Fortunes

[The Cedar Witch]

The dark haired gypsy sat patiently behind a small circular table, hands folded on the dark purple tablecloth. There was a large sign of an eye above the entrance to her modest indigo tent, the universal symbol for fortune telling. Every now and then, the girl would call out to the crowds: "Fortunes, palm reading. Two copper pieces" and if any ventured closer she would say something like "Curious to see what Adora has in store for you this year? Love, money, happiness?"

Savina briskly rubbed her numb hands together in an attempt to bring some warmth to her fingertips. It was early in the afternoon and the girl still felt heavy with exhaustion. The chill of early spring typically made her drowsy no matter how many layers of raggedy clothing she wore to fight it off. The sun that shone brightly overhead did little to drive out the cold the wind brought through the marketplace. Her dark eyes scanned the crowds as they passed by her tent, searching for anyone who didn\'t seem as though they were in a rush.

Business was typically slow this time of year, but Savina was in desperate need of some money. Her old mare had passed on during the winter. It was a terrible loss and the gypsy mourned for several weeks. Not only had she lost a great friend but now she had nothing to pull her wagon, which had remained now in the marketplace all winter.

A middle aged woman approached Savina\'s booth, holding a sleeping babe in her arms. She seemed quite poor and desperate, something Savina easily read in the eyes of the women.

"I\'ve heard you do money spells?" the women asked in a hushed tone, as though afraid someone might overhear. Savina brightened, a friendly smile appearing on her face.

"Of course I do, if you\'ll follow me into my tent..." The girl smoothly stood and herded the women into her small tent.

The shelter seated three comfortably and was intended mainly for privacy. Some customers preferred their fortunes told in here rather then in the public of the streets. The thick indigo fabric blocked the sun out, providing a very spooky atmosphere. There was a table in the center of the tent with a crystal ball in the center. Several lit candles provided the only light in the place, casting a warm glow on the faces of the gypsy and the older women.

Savina took a seat facing the entrance of the tent and motioned for the women to take the other. She urged the women to explain her problem and agreed to help so long as she had enough to pay for the charm. As soon as the woman handed her five copper pieces, Savina took a handkerchief that had been fastened to a portion of her hair.

Very suddenly she began to chant mysteriously in a strange tongue over the cloth, first in a hushed whisper until her voice gradually built up to a piercing shriek. This woke the baby and startled the women who immediately questioned exactly what on earth Savina was doing. Before the women could react, the gypsy reached over and stuffed the cloth down the shirt of her customer.

"Now, do NOT take that handkerchief out until you get home. Then you must tie you most valuable items up in this charm and bury it in your cellar or garden." Savina paused to see if the women was listening and she was, quite intently.

She continued. "Tell no one of this charm or it will be ineffective. Not even your husband. Come back to me in three days, bring me to your house so I can check on the bundle to make sure the spell is working. Do you understand?"

The women nodded quickly. "Now go! Quick before the charm begins to wear off!" With that Savina rushed the women from her tent who then promptly ran home as though Talon himself chased her. The gypsy emerged from her tent, snickering to herself and pocketing the fee for the \'spell\' she had just casted. Taking her former seat in front of her circular table, she scanned the crowds again, searching for another commoner to scam.

[DeathsAngel]

Rubbing cold hands together, breathing on them once and awhile to try and fight off the biting chill. Alithia, wearing her meager clothes, scurried through the marketplace several times. She always came to the market place where people were the most so that she could at least pretend to stay warm, and occasionally steal a cloth of something to wrap around her body for even more warmth, or pickpocketing people as they paid for their goods.
 
 Soon she would be able to go the tavern, but she found that if she stayed there for too long of periods the bartenders and whatnot tended to get suspicious of her, so she had to leave for a while at a time. But she was relieved when she spotted the eye above the fortune teller\'s tent, and though she knew that who Fotune teller, whoever it may be, could do magic. But she\'ll probably allow her to enter the tent if Ali paid for her fortune.
 
"I saw your eye?" She said between chattering teeth to the girl in front of the tent. "Y-you tell fortunes?" She asked, rubbing her arms together. The scammer could probably tell that she was asking just to get out of the cold, but it didn\'t matter for the "Teller" would be paid and Ali might get a little warmth and then she would head back to the Tavern.

[The Cedar Witch]

Savina watched the shivering girl wander toward her tent with a touch of pity. She could sympathize with the helplessly poor, but over the years the woman had developed an every-man-for-himself mindset. Aside from her eyes which always betrayed her inner-most emotions, the gypsy\'s face was emotionless.

Ugh. Look at her, she\'s so dirty... She debated whether or not she wanted to invite this beggar into her tent and out of the cold. When the girl came closer and inquired about Savina\'s profession, a small smile graced her full lips.

"Yes, dear. I am a fortune teller," the gypsy made a mental note to pay special attention to her stash of coins so she wouldn\'t get pick-pocketed. When people were this poor, it was a thing to expect.

"Why don\'t you come inside and out of the cold?" Savina motioned for the girl to come inside. She looked young, not even seventeen yet. A pity she had to live out on the streets; she probably didn\'t even have any money. Well, maybe I can read her palm for free. Shouldn\'t take me too long. Savina walked into her tent, holding the flap open for the girl to step inside.

"I can read your palm if you\'d like? Free of charge? Unless you were looking for something else. Like a money spell. But those are not free." the older women looked down at the girl with a small smile, wondering what kind of a life she had led.

[DeathsAngel]

As Ali got close enough, she debated whether she wanted to pickpocket the woman, but decided that that wasn\'t such a good idea. She had only been pickpocketing long enough for the casual, this woman seemed a little too aware of her surroundings for her to want to try.
 
"I was hoping you\'d say that." The girl chatter, not bother denying her want to get out of the cold. Her next comment caught the young girl off gaurd and she cocked an eyebrow. "Free of charge?"
 
Maybe, she\'s taking pity on me. The one thing she hated more than anything else is people taking pity on her, unless of course when she\'s begging. But she didn\'t beg very often, she prefered pickpocketing and oddjobs.
 
"Do you usually offer free palm reading? Most fortune tellers ask you to pay for such things." She asked entering the tent. "I\'m poor, but I just got some money, so I thought I would like to know what the gods plan for my future." She shrugged, pretending that she was ignorant of the fortune teller\'s scam. Most commoners were, but she wasn\'t like most commoners.

[The Cedar Witch]

The gypsy smiled at the girl, sitting on the seat that faced the tent\'s entrance. The candles caused the crystal ball in the center of the table to shimmer mysteriously as it reflected the woman\'s face.

"Come, sit." Savina motioned to the seat across from her. To tell the truth, the gypsy didn\'t really know why she offered the fortune free. Yes, it was pity, but besides that, the girl reminded the woman of herself. She didn\'t want to come across as a charity service, however.

"I can tell you one, vague thing about your future for free," the gypsy smirked, "but a more in depth reading is a few copper coins." she eyed the other girl carefully, trying to read her.

"If you\'re interested in a money spell they\'re five copper pieces," Savina reached underneath the table and pulled out an old, weathered board with letters painted on it\'s smooth surface "Or, for six copper pieces I can contact someone from the other side that you wish to speak with." she smiled, setting the ancient Ouija board onto the table gently.

"There are many other things I can do, it depends on what you\'re interested in." the woman cleared her throat and folded her hands on the table, waiting for the girl\'s answer.

[DeathsAngel]

Ali didn\'t say much as she took her seat, it was something she had worked hard at doing because... Back then she spoken quite a bit. "I afeared I ain\'t got the five coppe\'s on meh fer that, so I\'ll just be stickin\' with my future. I\'ll start vague and if I like what I hear I migh\' be considerin\' payin\' the few coppe\'s more for a bit more detials." She smiled.
 
No way am I paying five coppers for a money spell that won\'t work! She thought to herself, but skillfully kept the thought to herself. No good going around calling fortune tellers frauds, for anyone with any brains already knew they were. She was just trying to make a living same as everyone else. Just some people\'s livings are more honorable than hers, like picking pockets.
 
Though, despite her career choice Alithia found herself liking the woman. She seemed to hold the same point of few on life as Ali herself, every man, or woman in this case, for him- or herself.
 
"Anythin\' less than five coppe\'s. I didn\'t brin\' much along with meh, tell the truth I wasn\'t expec\'in t\' be goin\' an\' havin\' meh fortune told." She smiled that slightly charming, completely innocent smile that lowly commoners had. "Though, I might be comin\' back fer that money spell of yers. Sounds like it might help meh out, course who wouldn\' like a bit more money, eh?"
A person skilled enough could tell that her accent was fake, but only the skilled, and even then you could probably guess that she was just trying to change her life style to fit her new ranks, which was exactly what she was doing.

[The Cedar Witch]

Savina peered at the girl curiously. Did she have an accent before? The gypsy dismissed it, figuring it could be something to do with the girl trying to gain some form of attention. She couldn\'t hide a smile as she glanced from the girl\'s face to her hands. Savina examined the shape of the girl\'s hands before she even held them out, reading them from a distance to get a first feel of what this child might be like.

The girl\'s hands were rough and dirty, a dead giveaway on first glance. There was a round, broad shape to them, and the fingers were the same length as her hand. And yet her thumbs were low set as well... Savina cleared her throat.

"Your hands tell me that you dominantly have a spirit of the earth, " she paused, leaning back and smiling lightly. "You work with your hands, and have for some time." Obvious, give her something more interesting, the gypsy thought to herself.

"You have solid energy and values," she paused, peering at the texture and shape of the girl\'s hands again, as well as the thumbs. "You have a cold nature, even though it wasn\'t always that way," the gypsy spoke with a low voice, as though saying something of gray importance.

"And there\'s a touch of creativity in you. Have you painted in the past?" it wasn\'t a question meant to be answered, more like an attempt to lighten the mood. Savina found this girl to have quite interesting hands.

"That\'s all I can tell you without you showing me your palm." she smiled gently.

[DeathsAngel]

"Spiri\' o\' the Earth? What that mean? I\'m goo\' wi\' plants \'r somethin\'?" Alithia tilted her head slightly in confusion, not quite sure she understood what the older woman was saying. "E\'eryun\' works wi\' their \'ands, wha\' else there t\' work with?" Though, she did know what Savina meant, but she couldn\'t help but playing the ignorant peasant.
 
" \'Deed yer righ\' there, worl\' makes yeh cold, though, I try no\' to let it get meh down t\' much!" She smiled again, sheepishly, she felt a lot better now that her fingers didn\'t feel like icicles.
 
Though, she did kidn of stop dead when she mentioned her painting. SHe hadn\'t painted since she was a little girl, and here this woman could tell she used to do that. Plus it brought back memories of how life was before she was forced to live in the cold.
 
"How-" She startered, her accent slipping. "Ye know that? Ain\' painted since I was a li\'le girl. Did it wi\' dirt and mud and flo\'ers an\' such, wha\'e\'er I could find!" SHe offered her hand up to the woman. "Though, I\'m migh\'y in\'erested in wha\' else ye can be tellin\' meh!"

[The Cedar Witch]

Savina smiled pleasantly, dismissing the questions simply because she didn\'t have the patience to explain herself. Honestly, the accent was getting to her and was making it rather difficult for the gypsy to understand anything that the commoner was saying. But she said nothing about it, nonetheless, and kept up a friendly façade. Got to make your money somehow, right?

The gypsy\'s expression didn\'t even flicker when the girl showed her surprise at the easy prediction. She was used to catching her customers off guard. The older woman did, however, smirk, when the girl dropped her ridiculous accent for one word. It was surprising that she managed to pick it back up so quickly. Sharp girl, Savina thought quietly to herself.

When the girl offered up her hand to read, Savina didn\'t make a move to touch it. Palm readers were never supposed to touch the hand of the one they were reading, much less a gypsy touch the hand of someone outside of the community. Not that Savina really believed in the whole "clean versus unclean" business. Speaking of business, the gypsy wasn\'t about to perform any more services for free.

"Sorry dear," she shook her head with a friendly smile, "You wanted vague for free and that\'s what I gave you. Now, if you want a more in-depth reading I can give you one for two copper pieces..." Savina trailed off, glancing at the girl from the corner of her eye. We all have to make a living somehow.

[DeathsAngel]

Alithia grinned, a true bussiness woman. Though she didn\'t believe in furtune telling, she could not hide how impressed she was with Savina\'s ability to judge things she had kept to herself for years. She wanted to see how much she could do, but didn\'t know if she should let her, she might find out that she was a pickpocket and tell the guards, which would get Ali into serious trouble.
 
She pulled her hand back and reached to her money bag, careful not reveal her hiding place. It wasn\'t that she didn\'t trust Savina, but she had learned to be precautious, especially when it dealt with money. She pulled out the coins needed and handed them to the old womam, curious at how good she was, but ready to deny any truths she may or may not find.
 
"There ye go, ye done bough\' meh with cur\'ous\'ty! Made meh wantin\' to see if ye can find more \'bout mehself. Yer a good saleswoman, Ma\'am!" She nodded firmly with another of her sheepish grins. "Now let\'s see if yer as good as ye appear t\' be!" She said, offering her hand once again holding the coins in her palm as she did.

[The Cedar Witch]

"Thank you."

Savina took the money graciously, putting the coins in her bosom for the time being, so not to reveal where she really stored her money. It was quite the productive day and maybe she\'d actually be able to make a few minor purchases this week.

As for the palm, she allowed the younger girl to lay it out on the table for Savina to get a good look. The gypsy\'s eyes briefly scanned the four major lines: heart, head, fate, and life. She cleared her throat and spoke in a low voice, as though saying something of grave importance.

"See here," she pointed to the intersection of the heart and life line, but did not touch the palm.

"You\'ve had a traumatic experience in your early years. Death?" it was a suggestion more then a question, nothing that required an answer. The gypsy paused and glanced over the length of the palm.

"It\'s effected you massively but you try not to let it get to you." her voice was barely above a whisper and she fixed her attention to the head line.

"Your entire palm is telling me you are creative..." she laughed lightly, recalling that the girl had mentioned that she painted with dirt.

"Living is more important to you then education," the gypsy shook her head solemnly before continuing, "there was an emotional crisis in your early life...and be prepared for one in the future," she looked up at the girl with her eyes, "near future," she added, studying the girl\'s expression before returning to the palm before her.

The gypsy frowned as she moved on to the life line, "You\'ve had a major change in lifestyle a few years ago, something happened that was unplanned that forced you to to go in another direction," after awhile she added, "You are strongly controlled by fate, although you struggle internally with it. Despite what you may want, you are prone to many changes because of things happening that are beyond your control."

Savina stopped talking and leaned back to stretch.
"Do you want me to continue or have you had enough?" she didn\'t want to bring up any sad memories for the girl, to be honest the gypsy hardly knew what to do when customers started to cry. This was about roughly half of the service, but there was no way the girl could know that. The gypsy didn\'t care either way. She had her money already.

[DeathsAngel]

As Savina read the her hand, Alithia had to force her face to remain steadfast, as opposed to smiling. She\'s good. But she realized that the woman had said nothing that wasn\'t obvious to those who could read people, which she believed you could figure out an entire history of a person by the way they act and talk and various other small detials about them. No doubt this woman could.
 
" \'Hoo \'asn\'t?" She asked when the woman suggested a death experience. She started to smile a little then, loosing control of being able to hold it down. "Don\'t it always?" She continued. She waited until the woman shocked her with something, like she had when she had first spotted her artistic abilities from just glancing at her.
 
" \'Deed I am, but ye a\'ready knew that, I\'s also be good wi\'h a\'imals!" She smiled broadly. She was impressed yet not shocked at anything the woman had said before. "Course it is! Only the rich be gettin\' \'emsel\'es e\'ucations." She cocked her head to the left. "Really? Near future ye say? If yer wron\' will I be gettin\' meh money back?" She joked lightly.
 
Alithia stopped for a second as she spoke next, she really was good. She had read Ali like a book, and had been true all the way through. "Aye, that so, most people figure that much out!" She said, letting most of her accent slide. "Family was merchants, but we suffered an\' failed. Ain\'t \'shamed of it, ain\'t gunna lie or hide it or nuttin\', jus\' the way the rive\' flows!" She grinned, easily hiding her long held pain that the woman had just barely scratched.
 
"Yeh can continue. I\'m awaitin\' fer ya to really shock meh. Somethin\' that ye can\'t read jus\' by readin\' the way I ac\' \'n\' whatno\'!" She grinned again. She had certainly gotten her money\'s worth, it was warm and amusing, and it might even get shocking. She\'d stay a while longer to see. "Do I gotta pay ye more?"

[The Cedar Witch]

Savina smiled at the girl, taking careful note of each reaction she had to her reading. She was beginning to catch onto how fake the accent sounded, and the fact that this girl was even sporting one was enough to peak her curiosity. The gypsy\'s eye flickered up to the child\'s face, and she thought she could feel something inside of the girl stir when she spoke of her parents. A feeling that was so hidden that it was barely perceived.

"No, you\'ve already paid the fee. Unless you\'re so generous as to give me a tip?" the woman joked, laughing lightly at her own suggestion. Everyone was short on money these days, and it wasn\'t an uncommon thing for her to suggest an opportunity to donate. But she would never beg, like some of her people had resorted to in tougher times. Her kind seemed to be notorious for that. Not that she was necessarily a part of that clan anymore. Savina\'s gaze moved back to the girl\'s palm, roughly shoving aside her own memories for the time being. She had work to do.

"Can I see your other hand?" the woman asked, feeling curious about what future her birth-hand had intended for the girl. She was not, however, finished with reading the first hand that that Alithia had presented her. Palm reading was an extensive study of both hands, not just one. The gypsy waited patiently for the other hand, leaning forward again when it appeared on the table.

The fact that she was destined for a comfortable life, before her parents died, did not surprise her. That was information that could be ascertained from uncovering knowledge of the death itself. But the gypsy had to mention something. It was rude to draw one\'s own conclusions silently.

"Well, you were born with the possibility of living comfortably. And if you were to marry, then you would be better off." Savina paused, glancing up at the girl before continuing. "But I\'m sure that is something anyone could tell you.

"If you were to marry, you would have three children. Two girls and a little boy. Two of your children would die young and your husband with them." Her voice fell to a whisper, and with a concerned face she looked deeper into the girl\'s palm, at the finer lines that were barely seen through the grime. She moved back to the original hand, and then to the new one.

"Your life is filled with a deep sorrow, something that you cannot shake no matter how you pretend and wish it to be. You were a brilliant child, and the death of your parents has effected you tremendously. More so then you let on." Savina traced the heart line of the second hand with her eyes before comparing it to the first hand.

"There will be a man in your future, well after you have forgotten about me and this reading. Someone who you will pay little attention to at first. But if you give things a chance, perhaps life will be brighter for you." The picture of the girl that she was gathering in her mind was more complete, and it was something that she was having difficulty with putting into words.

[DeathsAngel]

Alithia couldn\'t help but to smile a little at her joke. " \'Fraid I don\' have no money t\' be a-givin\' in tips." She smiled at the older woman. She wondered if she was truly genuine in her palm reading, and she silently scolded herself for being so foolish. She was probably really good at reading people, judging by what they saw and heard and based it off of that. But nonetheless, she found herself liking the older woman.
 
Placing her other hand on the table, she watched as the lady studied her palms with mild curiosity. She still found it hard to truly believe in fortune telling, but maybe if she learned enough she could use it to make a bit of a living herself. It had to be better than what she did for a living. Though, truth be told, she didn\'t really want to, not that it really mattered.
 
She waited patiently for the gypsy to finish, wondering what it took to "read" palms, she might ask her before their meeting was over. She\'d have to think about it though.
 
"Any girl be bette\' off if she was t\' be marryin\' some\'un. But not many men be lookin\' fer a scrawny, homeless girl like mehself." She joked, not that concerned, though she couldn\'t help but to think, that if her family hadn\'t died, they would indeed be looking for a husband for her now, if not several years earlier.
 
At hearing about her would-be husband and childrens\' death, she had to force herself to remember that she didn\'t really believe in fortune telling, for that was an unpleasant thought. She opened her mouth to respond, but thought better of it and instead waited for the next bit of news.
 
A mild anger came to Ali as the woman commented on her pain. What did she know of the loss? She found herself asking silently. Then again, maybe she did know a lot about pain. At that thought, the anger left. "Death hurts me no more or less than any \'un else." She said, her accent slipped at the beginning and she had to force herself to bring it back. "Woul\'n\' be the same fer you?"
 
Though, as the woman continued, she found her smile return with surprise. But the news itself wasn\'t what surprised her, it was the fact that she was begining to believe her. "Con yeh tell me what yeh mean by \'brighter\'?" She asked, genuinely curious.