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 Posted: Sun May 13, 2007 5:08 pm
Rojiza is undeniably amused by Vanna's fascination with her tail. She twitches it obligingly. Maybe she could use this. Ro sets Vanna down next to her and lies down at the edge of the bed with her back to Vanna. She pulls out her book again. As long as Vanna didn't pull on her tail too hard, she could keep the child there while she read.
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Posted: Thu May 24, 2007 3:41 pm
Perhaps now I shall be more comprehensive with what I write.
The ordering ceremony goes on as I write this. I trust Mama to tell me what happens if it ends before I return to the circle. I grew, then Aisrhan, then Anezka. I feel as if we have grown close through our present lives, though we don't spend much time with one another. During Ani's growth, though, Valelldia cast a strange spell. All of the Banya birds, even my precious four, came from the wagons and flew in a circle high above us. And then...some took off. Left. Aurelia was one of them.
Words cannot describe my heartbreak when I saw her fly away. I love all of my Banyas so very dearly. But then this strange...person--I cannot rightly say whether it was a man or a woman--came to the circle, and he had Aurelia! That is why I am here--I had to take her back to the wagon.
Mama still has the ornate umbrella the odd white-robed people gave her at the festival at the Port. It radiates oddly. I cannot describe it.
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Posted: Thu May 24, 2007 3:52 pm
Valelldia tucked the quaffs in her pouch, and also brought along her Qing cards. She then made her way through the circle of parked wagons, and knocked on Mountain Air.
"Caroline? It's Valelldia." She had been sent a message to meet her there. She assumed it was for a reading. The meij had been requiring tasking things of them all recently- and it was natural that they would want to know what the future would bring along those lines.
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Posted: Thu May 24, 2007 3:57 pm
Caroline wades through her disorganized wagon, almost tripping over the delicate umbrella she'd gotten. Wincing lightly at the thought of breaking something so lovely, she carefully picks it up and puts it on top of something. She opens the door and smiles at the dark-skinned gypsy. "Aye, thank ye for comin'," she says, opening the door wider to permit the wagon-mother. "An' pardon the mess."
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Posted: Thu May 24, 2007 4:14 pm
"No troubles, sister." Valelldia said, a smile on her dark face. She walked into the wagon and turned back to where Caroline stood, waiting to be asked or directed.
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Posted: Thu May 24, 2007 4:23 pm
Caroline just sort of stands there for a moment, then suddenly comes to life again. "Och, where are my manners?" she asks herself scoldingly. She clears a place for Valelldia to sit. "Please, sit," she says before finding space for herself.
"There's been so much goin' on the caravan," says Caroline without preamble, "An' much of it hasnae to do with me." Alright, maybe it is preamble. "But I've been havin' dreams lately. Dreams of a son. D'ye think they mean somethin'? Might ye ask the cards?" How tarot cards could tell her anything she doesn't know, but they'd been helpful before.
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Posted: Thu May 24, 2007 4:56 pm
"The meij has been very... telling recently. And secretive as well. Let us see if we can get some of those answers. ...Thank you," she said, referencing the offer for a seat. She set herself down, and then took from her pouch the Qing cards.
"I didn't bring my Tarot with me," she explained, "they've been a little...cryptic of late." She unwrapped the bit of silk that hugged them, and lay them flat on her lap. She shuffled the circular little leather diskettes quickly, then massaged them into a tall pile with an upward pull of her long fingers. Then she tapped the deck with her knuckles twice, and three cards came forth. She didn't take the time to examine them. She left them on her lap as she moved the remaining leather cards and the silk to the side. Only then did she pick them up and hand them to Caroline.
"The one on the left- that's Charzo. Emergence. The other, Vvet, Permanence. Yes, it seems as if there is a son in your future. Very eminant, and he will remain. The third card, Joirol." She smiled at that last note. "Fertility. I imagine that doesn't have much to do with the sake of your son, for the sake that it came out behind the other two." Her eyes were wry.
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Posted: Thu May 24, 2007 5:16 pm
Caroline watches behind dark lashes as Valelldia deals the cards. Interesting little things, they were. "Mmphm," she says, making the classic Scottish noise of appraisal. "Fertility, ye say?" The unblushing young woman raises her eyebrows at this. "Aye, well, there's naught but one thing will lead to tha' and it hasnae happened yet," she says, a touch of sarcasm entering her brogue. "But thank ye."
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Posted: Thu May 24, 2007 5:33 pm
"Well, it could be in reference to several things. A meij fortune only denotes the happenings of the wagon and family it's asked to speak for." She returned the three to the deck, and wrapped it back in its silk swatch. "It might, then, not refer... to you."
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Posted: Thu May 24, 2007 5:42 pm
Caroline strikes a pause at this. She blinks stupidly for a moment before responding. "Ye mean t'say the wee cardie thinks Ro might...?" She shakes her head. "That's...hard to think of." She frowns, thick eyebrows knitting together. "What do you think? Regardless of the bittie cards."
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Posted: Thu May 24, 2007 5:55 pm
"I wouldn't presume to guess," Valelldia said liquidly, not willing to entertain her own indulgences. "Rojiza is rather young. I wouldn't think on it too heavily for the time being. ...Will there be anything else, Caroline? How have you been?"
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Posted: Thu May 24, 2007 6:04 pm
Caroline nods. "I've been well. Ro's been fitting into her skin well enough, I s'pose, which is good. She was verra shaken up by the brief disappearance of her Banya. She loves those blasted birds more than me some days, I think," she says with a playful smile. "But I've been well. The days are lazy. I havenae danced in a while. Next fire I'll be sure to show up," here she pauses and grins. "With bells on."
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Posted: Fri May 25, 2007 6:39 am
Valelldia laughed. "We've had some adventures, haven't we, sister? When I hear you talk of bells- I remember all the orderings gone past, all the firelight celebrations." The gypsy leaned forward and took Caroline's hands in her own, the bangles on her wrists clanking together in a musical approval of the gesture. "And Rojiza has grown into a beautiful girl- a testament to you, and your mothering. I still remember when she was but a snippet of a gypsy's toy." The woman's eyes lit with a honeyed nostalgia.
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Posted: Fri May 25, 2007 8:28 am
Caroline's own eyes turn misty with the memory. "Aye, as do I. And then a wee squirrel--my, the energy the child had!" She smiles broadly. "And now what a bonnie lass she is," she agrees. "But not only Rojiza, but Anezka and Pierre and Aisrhan as well." She names all the teenaged Fortunettes, the ones whose journey had come the furthest thus far.
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Posted: Sat May 26, 2007 3:06 pm
"A part of me misses those days," Valelldia says softly, "Everything seemed so much simpler then. The meij... has been so insistant on us, this past year." The gypsy's eyes fell downward, lost in thought. It was a long heartbeat before she shook her head as if to loosen kernels of something disturbing from her mind. "But of course I'd not turn back time for any price. What good would it do?" She smiled.
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