The Crane Wife - Almost (Xylona)

[Tiorak Tioravi]

3rd of summer
Midday

Back to the place of peace, Tiorak felt ashamed for feeling the need so early in the day. It wasn't the timing that troubled him exactly. The rather large groups of people are what ruined it for him. Not like he wasn't expecting them though – when he moved his routine walk much further up with the sun. Still, all these people were a large source of unwelcome, if expected, irritation. He’d do his best to steer clear of them though. His usual visits to Alheas were supposed to bring him some peace of mind, away from all these people. If he couldn't have that, he could at least make the whole thing more interesting. So he headed for parts of the park not many bothered frequenting, away from the pond as the main attraction.

And then he’d see it. More a glimpse of reality than an actual something – the small shack stood seemingly unnoticed. It was almost as if he was the only one who could see it clearly. This was strange to say the least, but the back of his mind kept being tickled by an idea of this legend he’d heard. He was sure building was illegal on these grounds. So whatever it was he was seeing wasn’t spawned anytime soon. It sure looked run-down, but another chime before he’d think to connect the obvious dots. It was the Crone’s shack if you were to believe the stories. He, for one, was particularly unwilling to believe them – yet there it stood. Clear as day, and he couldn't miss it. So he walked towards it with lack of another obvious choice. Yes, there was always going back… but would anyone pick it over something even remotely interesting? And as far as interest goes, this was one of the most curious things to happen to him on his travels so far. Before today this was just another legend he didn't believe, but seeing this one as real made him question all those others he dismissed at mere mention.

What were you even supposed to do when faced with a legendary house? Well… you could knock? Going with his more obvious impulses, he did his best to make his quick knocking sound as easy as possible. Getting someone as old as the Crone angry sounded an awful lot like a little kid pestering their parents.
"Hello?" his voice trembled quickly.

[Xylona Redwater]

3rd of Summer, 514 AV
Midday

Xylona's hands flitted over the spread of cards, her eyes staring intently as she tried to decide which one to pick. Cala's words echoed in her head, but hard as she tried Xylona couldn't seem to "let the card pick itself". The mere notion that a card could take such action made the apprentice fortune-teller want to snort or laugh.

However, she was just an apprentice. The Alheas Crone was a legend, a fairytale, a rumor. Surely she knew more than the girl- just a child in the Crone's eyes.

Xylona leaned back and covered her eyes with her hands, groaning. Her eyes burned with the strain of staring at the cards for so long and her fingers cramped from trying to shuffle and sort them over and over again. She rubbed her palms against her eyelids, trying to chase away the burned-in image of the tarot cards before her. But when she opened her eyes, they were still there, smiling at her tauntingly.

Xylona groaned again. She could do this as many times as she wished for now. With the Crone out in the forest and the great shielding powers of the cabin, a disturbance was highly unlikely. Of course, no sooner had she thought this than a knock sounded on the door. The apprentice jumped to her feet and froze.

She had not been instructed what to do if there happened to be visitors. In fact, she had been given no instructions at all other than to practice her readings. Her vivid imagination painted a picture of Avalis' sneer, daring her to open the door to the unknown beyond.

With slow steps, she approached the door. Her right hand nervously reached for her knife, tucked lovingly against the tender veins of her left wrist. Before she could release the blade, the knocking stopped and was replaced by a timid voice.

"Hello?" The man (judging by his low voice) sounded unsure of himself, and with good reason! He was standing on the front porch that most would never even see. Erring on the side of caution, Xylona opened the door to allow a miniscule sliver of Syna's light in the shack.

Instinctively, Xylona forced her voice lower and snapped roughly at whomever might be waiting on the other side. "Who are you and why have you come to the Lonely Shack?"

[Tiorak Tioravi]

If he thought he was nervous about approaching before, the woman’s voice that came out to greet him made it worse. It’s not even that it was too unpleasant, but any sort of acknowledgement put him on the spot more so than he ever wished to be. Doing his best not to sound like a child when faced with such antiquity, he’d respond, as timid as ever.

“I didn't come to it!” he protested in a weak voice before quickly reaching for the weak explanation not even he himself understood “It came to me… I don’t know how, but it did” and then he’d smack himself across the forehead, causing the shell-related injuries to flare again. “I apologize, yes, apologize… My name is Tiorak, of the Tioravi family” his family’s name never really meant anything in Lhavit, but they were someone in Zeltiva. As old as the Crone was, she might’ve even heard of them – there was certainly no use lying to the woman. Was it even a woman? – That last thought troubled him more than it should have. Living for so long seemed terribly unnatural to him, but he’d sooner die than admit it openly.

“I’m sorry” he’d finally gulp “I never meant to disturb. Say the word and I’m gone” not the smoothest exit option, nor the calmest… but it was all he could manage short of collapsing upon himself.

[Xylona Redwater]

Xylona pulled an asinine face behind the door. She had suspected that the shack had appeared to him, although she still did not know why. Regardless of reason, it was clear to the apprentice that Tiorak (whoever he was) was meant to be here.

Opening the door as wide as it would go on its old hinges, she caught her first sight of Tiorak. He looked exactly as she had imagined from their short exchange. His brown hair was shooting in every direction and his pale blue eyes were spread wide with what could only be fear. He was practically knocking his knees together at the mere sight of the building in the woods.

With a sigh that could not be suppressed, Xylona turned her back and waved the man in, leaving the still chiming door open behind her. She wound her way behind the curtain and disappeared into the tiny circular room, calling over her shoulder to the customer. "Come on in and get settled. How about some tea to calm down?"

Ignoring whatever his response was, Xylona gathered together enough to make two cups of hot white tea and carried them out to the main room where her tarot cards were still spread on the small table. Remembering Cala's usual introduction to customers, Xylona welcomed the man to the shack with a few of her own modifications to the speech.

"Avalis bless you, Tiorak. This is the Lonely Shack, home of the Alheas Crone. I am Xylona Redwater, apprentice to the legend. I serve customers when the Crone is out, performing fortune-tellings as practice to take over the Lonely Shack eventually. All our services are free, courtesy of the Crone. Now," With this, she held out the steaming cup of tea. "Would you like to know your future?"

[Tiorak Tioravi]

What he thought would be some shriveled up old woman proved rather beautiful. Luckily, she moved away fast enough for him to believe he wasn't caught staring. A good foot smaller than him, she could’ve been just a girl. But she wasn't – she was the Crone. And he didn't know what crones did to people who gawked at them, but he figured it couldn't be too pretty. As soon as the way freed up, he’d get in and wave the door shut behind him with as much care for silence as his shaky hands could pull. She asked him something about having tea, and he nodded, not even realizing right there that she couldn't see him. He did get it a few ticks later, but she never asked again… maybe she could see him through the walls?

As if to counter his thought, he straightened himself up completely, wanting to look as presentable as possible. Then he thought about her maybe being able to hear his thoughts too. The battling ideas made him want to slouch at the same time he was correcting his posture. The end result wasn't very nice.

Before he could ever get his nerves in order, she reappeared and forced his eyes a bit to the floor, bit to the walls – anywhere away from her. However, between her entering and tea being offered, he heard a few very reassuring things. She wasn't the Crone. That made her more human in his eyes, same eyes that now pulled more towards her. And apparently the crone wasn't some hundred years old creature… the title was hereditary. Then the Crone must’ve been a mortal too – this made his fear vanish completely.

“I’d like that” he’d say it after carefully taking the cup from her hand. He was very careful not to get burned on the cup, but even more so not to accidentally touch her hand. Somewhere between the two intentions he got singed somewhat, but it wasn't bad pain.
Knowing that she wasn't some inhuman legend made him see her for what she was. She was just a girl – a pretty one at that. This made him notice all those things he usually noticed on girls, and while he did his best not to stare, the foot of distinction between their heights probably got the better of him. All that fear gone and he still couldn't relax. He knew he was blushing – maybe she’d think it was from the tea? He sort of pended on that thought. Anything else made him feel naked.

[Xylona Redwater]

Her visitor was strange, that much was certain. He refused to look at her and even curled his fingers back so she wouldn't touch him. The oddities ceased when she introduced herself though. He must have thought I was some kind of ghost or nuit. The rumors must be stranger than I thought.

The idea brought a smirk across her face, wrinkling her smattering of freckles and scrunching up her nose. He was still shy but was also more comfortable- visibly so. Deciding that comfortable and shy was better than afraid, Xylona turned her back on the man.

As Tiorak breathed in the steam of his tea, Xylona gathered her tarot cards in her hands. She sighed, her hands sifting through the familiar pile. She had shuffled this deck upwards of 20 times that day and had not been able to get far enough to read a single card. What guarantee did she have that they would work for her customer?

The answer to that was not something the fortune teller wanted to dwell on. Instead, she turned to face the man once again.

"If you would follow me, sir."

Xylona brushed past the beaded curtain, emerging in a circular room. This was the very same room that she had made tea in earlier, but one would never know it from the appearance. Shelves lined the walls, forcing all attention to the center of the room where a sizable table sat. On the shelves various herbs and dusty old trinkets gave off the same smell as the smoke the Crone loved so much. It was a heavy and dark smell, but to Xylona it was the smell of home and comfort.

Once seated, the girl pulled out her cards again, brushing Cala's off to the side. She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply, trying to appear as mysterious as the Alheas Crone herself. Xylona had a feeling that she was too young, too new to this job, too ordinary to take the place of the priestess of Avalis before her. But all doubts went out the window when she held out the deck on the palm of her hand.

It was time. There was no space for self-pity here.

"Take this deck," She instructed, "Shuffle it for me. Take as long as you like, but if a card falls do not pick it up. Let me get it. Okay?"

A sibyl. That's what I am, and that's what I will continue to be until the day I die. The woman leaned back in her chair and sipped at her tea with one hand wrapped around the cup for warmth. But who he is, and what he will be remains to be seen.

[Tiorak Tioravi]

He was never happier for someone turning their back to him. It gave him some half a chime to correct his posture and steady his thoughts, and all this effort in turn caused his hands to squirm uncontrollably. As some of the tea got spilled on his knuckles, he strangled a yelp. This reminded him to take a good gulp of tea. That genius move singed his tongue, but at least he needn't worry about spilling it any longer. It was good, the tea, if somehow weird. He had never adopted the local custom of drinking it.

Even with all the possible distractions plotting to derail him, he still managed to make his way to the table without thinking about. Every thought he had led in circles that either made him scared or embarrassed – and he didn't appreciate either. He took the cards he was given, and wondered why had they not used the other deck that was already there. Maybe the deck choosing was a sign of its own. Luckily he wasn't that superstitious, but a moving house... well that could make anyone question things.

As she shuffled, a few cards dropped to the desk. It wasn't that his hands shook this time, and he wasn't clumsy about it. Somehow he just wanted to see what would happen to the cards that he did drop. And as they did fall that made him feel like he had some actual control over the situation.

As he finished, he'd add „What happens now?“ his hand went towards her, holding up the deck in front of her. He moved it a bit left and right intentionally so she wouldn't notice how hard it was for him to keep his hands calm without shaking. The question needn't have been asked, but he liked hearing his voice when he was afraid as it made him believe he wasn't frozen.

[Xylona Redwater]

The man shuffled well- he took his time but did not seem to draw it out on purpose. A few cards fluttered to the surface of the desk and lay there quietly while they awaited their fate. When he was finished, Xylona took the deck from his swaying hands and placed it face down on the table.

"Now, we will take a look at these cards," She gestured widely to the dropped cards, "And see what they have to offer. They are important to keep in mind throughout the reading, and will likely play a large role in your fortune."

She reached out slowly, trying to draw suspense as she had seen her mentor do so many times, but the act did not come as naturally to Xylona as it did the the Crone. Her hands inched along in short jerks, appearing more in need of an oiling than suspenseful. Finally, she touched the card and simultaneously decided to nix the idea of suspense.

She flipped the first of three cards, revealing a globe painted with yellow and two angels supporting it. Beneath the picture, there was a label simply stating "The World".

Xylona clucked, mostly to herself, then looked up. "I'll explain when I've turned them all. They may be related to one another."

The second card depicted a woman dressed in pastel colored robes who was embracing a goblet filled with water. It read "Temperance". The third was called "Strength" and gave a simple image of a man wrestling an unidentifiable beast.

Xylona hummed under her breath and mumbled to herself before remembering that there was a customer present. She blushed deeply, but tried to regain her footing as elegantly as possible.

"The World Reversed, Temperance, and Strength. Interesting. The World usually tells a story of success and recognition of fate, but when reversed," Here she moved the card so it was upside down to her rather than him, "It says only that you being held back from that success. Likely by your own shortcomings."

The typically sharp-tongued woman gave no thought as to whether she may have offended Tiorak or not. She gave only the facts- wasn't that polite enough?

"Temperance advises you to keep a level head and take on a new perspective, although it also warns that this will be difficult int he future. Strength reinforces this idea. Strength tells me that you want to be strong and think that this will help you overcome your problems. But it won't help. It will make things worse if you use force, so you must be emotionally strong and put your fears to rest. All will come in good time.

"So, I ask now because I cannot stop once we have started, are you ready?"

Her left hand found the deck and smeared it across the tabletop, spreading it out for him to see. "Pick 6. Do not look at them, just hand them to me and I will put them where they need to be. As always, take your time and do what feels right."

This part, she was familiar with. It put her at ease to be on familiar grounds, but also worried her. Would she be too comfortable and get lazy? Would she slack and mess up? As she had gotten in the habit of it, Xylona folded her hands on her lap and prayed. Avalis knows. Please, let us hope she is watching over me and watching over this poor, jittery soul as well.