Closed Nephti's Fortune

[Lucas Arias]

Spring 6, 516 AV

Continued from here.

An Eypharian!

Lucas stared so hard that he forgot to continue his speech. He remembered his obsession with the race when he had still been a squire in Syliras. He’d wanted to marry an Eypharian then. He’d also wanted to be one because nobody could beat you in combat if you had six hands with a sword in each one of them. To him, an Eypharian would have been the ultimate knight.

He had been such a stupid boy back then. He was glad that his intelligence had at least improved slightly. He was also glad that he was not a squire anymore. He hadn’t been happy as one.

He blushed as he realized what he had to look like to Nephti – he’d stared as if he had lost his mind - and that he had almost not heard what she had said – how embarrassing – and quickly apologized. “I’m sorry, my lady. I was just so surprised when you came here. I have seen few members of your beautiful race in Alvadas. Please come in and tell me what your name is and what is bothering you. The more information I have, the better I can help you.”

“I’m Lucas by the way, once of Syliras, and now of Alvadas. Obviously”, he added. He gestured for her to enter the tent first, like a real gentleman. The floor of the tent was covered with a carpet. There was no furniture though, no table, no chairs, nothing. Lucas had tried to persuade Okana to buy a table, but so far he had not had any luck. The Konti was resistant to change and seemed of the opinion that the only thing she needed was her mind.

“Please sit down”, he said to her. “The carpet’s clean. Madame Okana has it cleaned every evening.” Nephti could see that a couple of interesting things were lying in the middle of the carpet: a deck of cards, a crystal ball and a bowl that was filled with … bones? There were also a few interesting drawing of blue men and women and creatures with square heads and three eyes that he quickly put away. Drawing was his hobby, not part of his job.

“The bone oracle is the method I know best”, he told her. “It was Master Anselm’s preferred method, but if you have an aversion to bones for some reason, I can ask the cards or try to read your palm. Crystal balls don’t work for me – I’m not sure if they work at all – but some people still insist on them.” He thought about whether there was anything else he should say and then he addd, “The bones are not human bones by the way.”

[Nephti]

The man then stared at her, silent, for a while. Nephti watched him think, wondering what it was that swirled through his mind. Questions about her race; her age; her existence? Questions as to her nature, scared, lost, alone? Nephti looked down awkwardly, then looking up as he began to speak, smiling a little. It was her race, but he only gave compliments towards it. A beautiful race. Nephti's smile was a little brighter, a little larger.

She followed him in hurriedly, examining the inside of the tent carefully. She remembered what it looked like abandoned. Sayana had been there that time with her. Biting her lip, she tried not to think about it, sitting down. The man had introduced himself as once of Syliras, now Alvadas. Lucas. A nice name. "Nephti. I'm Nephti." She made no indication to give city. She belonged to no city. It was people she belonged to, once literally, now figuratively.

She knelt, hands placed upon her knees. The carpet was soft, like she imagined a field of fresh grass to seem like. There were mediums before her. The cards, of course, drew her, and before she knew it, she had taken the one on top with an upper hand, flipping it over. Her finger traced across the delicate artwork, while her other hands moved to her own decks. They remained hidden, however, just tapping each lightly with an index finger. Luck, she supposed. But did they really bring that? They had told of this betrayal, hadn't they? Perhaps Sayana had even left because she feared it, like her previous mistress. No. Sayana wasn't one to be scared.

Turning back to Lucas, he explained her knew the bones the best. He spoke a lot, friendly chat. A good fortune teller always did. You could tell so much from a person if they replied, how they replied, what they replied. And the more you knew, the more you could tell. Nephti smiled at what he added, amused. Okana seemed peaceful, so it didn't seem like she would stock human bones. If she had, it would be from a natural death. Nephti believed so, anyway.

"No, no, use the bones. If they are your preferred method, you will receive better results that way. You know how to read them better," she smiled, also interested to see another method in practice. She knew of them, some a little better than others, but hadn't experienced many. Why would she? There were only a few fortune tellers she knew and not all had demonstrated their skill to her.

"What was Master Anselm like? " she asked, curious, smiling a little, "I know a few Konti, but no males. Are they like the women, pale, beautiful? Or are they different?"


.

[Lucas Arias]

„Nephti“, he repeated and smiled. „That’s a beautiful name.“ He wanted to say more, but then he decided not to. He was a little worried that he would embarrass himself – again. He had a real talent for that, especially in the presence of women. There had been so many embarrassing situations back in Syliras that he had given up counting them all. So he decided to keep his mouth shut and just watch her instead.

His clients rarely touched his tools, the cards, the crystal ball or the bones, but relied on him to tell them what fate had in store of them, as if they were afraid that touching them would bring them bad luck, but Nephti did not seem to harbour any such fears, which mean that she either wasn’t as superstitious as the rest of Mizahar or …

„Are you familiar with cards?“ he wanted to know, took the card that Nephti had just turned over and looked at it. It was the Star. He showed it to her. „Do you know what this means? It represents your hopes and dreams and an opportunity. Is there anything that you hope for, Nephti? Is there anything you want to ask the bone oracle?“

Lucas didn’t know a lot about cards, but he did at least know what they were called and what they meant – approximately. The finer points of reading cards escaped him though. Sometimes he pranked his customers, but with Nephti he wanted to do it the proper way because she was an Eypharian. That he wouldn’t give her a wrong reading on purpose and tell her that she would give birth to a goat or something equally ridiculous didn’t mean that he would be honest in all other regards though.

He wouldn’t be Lucas if he were honest all the time, so when Nephti asked about Master Anselm, he replied, in a completely serious tone of voice, „He was very mysterious. He wore a cloak most of the time, probably to hide his race. He always seemed to be afraid of people hurting him or even enslaving him because of what he was. He was certainly pale, but he wasn’t very beautiful. I think that was because he was already old. He was also an excellent fortune teller. He always had lots of clients.“

OOCWhen Lucas is reading cards or consulting the bone oracle, I usually use a random number generator to make things more exciting.

[Nephti]

"Thank you," she smiled at his compliment, wishing she was quick enough to return it. But by the time she had reached that thought, it seemed too late, too forced, to say anything else. When he asked a question, he took the card from her. The Star. Nephti managed to nod before he began to speak. He asked a question, purely rhetorical as he followed on to answer it himself. Hopes and dreams, she knew that much. It was the card of her goddess, which made her smile. Nephti knew she was looking over her, and this was even more proof.

"I hope that Sayana will come back. I hope for happiness and peace, not just for me but for everyone. For freedom." She stopped, realising how far she had gone. Every good person hoped for that. Nephti knew that. There was no point speaking what every good person wanted. "Please, ask the bones for me, what happened with Sayana? Will she come back? Will we meet again?" The woman needed her help. Nephti had felt the darkness around her, especially in the last few days. The Eypharian needed light and Nephti was meant to give it to her. Why else had they been brought together?

When he spoke of Master Anselm, she listened carefully. He was old, excellent at his craft, pale but not beautiful. What made Nephti wonder was what happened? Why had Lucas left? "Where is Master Anselm now? Is he in Alvadas? I've never heard of him, but he can be here. Or did you leave him?" There was one question she didn't ask. Did he die? But that was too much to ask, and Nephti clung to hope. Then a question came forth, memories of the Konti she knew. "Did he have a mark from a goddess?"

[Lucas Arias]

Well, that was the downside of being a fortune teller, Lucas decided. People expected him to also be some kind of mind reader and know all their thoughts just because he looked at a few cards and tossed a few bones onto the floor. He had absolutely no idea who or what Sayana was, so he just stared at Nephti blankly for a few moments before he asked, „Is Sayana your friend or your lover? And is she an Eypharian as well?“

Lucas didn’t want love and peace and freedom and happiness and all those other nice things for everyone, but since Nephti seemed so sad, he didn’t tell her that (he didn’t want to make her even sadder).

In his opinion though the world would never be able to change or move forward if there were peace and happiness everywhere, and then what would he do? He would be without a job. There would be no need for fortune tellers or swordsmen (his job alternative if he couldn’t tell people their fortune anymore for some reason), and he’d be broke and homeless.

The world would also be incredibly boring.

„Let’s see what the oracle says to your questions“, he murmurred, emptied the bowl onto the carpet and studied the pattern in which the bones had fallen carefully. Nephti could now see that they weren’t normal, boring white bones. There were complicated carvings on them.

Once the former squire had looked at the bones long enough, he opened Master Anselm’s book that he always with him, leafed through it, took another look at the bones and smiled. He didn’t tell Nephti what he had seen right away though because he wanted to maintain the suspense a little longer. So he decided to tell her more about the mysterious Master Anselm (that had not really been a male Konti) instead.

„As far as I know Master Anselm has never been to Alvadas. I met him in Zeltiva when I was a student there. He probably still lives in Zeltiva, so of course you wouldn’t have heard of him. And I did leave him. I didn’t want to spend my whole life in the Sylira Region and have my teacher constantly looking over my shoulder. As for whether he had a mark from a goddess, I honestly don’t know. I never saw him naked. As I said, he wore a cloak most of the time.“

It was then that his eyes suddenly lit up, in a most suspicious manner. „I have been marked though. By two gods.“ One of Lucas‘ (very few) flaws was that he was not particularly humble, even if he meant well most of the time.

[Nephti]

He stared at her blankly, asking about Sayana. Nephti realised her mistake and giggled lightly, trying to keep herself light. "Sayana was my mistress, then like a mother to me. She left, yesterday. She left me my freedom - although I know I had it before that - and this necklace." She fingered the quartz necklace, the shooting star. "She's Eypharian too. Like me."

He began the reading and Nepthi watched curiously as to how he did it. He emptied the bowl of bones and began to examine them. Was it the carvings that gave them the fortune telling power? Or was it something deeper that the carvings only channelled. It appeared that this fortune telling was more precise - either that, or Lucas wasn't too practised with it - as he opened an old book and leafed through it, perhaps trying to find a match to what had been written. Nephti couldn't see it. All that she saw was the smile, but he didn't answer, speaking about Master Anselm instead.

"Zeltiva..." She didn't know the name. "Where is Zeltiva? Is it far, beautiful, large?" She left the questions there, open for him to tell her what he knew. Nephti's world was much smaller than what existed. While she wanted to spread it, she couldn't. To travel was dangerous: you needed people to go with, money to pay for supplies, skills to help protect and survive, none of which she had. But you could travel in a different way, through listening to people talk. And Nephti hoped Lucas liked to talk.

She blushed when he mentioned him naked, "You don't need to see him naked. But I suppose if he didn't say, he didn't say." She stopped, deciding to explain why she asked, "The Konti I knew said they have marks, from their goddesses. I thought maybe he would have the same." She shrugged, smiling.

Then he mentioned he had been marked, twice. Nephti's eyes lit up with interest, bringing forth the hand with the gnosis on. She presented it to him, offering her own speech to help convince him to share, if the man had any fears of sharing, of course. "Priskil marked me. The goddess of light and hope. I can make light. The light is a good light - it gives hope, it makes people feel good. Who marked you? What do the marks do?"

Nephti realised that he had never spoken of what the bones had said. Perhaps it was something bad and he didn't want to say. But his smile and positive nature after he had consulted the book didn't seem like that was true. Surely if it was bad he wouldn't take pleasure in it. She hoped. "What did the bones say?" she asked, flipping her hair across her back and running her fingers through it subconsciously. They clutched it, waiting for his answer.

[Lucas Arias]

„Zeltiva is everything“, he replied. His eyes shimmered brightly as he said this. She could could practically feel his enthusiasm. „There’s this massive university that teaches everything, even magic! I was Professor Hadrian Aelius‘ assistant for a while. He was one of the most skilled mages I ever met. There’s also a huge library that is haunted. I talked to the library ghost once. Zeltiva is also a port city, a trade city. You can meet people from all over the world there. One of my heroes, Kenabelle Wright, who first circumnavigated Mizahar, was from there. Unfortunately she died before I was born, but I had the opportunity to talk to her sister.“

„Zeltiva doesn’t have moving houses though“, he added. He sounded a little less excited now. „Everything’s always in the same place, which I find a little boring to be honest. Still, as I said, it’s a nice city as far as cities are concerned.“

As Nephti said that he didn’t have to see Master Anselm naked to know if he had a mark, he argued with her, „Maybe he has a mark on his chest – or on his behind! Gnosis marks can probably be on all kinds of different parts of the body.“ He wanted to say more on the matter of gnosis marks in unusual places when she showed him her hand. „May I touch it?“ he asked. He’d never been able to inspect a gnosis mark, apart from his own and was fascinated.

„I have a mark from Kelwyn“, he said. Another man might have been reluctant to share such information with a stranger, but not Lucas. He liked talking about such things. „Right here.“ He rolled his left sleeve up. She could see that he had a large tatttoo on his left arm, a complicated knotwork of grey and white that seemed to be moving. „I’m not sure what it does, to be honest. Possibly everything. Once a couple of armed men were coming at me, and it turned their swords into jelly. You wouldn’t believe how fast they could suddenly run. I had never laughed so hard before!“

„I also rather like the look of it. I wanted to get a tattoo or two anyway, and this is even better than what you usually get! Anyway, the oracle …“ He had nearly forgotten the bones because he had been so busy talking about Zeltiva, fake male Konti and gnosis marks.

„Thunder and Wind“, he read. „The image of durability. The superior person possesses a resiliency that lets him remain firmly on his course. Such a thing deserves success.“ He shook his head. „When Master Anselm first started teaching me, the oracles all sounded like a bunch of nonsense to me. But I’ve managed to figure them out, to some extent. This oracle for example means that you need to persevere. You need to be faithful. You also need to be flexible and adapt to all kinds of different, often adverse situations, but you must absolutely stay true to yourself. If you do that, Sayana will come back, and you will meet again.“

[Nephti]

"Everything?" Nephti repeated, finding it strange that he would call it that. To her everything was more than a city. It was the sky and the sea and the smiles on peoples faces. It was the light and hope in every child, every man and every woman. He spoke of a university and magic; a haunted library and a port; of a woman who circum-something-ed Mizahar, whatever that was; and houses that didn't move, like in Ahnatep. Her thoughts lingered on her birth city for a moment, before returning to what Lucas spoke.

"Magic? What magic?" she asked, curiously but politely, thinking to her own hypnotism. What a horrible magic that was, when used wrong. It could bring feelings of hope and light, but also pain and sorrow. She hoped his magic was much nicer, if he had any, that was.

Then he returned to Master Anselm, talking about gnosis marks on the chest and behind. Nephti blushed a little, realising he was right. Perhaps he did have one, only hidden. She didn't know why anyone would hide gnosis marks - they were beautiful things, marks from the gods and goddesses that they worshipped. Surely you would present them proudly, wear them as good marks not hide them from sight? Nephti didn't understand anyone.

"If you want," she smiled at the odd request, extending it further. He showed his own mark, on his left arm. Unlike her swirling vortex of light, his was more of a tattoo, knot work that was grey and moving. She reached out to touch it with another hand too, if Lucas would let her. He said it possibly did everything, but that couldn't be true. Of course, turning swords into jelly didn't seem very specific. "What is Kelwyn a god or goddess of?" she asked, never hearing the name.

She laughed at what he said, face turning straight when he moved to the reading.

A superior person. But would that be Sayana, stronger and more skilled in many ways, or Nephti, for Nephti had light and strength in other ways. She listened onwards. But that was basically it. Confusing, mind bending, yet Nephti could understand it in a way. She was used to it all - she spoke that mystical language of the future. Yet she listened anyway, wanting a fresh perspective on it all. She was emotional and would see it how she wanted to see it. Lucas would tell it as it was.

"Persevere?" She didn't know this word. She could be flexible though, she had been and she planned to be. She was faithful - years as a slave had taught her that. And vigilance came into adapting. Nephti was happy to follow her goddess.

"Stay true to myself, and I will find Sayana?" What did true to herself mean? Hold onto hope, staying strong and keeping others so. Did it mean follow? Stay? Wait or not? Nephti didn't know. Her heart wasn't telling her anything, her head wasn't telling her anything and this reading didn't tell her much. "Please, help me, what does that mean?" Her voice trembled with worry, but she tried to hold onto hope. Sayana would come back. That was what it had to mean.

[Lucas Arias]

„I’m a Voider for example“, Lucas said. „I can open portals to the Void. It’s …“ He struggled a bit to find a proper explanation. His studies hadn’t gone very far before he had left Zeltiva. „… another dimension, I guess. You can put things there. There are potentially also lots of treasures hidden there. Hadrian – Professor Aelius, I mean – was a Morpher though and a couple of other things. I don’t think I’ve ever met a man who knew so much magic before. By the way, Nephti, I seem to have the impression that Alvadas isn’t fond of mages. Do you know why this is the case?“ He hadn’t been in the city very long yet, but he had already noticed that Alvadas‘ attitude towards all things magic left a bit to be desired. He didn’t understand why though. They were so fond of their illusions that were almost like magic themselves.

As she gave him permission to touch her mark, he took her hand and gently let his fingers run across it for a moment before he pulled away again. He let her touch his own mark as well. As she did so, he sat completely still, an odd gesture for a man that normally talked and moved so much. Nobody had ever touched Kelwyn’s mark before. „Kelwyn are actually two gods“, he answered. He could not help but suddenly feel a little nostalgic. He remembered that day in Syliras all too well. Maybe that was when it had begun, when he had started walking the path that would eventually lead to him leaving the order and studying magic and fortune telling, of all things. „Twins. They are the patrons of lost causes and rather mischievous, to be honst. They like people who are willing to take a gamble. I don’t think they have very many followers. I’ve never seen a temple that is dedicated to them or even met another person that bears their mark.“

„To persevere means …“ Again he struggled to find a good explanation. „… to be steadfast, I guess, to persist in anything you undertake, no matter what kind of difficulties you may encounter. Just be who you are, Nephti, and you will see your Mistress again.“ She seemed so worried. Lucas had never been so worried about another person before, particularly not about a former master or mistress. He suddenly wished he could do something for her – but what? „If you wish, I can ask the bone oracle a second time or ask the cards, to get a clearer result. Don’t worry, Nephti, Sayana and you will be reunited one day.“

„Do you know where she went?“

[Nephti]

A Voider. She had never heard of them, but listened closely. He didn't have much to say, but what he did say interested her. He had nothing more to add, so Nephti didn't question it, deciding to wait to ask another, more knowledgeable individual. As for why Alvadas didn't like mages, Nephti barely had an answer herself. "Magic is illusion, except for, not. Easy way. Ch...cheating," she settled on the word uncertain, both as to if the word itself was right and if what she had said was right. "Real illusion more better."

It turned out that Kelwyn was two gods. Twins. Nephti tilted her head, smiling a little at it. How strange, for a god to be two. But they were gods and could do what they wanted. Lost causes and willing to take a gamble. She wondered what Lucas had done to draw their attention. Was it dangerous, a moment of reckless nature? Or was it simple a time when he had shown true faith or dedication to the values the gods upheld?

Her meeting with Priskil echoed in her mind, but she didn't have a chance to ask, as her spoke again, talking of persevere and its meaning. To persist. Be who she was. Nephti smiled, knowing who she was. She was Priskil's daughter, in a sense, a follower of light and hope. She would cling to the hope of Sayana's return, and hopefully, she would. She had to have hope in it, however.

He offered to ask the bone oracle again, to get clearer results. Nephti opened her mouth, then stopped. It was his question that incited her own answer. She didn't know where the woman had gone. It could have been back to Ahnatep, back to Syliras, or to another far off place, like Zeltiva. She couldn't be certain of anything. "Please, if you can, ask - where is Sayana?" She knew such a question could barely be answered by the cards, and she supposed the bones as well, for they were vague and guiding not facts, not pure facts. But she had to hope, and she had to ask. Whatever the outcome was, Nephti hoped that it was something positive. Who knew, perhaps Sayana had not even left Alvadas at all?