*From the floor in a room in the Leilon Arms Kali groans slightly as she turns to her side and is met by the viscous dark spikes that grace the black amour, which covers the arms and hands that are tightly wrapped around her waste. She shakes her head slightly as she lifts it from the floor, her thoughts a bit clearer now after her previous state of drunkenness, she manages to slip free of grip and stand, only stumbling slightly as she steps over empty wine bottles. Carefully she pulls back her matted and tussled red hair as she stares into the dieing fire in the hearth, watching the smoldering red embers fade to dust. Her mind seems to race at the symbolic nature of the burning embers as a curious and roguish smile plays on her soft red lips. After a moment, while beginning bite her lip slightly, she glances down at the figure on the floor that she was once beside, she quietly exits the room trying to keep her bracelets from making any noise which would wake him as she does*
*Picking up pace as she goes down the stairs of the inn, Kali finds herself in the inn’s office. Rummaging through her pack, undoubtedly seeking an Ale to cure her headache, she fumbles across her old journal from when she first came to Hlint. Raising an eyebrow at it, she leafs through the pages a moment reading her entries, before tearing a few pages individually from the book. She tosses the old book in the fireplace and watches it burn, curiously. She exhales slightly as the journal is taken by flames, flaring up suddenly as the fire hungrily consumes the pages of the peculiar book. The light of the fire seems to reflect, dancing wildly, in her intense emerald green eyes, as the corner of Kali’s lips turn up a little bit in a sinful smile. Then, finally tearing her eyes from the energy and destruction of the fire, Kali begins to scan the books on the shelves in the office*
*After pulling several books off the shelf, Kali finds a particular one with seemingly blank pages. Carefully she tucks the torn pages from the other journal into the front of this book. Sitting at the desk, she picks up a quill and begins to write*
*Written in Elven in smooth script across the first page*
Il laam laanilman.
*After a blank space on the page*
Years have past now from the time when I first set out from the comfort of the caravan and their teachings and support. Much has happened to me in that time, and yet, nothing as well. Once more I find that my blood begins to intensely boil as I watch myself causally idling in one place and look at what I am making of myself. Its not that this place is bad in any manner, on the contrary it is more like home than I ever imagined it could be, but within my depths I know this is not what I was searching for when I left the caravan.
The stories that I seek grow few and far between as something seems to wrench at my very being to take me away from this place. The feeling, which grows stronger by each passing day, is only amplified by events and people, as I watch as a spectator what happens to myself and to those whom I may have even cared more for had the circumstances had been altered.
In three days time I will leave this place once more. During the next opening of the inn I will gather my things and slip into the night to travel the lands as a stranger, objectively embarking on a new journey, a new start.
*Kali lays her quill down quietly as the ink of the final words she has penned begins to dry. Carefully Kali pulls a small leather pouch from her pack, from the pouch she produces a small stack of used looking and peculiar cards. Kali closes her eyes briefly a moment and the places three cards face down in front of her on the pages of the open book. She turns over the first card*
*The first card, a look into the past*
*The card is right side up to Kali. The image on the card is the picture of an earnest and patient looking women dressed in light soft billowing robes. She is leaning on a humble looking quarterstaff at her right side and carries a small book in her left hand. Her face is turned upward to a non descript constellation of stars in the sky*
*Kali writes in her book*
The high priestess of Aragen:
Intuition, wisdom and secret knowledge. This card is overturned in this orientation when something remains yet to be revealed. It also represents the hidden influences that affect one.
This is the story of my past. All the while when I was young, I listened and watched, mostly unaware to those around me as they spoke. They speculated on the gift in which I had then, to call magic from sound. And true to gypsy nature they grew curious when I seemed to be different than some of them, I could hear them whisper though. The elders of the elves in our caravan even spoke of possible creatures of power within my ancestry that could be the source of this, my ability to create magic from song. I’m convinced this is the ancient history, and recent past this card speaks of, it is not the first time I’ve seen this card for it and it will undoubtedly not be the last.
*Replacing the quill once more Kali carefully turns the second card over*
The Second Card, reflections of the present
*The card this time is upside down to Kali. This card is the image of weight scales on the front of the card. The gold plated scales are tipped slightly in one direction, in this orientation they are leaning away from Kali. The scales are drawn over top of a map of the continents of Layonara*
*Kali picks up the quill and begins to write*
The Judgment of The World.
In the reversed orientation the scales represent the delay of completion. Sometimes it is from a fear of change, or simply the inability to bring something to a satisfactory end. Often, despite appearances to the contrary, this card strongly indicates that there are large events that have not yet come to conclusion. It’s also known to represent loss and separation, though not always permanent, as well as hesitation and even guilt at times. As the second card, these are my present times. My first journey from the caravan was abruptly interrupted when the dragon had summoned me, and I ended up in Hlint. Since then I feel as if nothing has been brought to conclusion. Though I’ve had many experiences and though I’ve found much in those times, and been a part of many stories this card confirms to me the delay I’ve faced, in whatever is to come. I am unclear however of the separation that the card may speak of though, is this the separation from My knight in shining armor, that I will now face as I start anew my search or is it the separation we already faced before I even leave? Is this the separation we now have from our little secret, or the guilt I should feel for doing as I did? It could be the separation I take as I prepare to leave the Leilon Arms for a time, leaving Derrick in Quin hands, and leaving the inn in the hands of Derrick, Quin and Jharl. It could be the separation from Derrick, or Quin, or anybody. Or the card could speak of a loss. The initial loss or separation of the caravan, or simply it could be the loss of my journey, the separation from myself and the path that I once tread.
Whatever it speaks of, I no longer have it in me to idle any longer. Something pulls too strongly to worry about whom I should and should not be separate from.
*Kali glances down and touches the third card gently*
*The Third Card, The fortune of what is to come*
*Kali watches the back of the card a few moments, but does not turn the card over. Carefully she places the first two cards back in the stack. Not looking at the third card, she leaves it in the pages of the book and closes the book. Binding the book in a leather strap, she latches it closed and places it aside on the desk. She exhales slightly, with thoughts of what she may find echoing in her head. She hums lightly a mysterious melody to herself as she kicks back in the chair, and fondly looks around the inn*
Three days,
*she whispers, and then speaks in Elven*
Il laam laanilman.
......