First of many

[empty_spaces]

This is not the entrance to the gardens.

Mal opens the door wider and peers into the dimly lit room on the other side.

It looks like some sort of alehouse. Why was there an entrance to an alehouse in the middle of a holy sanctuary? Was it magic? She starts grinning. She hopes it's magic. She's been sooo bored. Magic would really spice things up around here.

She steps through the possibly magic door and lets it close behind her.

Comments

[empty_spaces]

Mal perks up. "So the magic door that appeared in place of the east wing garden door only shows up for interesting people?" She grins in accomplishment.

[nevercatchwise]

"Well, one could slip in, I guess. No one really understands the door. Even Bar doesn't, and she's been here her whole life. So to speak. Oh, the bar is a person. Her name is Bar, she's very nice."

[empty_spaces]

She looks back over at the door. "Is it permanent? I don't think the monks will be pleased that there is a magic door in the east wing."

[nevercatchwise]

"Nope, gone as soon as you leave, and not a moment after you came in. And if I open it, it'll take me right back to Chicago. Milliways is a terribly convenient place in some ways. Terribly frustrating in others, though. You might not find another door here for years. Or ever, supposedly."

[empty_spaces]

"Chicago, Milliways? Never heard of those places. Though I haven't left the monastery in nearly a hundred years, and the monks aren't the exploring types."

[nevercatchwise]

"Chicago is a city in my world. Milliways is where we are, which is between worlds. And in your world, you've lived in one spot for a century and look a decade younger than I do."

Now Sam wants her story. He could ask, but instead he shuffles the cards and holds them out to her. "Want your fortune told? Just give them a shuffle or two and I'll tell you about yourself."

[empty_spaces]

"Yes."

She reaches over, grabs the deck, pauses for a moment before placing them all down on the table and mixing them all around. She makes a bit of a mess. It's fun and she takes her time before collecting them all up and sorting them all neat like.

She flashes him a wide grin and hands them back. "Was that right?"

[nevercatchwise]

"Good enough. It just needs your influence on the order to work correctly."

He cuts once, turns it around a half-turn, then waterfalls them back together. Then he starts to deal, one card at a time but dealing several before speaking.

"So what do we have here? Swords for your past, and lots of them. You've been injured badly, many times. Or... they say fatally? At least five times. You don't look like a five-tuple ghost."

A couple more cards fall. "Emperor and Hierophant, both inverted. Someone's been locking you down, imposing unwanted orderliness in your life. And then the Tower inverted as well, that's for stagnation. Looks like a pretty polite cage you're stuck in, but definitely a cage. Sound familiar?"

[empty_spaces]

Mal blinks in suprise and nods. "Uh. Yeah, that's-..."

She looks down at the cards in facination. "I've never seen that kind of magic before."

She's silent for a moment before she looks back up at him. "That's really impressive magic you have. I don't have that type of magic. Mostly I can just die and come back to life. It's pretty handy. But theres not much I can do with it."

"Well if there were, I wouldnt know about it. Like you said, I've been kept in the monastary for a really long time. They won't actually let me leave, and when I ignore them and run for the hills... they're very good at finding me and bringing me back."

She pulls a face at that, clearing showing how she feels about it.

[nevercatchwise]

"I told you I'm good. Sam Mendoza, best reader in three generations, the pureblood Roma were pissed when I proved it in front of them. Should I keep going?"

[empty_spaces]

Mal grins and nods happily. "The monks named me Amala, but I like Mal better. I'm sure if I had friends they'd call me Mal. You can call me Mal."

"Continue, yes."

[nevercatchwise]

"Sure thing, Mal. OK, present and future, here goes:"

A few more cards. "The cards want to make you Knight of Wands. That's a free agent type, kind of chaotic, likes to mess with things for the sake of it. A lot of wands and swords here besides that, as well. That sounds like you're pretty combative and curious, particularly about magic. OK, that part I could have guessed anyway."

"Here's a couple cards for people around you. Here's a King of Cups who's also Death, inverted. He means well, but he's totally rigid and hasn't changed in a very long time. I think he's immortal, as well. I'm going to take a wild guess and say it's his fault you're locked up, but that part's not from the cards."

"Then there's the Wheel of Fortune, and some pentacles around it." He whistles in suprise, "That's pulling triple duty. Fortune is me, especially with stars for luck, but it's also the classic wild card, and that's Milliways, here, with coins for commerce. And the straight-up level of Wheel of Fortune is big change, and definitely for the better, with the good-luck pentacles."

He reaches for the deck, but stops with his hand resting on top. "That's all they feel like saying, just now. Like it?"

[empty_spaces]

"I do! Knowing all of that just by looking at these things. That's incredible."

Her breath starts to hitch, and her heart is running a mile a minute.

"Change. Yes, I want it. I hate the monks and their stupid monastery. I never want to go back. This Death person, he's kept me there, imprisoned me for so long. I don't care about his reasoning, or if he means well. It's torture."

She looks around, and back to him. "You'll help me? I can stay here?"

[nevercatchwise]

"Sure. And you can follow me back to Chicago, if you like. After that reading I'm betting you'll be good company."

[empty_spaces]

"What's it like there? Does everyone have magic, like you?"

She makes a face, "If I go with you, what will happen in my world? They'll notice I'm gone, what if they open the door?"

[nevercatchwise]

"I don't remember what happens if you never go home, but they won't find the door unless you open it for them. If you don't want to see them again, odds are good you won't."

"As for my world... we call it Earth. The only magic I've heard of there is the cards. Other people have made claims, sometimes, and a couple miracles might have been legit, but the only one anyone's ever proven works is fortune-telling. And you need Roma blood - only call them gypsies if you want to pick a fight - or you've got no chance of getting the talent. At a guess, we've got a lot nicer technology than you do, though, which will probably look like magic. Do you have much, where you come from? Or are there just a few people running around immortal?"

[empty_spaces]

She sighs in relief. "Good. I'll never see them again, if I have any say about it."

"I'd heard about other sorts of magic, before I came to the monastery. But I've never personally experienced any, my immortality and the magic door are the only ones."

"I'm not really sure? The man you call Death. He felt like me, immortal, there was a sort of... buzzing. In my head. I've never met any others. Maybe we are the only ones, I don't know."