Closed [Alements] In the Tea Leaves

[Eselle]

Timestamp: 78th of Summer, 514 AV

Freshly cleaned white boots toed gingerly through the streets. A rush had settled upon the comers and goers, some heady anticipation pressuring their steps. Eselle could only guess what precipitated the mood, some vent was to occur soon. Even now in the evening hours Syna’s light still warmed the air as was fitting or Summer. Pale scales trailing her arms reflected gold back at the radiant deity's fading light. All day she had explored the Waterfall city seeing nothing but new places and faces, but that perhaps had been the goal. A familiar face from Ravok might be the worst, but still a sister’s smile from Mura might be the best.

As the lamp lights slowly illuminated against Leth’s waxing domain, Eselle found herself before a curious business. Through the door’s paneled glass she espied a tavern within. Gingerly closing the expensive door behind her the seer sought out the bar. Cobalt eyes sifting through the menu were rewaded with a pleasant prize. “Tea please” she requested on accented vowels punctuated with a smile for the dark-haired serving girl. Placing down the silver-rimmed miza before twisting back to face the dining area.

Settling upon an armchair that the young woman nearly sank into when she seated herself, she pulled out her deck lovingly painted tarot cards and shuffling them carefully. She had angled her chair towards the room trying to meet the gaze of other patrons. Eselle wasn’t especially adept as idle conversation but still she wished to know the citizens of this city and her fortune telling gave her the easiest introduction.

Her ebony pants could use a wash again after the days meander through the city, dust coated her thighs. Still her airy blue shirt held up well against her adventure and was passable for polite company. Knowing so little of the city put her out of advantage; what was socially appropriate here? It would be a slow process learning that lesson, hopefully she found no pitfalls along the way.

Placing the deck decisively on the corner of her table. There they sat pregnant on potential fates for whoever approached the seer. Her tea arrived on a saucer and she sipped through the steam.

[Caelum]

The fortune teller would be hard pressed to sense a greater need for answers than that in the Drkyas horselord who appeared beside her table. Her konti gift might be illuminate as a night sky with the throbbing need of countless questions forming stars of varying colors and luminosity. To attempt to chart this man's questions would be a tall challenge and one might discern how that had honed him over the course of his life into the sleek and dangerous shape of an altogether determined seeker.

"Welcome to Alements," he said, humble words a stark contrast to the rest of him. A black tunic and black leather trousers, all of fine quality but simple styling, clothed him. Short, summer sleeves bared the windmarks winding down the muscles of his arm and hints of daylight were less visible to the eye as they were to the heart in the pits of dark eyes. The smile he wore was unexpectedly endearing and he took a long glance at the deck of cards she had placed on the table. "I'm Caelum."

Elise had already flounced off to see to the other patrons, leaving the proprietor to study Eselle with frank curiosity. The sight of tarot cards conjured aching memories of Lillis, his wife long lost to Dira; but the ache was familiar and sweet enough. It was also what had him approaching the konti, lured by the subtle string of her desire to get to know Riverfall and in its inhabitants.

He laid a hand on the back of the chair opposite hers and raised his eyebrows in polite inquiry. "Can I join you? I haven't seen you here before."

[Eselle]

Eselle pulled a breath through her teeth. Her gift wasn’t painful but the intense reaction surprised her. After a beat she turned a fortune teller’s knowing smile up towards Caelum. The knowledge implied was always a lie. “Thank you, I am Eselle.” She replied in her foreign cadence.

If the seer was a water-color stain then this man, Caelum, was a statue of earthen-clay. The two were worlds apart but both art. No Drykus had yet crossed paths with the Konti. The sweeping windmarks momentarily stole her attention. They reminded her of a set of stylized Tarot cards a seer on Mura used.

Bowing her head in the difference the Ravokian’s had enjoyed overmuch, “Please sit, Caelum.” Gingerly, Eselle replaced the deck of cards between them. “Would you like to hear your fortunes?” There were parts of her Telling that were truth but the majority was a guess of possibility. A mere imitation of the priestesses of Avalis. The cards had been known to be rude or on one occasion out her own secrets to the patron. In such a time that the cards spoke of her, the patron hadn’t realized it. His ignorance had saved her scales.

Picking up her cup again, she drank in leisure. The road had not afforded a luxury like tea and the treat had been long missed. Her cobalt gaze observed patiently under the guise of ease, if he reached for the deck she might see the markings closer. The Konti had seen omens in lesser things. Such omens were not always true but that had yet to stop her from heeding them.

Eselle turned her attention to the deck so as not to stare rudely. The edges had begun to fray from constant use over the years. The cards had become dear to her and perhaps soon it would be time to seek a new one, so this old favorite could retire in silken grace for use only in emergencies. No matter the maker, Eselle could not imagine a similarly potent deck might be crafted off of the white island.


[Gwin]

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OOC100th post for you guys! Glad to be here.

The Akvatari was curled up in an armchair, looking strangely misplaced in a simple tavern. She’d have looked stranger in a chair and the tavern was only simple at first glance. It had lured her in, the light playing with the glass and reflecting in countless colors through magnificent windows. There was space inside. It didn’t seem as cramped as taverns and even cozier than the Zeltivan Quill’s Rest.

Her blonde curls weren’t dripping wet, but still damp, and a few drops had survived in the grassy fur of her tail. She took care not to damage the material of her armchair though, having brushed the damp strands over her shoulders. In typical Akvatari fashion, she was only wearing a black strap of fabric across her chest. A sheaf of parchment rested in her lap and her hand was moving across it with the speed of light. Almost. Instead of words she was scribbling down vertical lines and little dots though. They seemed to carry secret meaning few others could decipher. To Gwin they’d become a language just like Common.

She used it whenever she tried to avoid attention and grasp the atmosphere of a place. Zeltiva had taught her what taverns meant for a city: locals gathered, travelers sought rest and food, stories were told. All kinds of things were flowing freely under its roof. A place such as Alements… As a musician, she wondered what kinds of people and things it’d attract. The essence of Riverfall and its Rivarians would gather here like in a vase. All Gwin had to do was listen.

A pale figure had just claimed the table next to her. Gwin took a sip of her tea, no longer steaming, but still warm, and observed the woman from the corner of turquoise eyes. A Konti, shuffling cards now. Paintings in vibrant colors were noticed. A human joined her, dark tattoos snaking down his arms, dark of hair. Gwin only spared the parchment a few glances while writing down impressions of sound. A deep underlying rhythm for the environment, then a lilting and sweet melody for the pale daughter of Avalis and a stronger, more earthy reply for the man.

Looking back up, Gwin was curious what they’d make of their meeting. She wasn’t trying to eavesdrop, merely watching and working the music between them into notes. Still, she’d have loved to look at the beautiful cards up close…

[Caelum]

"Yes, I would."

A crooked smile crinkled the corners of his eyes as he sat. The deck of tarot cards was swept up into a calloused hand and spilled in a feathering shuffle against the heel of his palm. He slumped back in the armchair, propping an ankle on the opposite knee. It revealed a comfortably worn pair of black boots, sprayed of recent with salt water on the dock attached to Alements' patio and scratched by the passage of time. The strong line of his shoulders was noble despite their tilt and he studied Eselle rather than the cards in his hands, understanding that he was supposed to touch them, to handle them, so as to perhaps allow Avalis to detect his fate.

Or that, at least, was what Lillis had always told him. She did like to tease him about the goddess who was sister to his sweet Rak'keli, one whom he had never met.

"I don't know a lot about fortune telling," he admitted to Eselle. "Or tarot card reading. Can you explain it to me or would that be letting daylight in upon the magic?" Something about his words amused him, a friendly glint coming to his eyes.

A soft stir of the chains inside of him had him breathing in, testing the gentle current of needs flowing through his tavern. Because he was unbonded, he did not require touch to activate the divine power of his darkest goddess. That could be both a blessing and a curse, much like Nikali's gnosis itself. The nearest desire other than Eselle's felt like a string of song, soft and almost out of hearing range. He turned his head in a sag of that heavy knot of Drykas style braids and glanced at the akvatari seated behind him. He had noticed her before, of course, because he was always paying attention to his patrons. She was the second of the race he had come across this season which struck him as funny considering the first and last time he had met an akvatari before was years and years gone.

Absently, he tilted his shoulders and angled toward her, holding up Eselle's deck so that the card on the bottom faced Gwin and she could see it better. "What about you? Do you know much of fortune telling?" It was an easy, friendly question, one that in and of itself an invitation for her to join him and his new friend.

[Eselle]

“If reading the cards is magic,” Eselle began. It was one thing to read in Common but to speak it was a feat she still had not mastered. It wasn’t just her thick accent but the way that Common had words Kontinese had never needed. Kontinese was like a song between sisters and Common felt like it scratched the side of her mouth as she spoke. It would always seem foreign on her tongue even a hundred of seasons from now. “Then it is best if you know more.”

“This card is called Death.” The pointing motioned seemed more a sweep with webbed fingers. It was the card on the bottom when Caelum held it up. “She might seem like…” Eselle struggled for words. It was often like this when she tried to explain a reading. “Like a bad omen for tomorrow?” she finished. Was that how ‘ominous’ was said in Common? “But really, she means change. New things replace the old, not just an end but a… promise, of birth too. Do you see?” She asked Caelum, but turned to look at the Akvatari, a creature which she had never seen before. The torso of a woman, the tail of a seal, and wings like a butterfly. This other woman seemed like a tarot card herself, so many meanings might be taken from her form. Nearly as many meanings as were to be found in any life lived well.

“That is not all of it though.” Eselle continued her explanation, “There are small things on the cards, they tell different people different things. It is not just the name of the card that is important, but what each card says to each person.” The Konti felt like she was babbling, and her common was getting worse in her mind. It was her preference to hide behind her cards rather than speak like this when meeting new people. It was a weakness of character her mother had not been overly fond of but had never chastised her for. Eselle did the work of fortunes and that was respectable, even if meeting new people made her nervous.

Eselle drew her white-sandy hair back over her ears. A Konti’s hair might be beautiful above the sea, but it was beneath the waves that a Konti’s depths of elegance flourished. She was half of this land by the grace of the mother goddess and half of the deep sea by the dignity of the father. Always she was stuck between the two worlds.

With a quiet breath she returned to the serenity of a fortune teller and Konti. Another sip of her tea, and her confidence was ready to continue.

Holding her palm up for the deck, she smiled at Caelum. He seemed so at ease she couldn’t help but be envious, of course she didn’t yet know he owned the establishment. “If I may show you both? I will teach while I draw for you Caelum.” She shifted to make clear the Akvatari was part of her offer.



[Gwin]

.





The cards were picked up, shuffled, handled by hands that seemed too big for such delicate things. Yet the man who was playing with them did so with an air of grace, not refined, but unpolished and natural. The kind of movements that intrigued the Akvatari. Indeed, he was the low hum next to her melody, but it was always the voice from the shadows that gave structure and direction to the music.

When she looked up, Gwin was surprised to face him and the cards. The one at the bottom depicted a hooded figure standing alone in a sinister landscape. She took in the vibrant colors before gathering her words. “No. I wouldn’t know what to think of it… How could I trust in signs from Gods that have abandoned us?”

Her gaze trailed off as her hand stroked the parchment with the tiny dots written all over it. Music was her lifeblood and her red thread. If she was honest, Gwin didn’t quite believe her melodies were sent by Gods, but she didn’t think them products of mortal hands either, not only. There was something in art that even the artist couldn’t comprehend. Yet the Gods had never revealed themselves to her. The Akvatari had never known who’d thrust them in the world, naked and lost. They were free, but like everything else freedom had its price.

Falling silent, she listened as the Konti picked up the card and started explaining. Her words came out in bursts and with a bit of an accent. While she struggled with them, Gwin added a few dots and lines to her song. They were small sounds like those a drop of water made when falling into a pond. Sounds of silent contemplation.

“Does that mean if you look at the card it will reveal its meaning to you?” Tilting her head, Gwin considered that thought for a moment. It reminded her of creating… If you looked at the world long enough, something that could be formed and molded by mortal hands would emerge. Then she nodded. “If you don’t mind, I would like to see what the Gods say through the cards. You should probably know who you’re teaching though… My name is Gwin.”

Shifting to the edge of her chair, she tucked the charcoal back into her satchel and gripped the parchment. At that point, it was her safety blanket. The Goddess of the Konti would speak… or was it chance after all? Either way, the Akvatari didn’t know what to expect. At all.

[Caelum]

The Death card was studied with dark eyes. Consideration weighed the line of Caelum's mouth as he absorbed the konti fortune teller's words regarding the hallmarking of transition that death represented. It was not a concept that required much explanation for a man such a he, both beloved of Syna and walker of dreams.

"Lives have as many definitions as death," he put in. He continued to speak the common language out of respect for the sad eyed Gwin who he doubted would be able to follow the conversation did he switch into kontinese in order to put Eselle more at ease. It was a a very minor balancing between potentially conflicting needs and desires when compared to the juggled feats he was performed on an almost daily basis. "Most people view their life from birth to death, but the reality is that most people possess lives that hold three or four births and deaths. Some --" And here his smile climbed right up into his eyes, shared with each of his companions. "Have many."

Yes, that smile seemed to say to Eselle. I see.

He relaxed back in his chair again after casting a glance over the tavern, assuring himself that all was well and Elise did not require any assistance at this time.

"Abandoned?" Surprise splashed the echo of Gwin's remark right out of his mouth. It was almost concern with which he considered the aktavari and her sheet music, and he was silent for perhaps longer than was necessary. In the blackest hours of his soul, Caelum had felt shut out from the halls of light and love and cast no more than scraps from the table of his divine beloved. To be forsaken was to feel to the floor of yourself the great weight of abandonment, to believe in a purposeless exile.

Eventually, his countenance gentled. He offered a smile that held an unspeakable compassion, so much it was difficult to imagine any one could possess such a degree. Nikali's mirror mask cast the light of understanding. He did not choose to fight this battle. Not yet.

Instead, Gwin introduced herself and sat forward. "I'm Caelum," he said, easy as anything, and turned his attention back to the cards and the daughter of Avalis who held them. Both of his hands lifted in slight yet eloquent gesture -- proceed. "Please."

[Eselle]

Her smiled arched in triumph. She hadn’t realized her explanation had made so much sense. The Drykas man had said it better, but perhaps her Common was not so poor as she believed.

The cards rested in her palm. Eselle had never heard anyone claim the gods had abandoned the mortals. How could she ever believe that when Avalis’s lily crawled up her own side? How could anyone believe it after having seen such a divine mark? Caelum showed the good grace to not contradict her and Eselle chose to follow his lead though she found the concept troubling. Zulrav still filled the sky with summer storms and the sea father’s tides had never ceased. Leth and Syna still brought them night and day. None of these things would be if the gods had abandoned them. She considered turning Avalis’s mark towards discerning why Gwin’s past had taught her to hold such a melancholy belief but she felt it would be intrusive without permission.

Eselle nimbly laid out the cards, three in a line. “Gwin, I am Eselle. Please come near so you may see.” It was not a complex spread because that would not be appropriate for a casual reading or teaching. “This way of placing the cards, is for… brief things.” She struggled again, but pushed onward. “It is not for details. This first card, here...” She tapped the left-most card, “is for the past. Caelum’s past.” She smiled indulgently at the two before lifting the card. Her smile turned stale; it froze as her eyes took in the card.

The High Priestess, reversed, stared back at the trio the card’s smile turned lopsided by appearing upside-down. This deck having been painted on Mura showed a elegant Konti woman in a flowing gossamer dress. Above the priestess's head Leth shown prominently with a lily like her own curling around him. Beneath the Konti, her toes stood on the waves of the sea. “It… is important when a major arcana shows. This is the High Priestess, she is the second of the major cards.” Her lips finally reanimated and faded into a thoughtful twist. How much did she tell them?

She chided herself internally, she wanted to make friends here in Riverfall. To begin a relationship on lies was ruining the foundation. Full truth, she swallowed and looked up at Caelum. Now she sought answers. Answers in the lines of his face and the curve of his brow. The windmarks, though she didn’t know that was their name, also drew her eyes once more. “The High Priestess is special, only a few cards in the deck can add the fortune teller with the seeker. She is one, but I am stepping too far ahead. Let me tell you of the meaning. She is reversed, showing like this means her story is opposite of its truth. The past is full of religion for you Caelum, there is belief and trust… maybe too much. You strayed from the path? Conceit, self-hurt, and … not lying, but the thing of being lying?” Her tongue fumbled again. It was not the nicest description of a person, she hoped he wasn’t offended. It was not the best way to make friends to first call them zealots and deceivers.

“The first thing I mentioned though, the reason this card is special. I do not know how to take this meaning now, but time will show us I think. I have only just met you Caelum but the High Priestess showing now, could mean a secret that you have kept from me.” Her brow furrowed, throwing candle light reflected from her scales. “I do not understand why I should know or want to know this secret, but the cards tell me there is one.” The most worrying thing about this card was that it was to represent the past. Eselle didn’t think she had ever met Caelum before so perhaps the secret wasn’t kept in the past but pertained to it, still she had doubts. Pertaining to the past was meandering from the definition of the spread.

Eselle paused before moving on to the second card, “If you have questions I will answer them. I said I would teach.” Still her fingers twitched to flip the second, she had never fathomed this casual reading would begin with such a strong omen.

[Gwin]

.





The man spoke true and with wisdom in his words, more than expected from his appearance. Gwin found herself agreeing to his statement of life and death. There was death of the flesh, but also the birth of ideas, pieces of art and melodies. The Akvatari understood the latter very well, others not so much. Her grip tightened around the sheaf of parchments. Slowly, carefully they began wrapping it up and into a scroll.

Then he repeated the word and her eyebrows rose. He lacked the wings and furry tail, yet his eyes spoke of endless understanding. As if he actually knew what it meant to be Akvatari. Others were closer to Gods and Goddesses or at least claimed to be... yet he was looking at her like that. Gwin lowered her head and attempted to decipher her confusion. “Maybe not abandoned... but altogether ignored.” Yes. Nobody had ever bothered to answer their questions.

Perhaps she should ask them aloud the next time so they heard her strong voice and saw the eternal ballad in her heart. As the man named Caelum gestured for the Konti to continue, Gwin nodded silently. Such musings and even conversations were for a different time.

Turquoise eyes followed Eselle's hands as she layed out the cards with unusual delicacy. The artist in Gwin hungered for more beautiful pictures. Soon she was rewarded with a proud woman clad in elegant robes. Losing herself in the colors and masterful artwork, she missed the first few words of the explanation. Religion, belief and trust. So he had been like the Konti, favored by a deity or merely full of hope? The Akvatari's brow furrowed. So that had been the earlier surprise across his face. He'd known something different. “Liar,” she said softly, not accusing, merely helping with words. For some reason it was easier to believe he'd lied to himself than to others.

So the reverse card meant the opposite, self-betrayal and doubt? Her gaze hurried back and forth between the two. Everyone carried a few secrets with them, no? Things that only concerned themselves. If unveiling that particular secret helped the telling of his fortune, it'd be wise to speak the truth though.

Gwin thought it more appropriate to merely watch and listen rather than comment. She did hum a little melody under her breath, merging easily with the background noise in the tavern. It could be a lullaby, a wordless ballad or one of those sad Akvatari songs caught in an endless loop... Either way, it carried a soothing undertone.