Completed Light Heart

[Rohka]

25th of Winter 521 AV

“You promise?”

The man asking the question introduced himself earlier as Eusebius Tawn. They sat in a small room at the back of the Lightshow Theater. This season’s costumes were being fluffed and mended, in the early morning of the day, getting ready for the shift in schedules and the usual madness on stage. It seemed that word had gotten further out on the sybil’s form of work, and the Lead Actor of the Troupe had sent a letter to her room at the World’s End Grotto. How he found out, she had no clue.

Zeltiva was far more connected than Ravok, it seemed.

Either that or she…

…would Rohka dare to think that she had more reputation here?

The sybil was selfish. Not narcissistic.

“Of course,” she answered, pushing a stray hair back and crossing her ankles. They sat in common, slightly rickety yet stuffed seats, which was a luxury for some but not others. Rohka was grateful for it. A seat was a seat no matter what, but in this one, she felt a comfort that she felt she’d missed for some time now.

She was there that day to provide the Actor with a reading. He promised to pay and she promised to read. It was quite simple. However…

“Okay, but do you promise this can help me know where she went?”

Rohka pursed her lips and inhaled gently.

“Oh I can see it in your face already,” he almost shouted. “Don’t lie to me,” he pleaded.

“I promise I can help. I just don’t know what the cards will tell us until I’ve dealt them out. I can only promise to give you a reading. I can’t promise what exactly you will learn. There is a certain amount of trust involved here. It helps if you can do your best to believe in yourself as well.”

“That’s shyke,” Eusebius pounded his fist and stood up, beginning to pace the room. “And look, you’re doing it all wrong, I told you,” he was speaking to a young woman now, giving her instructions about the way to coordinate the wardrobe for the season before shooing everyone out and shutting the door behind them.

Everyone in the Troupe knew about the man’s troubles. It had been quite a while since her disappearance.

Beatrice Lanky. The stunning and mysterious half-Vantha who stole his heart.

“Look, just listen,” began the actor, pinching the bridge of his nose before staring at her intently. “I must know where my Beatrice went. It’s been too long and it’s winter now. I worry. I don’t know how to answer to the Lanky family. I’ve been worrying for far too long, and of course the show must go on, but don’t you get it? It’s like I have a gaping hole in her heart. In my soul, even. I can’t go on like this for much longer. There’s no peace. There’s no joy. Do you realize that our Troupe hasn’t been playing any comedies? They’re all joking about the fact that my broken heart is bad for business. There’s no one like Beatrice, absolutely no one, and I will never let anyone convince me otherwise. So please,” he paused, holding out his hands and grabbing those of the sybil, dropping down to one knee.

“You promise to help me find her?”

Rohka let out a slow out breath. She could feel her own heartbeat against the knot of her scarf resting on the nape of her neck. She answered slowly, calmly, with intention.

“I promise to help you through my craft and I pray to the Gods that we find you the help that you need to find her.”

The actor shut his eyes and sighed heavily, dropping Rohka’s hands.

“Good enough. Alright, get on with it then. You have this entire space to work whatever magic it is that you have here.”

Boxcode credit to Antipodes

[Rohka]

Rohka laid out the silk on the ground, set up one candle, put down and crossed her legs.

“Here,” said the actor, with a smile, handing over a cushion. “I’ll sit too, and I need one of these to feel comfortable, so,” he paused.

“Thank you,” Rohka responded. She put the cushion under her, and took off her boots. Eusebius followed suit, and both sat across from each other, barefoot, on the floor of the closed room with open windows and natural sunlight from Syna’s early rays filtering through the light, long curtains.

“For what you’ve requested, I will provide you with a simple three card reading and an improvised dice reading, along with a simple prayer to the God or Goddess of your choice. Think of me just as a conduit for your deepest want and/or need. I offer no guarantee but I do offer you solace in the service I provide you with, which, here and now, is simply to tell your fortune. All clear?”

The actor nodded, then verbally agreed.

“Yes,” his tone was firm. Resolute. “All clear.”

“Very well. Now, I will shuffle this deck.”

She split her Lheroa cards in two and Eusebius watched carefully. Using her thumbs, she fanned the decks into each other, and cut the deck with one hand before fanning them out on the floor. Laughter from beyond the door made her pause so she picked up the deck again, and she swore she heard the actor click his teeth in frustration, but she payed it little mind while she shuffled again.

In her heart she asked for help from Rhysol. Clutched the image of him gently as she prayed internally for this reading to turn out to be fruitful for her current partner. For a brief tick she noticed Markham in her mind and she absentmindedly clicked her own teeth before catching herself having done so. With a sharp intake of breath, she knew she needed to calm down, and be more at peace.

The sybil closed her eyes. Meditation in this moment was needed, she believed. So, she breathed in, and breathed out, focused as she shuffled, the familiar pattern of shuffling held in her hands as she focused, truly and dearly focused, on what it was that Eusebius wanted from her.

“I have to find her,” the actor whispered gently.

An automatic cock of her brow sent a chill through her body. She almost swore she could feel the actor’s aura vibrate around her as well.

Slowly, the sybil nodded thrice, in recognition of her partner’s words.

Rohka held out her deck. Fanned, faces down.

“Choose your fate. Three cards, any from this spread.”

The actor did as he was told.

Quickly, from the middle, he snatched three cards in no particular order.

“It is time.”

Boxcode credit to Antipodes

[Rohka]

She laid out the cards he picked.

Rohka admitted a slight boredom to herself, and clipped the thought in its bud. This is the work I chose to do, she thought. She was grateful to Lelia for keeping her employed all this time. Rohka knew that keeping her meagre overseas income going was making her tired… that is, tired of a lack in creative control. She was always following Lelia’s orders. Even this particular job, she knew she would be sending information over to her employer so that all fortunes told under the Mystic Eye’s influence would be blessed by the mark of Rhysol…

Rohka figured that things would be different if she opened up a business of her own.

She shook the thought away to focus on her craft. This particular job found her. Whereas in the past, she had to go to the job.

“Okay Eusebius,” she began making herself comfortable on the floor. “There is nothing to fear.” She said her typical line of reassurance with expert ease.

“Before I flip these cards over, I’ll tell you what these three cards stand for. The first will be the card of past influence. This one will tell you about how your dearest used to be, when she was here with you. It is intended to provide you with the confidence you need to trust the next two cards. This one,” she pointed to the middle. “will be the card of current influence. It will tell you what you need to know about your sweetheart’s state of mind currently. Whether it even exists,” said Rohka, solemnly. “And finally, the last card will give you the future influence. Anything you need to know regarding your love’s future and how it will impact you.”

“You’ve said nothing about how to find her,” snapped the actor. “Everything else is useless to me,” he shouted.

Rohka took in a deep breath and did her best to stare the actor down.

“Relax,” she said, the sybil’s voice like a ball of stone rolling on the ground. She pulled at threads gently to view his aura, flashing green pulses with white sparkles , tinged in a hazy grey-blue that spoke of a deep, broken sadness covered in an armour of fury and greed. It was aura of the shadow of him, she guess. His darker nature. Rohka exhaled quickly and spoke up again. “Remember, I am providing a dice roll as well, with a prayer. All you need to do is trust yourself first. No need to trust me if you don’t want to. But since you’ve invited me here, I—“

“Yes, yes, yes, fine,” he snapped again, crossing his arms. “Just do it.”

At his command, she flipped all three cards.

Boxcode credit to Antipodes

[Rohka]

The sybil began telling his fortune.

“There was the promise of union in the past, as you can see here, in the couple holding cups. You both healed in each other’s presence, and she looked to you in the purity of her love, while you promised her everything, knowing that you both held a passion that no one else could touch.

If I am to see this card correctly, currently, your love is in a situation of either asking and not receiving, or receiving unfairly. She is under someone else’s charitable hands. Someone who wishes for balance.” She needed to pause, briefly looking up at her partner to see that he held his breath, and he caught her staring.

“Well go on then,” he barked. “Tell me what the stupid heart with swords means”

“Heartbreak. Whose heart, I’m not sure. What I do know is that the heart of the matter contains emotions that are difficult to sort through. These cloudy emotions will impact the both of you in the future. There is a torrential rain in the soul that will be influenced. It speaks of a deepness that cannot be described in words.”

Eusebius grunted, which she took to be a sound of approval.

“Dice, go on to the dice,” he urged, his hands clasped and getting onto his knees to peer closely at the cards atop the silk. The candle light flickered with the air of movement.

“Here,” she handed him her quill, ink, and a scrap of parchment. “Write down six statements. They should all be in present tense. Write down where she is. You’ll know better than anyone else. I’ll roll the die for you.”

The actor furrowed his brow for a briefest moment before taking her cue. He began to write. Once he finished, he handed the sheet over to the sybil.

1. She is gone and will never return
2. She is alive in another city
3. She is in hiding
4. Her parents are hiding her
5. She is safe in one of Zeltiva’s houses
6. She is found and is returning soon

She rolled.

It was a one.

The aura before her flashed a bright, brilliant, sparkling blue.

His depth of sadness iced immediately. The coldness in the air… as if time stopped and started again.

“No,” he whispered.

He looked into the sybil’s eyes with hundred times more intensity that she ever held in her own…

“Pray.”

Boxcode credit to Antipodes

[Rohka]

“To who?”

“Laviku.”

“Who—“

“The Sea King. God of The Oceans, Sea life, and the Svefra. Mate to Avalis, The Seer, the Goddess of Visions. You must know her, of course, being gifted with the craft of telling fortunes. I wish to pray directly to her mate with the ask of protecting true love. It was in the cards, you saw it yourself. And I won’t stop there. Naku Tidalwave is Laviku’s Champion. I’ve met him. I’ll get a message to him.”

All sound seemed to focus solely on the speaking voices.

“Laviku,” said the sybil, gently.

A flash of a memory came up within her… a Svefra she once knew…

She pushed the thought away.

“Alright,” she nodded, straightening herself up, curling her tail outwards to stretch up tall before resting in a line behind her. “We will pray to both Laviku and Avalis, in honour of the proclaimed love between Eusebius and Beatrice,” she paused, and spoke up again. “Beatrice and Eusebius have been a unit in the past, according to the cards.”

“You started praying?” interrupted the actor, leaning forward.

“Um,” she folded her hands in her lap before sensing that the man needed more flair. “No, I was setting up the prayer,” she said, in earnest.

“Okay, I’ll put my hands up in prayer now, then,” he seemed to be nervous. As if he had never really prayed in the past before, and was expecting more.

Rohka let out a deep breathing went into her pack to set up another candle, lighting the flame and setting it between them. Her crystals she laid in a circle around the candles. She placed the past influence card in the middle and the sheet of parchment with the first statement now circled next to the card.

“Feel free to pray silently in your own mind,” said the sybil. “The Divine are always listening.”

She put her hands up in prayer. “A moment of silence for the both of us before I begin the prayer.”

In silence, she meditated.

Breathing in deeply and breathing out slowly, she focused on Rhysol. The only God she… currently…

…trusts.

’Dear Rhysol, may you please help me with the telling of this fortune? The man before me wishes to find his lover. Her name is Beatrice Lanky. In a statement he wrote himself, I have told him that She is gone and will never return

So now, he wishes to pray to Laviku. I want to help him. Since Beatrice is not here, I cannot pray for anything other than her well-being. May you please inspire me to help this man? Thank you, dear Lord.’

“Dear Laviku,” she began, her tone now thick with devotion.

“We pray together. We offer you the light to see what is true in this man’s heart. Eusebius Tawn. We wish to honour you in this prayer. Knowing that Avalis is your mate, we wish for help with the fortune that I have told. It seems to me that Eusebius has a true love that is gone and will never return. Is this true? May you please give us a sign? As the Lead Actor of the Lightshow Troupe, Eusebius is here, fully committed to his work. However, he is cold with a passion to know where she went. How can we believe that his elusive star is gone? It seems that we cannot, and we ask for help. We pray. He will be sending a message to your champion, and I simply request that the fortune I have told be blessed with your kindness. Thank you.”

The sybil blew out the candles.

Both individuals exhaled almost simultaneously.

It was then time for the dress rehearsal.

Boxcode credit to Antipodes