It's in the cards.

[death_gone_mad]

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."

Comments

[myriadbeautiful]

"No."

Bottom of the cross - "The foundation of this, bullying, grandstanding, sword rattling, a setback or defeat."

The Chariot, reversed.

[death_gone_mad]

She smiled.

"I am not telling you what that means."

[myriadbeautiful]

Opposite of the staff, the Empress, and toward the staff, the Eight of Cups. "What will pass or needs to pass, civilization, domestic tradition, fertility or a mother and queen. What is coming or needs to be embraced. Surrender to temptation, intoxication, sleep."

--

"I don't even want to know anymore. Go, go and destroy civilization, maybe you will take a few bastards down with you."

[death_gone_mad]

"No… No! She's gone! She's not coming back!" Civility is dead. Apmeken is gone, the empress is dead. Who could be coming?

Temptation. Intoxication. Sleep.
Fields of marrentill. Eternal ecstasy. Eternal uselessness, eternal slavery.

Eternity.

The Empress who has passed away will pass again, and she is supposed to embrace the thing, the accursed weed that brought her low enough to be put in this deplorable state? Isn't it enough that she is addicted to it?

She dug into her dress and produced a cigar which she lit with the tip of the index finger of her free hand.

Accursed weed.

[myriadbeautiful]

Ali had never seen such a thing. But the smell? Ah, marrentill, catnip of the gods.

"Who sucks down marrentill smoke, willingly?" She moves down to the bottom of the staff. "The Knight of Staves, reversed. Travel cancelled, stopped." One more card up. "Who are you asking this question about? The Tower, this time not reversed. I think you know what this means." One more up the staff. "What are your hopes, fears, what aren't you expecting?" Seven of cups. "Temptation again, or maybe you are living in a fantasy world."

[death_gone_mad]

"Both my hopes and my fears? What nonsense. These cards of yours sound unsure of themselves. Afraid."

She took a puff of the cigar, and blew the smoke in the witch's face. "I'll tell you who sucks down marrentill smoke. A monster, an animal that you should not tease."

She pointed to the card at top of the staff. A single sword, held up against a blazing sun. But reversed, it looked like a dagger plunging through it. The ultimate outcome.

[myriadbeautiful]

"Ace of swords. Brutal power. Violence. Consuming heat."

[death_gone_mad]

"Fire. I have had enough of these card games."

She got up and began to leave, but halfway through the door, she turned and said, "Do not breathe a word of this to anyone else. I am sure those cards will tell what will happen if you do."

She left.

[myriadbeautiful]

"Bitch. That is the last favor you get out of me."