death_gone_mad | It's in the cards.

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It's in the cards.

Creative Expression...

What the hell? Diviners always have to be so ... indirect. What did that card mean?

███████ marched up into the foothills of the mountains that lay west on Pollnivneach. The sun hung in the sky and shone brilliantly. But ███████, the Sun's daughter, could not be seen by Tumeken, the Sun. Neither did the people of Pollnivneach see her as she was leaving. They saw Sumona. A completely ordinary Kharidian woman. Her red hair and red eyes were unusual, yes. But it wasn't anything special. She wasn't a demon; she wasn't the Devourer; she wasn't the Scourge of the desert. She wasn't a murderer.

She was completely normal.

The hills eventually stopped and turned into a plateau. Here lived Ali the Hag, in a nice thick walled adobe house. The woman who everybody thought was Sumona came up to the door and knocked. "Alice? Are you there? I need to speak with you."

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A familiar voice.

The door opens, and an old woman peers out. She looks up and grins at the familiar face.

"Haha! Sumona! I knew it was you; you are the only one that still calls me Alice. Come in, dear, get out of the heat. What can I get you to drink? You must be exhausted from the hike up here." Ali opened the door wide and ushered Sumona in.

The air inside is much cooler than it is outside. The feats of Kharidian engineering and thick adobe walls!

"Thank you," Sumona said as she bowed to Alice. "Do you have any milk left over?"

"Sumona, Sumona, Sumona," she said, shaking her head. "Why is it always milk with you? Always the expensive stuff. You should drink water."

Ali walked over to her cupboard and pulled out two clay cups, set them on a table, then lowered two earthenware pitchers that were hanging from ropes threaded through hooks in the ceiling. From the pitchers, Ali poured milk into one cup and water into the other. She then raised the pitchers back to their usual spot.

"Luckily for you, my goats are being good to me this week and no one extra has come to me to buy any 'witch's milk'." She cackled. "I don't know where that little lie about witch's milk being able to keep summons around longer came from, but its keeping me well fed."

She chuckled as she patted her chest. "I don't know why they come to me; I am an old woman. Can't they see I am all dried up?" She looked over at her visitor's chest. "You know, you could make a nice wad of money if you started calling yourself a witch. I know you dabble in magic. You could pull it off," Ali said, giggling.

She pulled out a chair from the table and beckoned, "Sit, Sumona, sit. Your feet must be tired."

'Sumona' sat down and drank the milk. It was frigid.

"Those pitchers are working well, I see. When was the last time you but new ones?" she asked.

At the implied compliment about her breasts, she answered back, "Alice, I can't be a witch, I'll be chased out of town. It's hard enough blending in with this hair."

"Besides, I can't possibly keep up with demand. I only have my own two breasts, you have your goats. And if I could do it what would happen to you?"

She shook her head, "I don't know how no one has caught you milking those goats."

"No one comes up here that early, and no one but you has stayed here overnight." She giggled, "I think they are afraid I will turn them into a camel if they fall asleep on me."

She looked up at the pitchers hanging from the ceiling. "Oh, those are old. They still work like a charm! I don't even have to use magic to keep them cold. On a windy day, when a good draft starts going though that part of the house, they will even freeze a bit."

"Who made them?"

"Ali did." As if that were a helpful answer.

"I didn't pour that water out for myself, you know. Drink."

--

"Why did you come out here? You said you wanted to talk?"

It is totally helpful! Even though everyone in and around Pollnivneach is named Ali, save for Sumona and her sister Jesmona who visits from time to time (<.<), it is totally obvious which Ali Ali is talking about!

"You know how to divine the future with cards, true?"

"Yes, but I hardly believe in it. It is just so... I don't know. Vague. The future is never set in stone. It just seems useless."

"Did you want me to try it on you?"

"The world works in mysterious ways, Alice. Yes, if you can."

"Oh, hush, you only say that because you are so young."

She got up off her chair and walked off to retrieve her deck of cards.

"I could use the practice, I suppose," she said as she came back. As she shuffled the cards, she asked, "Do you have a specific question to ask? This works better if you have a question on your mind."

Young? Haha!

She thought for a while, then posed her question.

"Will the Mahjarrat go extinct?"

Her eyes went wide, and for a second, her green irises seemed to become greener.

"The Mahjarrat," she said, her voice trembling. "They have a rejuvenation ritual coming up, don't they? One will die, the rest will live as far as I know."

Her hand shook as she laid the deck face down on the table. She looked more frail and hunched over than she was just a minute before.

Oh gods, the Mahjarrat.

"Divide the deck into five stacks and restack it how you wish. the stacks don't have to be even."

Sumona did so, and in the process commented, "Yes, there are whispers that they are making preparations to head north."

"Wouldn't it be nice if instead of gaining their strength back, they all disappeared? Forever?"

"It would be good, yes. Who ever made it happen would be doing the would a favor."

She took the deck from Sumona and started to turn over and lay out the cards on the table. First a cross, then a staff to the left of it.

Well, this is different. Not a single card draw, then.

She spotted the tower turned on its head as the second card from the top of the staff.

Hello there. She grinned in recognition. We meet again.

Ali peeked at the card buried underneath the center of the cross.

"It is the six of staves, and it is reversed. It is the atmosphere surrounding the question. Fear of failure, fear of success."

A look of deep concern crossed Ali's face as she looked at Sumona. "What are you planning?"

Oh gods, the Mahjarrat.

"Nothing."

Sumona smiled innocently.

Ali moved on to the card covering the six of staves. "Your obstacle. Nature. Balance. Compromise. Security. Those who would protect their family."

The nine of coins.

How can these be obstacles?

Sumona's smile grew wider.

Guthix. This is turning out better than I expected.

Ali tapped the card at the top of the cross. Three of coins, reversed. "Your goal is imbalance?"

What the hell is happening?

"I thought you said you didn't believe in this."

"Please go on."

At the bottom of the cross, the eight of swords, reversed. "You are doing this because you were betrayed?"

The right arm of the cross, left from Sumona's point of view, was the four of staves, reversed. "Oh, honey, who ever he was, he isn't worth it. You can't go against all the Mahjarrat, even in their weakened state."

"So the cards told you that. What else do they say?" There was an angry edge to Sumona's voice.

And it scared Ali.

The other side of the cross? The hanged man. "The sacrifice. Indecision. Something you should embrace."

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