Completed Motherly Love is Futile

[Rohka]

4th of Fall, 517 AV

Rohka stood at the doors to the towering brick building in front of her. She waited in silence, taking a moment to breathe, to stay calm. Why was she so nervous to enter an orphanage, of all places? She couldn’t put her finger on the reason for the bit of dread within her, mixed with nausea. It wasn’t like Roh had an aversion to children. She didn’t mind the antics of the little punks when they came through the Malt House every so often. She didn’t really have any pity for orphans, either. Their cursed fates were their own, their lives were their own; she figured they’d bond with whomever they grow up around.

Her denial of the root of her fears was of course typical for the young sibyl. To admit the potential of motherhood would be to give in to the prospect of bearing responsibilities. It's too much. She knew she was avoiding the thought of having a family of her own someday; Roh promised herself long ago that she wouldn’t think of such things anymore until she’d secured a job. A stable job. A stable, respectable, lucrative job.

She knocked on the large wooden doors and waited, her mind preoccupied with the details of the first real task she’d been given. Lelia had wanted her to take on one of her appointments as practise. The Divinist told her that she was sure the young sibyl had enough to handle the children on her own. She’d said that Roh had the maturity, the confidence, and the aptitude. What she’d failed to mention was a piece of what the Divinist had seen in Rohka’s chavi when they’d first met. It had been sufficient to understand that her new apprentice needed to work through her fears on her own. Roh left that morning with the instruction to watch each child closely as they picked her cards; to look into their eyes and feel for the information she required for accuracy. The Divinist would be able to tell if she could pick up on the children’s auras by the time Roh returned with her account of the completed task.

Xerin Galatos came to the Mystic Eye some time ago for a reading and casually offered to pay a good sum of mizas in exchange for Lelia’s services at one of his most popular businesses. The Commorancy was in fact a business just as much as it was a home for the orphans—the better the orphans were cared for, the more they’d work. It seemed logical to raise the children’s spirits through news of good fortunes. Lelia was happy to oblige, especially through the persuasion of one of the Galatos’ most well-known spokespersons.

Rohka wasn’t told much about Xerin. All she knew was that one of the Galatos needed the Divinist to cheer up the children with her gift. Yet, as the fates of orphans go, they weren’t going to be given the gift that Xerin had intended…

In the hand that wasn’t knocking on the door was the marionette given to her by the strange puppeteer she’d met in an alley by Thorin’s forge. It stayed on the corner of her table untouched until today—away from anyone else she knew, away from the things inside the bag she was carrying, and away from any place other than the walls of her apartment above the House. She had no use for the damn thing and hoped it would find a better home with one of the children at the Commorancy.

Roh was impatient, so she tried the handle, finding it unlocked. She poked her head through the doorway and called out to those inside:

“Hello?”

[Hwyn]

Motherly Love is Futile

The funny thing about having nothing is that normality can feel like prosperity and the simple lack of unpleasantness makes even the most mundane things enjoyable. For most this is a difficult plateau to reach however it is perhaps one of the few nice things about being an orphan. It’s much easier to accept a lower lot in life when you have many other people that can sympathize with your plight. It was also a truth that the young mind is able to find fun in the most unlikely of places. As such the children of the orphanage were for the most part a cheery, if occasionally morbid bunch, the little ones who hardly knew of a life beyond the orphanage especially.

Hwyn, was a fair bit older than most in the orphanage, so even with the fact that he hadn’t been within the orphanage long it was obvious that he would not be making close friends with most of the elder children of the orphanage who had long since knit themselves tightly with each other, this did not deter him from comradery, he did however find it with the younger minds, those that were gentler and inquisitive, those that he felt safe with.

The impromptu game of tag had started suddenly and Hwyn hadn’t known of it until he had very suddenly felt a little hand slap him on the back and a girl exclaim he was “it” before running away. Startled Hwyn shook his head before deciding he’d nothing better to do with the day, taking off after the little girl who giggled as she took off. The next bit of the morning was spent thusly Hwyn allowing them to tag him as was there want as he arbitrarily picked who to get next, enjoying going easy on the little ones as they all got to think that one of the bigger kids was having a hard time keeping up with them. It did make him smile to think that these little monsters all had so much energy never seeming to tire. Running through the main hall after the girl who had originally tagged him he was too absorbed in the game to realize that he’d been had when three of the other children who’d been playing with them all leaped on his back. Now at the very bottom of a hysterically laughing dogpile of children Hwyn lay prone as they attempted to wrangle him.

They were however interrupted by an Alien voice, all falling silent as they all looked simultaneously to the woman looking back at them. “hello” she said and she was met with momentary silence the two young girls and two young boys all holding there breath now trying to hide behind there elder who they’d just finished claiming like prey. Meeting the woman’s eyes with his own technicolor orbs.

“uhm… W-w-welcome, t-this is the C-comerancy, C-can I h-help you?”

Standing up Hwyn bowed to the woman the other four smaller children doing the same before hiding behind his small frame.

“my n-name is Hwyn, Uhm… D-do you n-need something here?”

Credit to Shimoje, the bestest buddy

[Rohka]

“Yup, hiya Hwyn,” Rohka smiled and lightly waved with her free hand, the marionette hanging limply in the other. She glanced at the other, younger twerps behind her stuttering greeter.

“The first person to point me to an adult will get this toy,” she held up the mother marionette, dressed in black cloth.

Roh came in amused to see the kids all piled up on top of one another, unsupervised and seemingly having fun. Of course, the young woman had no problem with children playing by themselves, but it seemed odd in a place like this, with children of this age. Perhaps it was just playtime in the orphanage and the adults were in a meeting or grabbing food or something. Nevertheless, she needed to inform an official, old, and probably orderly adult about the reason for her visit.

It was at that moment that the young sibyl remembered that she had a note. Lelia had written and signed it and she’d almost forgot that she had it - the Commorancy should know about the appointment that Xerin had set, but they didn’t know that Rohka was taking the Divinist’s place today. She ruffled in her bag with her free hand as the children responded however they wanted at her request. As she swirled her hand looking for the note, she realized that she forgot to put her Lheroa cards back in her little leather pouch. Roh clicked her teeth in annoyance and took out what she thought was the note, then groaned when it turned out to be a card.

If any of the orphans were paying attention, they’d glimpse a peculiar movement. The marionette turned its head slightly. Its stone eyes seemed to look towards Rohka’s bag. Its wooden arm started lift when Roh brought her card out, then went slack when the sibyl put it back inside.

The card she took out was of a beautifully dressed woman in tended garden; she immediately intuited that in this moment, in these circumstance, it would symbolize discipline and taming impulses. Rohka never took the randomness of picking her cards for granted. Of any piece of advice given to her, the one she would trust the most was the one from her cards. The sibyl made a mental note and returned to her business.

Rohka was too focused and finding the letter to notice the oddity in the toy. She finally picked out the piece of folded parchment and held it between her fingers as she waited to meet someone with authority.

[Hwyn]

Title and Date

Frozen on the spot the each waited on one of the others to speak or to remember where one of the adults could be located, after only a few moments of awkward silence the quiet was broken by the sound of sharp clicks as confident boots made their way towards the door. While they hadn’t been to sure of what was going on, one person was well aware of everything that was going on.

The older gruffer fellow, all the orphans new him, knew him well enough that most of them didn’t want to know any more about him that was. If the ladies that orchestrated everything in the commerancy were scary, then Bobert was like the hound at their heels snapping and snarling at anything it didn’t like. You could always tell when he was coming to because of the off beat rhythm his footsteps created as he limped. When he entered the room all the children there looked about trying to find anything but the man to fix there gazes on. Hwyn could feel them squeeze even tighter to him than they already had been. He knew they weren’t breaking any rules or anything so the man didn’t have any reason to do anything with them but his presence still made them cringe. Wrapped up in their desire to be invisble for the moment the doll was momentarily forgotten as they all tried to edge away from the man who was now in the main hall.

Luckily for them the man wasn’t looking at them, his hard eyes instead looking at the commerancy’s guest.

“If you’s lookin fer an adult, well now you’s got one. Watcha need here at the commerancy? Lookin to get a brat of yer very own? I’ll warn ya, the better half of em’ are trouble makers, and the other half won’t grow up ta be much better.”

Still looking down the children fidgeted not wanting to move until they were either dismissed or the two adults finished there business.

Looking at the doll Hwyn wasn’t sure what to think of the thing he’d never seen one like it, with strings on it and such. He didn’t really have many possessions but he knew that some of the Nitrozean ladies collected such odd baubles. Keeping his face down he listened for release or some other order using his small body as a Bulwark between himself and the man not wanting the children to be targeted by the man’s wrath should it come.

Credit to Shimoje, the bestest buddy

[Rohka]

Was he kidding? Roh stepped up to the man gently, with half a smile and a slightly raised brow. If it seemed condescending, it was because she was genuinely surprised at the way she was being greeted. What if she was looking to adopt? Was this the way to treat a potential parent? Perhaps he wasn’t who she was supposed to be speaking to; or maybe he’s new?

No, he wasn’t new. Judging from the way the children hid behind the older blond one, this was a man they either feared or dreaded.

None of it really mattered, however. His rough exterior didn’t frighten her so much as it did pacify her initial anxiety. Seeing the children settle down so quickly in his presence reassured her that they could be handled without hassles. Roh tried to hide her judgement of him the best that she could, if only to get through the formalities quickly and get to doing the job she was assigned to do. She bobbed a light curtsey to the man and spoke openly,

“I’m here on behalf of Lelia, the Divinist at the Mystic Eye. The Galatos asked for a reading at the Commerancy, for the children,” the young sibyl gestured to the bunch standing beside them, smiling at them briefly before returning her attention to the man before her. She wondered if he even knew what she meant by a ‘reading’, but decided that there was no reason to go into details right now.

Before she could continue, Bobert shushed a little boy that began whispering to the others behind Hwyn, cutting off their growing excitement. The man turned back to Rohka and scratched his scalp as he answered her,

"A reading. Divinist. Huh." He paused and shook his head, the annoyance in his brows telling her that he definitely didn't care for details. "And who're you?" He asked sternly, his one good hazel eye bore deep into hers in scrutiny.

The sibyl stared back, unflinching, yet slightly subduing her initially haughty manner. “I’m Rohka, and I’m Lelia’s apprentice. I have a note detailing the arrangement,” she brought her hand up to show him the folded piece of parchment, “and I’ll have to give this to whoever takes care of these matters. Who would I need to speak to?” Roh brought her hand back down and placed it on her hip, looking at him expectantly.

The man smirked and reached out, quickly and easily swiping the note from her fingers. He opened the note and peered at it; first up close, then outstretched his arm and squinted at the cursive handwriting. He muttered under his breath as he read the note and nodded, his face relaxing when he got to the end.

"Yer fine," he looked up from the note and grinned at her, the sudden change in expression throwing Roh off guard. "Bobert's the name," he put a hand up to his chest and casually bowed. "Bobert Galatos. The ladies did mention somethin' or another about fortune telling junk—said Xerin was starting to get cooky, wannin to know how to secure his damn future," he chuckled, looking off to the side. "Ya can't secure yer future, miss. Can't convince me that you can." Bobert looking down at his legs and paused, then turned back to her; she caught a glimpse of pity in his smirk.

She was a joke to him—that much was clear.

"I'll pass this along," he folded up the note and put it in his pocket. "The brats'll show ya where to go. Call for me if they git outta hand." Rohka nodded her thanks and Bobert left her to the children as he sauntered off down the hall.

The marionette was still in within her grip, the limp toy no longer moving on its own accord. Rohka knew she’d get rid of it one way or another today; she’d been disappointed that the children didn’t take it from her. Surely they knew how to play with the thing. She figured she could demonstrate soon enough.

"So! Kids! Where to?"

[Hwyn]

Motherly Love is Futile

The tension left with the man, it was as if the entire room breathed a sigh of relief along with it’s occupants. The kids once more peaking out from behind Hwyn seemed pleased at the idea of having their fortunes read and were already pulling Hwyn along to where they wanted to go. By his reckoning they were heading to the outside courtyard that made up the small playground of the orphanage, it did have a nice seating area with a few tables and matching chairs so it wasn’t a bad idea by any means. It was also thanks to Ravoks eternally nice weather that it was comfortable any time the year.

As the two girls pulled him by his arms and the boys pushed him along Hwyn smiled apologetically at the Seer gestured for her to follow.

“It s-seems they’ve set their minds on g-going outside, I hope that’s fine”

It wasn’t long until they were all outside and being seated. Smiling at the little children Hwyn kneeled and looked them all in the face before giving them a very important mission. They were to go and inform all the others that they would be getting readings and to gather in the playground in a little while. He even added that it was a very important task that he didn’t think anyone other than them could do wich earned him two salutes from the boys and giggles from the girls. Pinching there noses with a thin smile Hwyn sent them off to do as they were asked leaving him and the Seer alone for the moment.

Again bowing to her Hwyn met her with a shy smile. He didn’t know much about seers he’d been to the Isle of Mura once but beyond that he only knew that Konti were supposedly exceptional with their insight into the future.

“Uhm.. I don’t know much about f-fortunes, but I’m sure that they can’t be all wrong, I-I hope that B-bobert didn’t hurt your feelings. I-I’m happy that you c-came today… even if I don’t reallu understand fortunes.”

Sitting down across from the woman Hwyn felt very small, he really didn’t like being alone with people, especially strangers and more so adults but better him than any of the little one’s who were vastly unpredictable. Fixing her with a momentary glare he allowed his eyes to sparkle for a moment as the power he had flowed into them, he wanted to see what kind of person he was dealing with. He wasn’t an expert by any means but mages ribbons were different from those of regular peoples, and he wasn’t going to allow a mage near the children he had decided he cared for. At a glance though the woman didn’t seem to have anything exceptional about her, but… there was another ribbon with her… something magical? Or was he seeing things… It was only for a brief moment but he was beginning to think there was something else about. Letting the power leave his eyes almost as quickly as he’d welled it he frowned rubbing his eyes. He didn’t like using the power he was still unused to it but it had proven useful as of late.

“so.. How do you make a fortune? Is it like magic?”

Credit to Shimoje, the bestest buddy

[Rohka]

Rohka enjoyed the freedom of being outdoors in Syna’s light, and watched curiously as the little ones guided them along to set of wicker chairs and tables. She was happy to be out and away from the grumpy man, in a cheerier atmosphere.

Roh nodded in answer to the stuttering politeness, taking a seat and hearing Hwyn instructing the orphans to gather the others. They seemed to follow the child’s orders easily. There were no complaints, as if Hwyn had the influence of an older sibling. Roh quickly concluded that the child was a girl despite the slightly androgynous appearance, purely because she enjoyed the way the orphans obeyed the ‘important’ request. Hwyn’s light display of leadership was something the sibyl admired; it was a trait she wished to see in more young women of her age.

A bird chirped in the distance and Roh found herself distracted by the sound, looking up to find it flying over to perch in a high nook of the wall behind them. It cooed as Hwyn spoke, and she listened to her words of comfort. The sibyl smiled,

“He didn’t hurt my feelings, luv. He…” she paused, looking at the girl with kind eyes, with a spark of something almost sinister behind them. “He can’t hurt my feelings. I get to choose how I feel,” she paused again, shifting her gaze to the marionette now resting in her lap. Roh had learned long ago that anything she felt was by choice. She stopped blaming others for her fleeting emotions, ever since was taught to notice them.

“Right now, I feel like doing my job.” Roh winked, grinning as she picked up the toy. She untangled the strings as watched the blond girl staring back at her with curious, prismatic eyes. They were beautiful. She’d never seen anything like it. Before she could compliment them, Hwyn asked her a familiar question.

“Mm, it’s magical to me, and to the people who like what I do,” she refrained from smirking, but couldn’t hold back the amused tone. Roh never liked claiming that what she does is ‘magic’. True magic, to Roh, seemed to produce effects. There was nothing in her craft that produced anything tangible. It was more like an art: it took imagination and creativity and intuition to read the cards, and then people were free to appreciate it, critique it, ignore it, or even outright hate it.

Lelia had explained, however, that her cards did indeed hold magic; specifically, an aura. But Rohka never found herself reading the aura—she read the cards.

“It’s easier if I show you. Shall I? Or we can wait until the others get here.” The sybil picked up the wooden bars of the marionette’s control. She held it up and fumbled with the bars, making the mother move its legs and arms haphazardly. Roh found that she could wrap a string around her thumb to move each limb individually.

The sybil made the mother stand still and wave at Hwyn.

“If you wanna wait, we can play with this in the meantime. I got it from a puppeteer in an alleyway, I don’t really have any use for it. Do you like puppets?” Roh held out the toy for Hwyn to take, if he wished.

[Rohka]

A bell had passed and it was time to go.

Rohka felt empty. The kids barely had the patience nor the attention to listen or to understand her craft. It was meaningless to them. At least the puppet brought a bit of humour, but no one really wanted to keep it. Perhaps it was because of the way she’d carried it. Or maybe it was because of the voice she used: gentle, yet low and earthy. Boring, perhaps. It could also have been because she barely told a story with it. She hadn’t come prepared to entertain. She came to read fortunes. And she did.

Though she also snatched one of her cards out of a kid’s grubby hands.

It was the crying that probably put her mood off. It had been a while since she’d been in the presence of a crying child. She at once felt helpless and disgusted. All she could say was ‘Oh, there there honey, please don’t cry,’ as if the child would listen to her request to cease emotions.

Nothing about this task that Lelia had given her felt anywhere close to success. These were unfortunate children in an even more unfortunate situation, and she had zero means to help.

Was it hopeless? Was this a failure? Would Lelia disapprove and shun her? Even better, did Lelia know this would happen? Surely the Divinist wanted the Gelatos to have gotten the best service…

Or perhaps she didn’t. Perhaps Lelia had never wanted to support the Gelatos in the way that she’d initially thought. The sybil knew that she would need to find out now. She needed to know exactly the kind of relationship Lelia had with the family and why. What was the true purpose in sending Roh to the orphanage for a task arranged by the Galatos? It couldn’t have been just for practice. She almost kicked herself for not asking or even thinking about it earlier.

No matter. Nothing wrong with asking questions.

WC = 331