The Grey Area

Part One : Canto Bight

                                                                CANTO BIGHT – CASINO – NIGHT

"Do you sing?"

"No. I just do tricks and wear pretty gowns. This is pretty, right?" I felt over the lace and cutouts again. Nothing moved since the last time I felt the stiff lace. The Tailor needn't let me down now, the Handler's have always paid her well, and more than they should. The freyed sleeve proves the compensation is more than she's worth.

"Kid out front said you tell fortunes." The grit of the Creature's voice grew stronger, as though he barely swallowed pebbles, but kept them handy in his throat should he ever need them.

"Yes, but they always comes true." I smiled, the Creature sat back in his seat. The chair scraped against wooden floor, giving a disgruntled creak. He must be bigger than I thought.

"What do you mean?" His voice lowered.

"You won't be able to prevent what I see."

"Tell me the good stuff."

"Ten units per fact." I stretched my arm out, palm out. Grumbles came from him before he slapped two units in my hand. I handed them to Rion.

"It's ten." Rion confirmed: he took them from my hand and shoved them in his pocket.

"Is there a particular thing you want to hear about?"

"The next good thing to happen to me." Finger by finger, starting with my pinky, I took my glove off and reached out for his hand. He took it. The usual glitter that swarmed me, was more of a brown dust. It produced a grainy version of the future. The Creature, fat, gray and wrinkled, sat at a gambling table. Hundreds of units poured over his head.

"Your eyes! Your eyes!"

"You're going to win hundreds, if not thousands of units tonight." He ripped his hand from mine and ran out, the floor beneath him shook, making everything fuzzy. The door slammed, Rion put one bony hand on my shoulder and the other in my now gloved hand. He led me out the backdoor.

"Is it nine already?" We kept walking. Step 93 turned into step 108 without a response.

"Something's off. You're off. I've been with you six years and I've never heard such a vague telling."

"He's going to be trampled by fathiers tomorrow night. He won't make it." He maneuvered me through the halls. It wasn't long before the bells gently rang, the shells clinked and the sweet smell of vanilla bean welcomed me home. The door shut behind us, he undid the top few buttons of my dress.

"Get some sleep, you look exhausted." His voice was rushed, his feet neared the door.

"Rion. Come here." He froze, he held his breath. His heartbeat flooded the room. I took my gloves off and reached for him with both hands, he obliged. I found his mouth, a deep set frown. I forced a smile with my thumbs, and the dust began to swarm. The vision was the grainiest I had today, but I saw him with a trail of kids following; they crept around in the shadows, to a vacant leisure ship. I let go of his face. I gasped.

"Don't tell anyone, Vim."

"The fathiers get out tomorrow night, you have to keep the kids safe. Keep them near the pins, against the walls so they won't get trampled."

"Come with us."

"Where are you going?"

"I don't know yet, but we could use a fortune teller."

"Okay." I smiled.

"We'll leave tomorrow after work." He scurried out the door, closing it softly. As to not raise any suspicion, I'll pack tomorrow. I ran my hands over all the dress, pausing on each one as to figure out which would be the most durable and look the least like I had just run away from Canto Bight.

I unbuttoned the dress I wore and changed into the night clothes I had laid out at the edge of my bed earlier. I laid the dress across the guest chair and laid in bed.

The day replayed. It looked like every other morning, every other day, every other reading. The first thing out of the ordinary was how ugly the creature was for my last reading, and from there it got weirder and weirder. Rion kept looking over his shoulder, and when he would look down to me, his brow was furrowed, his mouth in a frown. When we went back to my room, the cups lining my bed had been moved: the cabinet left ajar. I guess they were doing checks while we were working.

As soon as my eyes closed, I awoke to a brand new day. The same morning routine ensued, of my tightening my braids, and finding something to wear for the day. An eternal selection of dresses ensued, not that I favored them, but they were the only options I had. In the future, I promise to only wear pants.

Knock, knock.

I opened the door. Sweat, musk and tree sap. Rion. I stepped out and shut the door behind me. He interlocked his elbow with mine and began the usual trek to work.

"Did they come check your room yesterday?" I asked quietly, his heartbeat increased, I opted for a whisper instead. "Did they find anything?"

"I wouldn't be here if they did." He answered even quieter. "I have a few things to work out at lunch." I'd be dining alone again. No insight into what was going on, only the distorted verbiage of the garbled up gossip the other inmates had to share.

I held out my hand to part the velvet curtain that covered the back entrance of the room. I took my place front and center at the silk covered table. He took his in the back corner.

"Are you feeling okay?" Rion asked as he laid a plate full of food down in front of me. I nodded, he left without pushing the issue. I pushed the food away with the feeling of a wretched stomachache. The pile of food mocked me, I should be thankful for such an opportunity to feast, but instead, it made me sick. Had the others felt this? Was the Chef off today?

My first client, a droid, came right after we got in this morning. When I touched the droid, all I saw was the droid walking out of the room, happy. That occurred twenty seconds after I lied and told them they would win a leisure ship tonight.

The next client came, and the same thing happened. A one eyed creature, with more layers of lipstick on than there were guests at the casino. I told her she would meet her true love tonight.

Hours had passed; every time I would speak to Rion, he would shush me, stating he had a headache.

"What's the time?" I spoke through his loudest shush yet.

"It's almost eight." There was an edge to his voice, his heart was pounding again, causing mine to follow suit. The air turned thick, sheer panic. I hadn't felt this sensation in a while. I got out of the chair and felt around for him.

"Vim, don't." He evaded every placement of my hands.

"Welcome to the Room of Fortunes. To have your future read by the Great Dvimidha, please take a seat. Fortunes begin at ten units a fact." Rion's tone was synonymous with the displeased chirps of a broken droid. Maybe his lunch meeting didn't go so well... Were we still leaving tonight?

The client put paper units on the table, I reached my hand out, palm out. They placed their hand in mine.

There was nothing.

No dust.

No future.

Nothing.

"I thought your eyes were supposed to turn into rainbows."