an Inarta yourself, if I’m allowed to say that, although your accent is weird. That copper hair … anyway, come in. I do know a lot about gold and love and destiny … and also about hidden treasure, Eypharian princesses and noble knights …”

He opened the tent for his newest customer. Jay could see that it was empty apart from a carpet on the floor. Okana did not need furniture, and thus Lucas was not allowed to use a chair or tables either. Fortunately he had all his tools. A crystal ball, a deck of cards and a bowl that was filled with bones were lying in the middle of the carpet. There was also a thick book, Master Anselm’s fortune telling book.

“Sit down!” the former squire told Jay. “And tell me what exactly you want to know. Do you have any specific questions for me? I’m Lucas by the way. And you are?”

[Jay Darkcrest]

Jay listened to the explanation with his brow still furrowed, trying and failing to understand everything he was saying at that rapid pace. If nothing else, he got the message. Not a Svefra, but human. Had been to Syliras or perhaps grown up in the fortress. His Common wasn’t good enough to understand what a head knight was though and he only knew bastard as a swear word from various dockside taverns. Eventually he went for the most pressing question and left it at that. “What’s an Inarta?”

He nodded along when the boy talked about the male Konti. Whenever his pod had visited Konti Isle, he’d been too young to appreciate their company in the way the boy was referring to. He did remember their beauty though, pale and elegant, and the wonders of their native island. Everything so white. He still couldn’t imagine a male Konti, but if that Anselm guy was wearing a cloak, things didn’t add up. “Then how do you know he is a Konti? And you mean he was a fortune teller and told you how to do it?” Suddenly he remembered – some Konti had been exceptional fortune tellers, gifted by their Goddess and allowed occasional glimpses into the future. If the ginger boy had learned from a Konti, male or female, he had to be good.

As Jay entered the tent, he was mildly surprised that the boy didn’t take him for a human. Most folk either did that or knew enough about Kelvics to guess at his race. The fortune teller, however, could only tell that he wasn’t human. Jay grinned then, teeth a little too white, a little too predatory. “You can see that? I’m a Kelvic. I grew up with Svefra though. They’re humans who sail the seas and trade with port towns. They’re my family.”

The tent was sparsely furnished, but the things laid out attracted his attention. Strolling over, Jay bent to sniff at the bones and waved a hand in front of the crystal ball. Not sure if he was allowed to touch, he merely stared at the milky reflection. Eventually he sat down cross-legged. When his grin returned, it was a touch warmer and friendlier than before. “Well met! I’m Jay. Let’s see… Alright, I’m curious. Will I meet someone I can be with soon? Like someone fun to be with, someone who needs me?”

He bit his lip, suddenly full of doubts. In his mind, Jay was thinking of a specific someone, but he couldn’t be sure of the way she felt about him. He’d never tried to get closer to another person before, not with someone who wasn’t family to begin with.

[Lucas Arias]

„An Inarta is a human that rides a giant eagle”, Lucas explained. “Inarta are short and have red hair, just like me basically even though I’m not one of them. I don’t know anything about them beyond that though. Maybe I should travel to Inarta-land sometimes and check them out. They’d probably think I’m one of them and tell me all of their secrets.” That idea excited the former squire. He liked finding out secrets and uncovering hidden treasures. He would definitely not go to Inarta-land to find out if there was any truth to the rumours about his parentage though. No, that was definitely not the reason he was interested in whatever the place where the Inarta lived was called.

“I’m a seer, of course”, Lucas replied in a very, very serious tone. Inwardly though he was laughing. He just hoped that Madame Okana would never find out what he had said to Jay. She might have a problem with it. “I see things that other people don’t. And yes, he was a fortune teller and taught me. I was a student at the University of Zeltiva at the time. He even gave me his book. Wait, I’ll show it to you.” He took a large book that was also lying on the carpet among his tools, opened it and showed Jay a random page for a moment before he quickly closed it again. If Jay read the book, he might not need a fortune teller anymore, and then Lucas would be broke and would have to sleep on the street.

Huh? As Jay voiced his surprise that Lucas could see that he was a Kelvic, the former squire just looked at him stupidly for a moment. He hadn’t said anything about that, had he? Jay had misunderstood him, but of course Lucas would never admit it. Instead he replied, “Yes, I can see that. It must be great, growing up with Svefra and sailing around all the time. Much better than being stuck with a bunch of knights that don’t know how to have fun. I’m glad that I’m rid of them.”

Jay’s question didn’t surprise him very much. Even though he might be a Kelvic, he still wanted the thing that everybody else wanted: someone he could be with, a girlfriend or something like that. Without further ado he took the bowl of bones and emptied it onto the carpet. If Jay counted the bones, he would see that there were eighteen of them, all with intricate designs etched into them.

Lucas studied the pattern in which the bones had fallen, then he looked at Jay, then he quickly leafed through his book, and finally he informed him, in a tone of voice that was hopefully sufficiently mysterious, “The oracle says the following: Treading upon the tail of the tiger, it does not bite the man. Nine in the fifth place. Would you like me to explain to you what that could mean? By the way, what’s your animal form? Are you by chance a tiger?”

[Jay Darkcrest]

Riding giant eagles? That sounded familiar. Jay supposed he’d heard those people crop up in tales and stories before, although evidently he’d forgotten what they were called. They were redheads, but there were redheads among the Svefra too, so Jay knew better than to judge anyone based on their hair color.

He listened when the boy, Lucas, explained a bit about his craft and opened the book. Leaning forward, Jay hoped to get a glimpse of its pictures, maybe even some color. After all, tarot cards had pictures on them too and the deck his sister used had been a beautiful work of art. He was disappointed though as the book didn’t seem to have any pictures in it. Sighing a little, he sat back and his gaze returned to Lucas himself. “Aye, I’ve seen some knights in Syliras. There were too many people though. Not much space. I don’t want to live in that city. Fortunately I only went through it on my way to the Suvan.”

When he had the questions, Lucas got started on the fortune telling. As the bones fell on the rug, Jay observed their patterns and tried to read them like the seer. The entire process reminded him of his sister and the one time she’d read his fortune years ago. Jalaal had used her tarot cards more often than not, but the anticipation and mild doubts had been the same. How could you tell anything about the future with any certainty?

Jay glanced at the book again when Lucas leafed through it, but still couldn’t see any pictures. He wondered if it interpreted the bone’s patterns or if the fate of everyone alive was written in it. When Lucas spoke, the Kelvic blinked and then broke into laughter. “Tiger? No, no… I’m a marten, not a cat! But why does it not bite? I do if someone steps on my tail! Does it really have a meaning? If you can explain, aye, that’d be great.”

[Lucas Arias]

„I didn’t like Syliras either“, Lucas said. „Apart from the knights, I mean. Did you know that some of the appartments there are so deep in the fortress that they don’t even have windows?“ He shuddered as he remembered. „It feels more like a prison than a place where you live and have fun. Alvadas is awesome though. I have to go looking for Okana’s tent every morning, and in the evening when I go back to the Cubacious Inn I get lost again because it’s never in the same place. And the Weaving is awesome as well!“

He was of course referring to the fact that the city was currently covered in all kinds of fabric. He had never seen anything like that before and was excited to find out what else Alvadas had in store. Who knew, maybe the whole city would be upside down tomorrow or maybe they’d all walk on their hands instead of their feet. One thing was clear, Alvadas was never boring!

It seemed his newest client was a bit naive. Never before had anybody taken the oracle literally. Lucas didn’t mind though. It would make things a bit more interesting. It would also make Jay easier to prank, but Lucas didn’t like pranking people that were weaker to him. That would be kind of mean. „ A marten?“ Lucas asked. „My grandfather found one in the attic once. It had destroyed the things he had stored there and caused all kinds of chaos. Do you like doing that as well?“ The former squire didn’t sound annoyed, he didn’t sound as if he had a problem with martens, he sounded more as if he were really fascinated.

He had after all not talked to a lot of Kelvic before.

„Anyway, the oracle“, he continued. „It does of course not have anything to do with a real tiger. It indicates that you’ll meet somebody that is a bit like a tiger. You were asking about somebody who you can be with. She – I think it will be a she, you like women, don’t you? – will be wild and a bit irritable, but if you are calm and behave with decorum, it will work out. The second part of the oracle – nine in the fifth place – means that you should persevere, but that you should still be aware of the danger involved.“

There was more about the oracle and the pattern in which the bones had fallen, but Lucas felt that the rest wasn’t as interesting (and he also didn’t understand it completely, being just a novice fortune teller), so he had decided to leave those parts out. He looked at Jay.

„Do you have any questions about what I just said? Or do you want to know something else? Master Anselm only allowed his clients to ask a handful of questions, but I’m nice, so you can ask me as many questions as you want.“

[Jay Darkcrest]

OOCSorry for the delay! Apparently I was in a bit of a writing slump with Jay, but I'm working on it!


“Really? I didn’t know.” Jay furrowed his brow. It made sense though, with most of the city being a castle and all. Most castles had dungeons, at least those in stories did. Jay had never been in any castles though, not even ruins, so he couldn’t tell for sure. When Lucas spoke of Alvadas, however, he nodded enthusiastically. “Exactly! But it can be annoying too. The inn I work at, the Wolf’s Cave, and some other places disappeared in the middle of last season. They appeared again, but it was a little… boring. Half of the city was gone. And people.”

As a Kelvic, Jay could never foretell how others would react to his animal form. Most of his early life he’d spent among people who already knew and accepted that he was a marten. Then, while travelling alone, he’d been in his animal form most of the time, so most people hadn’t seen him as Kelvic. The pod he’d crossed the Suvan with had been extremely welcoming, but they had seen his Svefra upbringing more than anything else. He wasn’t sure what to make of Lucas’ tale, so he simply shrugged. “No, not really. If he had stored food, maybe. But I usually hunt my own food, so I guess not. Fresh tastes better than stored.”

When Lucas began to explain about the tiger and his future, Jay sat a little straighter and listened carefully. After a tick, he took a worn gold miza out of his pocket and played with it absentmindedly. Keeping his hands busy helped with concentration. “Aye, I like women.” He grinned a little, then frowned. Karin didn’t seem like a tiger to him (except for her hair), but then again, she definitely had a wild and carefree side to her. She was emotional too, but that emotion had never been directed at him. No irritation or anger, only curiosity and laughter.

The fact that she had never been angry with him didn’t mean that she couldn’t be though. If he looked at matters from that angle, Jay guessed the oracle made sense. “That sounds like good advice, thank you! If more questions are alright, I’d like to know about my family. I haven’t seen them for a long time… can you tell me how they are?” Trailing off, he frowned at his lucky coin, but didn’t add anything else. He didn’t want to say the word. Still. Never.

[Lucas Arias]

„Really?“ the former squire’s eyes widened until they almost resembled bright blue saucers as Jay talked about how half the city had been gone the season before, apparently including the people in it. “Where did it go? I wasn’t here last season, you know.” As he asked this question, he imagined houses growing legs and just walking away with their owners still inside. In Alvadas houses probably needed to stretch their legs as well every once in a while. Always sitting there motionlessly had to be boring!

“He probably had some food there”, Lucas mused. “Grandpa always seemed like a bit of a hoarder to me. It’s good that you hunt your own food though. Although … how can you be sure that your food is really food in a city like Alvadas where you are surrounded by illusions? Have you ever bitten into a juicy steak only to find out that it was a stone in disguise?” From the look on his face it was obvious that he was rather fascinated by the idea.

Jay had another question for the oracle though, so rather than interrogating the Kelvic further, Lucas took the bones again and tossed them onto the floor once more. “Hmmm”, he murmurred as he studied the pattern in which they had fallen and consulted Master Anselm’s book again. Lately he had gotten a lot of weird readings, but this one time the bone oracle was suprisingly clear.

“The marrying maiden”, he read. “Undertaking brings misfortune. Nothing that would further.”´

“There’s going to be a wedding”, he informed Jay. “Or maybe there already was one. Either one of your brothers will get married or your father will take a second wife, if your mother is still alive … I think. I suppose it could apply to a sister taking a husband as well. Anyway, it is advised that their spouse behaves with caution and tactful reserve. Do you have any siblings, Jay?”

[Jay Darkcrest]

Jay shrugged. “Dunno… It was still there, but the streets that go to it were gone. There was a door, when you step through it, you came to the other part. Kind of. There were fights on that side, but in the end we won and the city was back to normal… I don’t explain well, no? Better ask local.” He rubbed the back of his neck, smiling self-consciously. Common wasn’t his first language and it always showed when he tried to talk about Alvadas. The illusions were hard to explain as is.

Cocking his head, Jay wondered whether he would’ve liked that grandpa. He seemed like an interesting person. If nothing else, the Kelvic was interested in the kind of things he had hoarded in his attic. The part about food illusions sounded even more intriguing though. Jay thought for a moment before he replied slowly. “Aye, is possible, but never happened to me. I work at Wolf’s Cave and sometimes I eat there, so I know that food is real. You should come too! No risk of eating stones there!” He laughed, then grew thoughtful. “But I heard stories about food illusions. Guy told me he ate an apple and it tasted like lamb meat.”

While Lucas consulted the bones once more, Jay sighed and hoped they were done talking about food. It was making him hungry, although he had eaten not long ago…

Like before, Jay didn’t quite understand what the oracle meant, but the following explanation astonished him. Jay couldn’t help but stare at Lucas as if he’d seen a ghost. Maybe he had. Without thinking, he blurted out the first thing that came to mind: “Does that mean they are…” Then stopped, shook his head and rubbed his left temple. “No. I mean, aye. I have a sister. So she will marry? How soon?” Leaning forward, Jay would absorb anything and everything Lucas had to say, desperate for tidings of his family. At that point, he didn’t care whether it was false hope or it meant they were really, truly alive. That they had survived. As long as he sat in that tent, he simply had to believe.

[Lucas Arias]

Well, that was rather anticlimactic, Lucas thought as Jay told him that you had just had to walk through a door to reach the other half of the city. They’d won the fights as well. Houses with legs would have been so much better! He sighed, thoroughly disappointed. “Was it at least a nice door?” he wanted to know. “And where was it?” Maybe the door was still there, he thought, and he could go looking for it. Maybe it led elsewhere now – like to the center of the Ukalas or some underground cave that was full of monsters!

The possibility of food illusions was more interesting than the disappearing half of the city. “I’d like to eat an apple that tastes like lamb meat”, he admitted. “Lamb taste would improve apples. I’ve never been particularly fond of those. What’s the Wolf’s Cave though? Is it a normal tavern or is it a place where you eat wolves?” Had he still been in Syliras he would not have asked such a question, but in Alvadas anything was possible, even a tavern where you were served whole wolves, possibly with a side of Kriital – or a tavern that was managed by a real wolf rather than just another boring wolf kelvic.

Jay had more questions about the bone oracle though, and since Lucas liked his job – as well as the money he earned from it – he decided to try and answer them. He had noticed how excited the Kelvic had suddenly seemed, as if he had not seen his family in a very long time. Lucas was glad that he had been able to make him happy with his reading.

“That’s not something that the oracle can answer, I’m afraid”, he admitted because he didn’t want to lie to a Kelvic who seemed so desperate for news of his family. He was a bit of a prankster, but never mean. “The oracle never tells you when something will happen, only that it will happen. Unless your sister is still a child, I think it will happen in the near future though, so you’d better get ready for the wedding.”

“Are you excited, Jay?” Lucas wanted to know. He’d be excited if somebody in his family got married – if he actually liked his family. As it was, he couldn’t care less as they were stuck-up knights. He’d probably still attend the wedding though as weddings usually meant free food and drinks en masse as well as well as an opportunity to flirt with all those single bridesmaids.

[Jay Darkcrest]

Jay gave a serious nod. “Aye, I guess? It didn’t look fancy, but there was a… you know, the shape with three lines and pointy corners? Someone said it was the symbol of the Illusion God. Only the one on the door was upside down. And it felt like the door was watching you, although it had no eyes.” He paused a moment to think. “It stood right in the middle of the city. On a square.” Shaking his head, he gave up trying to describe directions. It seemed the city didn’t want to be defined in words, however elaborate, as if it was more of an intuitive thing. Sure enough, Jay always found what he was looking for after wandering around for a while.

He had to grin at the fortune teller’s taste for lamb. Apples were alright, but meat was always better. Then he laughed out loud at the notion of eating wolves. “No no no, it’s a tavern and an inn too. Only it’s in a cave. Good for Kelvics and Symenestra. We even had some Zith last season, but they never did anything. Just stared at everyone, angry like.”

His mood dimmed a little when Lucas didn’t elaborate on the oracle. Well, at least the bit about the wedding seemed definite. Momentarily lost in thought, Jay nodded to himself. Perhaps this was a good time to leave Alvadas for fresher waters, pick up some tidings along the way. Keep an eye out for old acquaintances. The more he thought about it, the better it sounded in his mind. Something would come of it, he was almost sure, as if the wind had whispered it into his ear.

The question brought Jay back into the present. He tried to smile and before long, he was almost beaming. “Aye! Why would I not be? My sister is older than me, so it must happen soon! Don’t you have any sisters… or maybe brothers?” Come to think of it, he still didn’t know a lot about the fortune teller. Suddenly curious, Jay tilted his head to scratch behind his ear with the coin. “Where are you from, Lucas?”