Hands of Fate

[Nephti]

5th Fall 516

Colours blotted out the grey, umbrellas sheltering her from the drips of rain. They splattered against the illusions above her, the girl darting from one to the other while she jumped puddles and skipped between people. This was one of the better illusions, for it was so practical against the bad weather. The umbrellas that Ionu had sent bobbed around above the city, shifting with the wind or with their own accord, whatever that was. With every drop of rain, they shifted shade, a rainbow lying above her.

Her eyes flickered through the kaleidoscope of colours, searching for a perfect place to make camp this rainy day: somewhere where the rain wouldn't disturb her, somewhere where the rain wouldn't ruin her cards. Flickering through the city as if she were an illusion of her own, she could barely be made out when the rain got heavier and stopped sight, then stood out sharply when she settled under a particularly large and bright umbrella.

This was the one. She crossed her legs, placing herself firmly on the dry patch created by this particularly stable umbrella. The rain tapped against it, casting strange patterns and shadows and rhythms, and she pulled out her cards, bringing her voice up out over the pattering of the rain. "Cards, fortunes, illusions! See it all!"

She gave a sweet smile when she saw the cards themselves, shuffling through them quickly. Her claim of illusions was greater than the little tricks she created. The cards themselves were illusioned, but thankfully not in a way that would make them useless to her. Each image was replaced with a caricature created from carrots or peas or plums, or some other strange vegetable or fruit.

Flicking through the cards, she checked that they were all fine. They were, pretty much - she reached Strength and giggled at the lion made from curled cabbages and turnips. Reading with this deck would be fun, she decided, as well as doing some little tricks. Spreading the cards out, she searched for the Star, wondering what her favourite card had changed too.

As she did so, a busy passer-by rushed by, pushing through a puddle and showering the neighbouring area with muddy rainwater. As Nephti dived forward to shelter her cards, shouting an annoyed curse at him, the umbrella dipped too, tilting to stop most of the spray. Once she realised that she was still dry, the girl broke out into laughter again. Not knowing what to say, she thanked the umbrella, before adding Ionu into the thanks. Who knew illusions could be helpful as well as inconvenient and wonderful? But this was Alvadas - of course they could! Smiling under her shelter, she watched it shift from a bright scarlet red, to a warmer, burnt orange. Just the same as the Star, who was built from oranges stacked on each other. She smiled at the way the two connected, calling out to the public again. "Cards, illusions, fortunes! Come and see!"

[Aislyn Leavold]

5th of Fall, 516 AV
Morning

Aislyn had been privy to many rude awakenings.
This was one of them.

The day had risen slowly, the sun languidly dragging up the horizon like Syna, too, was as exhausted as Aislyn was. Fall was taking effect, tick by tick, and the shorter days were evidence of that. Summer had barely made it out the door and already autumn was slamming the door behind them, ready to paint the trees new shades of colour and the wind new shades of cold.
Though ‘cold’ was an exaggeration.
The autumn was always mild, though the illusions always seemed more colourful, in a way. There weren’t a whole lot of trees in Alvadas within the walls- or, at least, real trees, as opposed to illusions- but what the city of illusions lacked in foliage it most certainly made up for in other ways. Other ways, like bringing the wildlife to the citizens, instead of the citizens having to travel outside the perimeter to see it.

Unfortunately, said wildlife was not always what Aislyn wanted to see on an early autumn morning.

”Darling, da-rling! Wake up, wake up!” The term ‘wake up’ was a rather inaccurate command, considering Aislyn had never really achieved what could be called ‘sleep’ in the first place, but nevertheless she rose. Her hair was caught in tangles, and for a drowsy moment the woman went to run a hand through it only to realize it stopped short. It had been nearly a year, and she still wasn’t used to it. She’d never cut her hair in her life, but now, at least, it was at very least gracing her shoulders again. ”Oh, dearest, I must show you what I’ve done! You’ll laugh, you will. You’ll find it just bonny.”

Wiping the sleep from her eyes, Aislyn took a proper look around in attempt to locate what, exactly, was so charming to warrant the boisterous attitude her mother seemed to have taken on that morning. She already had the ‘awakening’ part of the deal, what was to come was the ‘rude’ part. In front of her bunk, her mother stood, her hands grasping either side of the underbelly of some sort of animal, proudly displaying it like a child bragging over some sort of prize.

”Isn’t he wonderful? I found ‘em just outside, walking around like some poor lost lad. I’ll bet he’s a stray.”

The animal- Aislyn couldn’t quite place what, exactly, it was- squirmed in her mother’s obviously uncomfortable grip, to which the woman responded by cradling it in her arms like a baby. The animal, in response, curled up into a rather convincing ball, tucking its head and tail away until it lay motionless. Her mother rocked it back and forth, the ball of a creature teetering dangerously in her grasp. Pushing the thin blankets off her legs, Aislyn apprehensively got up, hesitant to get herself any nearer to whatever it was her mother was babying than necessary. ”Mother…”

”Oh, I know what you’re going to say. We have all the pets we need-” The woman gestured outside, towards the graveyard of a garden outside the doorstep. ”But dearest, doesn’t he just melt your heart?”

Aislyn’s mother then began to dance about the room, the small- probably terrified- ball in her arms swaying with the rest of her body as she hummed some slow song. To answer the woman’s question, the creature did not, in fact, melt the illusionist’s heart whatsoever. That also implied her heart needed melting in the first place, which it most definitely did not. Regardless, Aislyn gave up on the cause, instead dressing herself. She wasn’t particularly fond of the idea of an unnamed creature sharing her household, so she’d have to dispose of it somehow. ”Mother, how about I take care of…” The woman turned towards her, the small creature peering out of its ball, small claws attempting to right itself from the haphazard tilt it was left in. ”...it. Just for awhile. A walk. I’ll take it for a walk.”

The woman waltz towards her, the humming turning into soft song as she bestowed whatever it was into Aislyn’s hands. The skin was hard, more like bone than the skin of an animal. ”Take care of him, darling. I’ve always wanted a cat.”
The animal clawed at Aislyn, catching the illusionist’s sleeve in its nail.

Whatever the thing was, it was most definitely not a cat.

After her illusions were donned, Aislyn was outside. The air was cool, a feature attributed to the drizzling rain coming down atop the city of illusions. The downpour wasn’t particularly hard, so Aislyn took her chances without her cloak. Besides, she had priorities. Like, as soon as she was far enough away from her abode, dumping the aggravated animal on the nearest city block. The ball unrolled, and it scampered eagerly away. Only after then did Aislyn take a moment to look around. She hadn’t exactly taken much with her on her way out the door, nothing but the coin pouch and knife sheath attached to her pant leg, her shirt falling just long enough to hide both from view. By now, though, she’d turned a corner, and her abode had long disappeared.
So she was going for a walk, then.

Looking up into the rain, Aislyn watched as a floating umbrella leisurely made its way into her sight, follow by many more. On the street ahead of her, a parade of similar covers following suit. Soon enough, her slightly wet walk grew slightly drier, sheltered by the occasional kindness of a colourful umbrella. The city was no less busy than usual, despite the weather, though the streets weren’t exactly packed. The loudest thing was a loud swearing coming from up ahead- followed by a peculiar laughter- where a girl appeared to be perched under a particularly large umbrella. Her face was slightly obscured from Aislyn’s point of view, but the most interesting thing was the set of cards laid out in front of her. As the illusionist approached, her call became clear.

”Cards, illusions, fortunes! Come and see!”

Looking up into the shifting clouds, Aislyn breathed the rain in. She’d always loved weather like this, and it had put her in a surprisingly good mood.

Drawing her coin purse out, the woman decided to humour herself. As she spoke, she fiddled with the pouch, eventually drawing out a handful of mizas.

”I’ll have a fortune.”

[1,078]

~

We cannot change the CARDS we are dealt,
Just how we play the GAME.

[Nephti]

Nephti looked up steadily at the woman before her. Inhaling, she took in what she saw, mentally imagining this woman in the real light, where she wouldn't be in the shade of the umbrella. Her features came to life in her mind, shining brightly, so everything could be seen. Then, she blinked, and paid no more attention to the woman and her appearance. After all, it meant nothing. It was inside she wanted to find. It was inside she wanted to delve into, and discover, using her cards, using her mind. Judge this woman on she was really was, and that was only defined by who she was inside.

She took the mizas, but placed them to the side, not caring too much about them, not at the moment. The lumps of metal fed her, at the end of the day, they paid for her room, and her clothing, but she didn't care. Now, it was the cards that spoke to her. They flickered between her fingers, before she began shuffling them, pulling them through her fingers, all thirty fingers. Almost enough for a card per finger. "Do you like the weather?" she spoke, creating conversation as she shuffled, closing her eyes subconsciously. She kept the scene in her mind, with the woman at the centre, surrounding by the umbrellas of colours around her, rain trickling through at the edges. The cards flowed even without her thinking about them, moving naturally, until she stopped slowly, drawing to a halt.

"I don't like rain, because the rain damages my cards. But it is a reason that is important - to me at least. But maybe, maybe you like rain? It can be... I don't know the word." She brought the cards to one pile, settling them in front of the woman. Gesturing with a lower arm, she waited for her companion to take the cards. "Please, you must shuffle. You must think of what you want to know. They will only then tell of your future." She spoke slowly, commanding her words through her mouth. They came, eventually, and flowed nicely enough. Smiling, she watched the woman handle them, .

Once she was done, the Eypharian took them back, this time with a middle arm. Placing them softly in the middle, slightly towards herself, her fingers lingered on the very top card. "I am glad you decided to have a fortune. I am Nephti, and who are you?" she asked politely, deciding to get the simple conversation and introductions, the ones she forgot, out of the way. She hesitated before pulling the first card from the top, her gnosis flickering under the images. She placed it face down, before stopping, deciding to expand on her skill, "What is the question?" She wanted to experiment, explore different spreads. She knew them, vaguely, like forgotten memories. Hopefully this would bring them back. All she needed was the question, and she could pick one and start the reading.

[Aislyn Leavold]

5th of Fall, 516 AV
Morning

There were a few moments between the point where Aislyn approached the peddler and the moment her existence was acknowledged. The figure’s face was obscured, though granted only slightly. There was a question, first, from the girl. Her eyes drew upwards, and Aislyn got an actual good look at her for the first time. Do you like the weather? She was definitely familiar. Somewhere, somewhere Aislyn knew her from. The problem came with figuring out where.

”The rain?” Aislyn looked around, investigating the umbrellas that floated about the street. ”It’s nice. I suppose you have a point- the rain is inconvenient for drawing.” She didn’t have her sketchbook with her- a rarity, with Maya out and about- which gave a strange sense of freedom to simply enjoy the rain. Not that she wouldn’t have enjoyed it anyways, it was just more… Freeing.

Watching the girl adjust her cards, Aislyn wondered what, exactly, she was expecting to receive from the strangely familiar fortune teller sitting on a corner of the street under an umbrella in the rain. Nothing shocking, probably. Alvad fortune tellers were mercurial; all were either shams or Ionu in disguise, there was never much of an in-between. When the girl asked her to shuffle, Aislyn took the cards hesitantly. She hadn’t handled cards in several years. Her childhood mentor had been a fan of card games- small shapes differentiating different brightly coloured, fabric-lined slips. He’d teach her gambling games, mostly, so shuffling was no strange concept. Even still, some of the cards escaped when Aislyn went to align them all together. The girl instructed her as she shuffled- think of what you want to know. Not a difficult concept, either, except for the fact that Aislyn had absolutely no idea what she wanted to know. The future, maybe. Broad and vague and simple. The coming seasons, the new year. Winter was coming, how about that? Winters were never a good season for Alvads. Would it be like the previous year, doom and death, or like the winters Aislyn remembered. It had snowed once, when she was young. Ionu kept Alvadas warm throughout the seasons, making cold winters rare, but she distinctly remembered the feeling of true, genuine, un-illusioned snow once.
Or perhaps that had all been an illusion, regardless of what she remembered.

Handing the cards back to the girl, Aislyn was surprised when the girl took it with what appeared to be a third arm. To a greater surprise, it seemed the girl had quite a bit more than just three. As she maneuvered the cards, it appeared to the illusionist that she had at least five, if not more. Then she spoke her name, and Aislyn found herself more surprised by what the girl introduced herself by than by the fact that she had an obtrusive number of arms. Nephti.

”Maya.” For a moment, Aislyn considered bringing up the fact that they might very well have met before. Nephti; Sayana’s daughter- or, at least, Aislyn assumed her to be her daughter- granted, from what Aislyn could remember they looked nothing alike, excluding the arms, but she never could be sure. Then Nephti asked another question, and the illusionist dismissed the idea. It had been several seasons, and the last Aislyn had seen of Sayana she had been cursed by the Speakers. There was no use in bringing up old ties. Let the dead bury the dead.

”Question…? For a moment, Aislyn considered. She wasn’t sure how to articulate what she wanted to know. She herself barely knew it, how was she supposed to explain it to someone else. ”Would the future be too broad? I’m-”

Pulling at the cloth of her sleeve, Aislyn concentrated more on the sound of the rain than the conversation at hand.
”I apologize, I don’t believe I’ve ever had someone read my fortune before.”

Aislyn wasn’t exactly expecting a miracle of nature to happen. She knew better than to dismiss the reading as a hoax- Alvadas was ever full of surprises- but even still, she had her doubts. How much could wordless cards speak about the future?

”Ionu, Alvadas… What’s going to happen?”

oocTell me if Aislyn's question is too vague, and I'll revise it

~

We cannot change the CARDS we are dealt,
Just how we play the GAME.

[Nephti]

So she was an artist. Nephti clung to the one thing she knew about this woman, flickering the thought through her head. Did that mean anything? Would it mean anything? It was too soon to tell - it was the cards that knew, and they were with her now, being shuffled by someone who had done it before, but not as much as Nephti had.

The girl nodded softly at the name, ignoring the slight surprise on her face. Many people had that - it was the arms, it always was. Maya was a pretty name, and the girl decided to let her know: "I like Maya. A good name." Her words were accompanied with a short smile as she pulled through the cards too, adding that extra touch that was always necessary to make it a good shuffle.

As she shuffled, the woman thought, considering the question. She started to apologise as Nephti tried to shake her head, shake the apology away. No one was expected to know how to do it at first - she certainly hadn't. "Anything," she said softly, before stopping to let her get her thought out.

Ionu. Alvadas. Questions that interested her too. Vague, but not too vague. Just right, in fact. Maybe she didn't know what she was doing, but she did, too.

What spread? Something natural, she knew that. It had to be natural - she could feel it. Instead of limiting herself, she just drew the first card, giving it a title before she had even seen what it was. "The past." She placed it in front of her, the centre of what she thought would be her spread. Start from the middle, she told herself. Feel how it flowed without thinking too much about it.

It was the Chariot, a man riding a chariot surrounded by stars and looking completely in control without even holding the reins. That wasn't what he meant though - he was war, and victory and... "The Winter war..." she realised, knowing what it had to be instantly, "Chariot, for war. For win. We won - Alvadas won - Ionu won." Her finger landed on the stars around the man, "You see? Stars are gods - are Ionu. Ionu gave us win. Gave us strength. " A good start - but what did it mean for the woman? For the rest of the reading.

Carefully, she pulled out another card, pressing it gently on top of the Chariot. "Change," she stated clearly, letting the word come out without her thinking about it. This was what had changed from then to now. The Magician. So, what did he mean? Magic, clearly. But more than that. He was upside down, too. What did that mean?

"There is - was - magic," she guessed, face curled in concentration. He had lots of items - a shield, a wand, a sword. Prepared. What was this, a lack of preparation? "Change is we are not ready," she decided, wondering what they weren't ready for, "What Alvadas and Ionu do next - no one is ready." Looking up slowly at the woman, she tried to guess further, pressing her finger against the card in an attempt to learn what it meant. "You must be ready."

What card came next? There were two. One for the positive outcomes that may come, the other for the negative. She did both at once, eyes flickering between them unsure which one she had chosen for which. Settling on what felt more natural, she started with the bad first. "If all goes bad..." she introduced staring at the cards a little deeper. The Hermit, alone with his lantern. Reversed. "We will be alone. Ionu will not help. Ionu will hide, disguise, scared. Maybe we are scared. The card doesn't say. But it says Ionu will not be there. If all goes bad. But even then - maybe then we learn about ourselves. Look inside more."

And if it went well? That was Strength. A much more positive message, hopefully. "Power, strength, here. It will come to us, or Ionu, or from Ionu. We will do what we have to. Show our strength. There will be control - control over things. And we will have strength to control. But we must be careful. If too much strength, too much power. Too much control is not good."

Was that it? At once she wished she had stuck with a spread she knew, because then she would know if she had covered everything. Lost for what to do next, she looked up at Maya expectantly, eyes wide. "What have I not said?" Her hands were already on the card. All she needed to know was what it stood for.

[Aislyn Leavold]

5th of Fall, 516 AV
Morning

Aislyn admitted, she was more than a bit surprised when Nephti mentioned the Winter War by name. Not that she really should have been surprised- she had met the girl shortly before the war began. Of course she was in Alvadas in the time. Observing the Chariot, Aislyn tried to imagine how the fortuneteller drew meaning from the most seemingly insignificant details. Stars as gods, gods as stars. It reminded Aislyn of the kind of thing she’d hear from preachers in Ionu’s Temple. The gods are us, and we are the gods.

Some more than others.

The next card was no less a surprise. The Magician. Presumably something to do with the arcane, then. Magic, if Aislyn were to describe it in a word, was dirty. In the same way Ionu’s gift was right, the magic that came from what she’d been taught- the djed and the Aurist Pycon whose name escaped her for the moment- was somehow wrong. And the Cravens- they used magic, too. Disgusting, gruesome, powerful magic. And now Aislyn couldn’t even claim she was free from guilt. Sometimes she forgot that she knew how to use magic now, if weakly. It wasn’t so long ago that she had learned- was that what this was supposed to imply? Yet Nephti used a strange word to describe it- Change.

What Alvadas and Ionu do next- no one is ready.

It was laughable, really. No one was ever ready for anything the deity of illusions decreed. Ionu was at their pinnacle when faced with unpredictability. The deity of tricks and deceit, was there anything else to expect? That being said, the words “be ready” were not ones Aislyn had anticipated to be hearing. Following ‘change’, a choice of two cards. The illusionist wasn’t entirely sure what the point of the deviant paths was for, but she paid attention nonetheless.
Ionu worked in mysterious ways.

Ionu will hide, disguise, scared.

Fear, however, was not a mysterious way that Aislyn was aware Ionu worked in. The idea of Ionu being elusive, evasive, or otherwise obstructive was not foreign to her, but fear... Was she to hide from Ionu, to fear Ionu, or was it Ionu that was afraid? The way Nephti spoke- Aislyn had noticed it before, as well- in slightly broken common- it made her message all the more cryptic, if unintentionally.
Another thing she noticed was how blissfully hopeful Nephti appeared. Even with the ‘negative’ output, she spun it, and the ‘positive’ one even more so. Her final statement turned back on the whole ‘positive thinking’ aspect, though.

Too much control is not good. Of course not. Moderation and all that, etcetera. But too little control was ten bells worse.

Aislyn caught herself as she got wrapped up in Nephti’s words. Everything the girl said could very well be just as they seemed- words. Too cryptic to truly deny, too vague to be entirely wrong. Even still, knowing that Nephti wasn’t just an illusion on the street made her no less trustworthy. Not that any fortune telling at all was terribly trustworthy- mysterious forces and all that- but her reality meant she wasn’t a tool of Ionu’s creation. Not directly, at least. That begged the question, though, about how Nephti had ended up there, on the street, peddling a fortune that spelled a foreboding future for Aislyn. Even more pressing; how their paths had ended up crossing once again.

”I believe you’d told me enough.” She wasn’t really sure how, but she felt like the words were helpful. The fortune hadn’t exactly lifted her spirits, but it had done something, certainly. She’d know eventually, at least. At minimum, she’d know where Nephti was full of shyke. ”War, change, isolation, strength. It…” The future could only tell. ”...makes sense.”

There was a moment of silence, the sound of rain on the fortuneteller’s umbrella the only noticeable sound. Distracted for a moment, Aislyn observed her surroundings. It appeared the street had emptied out, whether deposited elsewhere by Alvadas or simply turned off by the weather. Now, they were relatively alone. ”But I do have one more question.” Returning her attention to the girl sitting before her, she considered her words. It was a stretch, but Aislyn’s curiosity knew no bounds. ”Nephti-” It had been seasons, but the illusionist had never done well with loose ends.

”What happened to Sayana?”

~

We cannot change the CARDS we are dealt,
Just how we play the GAME.

[Nephti]

Somehow, her half-hearted attempt of coming up with her own spread had worked, and Maya was satisfied. Nephti smiled, remembering what she had tried and telling herself she'd actually work on something that night, something with meaning and order... although in Alvadas, maybe the chaos had fitted perfectly. It had made sense, just like the cards had done, somehow.

That was good, at least. It was always the worst when she gave a reading and got no response at all, or just more questions. It meant she had failed the cards. Or the listener was too close minded and wasn't paying attention to what was being said. Searching for a particular answer, which was impossible. What was more important was trying to understand how the cards could help. They couldn't tell you what you wanted, but told you what you needed. At least Maya had the respect to listen to what they could tell her.

Waiting for Maya to speak again, she let the moment soak in, slowly gathering her cards now their purpose was complete. As if she was rubbing the reading from each one, she smoothed her fingers over them, straightening out creases and brushing the dirt from them. Her fingers worked quickly, without thinking about them, but somehow, the entire action took the eternity that the silence was held. And, somehow, none of that bothered her, mind caught up too much in the moment.

Her eyes narrowed back in on Maya at the mention of another question. There was a curiosity in her words, and Nephti's eyes mirrored it, knowing that this was separate from the previous reading. The rain hazed around the woman, and suddenly, they were alone, as if this question was one that needed privacy. Privacy for the question, or for the answer, her mind wondered, instead of focusing on the question at hand. For some reason that wasn't what she cared about.

But when it came, it was all she could think about.

She dropped the cards, knowing they weren't important. That wasn't what the question was for, anyway. It was directed at her, and something she should know the answer to.

The problem was, she didn't. She had asked once, asked another fortune teller, but he had told her only enough for her to decide to remain in Alavadas. Sayana's note hadn't told her anything either. She still had the letter, tucked in her room in a safe place, but it was empty. Full of words that didn't tell her anything. Why she had left. Where she had gone. And for a long time, she had been scared to find out.

"She left Alvadas," the girl finally said, looking down towards the scattered cards before finally gathering them again. Would she ask to ask to the cards? Nephti was going to ask Maya anyway, because she needed to, more than anything. "She left, and I do not know where she gone. I'm sorry." Why was she apologising? She had nothing to apologise about. But, for some reason, she said it anyway. "I can ask the cards. About Sayana. About where she gone." And something in her voice said that she wanted - needed - to know too.