Fortune Telling Tricks [Rhi-Rhi]

[Ethereal-Star]

Tags @Rhi-Rhi

Dilwen awoke from her dream, slowly returning to full consciousness. Sitting up, she rubbed the sleep from her eyes and proceeded to get out of bed, pushing away the thick blanket which covered her.  Thinking about the dream, she had to admit that particular dream was stranger than usual. Again, the dream scene featured the place of storm with a barren, rocky landscape all around her and no one in sight. Dilwen could have sworn she heard a woman's voice, but she had no idea who it could be or if the woman were even real. Probably just another figment of the strangeness that was the dream. There was also that strange being that was present and Dilwen couldn't for the life of her place the connection between the dream figure and the environment they had both been in.

She shook her head. No use in pondering it more than she had already before in the past. For indeed, this dream had haunted her for three decades straight, ever since she was a little girl of ten. Talking to her adoptive parents about it many times, they too didn't have any answers for her. So that left Dilwen to figure it out on her own. So far, she'd had little luck in doing so.

Dilwen sighed and got dressed for the day, putting on a comfortable magenta-colored dress and stockings underneath with flat shoes to match. The shoes themselves were soft and easy enough to walk in and were a magenta and white color combination. Tying her blue and purple hair back with a leather band, she fastened it to the firmness she wanted it and grabbed her pack off the bed, heading out her bedroom door.

Saying goodbye to her adoptive parents as she left, she exited the noble home she lived in and walked down the street, smells of baking bread wafting past her nose as she passed a local bakery. Her stomach churned and she decided to go on in and get herself something to eat. She had completely skipped breakfast as Dilwen had been anxious to get to where she was going for the day. There was news of a traveling circus headed to town and with them a fortune teller named Madame Iris. After hearing about this, the storm mage healer decided it would be a good idea if she paid that circus and this Madame a visit. Perhaps this Madame Iris could make sense of her dreams Dilwen had had all these years and maybe even something about her parents and how she came to be here. Dilwen was not a native Serenian, her origins being quite mysterious the day she had arrived in a small basket wrapped tightly in baby blankets on her adoptive parents' doorstep.

Despite this obvious mystery, Dilwen herself was partly human but her other half no one knew what it was. The noble couple had taken her in and raised her themselves over the years, since they themselves could not bear children. Hopefully the fortune teller could look into her past and see something that Dilwen could not. She dared not hope too much for she had never thought of visiting a fortune teller before now. But maybe it was time to get some more concrete answers.

But first things first. Dilwen headed into the bakery to buy a few biscuits and sweet rolls topped with honey butter and cream on them. Sitting down at a small table after making her purchase, Dilwen bit into the biscuit and sighed in pleasure. The taste was great as always, for she loved to come here for breakfast sometimes. The bakery always seemed to be stocked with just about any kind of goodies a person could want. Finishing her meal and taking a final swig of her watered-down ale, Dilwen left the bakery with a full stomach, now content. Now to head for the town square where the circus was purported to be set up at...

Arriving there, the storm mage healer took in the sights as the spectacle began to unfold, with tents still being set up around the plaza. There was a jester who was telling the most absurd stories, face painted in outrageous patterns wearing a very silly hat that flopped around in the air as he moved his head and arms expressively, telling his tales and jokes for the gathering crowd. There was also a tiger in a cage with a beast master there too, checking and securing things for a show he was soon to put on.

Dilwen looked around for this fortune teller and spotted a tent that looked like it might be it. She went closer and read the sign in front. "Madame Iris, Fortune Teller Extraordinaire! Looking into the past and future alike, this lady sees all! Come in all you curious souls and let Madame Iris tell you your fortune!" There was also a price etched into the wood and Dilwen did a quick mental check of how much coin she had on her before stepping inside the tent. The interior was dim, filled with incense smoke of nag champa, the soft glow of candles illuminated the place, but only enough to provide a serene ambiance that only added to the setting. Straight ahead was the Madame Iris herself, bent over something on a table covered in a richly colored cloth, hair hanging over her eyes as she contemplated whatever it was she was looking at.

Dilwen stood there and spoke to get her attention. "Hello. I've come here to get my fortune told. I was told you were the one to seek out for this."

[Rhindeer]

Iris wasn't actually looking at anything, but to a viewer, it certainly looked like she was with the way her head was bent over the small clay pot she was working with, stirring some strong smelling concoction with a wooden spoon. It was an odd smelling thing, carrying notes of lavender and rosemary--and an underlying scent that was suspiciously close to cat urine.

She was busily stirring away when a voice caught her ear, though she'd heard the soft approach of feet. Raising her head with a bright smile, it was only then that her guest might notice something was off about her, for rather than sporting clear blue eyes, her eyes were a cloudy, opaque blue with a filmed over pupil.

"Oh! Hello there, dear!" she said, and pushed her concoction aside. "Well, I must say, if it's fortunes ya want, ya've come to th' right place! Come, come! Come take a seat!"

And she motioned the girl over and pointed to the chair directly across from hers at the table, and once the girl drew closer, she might notice all the other oddities scattered over the table and hanging in her tent. There was an ornate crystal ball on the table, and a stuffed owl in a corner of the room, hanging from the ceiling, posed to look alive and in flight. A jar of bones also sat on table, along with various crystals. Those same crystals were placed in all four corners of the tent, along with charms from various religions, and she wore many of those same charms around her neck, wrists, and ankles, so that they jingled when she moved.

She even wore little bells beaded into her braided hair. One could hear her coming a mile away. They could also see her coming a mile away, with her colorful, layered skirts and mismatched bodice. Only her undershirt, complete with long, billowy sleeves, was white.

"Tell me, now, dear, what can I help ya with?" she asked. "Just tell Madame Iris here, and she can solve all yer problems! Or at least set ya on th' right path to doin' such! I may not be able to see much, but everythin's got a price, dear, and th' gods traded my worldly eyes fer vision beyond. I can see th' threads of fate and destiny that guide yer life, dear, and I can see ya've got a lot of questions ya need answers to."

[Ethereal-Star]

The fortune teller looked up and that was when Dilwen noticed her eyes were cloudy. She was blind. She had heard stories though of some seers who lacked physical vision but made up for it with their clairvoyant powers. So while initially a slight shock, her surprise was only evident on her face for a second or two before she schooled her expression into one of greeting, even though the woman obviously couldn't see her do so.

Looking around at all the paraphernalia hereabouts, Dilwen thought the surroundings looked like what one might actually see in such a person's tent. The bowl of crystals nearby sparkled in beautiful colors, and the jar of bones placed by that seemed right at home there as well. The stuffed owl had a fierce, mean look about its countenance, one that portrayed a mood of wild and primal instincts. It almost looked real and when she first saw it, Dilwen had to admit it startled her.

Turning her gaze back to the old blind woman, the storm mage healer simply smiled and said in as confident a tone as she could muster, "You could say that. It is kind of a long story, but I really would like to know more about who I am, or more specifically where I came from." She relayed what she knew to the blind lady with the rather colorful and dare she say, garish outfit, ending with her latest dream from the night prior.

"I have a feeling this dream means something, perhaps it is a message from the mother I never knew. I have had this recurring dream over the last thirty years and still to this day, it boggles my mind as to what it could be trying to tell me."

Looking down at her hands then back up, Dilwen continued. "And so I sought to find someone who could perhaps tell me these answers. Or at least some of them." And Dilwen really hoped that this Madame Iris could in fact tell her these much needed answers that have evaded her for so long.

[Rhindeer]

"A recurrin' dream...a place of storm..." Iris said, placing her fingers on her brow, right between her eyes. She closed her blind eyes and furrowed her brow as though deep in concentration, swaying just a little as though taken by some invisible force.

"Oh, dear sweet girl. There is power in dreams, to be sure--more than ya'd think! Dreams are th' great bridge to th' beyond, the channel between our world and th' other. And recurrin' dreams are particularly special. The spirits beyond are tryin' to tell ya somethin' very important, dear; they're tryin' to tell ya about yer past, about yer roots. Indeed, about yer mother!" she said, latching onto the information the girl had given her. Gods, customers always gave away far too much information!

She laid her other hand on the crystal ball set on the table, fingers smoothing over it. "Oh...oh...gods, I see what ya mean. A land of storm. A place beyond. Yer mother, she says it's time to come home, love. It's time to come home. There's a cave by th' sea where the ocean rises an' crashes against th' cliffs like thunder, where land and sea and sky touch like lovers an' become one, a place of storm and mist. Yer answers lie there, deep within the cave, deep within the earth's womb where ya was born..."

[Ethereal-Star]

Dilwen watched Madame Iris sway back and forth as she communicated with the spirits beyond or whatever it was she was seeing. In truth, Dilwen herself did not know much about divination as that wasn't her area of expertise. If it was, she wouldn't be here in the first place as she could divine her own answers then. The storm mage sincerely hoped that the blind woman would have some answers for her, even a little would suffice.

She listened intently as the gaudily-dressed fortune teller told her what she 'saw'. "My mother is alive? She's looking for me?" Beginning to grow excited at the prospect of meeting her mother and finding out more of the mysteries which surrounded her past.

At the mention of the cave by the sea, Dilwen's brow furrowed in thought. Cave by the sea... There was the port town of Cerenis nearby in the coastal parts of the kingdom she knew, but she needed a more exact answer than that to go on. "Where is this cave? What does it look like and what landmarks are near it? Is it by Cerenis?" The blue and purple-haired girl fired off these questions to Madame Iris, hoping she could reveal even more. Perhaps she would finally complete the missing gaps in her history, and collect the pieces of the puzzle that had forever eluded her for so long. Dilwen wanted so badly to meet her parents or at least one of them, and with this knowledge she just might be able to...

[Rhindeer]

The key to fortunetelling was to rely on generalizations, phrases that sounded specific in their wording but could apply to anyone. The other key was to give the customer exactly what they wanted. People were naturally foolish; they gave away too much information without even realizing they were giving themselves away. All Iris did was tell them exactly what they wanted to hear and they walked out of her wagon like their mind had been blown.

Dilwen was giving her everything she needed.

Eyes still closed as though channeling the spirits from beyond, Iris reached out and took up a handful of bones, then scattered them across the table. When they had settled, she touched them gingerly with her fingertips, taking in the shapes they had made.

"I smell th' brine of the ocean, I hear th' shouts of sailors. There's a port up ahead, filled with massive ships, an' a busy city in th' distance." She sucked in a breath and placed both hands at opposite temples, brow furrowed as her fingers massaged her skin. "Th' people...their clothes are Serenian, yes. I see a tavern...ah! There's a symbol on the sign. Black, a shape...a shark!"

Her cloudy eyes snapped open at the revelation and she pointed a finger at Dilwen without needing to see her. "Aye, m'dear, it's Cerenis ya seek! The Black Shark tavern's in Cerenis, which means yer cave can't be far!"

[Ethereal-Star]

With no idea that she was being deceived by this 'fortune teller', Dilwen thanked the woman profusely. "Thank you so much Madame Iris, you have no idea how much this means to me! I won't forget this ever! You have my sincerest gratitude!" Reaching into her bag and withdrawing the requested money the price of which was carved on the sign right outside the tent, she handed the colorful woman the coins and thanked her once again before getting up.

Walking out of the tent with a noticeable bounce in her step, Dilwen smiled happily to herself. Finally, finally she would be getting some answers! And she could hardly wait! Dilwen decided to go get ready for the trip straight away, heading immediately home and gathering what she needed. The seaside town of Cerenis wasn't too far away, but it was farther than she normally went as she didn't really travel much outside the province of Darken Vei, only on occasion did she do so. But this was by far the best reason she'd had to go anywhere else. Dilwen would finally get to meet her mother! Possibly her father too! More questions bubbled up within her and she wondered which one of them was the one where she got her non-human blood from.

After informing her adoptive parents on her given destination and receiving their blessing for it as well, the storm mage headed outside and hailed down a carriage driver to take her there. After paying the man, they were off and heading towards the port town. It would probably take a couple days or more to get there, but Dilwen didn't mind one bit. She'd waited this long, she could stand to wait a few days more. The whole time her mind going over what she would possibly find in this cave, thinking about the various scenarios she might encounter there. Feeling both light-hearted and nervous at the same time, Dilwen was in a pretty good mood by this point.