Hold On, Pain Ends

[Nephti]

42nd

The city was changing. It was Alvadas, of course, but in a way that many found unpleasant. Something dark, deeper than the city's roots, was stirring, they all felt it. Many experienced it themselves. The streets were emptier than usual, people scared to leave the comfort of their homes. No one knew what lay out in the illusions, what danger could be waiting for them. Few dared to risk it.

Nephti was one of the few, led with strength and light. The Eypharian drifted from one street to the next, unsettled and unnerved. Eyes stared at her, eyes she could not see, eyes that were not there. She let them watch. Fear simply became a word to her. Sandles slapped against the cobbles, the girl let herself walk through the street almost commanding. There was nothing to fear. She had Priskil on her side. She was vigilant, and had hope, and light filled her life. The shadows could follow her, but could not come near for fear of being extinguished.

Nephti took a deep breath. She held her old cards, bent and faded. The new ones, gifted to her by Sayana, she treasured. It was the old deck she clung to as a lifeline, clutching in one hand the cards that had spoken to her of what the future held, and what it didn't. They had warned her, they had freed her, and now, they would comfort her as the Eypharian lowered herself onto the ground, spreading out her robes. She began to count the cards, shuffling and reordering.

A passerby looked at her with sad eyes, sorry for the girl who sat alone, head down, in the dangerous city. His gaze fell on her softly, and she looked up, startling him with her honest eyes, reflecting all good in the world. Her fingers lingered on the card she had just placed down, and she spoke, barely looking at the Lovers. "A loved one waits for you," she said, and that guess hit hard. His eyes lit with recognition and hope, a deep and powerful feeling. He had wanted to hear that. And now he felt strong.

He left her to peace and tranquillity, and she began to reorder the cards again, distracting herself from the evil around her, contaminating the air and filling the hearts of those around. It was okay. Alvadas would heal, and return to normal.

The last card she placed looked lovingly up at her. The Star card. Hope. Nephti smiled, looking up towards the sky. Somewhere up there, Priskil watched over her, smiling straight back.

[Fable]

Though fear had certainly taken a more firm grip in the hearts of many, not all strode upon the streets with their shoulders hunched and eyes downcast. The city was, as it was always was, one of illusion. Every change, every shift, was what one decided to make of it. While many hid, others found it a challenging adventure, some even preferred the twisted danger. The woman who moved with a steady, quiet gait, surrounded by a gaggle of giggling children, however, was none of these things. She had soft, pale brown hair that fell in a wave of tresses, like a waterfall frozen in time. Her face held neither fear nor peace, but something in between, a thoughtfulness that was tempered by a motherly wariness as two of the children darted ahead of her, seeing the many armed woman playing with pretty cards.

"Hello!" The girl spoke first, her two front teeth missing as she gave Nephti a gap toothed grin, short red hair sticking out in every direction. "Watcha doin'?"

The boy, an entire inch sorter than his already diminutive partner, clutched at the girl's ragged dress, eyes wide and curious. "Play?" His hair, while not quite as bright as the girls, shared the same fiery hues, and between the two of them, their freckles would have been enough to paint one of them a different color entirely.

"Oswald wansta know if he can play too." The girl translated confidently as her sibling nodded before stating her own intentions. "And I wanna play too."

With a tutting reprimand, the woman and three other of her flock arrived. She knelt down, her simple teal and yellow dress pressing into the cobble ground, dirtied but not warranting and care from the woman who pulled the two children back to her, smile soft but sad. "Agatha. Oswald. It's not polite to demand things from people." Her voice was soft, soothing, and the familial pair immediately looked apologetic. They both turned towards Nephti, a "sorry" spoken in unison. Rising back to her feet, the woman offered the eypharian a bow, her arumenic fluid and easy. "Greetings, fair lady. I apologize for the little ones, they are yet unlearned and so... lonely." She smiled at the children who smiled back, the red headed pair still staring intently at the cards.

As for the other three, there were two young boys with exactly the same face, though one had a head of short black hair while the other's was long and ratted. The third was round, happy looking girl who's dark hair seemed to shimmer with highlights of blues and greens, her pale green eyes wide in appreciation of Nephti's arms. "Are you selling fortunes?" Still speaking the Nepthi's native tongue, the woman's eyes lit up with a glow of excitement. "What would a reading for the children cost, if it is not too much trouble?"

[Nephti]

The freckly girl that appeared, asking questions with her gap toothed grin, made her smile, and Nephti beckoned the girl and her brother closer, listening to the younger speak while the older translated. So young and joyful, without a care. She had never been like that. She had been cruel and selfish, but she had moved past that.

As she began to extend the cards to show them to the children, a pale haired woman appeared, kneeling before Nephti as if the Eypharian was to be worshiped. Giggling children surrounded her and she spoke softly to those who had strayed, before rising again. She spoke Arumenic. Fluid. Beautiful. Perfect. "Greetings, fair lady. I apologize for the little ones, they are yet unlearned and so... lonely. Are you selling fortunes? What would a reading for the children cost, if it is not too much trouble?"

The children around her gawped and stared, some at the cards, the others at her arms, but rather than feeling uncomfortable, as she once might have been, she gestured them over with one pair, while the lowest remained folded in her lap. She was no fair lady, and the woman thought her to be a saleswoman, not a slave who had decided to sit in the streets of Alvadas on that day.

Replying with the easy flow of the language of Eypharians, Nepthi smiled, eyes sparkling, "Do not apologise. I am barely older than them themselves. I understand, although so very little, what it was once like without any responsibility. I hope they stay carefree and innocent forever." She took her cards up, shuffling them in preparation. "I am not selling fortunes. I do not sell, for what is there to sell? Words? No, but for the children, a reading, of course. I would be more than happy to give one to you, yourself."

With that, she began to shuffle cards, making a show for the little ones which had crowded round her, watching the spectacle with awe. Nephti only knew spread properly, and it was this one that she chose to perform, rather than just revealing a single card.

First, she passed the cards around, letting each child imprint their mark on the cards and shuffle them a little. As expected, they let the cards drop and fall, or flipped them the wrong way round, but with each one, Nephti took his or her little hands in her own, guiding the movements. Once the cards had reached her again, she shuffled once more, before drawing three cards.

As she placed them, she gave them their purpose, first in her own language, then in Common. "Past." She turned the first card around. "Present." The next followed, and the red headed girl's eyes widened at the drawing, marveling at its beauty. "Future." She passed the deck from her upper hand to a mid hand, passing it back and forth among the pair before her lower hand snatched it, hiding it behind her robes. The movements were smooth, guiding the gazes of the children until they watched confused, as if she had used some magic to make the deck vanish.

Then, Nephti turned to the cards, speaking her thoughts out loud. The first was the Ten of Cups, reversed. "Cups are... for emotion, love. Ten is... Ten is..." She thought hard, letting herself feel the cards. An image of a happy family stared back at her. "Reversed is family, but bad. Broken. Bad past. But good now."

For the next card was the Sun, and she was more familiar with the Major Arcana meaning. "Present is fun, good. Sun is warm, happy. You are warm and happy." It was clear what she said was true, with encouraging and curious smiles from the children who gazed upon her. The next card was always the most interesting. People did not need to know of what had happened, or what it was like now, for they knew. It was the future that held mystery.

Or, in this case, completion. "The World. Completion, achievement. Stronger, braver. Journey will end. Good end. Good life." She gave a smile, letting the children look at her cards closer while she spoke to the woman who cared for them, shifting back to the beautiful Arumenic.

"A reading for yourself, fair lady?" she asked earnestly, pulling the deck back up with a swift, seamless motion. She wished to share with her the same magic she had shared with the boys and girls who had watched the reading with wonder and anticipation.

[Fable]

The woman gave a gentle, sad smile at Nepthi's hope for those gathered around her. "It is a beautiful wish." With a polite and thankful nod, she beckoned the children forward, each of them finding a place to settle down on the cobblestone, eyes bright and expectant in each of their own ways. As they gathered, the woman offered a soft shrug of her small shoulders, a light dancing in her gaze as she replied. "Words carry value; I would not be so quick to discard their potential for trade, lady, but I cannot argue their pricelessness." She too settled on the ground, arranging her road-worn skirts about her as she situated herself to listen to the fortune's tale.

At the slight of hand, there was a collective giggle of pleasure, one that was echoed by a soft chuckle from the woman who seemed that much more weary for having taking a moment of rest as the children's attentions were captivated by someone other than herself. With the explanation of the cards as they were drawn, the children whispered among each other. The young, red-headed boy reached out to pick up "The World", though his hand was quickly caught by his hawk-eyed sister who shook her head with a reprimand that the child obliged, choosing instead to sink his face almost level with the image as he studied it with intent eyes. The twins seemed focused on the first card, their eyes as sad as they were distant. The final girl smiled back at the woman, her own voice one that had not joined in with the others, though her grin was that of unabashed pleasure at the assurance that their lives would end well.

The woman raised brow, her voice, while clear in the accent of the Arumenic, held a fair amount of surprise. "For me?" The children collectively nodded, their own smiles encouraging as their mix of pleas. "Oh, well... I suppose so, if you don't mind, lady." She pulled herself closer, her face twisting into a mockery of effort that the younger children found especially entertaining, before she had drawn herself to a more comfortable distance from the eypharian. As the deck was shuffled, the cards imprinted, and the spread laid out, the cards fell in a simple progression: the ten of swords, death reversed, and the hermit.

With the cards displayed, the woman offered Nepthi an encouraging smile. "These pictures are very well done. What do they mean?"

[Nephti]

The woman seemed surprised by Nephti's suggested, encourage by the smiles from the children, who seemed focused on the card, curious, distant, pleased. Finally she gave in to the young souls, agreeing if Nephti didn't mind. "It would be my pleasure," she replied, starting with the process of the cards. More general readings like this one were her favourite readings. They seemed tell people what they needed to know, not what they wanted to know. And most often, it was better to give them what they needed than what they wanted.

The cards fell out in succession, the ten of sword, death reversed, the hermit. The first stared out at her warning, a card that had come up in a more personal reading at the beginning of the season. Betrayal. "There was a betrayal in your past, a terrible disaster. An ending or loss. Darkest before the dawn. It is the most similar to death," she gestured towards the card, "An ending and change that is hard to take. But this death is reversed. Nothing is changing, you cannot move on from the betrayal. You must let it go and let the change happen."

Her fingers traced the smooth card, a card that turned up rarely in her readings. What did he mean? He was old, carrying a staff and lantern, and perfectly alone. The hermit would be. Wise too, that was clear. A man of that age would have many secrets. Closing her eyes, Nephti let her heart speak, searching for meaning within. Just like the hermit.

"You must look within, for the answers are there. The hermit travels alone, searching for solitude so he can search his soul for the truth. To move on from the betrayal in the past, you must find the answers in only you." Was that it? It felt right, it really did. And when it felt right, it had to be right. That was how the cards worked.

Not a science, but an art. Not from the brain, but from the heart. Nephti bowed her head a little, moving to gather the cards again. "May Priskil help you find yourself," she blessed the woman, smiling softly.