The days passed slowly. The autumn mornings got colder, but thankfully Malnai's bed wasn't cold that often. On top of that he hadn't seen that bitch of a guard since the day she'd chased him so he'd decided that either she didn't want him anymore or that she was too stupid to look in the place that he worked every day. He finally decided that they didn't let bimbos become captains of the royal guard, so he relaxed and made the assumption that he was off the hook. The young man's mind lingered for a moment on what might have happened if she wasn't in the guard, but then he snapped back to reality and began to unpack the tools of his trade. First he took out the Tarot deck, a fairly simple and traditional one, no fancy drawings or arcane symbols. Death was a thin man with a nice piece of agricultural equipment and the Tower was exactly that, a tall stone building. Next came the bag of runes and finally a small crystal ball. The crystal had cost him a huge amount of money but it was worth it for display purposes at least. He arranged these pieces on the blanket in front of them and sat back against the wall to await his customers. He smiled briefly as he recalled the time one of the young urchins had tried to steal his tools; the boy must have tripped and fallen three or four times before he decided to drop the bag. For some reason the ball and the cards liked Malnai, and he wasn't about to object.

Once his tools were arranged Malnai did what he usually did, a quick reading for himself. He still wasn't sure whether he was only fooling himself or not, but the results of his readings had been fairly handy before, so he'd kept up the tradition. The first card he dealt was the Fool. This was hardly unusual as he dealt this card to himself every single day. He was never sure if someone was trying to tell him something or if it was merely the case that he was tied to that card. He dealt himself four more cards. As expected they were all major arcana, he never seemed to get anything else. However a chill ran up his spine as he reviewed them, the Mage, Death, the Tower reversed and the Lovers. He could quite happily cope with the first and last, but the middle two were not cards he liked to see. Of course it was always possible that he was doing it wrong. He had never received any training at all, he tended just to deal five cards at random and give a little speech about what they might mean. Sometimes he dealt cards deliberately and other times his hands guided him. So far it had worked. No body had become too enraged at him and nobody had tried to kill him, at least not due to a Tarot reading. Malnai shivered again and shuffled the cards back into his deck. From what he could tell he was a fool who either was a mage or was going to encounter one, after that very, very bad things would happen and he'd hopefully end up in bed with someone. He smiled, at least no-one could say his life was boring.

A quiet voice broke him out of his contemplation. "Excuse me, can you tell the future?" Malnai looked up and put on his best smile, "Why of course I can m'lady." He indicated the far side of the rug and smiled again, "For a lady as beautiful as you I would do anything. Would you prefer the cards, the runes or the crystal ball?" She sat down slowly, folding her legs beneath her. Unfortunately for Malnai these legs were covered with a long skirt, but he felt sure they would be worth investigating. The rest of her body certainly promised that much. She was small with dark long hair and a delicate face. Her voice didn't seem to raise above a whisper as she spoke, "Sir? Are you well? Should I call someone?" Malnai smiled again, "No, no gentle lady, I was just preparing myself. So, all that I ask for are your choice... and your silver." She handed over the traditional cost for these services and asked for the Tarot.

Malnai had plans for this reading, but from the moment he started to shuffle the deck he knew that he was not going to have his way. He locked eyes with the young woman and asked her to think of a question, to think of her future. In a moment he could feel her mind, she was wondering whether she would marry her true love that year. A common enough question, but one that made Malnai curse silently. Shortly after this thought crossed his mind he entered into a semi-trance. His hands and his voice went onto auto-pilot as he began to do a true reading...

Death - "Not dying, but a change in lifestyle, a change in your life."

Lovers - "You shall be with someone you love, a marriage perhaps."

High Priestess - "But listen to yourself, your inner self, is this what you really want?"

Wheel of Fortune - "Perhaps your destiny lies elsewhere, seize chance as it offers itself to you."

The Sun - "If you follow this change, this offer, you will achieve something great, but you will be alone."

As he dealt out the last card he heard a short intake of breath and the sound of footsteps running away. He opened his eyes and was unsurprised when he saw that the lady had fled. It was not usual for a random reading to bring forth five major arcana, at least not for normal people. He picked up the cards and shuffled them back into the deck. It was a pity that the young lady was so obviously obsessed with her young man, but maybe the cards would show her that she could be independent. Then maybe he'd seek her out again. He pocketed the two silver pieces and rested back against the stone wall, letting the last of the autumn sun warm him. Of course there was always the chance that the girl would forget what he had said, that she would continue on in her chosen path and live a long, boring life, have lots of children and finally lie along side her husband in their chosen grave, but he hoped not. He felt potential in the lady and he felt that such potential should not be wasted on raising children. He shuffled the deck again and looked around the busy street, wondering which passer-by would be the next to try and catch a glimpse of their future.