The Ewer (Thantola)

The Ewer

"Please remind me why I am here again?" Y'shtola inquired, rubbing her temples with her fingers. She crossed her legs as she did so, heaving a heavy sigh.

"Oh, don't be like that Shtola!" M'ikito, the Warrior of Light, chided. She laid out her newly acquired cards across the table between the miqo'te women. Y'shtola couldn't help but fight the upwards turn of her lips at the sight of the warrior's snowy tail twitching in excitement.

The two sat together in the Rising Stones, the place fairly empty, save for F'lhaminn and a few unnamed adventuring Scions. When M'ikito had first approached Y'shtola with the information that a fellow Astrologian had taught her how to do more with her cards than battle, the archon was immediately fearful. M'ikito explained the act of reading ones possible future with the cards.

At this, Y'shtola dubbed it nonsense and insisted that she wanted no part in it. So, pray tell, however did she end up sat across from the reader herself?

Finally satisfied with her layout, M'ikito leaned back into her seat and gestured over the cards with her left hand. "Okay, this is how this will work. You will pick three cards, each has their own individual meaning, to which I will inform you of your past, present, and future fate."

First, Y'shtola hesitantly reached for the third in the line, revealing The Balance. The second, The Arrow. And finally, The Ewer. Satisfied, M'ikito cleared the remaining cards and received the chosen from Y'shtola's hand.

"My my," She chided quietly, "Do remember I'm just learning, so pray excuse any mistakes, yes?" With a nod from the other white-haired beauty, M'ikito got to work.

She set down The Balance and paused for a moment, likely to rack her memory for its meaning. "The Balance is your past; it indicates great loss that will be weighed heavily upon a great gain soon after. A balance of events,"

"Much like the Goddess Sophia? She who seeks equilibrium?" Y'shtola inquired, suddenly more interested in the reading.

M'ikito nodded, "Ah, yes. Just as such. I'd say the great loss would be the Calamity, along with the passing of Master Louisvoix. The gain...? I don't mean to sound pretentious but perhaps 'twas my entering of the Scions that gave you a new primal slayer?" She blushed. Everyone knew M'ikito hated singing her own praises, and hated others doing it more so.

"Nonsense. You are most certainly the gain in this fortune. Pray continue," Y'shtola loathed the idea of dwelling on the subject any further, she didn't want to bring discomfort to the woman.

M'iki nodded, setting down The Arrow and began without thought, "The Arrow is your present; it indicates a fleeting time in your life, a time in which little remember."

Y'shtola snorted at that, her ears and tail perked in amusement, "I daresay my time among the aether in the Lifestream is proof enough of that!"

Seeing no reason to explain, M'ikito came upon the last card. "The Ewer, your future; 'the jug that is the ewer represents an empty soul until it is filled with something to fulfill its purpose'," The miqo'te recited, "The Ewer is a card indicating finding one's other half..."

Y'shtola's eyes dilated for just a moment, and if M'ikito caught it, she said naught. "S-surely you jest? That cannot be right," It was interesting to see the composed scholar so flustered, her face dusting red and her ears pressing against her head.

"What is this of something not being right?" A voice asked from behind her, to which she felt the need to cover her face. This dog, he just knew when to step in at the wrong time.

"Thancred," M'ikito replied in greeting. "I was just doing a reading for Shtola on her future. Interested?" She asked, gathering her cards back up in a stack.

Y'shtola felt his presence ever closer, his aether practically screaming in her ears. He placed his hand upon the top of her chair and made himself comfortable, popping one hip out and leaning on his left leg. "I am indeed curious, if my lady wouldn't mind my acquisition of the information..?"

"I'd really rather you not know. I know what you're like, you'll go around telling everyone." 'And as soon as Tataru hears of it, I'm dead meat,' She completed the phrase in her head, fearing he'd understand the implications.

Politely, he respected her decision, though she could see he was still curious. And as she sat and listened to Thancred and the Warrior of Light converse, she decided perhaps the cards were right after all.

And perhaps, that wasn't all that bad.