(Vax’ildan)LoVM: Cards and Fate
Apr. 29th, 2023 07:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aeuyrnI wasn’t supposed to be out of bed. Yet, a natural hatred for rules and a peckish stomach can convince any youth of nine summers to make an exception. With a peek of one eye, I checked if my sister was asleep yet.
As expected, her night reading caught up to her in the form of a book resting open on her face. I wondered if I should check if she wanted something to eat too, but decided against it. Choosing instead to slip as quietly out of bed as I could. The kitchen wasn’t too far in the small cottage. I watched my mother's bed for a moment to make sure I didn’t wake her either.
Mother was not in bed. That confused me. She wasn’t often one to be up so late.
No matter, then. I stepped carefully around the arched hall, minding the squeaky parts of the floor boards. The kitchen hearth glowed a sleepy dim burn of its last log. Just enough light for me to reach into the pantry for something to nibble on.
The front door unlocks with a pair of voices in hushed tones.
In panic, I closed myself into the pantry cupboard. After all, I shouldn’t be out of bed this late. Was against mother’s rules.
“I must thank you in some way.” A young man’s voice, one I did not recognize, filled the kitchen. “I have a seer deck I keep with me. If you’re willing, I am more than happy to bear you a reading.”
“If it will make you feel less indebted to me, then I accept.” Spoke mother, kindly to whom could easily be an older brother to Vex and I.
I hear the sounds of the dining chairs shift, not too far from me or the hearth. My stomach reminded me of my goal so I looked about me and took a nice chunk of cheese.
“You must accept my apologies, though,” Mother continued, “for asking how you intend to read your cards- without- well-“ she was trying to tiptoe around a subject.
“My eyes?” The stranger sounded playful rather than offended. “Perhaps you can read out loud to me which card it is? I can tell you its meaning.”
Silence, and then a sound of shuffling against the table. I chewed on my cheese like the little sneaky mouse I was. My mind trying to piece together who this stranger was that mother brought. She often assisted the elderly and the inferm of the village with her knowledge of potion craft. But late night visits were rare.
And this possibility blind man was not familiar.
“I will do a simple reading. Past-“ the sound of a single card coming free from the deck. “Present” a new card placed on the table. “Future, Distant Past, and Distant future..let’s go chronologically.” The table quietly drummed out from what sounded like a knocking finger.
The echo of the card against wood, flipped and returned.
“…The Devil..?” Mother said, a tone of confusion.
“You said you had children? Yet, you made no mention of your husband.”
The room was eerily silent.
“I’m very sorry he decided not to stay.” The guest whispered, sympathetic. “Was it mutual terms?”
“It all was and then wasn’t. It became complicated. Neither of us knew I would be so blessed. He does the descent right, at the least. Sending what he can. I would rather he make up his mind and forget I existed entirely if he refuses to be here.”
I wasn’t sure how to feel. Mother never talked about our father. Ever. Vex and I had questioned her in private time and time again about if we had one. “Of course you did, but that was then.” And that was that.
Hearing her talk more openly with a stranger felt wrong. Why did he get to know this yet I wasn’t allowed?
The tapping sound returned. The next card scrape felt louder, more hesitant. Mother’s voice cheered in a partial hush, “The World.”
“Your children mean so much to you,”the man smiled with joy, “As it should be, to have a loving mother. You mean the most to them as well.”
He wasn’t wrong. I may have been hiding in the pantry for fear of retribution, but if anything untoward happened to our mother from this man, I would rescue her. Sure, I was short and thin. Like a reed. But you would be surprised how painful a bread knife could be. I held it close and slowly sawed at a loaf.
Mother didn’t wait long for the next card. “((This is a placeholder because I don’t remember what was said))” she gave a soft chuckle. “Dear sir, is this you?”
“That was in the Present position? Well!” He sounded impressed but also bashful. “It is true, I suppose, that I have a message to give, then. When I know it, I will give it. What of the future then, hm?”
He tapped which card again, mother turning it to read. “The Chariot.” her voice’s cheer fell flat. The man was quiet as well.
“This suggests to me that action must take place and soon…we may have to delve deeper with the cards than I anticipated. For now, let us glance at the far future. It may illuminate a reason.”
I pressed my face closer to the slats of the door, trying to get a better look at this point. I could see the stranger resting his chin in his hand, his brow furrowed in thought. Mother, sitting across from him, took the last card.
“The Tower…” against the light of the hearth, the card’s image bore a tower on fire…
The stranger’s voice hushed, its tone shifting with each word. “Sarenrae, the Everlight, has brought me to your door, Elaina. Fate converges here…A terrible doom flies to take what is not his, risking the fate of Tal’dore. Your children have roles to fill, but will be robbed of such if they remain in Doom’s path.”
Something felt different. I could tell he wasn’t lying, as hard to believe as the words were. He was different. As if some great magic was pulsing through him. I saw a pair of wings made of light- I didn’t like what I saw. It was too much like the…other things… that would make my gaze catch and shake what reality I knew.
I backed away from the door, trying not to knock any of the shelves behind me. There was an unworldly warmth-
Mother’s voice broke through, “What must I do?”
…
I don’t remember falling asleep. I don’t remember leaving the pantry that night. I do remember a bed of black feather down….I opened my eyes in our bed, Vex shaking me. Her words fell from me as she dragged me to my feet.
“You can’t keep sleeping. There’s someone outside talking to Mother. An Elvish man!”
(End)
As expected, her night reading caught up to her in the form of a book resting open on her face. I wondered if I should check if she wanted something to eat too, but decided against it. Choosing instead to slip as quietly out of bed as I could. The kitchen wasn’t too far in the small cottage. I watched my mother's bed for a moment to make sure I didn’t wake her either.
Mother was not in bed. That confused me. She wasn’t often one to be up so late.
No matter, then. I stepped carefully around the arched hall, minding the squeaky parts of the floor boards. The kitchen hearth glowed a sleepy dim burn of its last log. Just enough light for me to reach into the pantry for something to nibble on.
The front door unlocks with a pair of voices in hushed tones.
In panic, I closed myself into the pantry cupboard. After all, I shouldn’t be out of bed this late. Was against mother’s rules.
“I must thank you in some way.” A young man’s voice, one I did not recognize, filled the kitchen. “I have a seer deck I keep with me. If you’re willing, I am more than happy to bear you a reading.”
“If it will make you feel less indebted to me, then I accept.” Spoke mother, kindly to whom could easily be an older brother to Vex and I.
I hear the sounds of the dining chairs shift, not too far from me or the hearth. My stomach reminded me of my goal so I looked about me and took a nice chunk of cheese.
“You must accept my apologies, though,” Mother continued, “for asking how you intend to read your cards- without- well-“ she was trying to tiptoe around a subject.
“My eyes?” The stranger sounded playful rather than offended. “Perhaps you can read out loud to me which card it is? I can tell you its meaning.”
Silence, and then a sound of shuffling against the table. I chewed on my cheese like the little sneaky mouse I was. My mind trying to piece together who this stranger was that mother brought. She often assisted the elderly and the inferm of the village with her knowledge of potion craft. But late night visits were rare.
And this possibility blind man was not familiar.
“I will do a simple reading. Past-“ the sound of a single card coming free from the deck. “Present” a new card placed on the table. “Future, Distant Past, and Distant future..let’s go chronologically.” The table quietly drummed out from what sounded like a knocking finger.
The echo of the card against wood, flipped and returned.
“…The Devil..?” Mother said, a tone of confusion.
“You said you had children? Yet, you made no mention of your husband.”
The room was eerily silent.
“I’m very sorry he decided not to stay.” The guest whispered, sympathetic. “Was it mutual terms?”
“It all was and then wasn’t. It became complicated. Neither of us knew I would be so blessed. He does the descent right, at the least. Sending what he can. I would rather he make up his mind and forget I existed entirely if he refuses to be here.”
I wasn’t sure how to feel. Mother never talked about our father. Ever. Vex and I had questioned her in private time and time again about if we had one. “Of course you did, but that was then.” And that was that.
Hearing her talk more openly with a stranger felt wrong. Why did he get to know this yet I wasn’t allowed?
The tapping sound returned. The next card scrape felt louder, more hesitant. Mother’s voice cheered in a partial hush, “The World.”
“Your children mean so much to you,”the man smiled with joy, “As it should be, to have a loving mother. You mean the most to them as well.”
He wasn’t wrong. I may have been hiding in the pantry for fear of retribution, but if anything untoward happened to our mother from this man, I would rescue her. Sure, I was short and thin. Like a reed. But you would be surprised how painful a bread knife could be. I held it close and slowly sawed at a loaf.
Mother didn’t wait long for the next card. “((This is a placeholder because I don’t remember what was said))” she gave a soft chuckle. “Dear sir, is this you?”
“That was in the Present position? Well!” He sounded impressed but also bashful. “It is true, I suppose, that I have a message to give, then. When I know it, I will give it. What of the future then, hm?”
He tapped which card again, mother turning it to read. “The Chariot.” her voice’s cheer fell flat. The man was quiet as well.
“This suggests to me that action must take place and soon…we may have to delve deeper with the cards than I anticipated. For now, let us glance at the far future. It may illuminate a reason.”
I pressed my face closer to the slats of the door, trying to get a better look at this point. I could see the stranger resting his chin in his hand, his brow furrowed in thought. Mother, sitting across from him, took the last card.
“The Tower…” against the light of the hearth, the card’s image bore a tower on fire…
The stranger’s voice hushed, its tone shifting with each word. “Sarenrae, the Everlight, has brought me to your door, Elaina. Fate converges here…A terrible doom flies to take what is not his, risking the fate of Tal’dore. Your children have roles to fill, but will be robbed of such if they remain in Doom’s path.”
Something felt different. I could tell he wasn’t lying, as hard to believe as the words were. He was different. As if some great magic was pulsing through him. I saw a pair of wings made of light- I didn’t like what I saw. It was too much like the…other things… that would make my gaze catch and shake what reality I knew.
I backed away from the door, trying not to knock any of the shelves behind me. There was an unworldly warmth-
Mother’s voice broke through, “What must I do?”
…
I don’t remember falling asleep. I don’t remember leaving the pantry that night. I do remember a bed of black feather down….I opened my eyes in our bed, Vex shaking me. Her words fell from me as she dragged me to my feet.
“You can’t keep sleeping. There’s someone outside talking to Mother. An Elvish man!”
(End)
