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 Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2006 5:48 pm
Gwynna had received a note from Valelldia, pinned to the door of her caravan, requesting a visit. She didn't really know why (and guilty thoughts tugged at her mind: had she done something wrong?), but the girl made her way to Val's wagon. On a whim she tucked the bamboo flute she had taken to carrying with her into its customary place in her waistband.
Shifting slightly from one foot to the other, Gwynna knocked on the door.
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2006 5:50 pm
Valelldia threw open the door, a beaming smile on the gypsy's face.
"Gwynna! I'm so glad you could make it. Please, come in." The gypsy stood back, allowing the woman room to make her way into WhistleStick. "I know it was short notice, but I've been reading the meij, and it gave me the most wonderful news. Your daughter- your Fortunette. ...She is desiring to come forth into her animal form. Oh, please sit down- no need to stand. ...Did you bring Nusa?"
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2006 5:55 pm
Gwynna startled a bit as the door was flung open, but she was certainly reassured by Val's expression... and even more by her words.
"Oh really?" she chirped, all vestiges of nervousness gone. "I have her right here." Gwynna pointed at the scarves around her waist as she took a seat. "No worries about the short notice; I've just been enjoying the spring weather."
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2006 6:03 pm
"Oh, it has been wonderful, hasn't it? I've always been so enchanted with spring. It's one of my four favorite seasons." The gypsy crinkled her deep yellow eyes to let Gwynna know she was kidding. Then she took a seat at her fortune table, her skirts gathered about her and her bangles jingling against one another as she pulled a handful of old, yellowed Tarot cards out of a velvet bag that was hidden in one of the many drawers beneath the table.
"I know you've never been through a growth before- but Oqaia tells me that you're open to this life, and to the world of magic. So I'll explain what I'm going to do. I'm going to cast a tarot spread- three simple cards, in the cross position. I'm petitioning the meij to find Nusa's spirit. It is nearby, and very willing to cross over into its new form of life. It requires but one assurance- as all Fortunettes do- that this is where it belongs. We'll discover what that is."
Valelldia placed the first card on the table, vertical to the two women. It was the card of Faith.
"That is your signifier. It means that Nusa is willing to come, the base of her heart is waiting and loving." She placed the next card above it. It was the card of Seven Swords.
"This covers her. This is what binds her still to the world of the inanimate, her spirit to the flow of the meij. It is a card of sorrow, a card of fear. She is afraid that the sorrow that still exists in you will never cease- and that she can never be enough for you."
The third and last card, Valelldia placed in a horizontal position above the cards. The face of the moon was revealed.
"This crosses her. It is what will inevitably free her from her fear. It is the moon- and in this position, it symbolizes letting go of the night. You have only to tell Nusa... that you love her, and that in this world, she will always be your daughter and you will love her no matter what- and no matter what has transpired in your past."
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2006 6:18 pm
Gwynna wiggled her nose at Val's little joke. Settling down to the business at hand, she replied, "Actually, I saw the little rabbit-girl, I can't think of her name, well I saw her grow at the Wagon Ordering ceremony. But no, I haven't been a part of a growing. Not like this."
She clasped her hands in her lap, watching the cards and listening carefully to remember every word. Her back stiffened slightly at the reference to her deep sorrow. Did Valelldia know? Gwynna had only spoken to Oqaia about her past... but the cards were certainly true. The third card came as a relief. Gwynna was more than ready to embrace Nusa as her true daughter, a child of the heart if not of her body. She bit her lip and nodded slowly at Valelldia, acknowledging the message from the Tarot.
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2006 6:24 pm
Valelldia looked up from the boon table, her fingers idly tracing the carved rune symbols that strategically dotted its surface. Her tanned finger was trapped in the rune whose symbol spelled out 'forver' in old Dwarfen... and she smiled at the woman.
"I know it may sound intimidating... but it's a relatively easy quest. It must mean that your daughter is very anxious to meet you. ...All you need do... is say or do something that will show it that you love it."
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2006 6:34 pm
Gwynna nodded again, slowly, thinking. She drew the flute out from its holding place and let it rest lightly in her slim, nut-brown hands.
"My daughter, my Nusa," she whispered, her throat thick with hope and sadness all at once. "I've waited so long for you. You truly are my daughter, in your own right, and.." Gwynna paused and swallowed. "You are not a mere replacement for the one who was lost."
Green eyes fiercely holding back tears, Gwynna looked up at Valelldia.
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2006 6:41 pm
A Fortunette... is a chlid of fortune- of circumstance... but also of fate. They are nebulous, almost uncomprehensible things. They are spirits within the meij, beings that are so advanced and yet so simple... that they long to know what the world is like. They push themselves forward into the existance of items and animals- infants and children... to see the world from every possible angle. They are magical, they are wonderful... and they are divine. Nusa transformed in the light of her mother's love, simply, beautifully- and without pain. She was not a replacement for what Gwynna had lost- but rather, a reminder that the world was not an ugly place. It was a place of joy and of tears and laughter- it was somewhere that two beings that seemed so different- could want and need each other, and survive under the umbrella of each other's love. 
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2006 7:08 pm
((*dies* <333333333333))
Gwynna gasped as the flute tranformed in her hands, leaving a small red and white creature in its place. Nusa. Her daughter. The tears that had threatened to spill down her cheeks finally came, not from sadness but from complete and utter joy. "Nusa," she whispered, hugging her close. "Thank you," Gwynna mouthed, ruffling the soft fur and taking in every inch of the little red panda.
Nusa chirred happily and nuzzled her mother's cheeks before curling up with her tail around her nose. Gwynna stood carefully, so as not to disturb Nusa, and prepared to take her leave. "I.. I think I'll get us both home," she murmured, her awe and love quite apparent in her voice.
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2006 7:15 pm
"May grace and happiness go with you. Congratulations. She's beautiful." Valelldia beamed, and reached forward to place a loving hand on the woman's shoulder before blowing out the candles that sat on her boon table.
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2006 7:17 pm
With that simple benediction, Gwynna turned on one foot and nearly skipped out of the wagon and back to her own, which seemed even more like 'home' now that she had a daughter to share it with.
[End]
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