From: andrea@cm.deakin.OZ.AU (Andrea Todkill)
Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn
Subject: Kadrys tries to interpret Zia's cards
Message-ID: <3236@sol.deakin.OZ.AU>
Date: 29 May 92 03:45:18 GMT

Zia pulls out a pack of cards and shuffles awkwardly, before laying them out
carefully on the table, face up. She puts them out in a cross like shape.
The central card is the Queen of Hearts. Above is ...a swordsman? To either
side are alternate pictures of Scholars, one in white and one in Grey.
Below center is a Sunrise, and below that an hourglass.
She shuffles again, awkwardly, and begins laying out cards in the same shape.
They all come up as Jokers.  She smiles shyly and shuffles.
She looks at Kadrys with a questioning look.

Kadrys looks from the cards to Zia, his features showing puzzlement. "Do you
want me to interpret these?" he asks her. "If so, then I should warn you that
I have no gifts of prophecy. Anything I would say would be no more than idle
guesswork, such as any man might offer..." He pauses, his attention caught by
the designs on the cards. "I have never seen cards quite like these. Almost
like the Gypsies' divinatory decks, almost like instruments of gaming, yet
neither. It seems that foretelling and gambling are united here." He shrugs,
grinning a little. "And that is wise, for what is life but a game of chance?
Perhaps I should take a chance for once, and try my luck at interpretation
after all..." He falls silent, staring motionlessly at the arrayed cards.
"The first card is the clearest. It is said that the target of the fortune is
portrayed by the central card in the layout. The Queen of Hearts." He glances
round the room, smiling at the others who have befriended Zia. "Quite an apt
card, it would seem." He grins impishly at her before returning to the layout.
"The second card, above the centre: normally seen as that to which the target
aspires..." He peers at the unclear image on the card "A swordsman? You aspire
to feats of arms?" He raises his eyebrows and shakes his head a little. "I fear
the woeful state of my guessing already begins to show." He turns to the third
card. "Past influences. A scholar. White, the colour of goodness, innocence,
infancy. A childhood teacher?" Kadrys shrugs a little. "The fourth card, the
one for future influences, seems similar. Another scholar, this one grey, the
colour of age. You have left the care of a teacher in your youth, but will
later be taught by another scholar?" He turns to the fifth card, and his
uncertain expression is replaced by a smile. "Beneath the central card. The
foundation on which the target stands. The sunrise. Symbol of hope, of new
life. Very appropriate!" he smiles at Zia. Nothing in his reaction suggests
that for him, at least, the rising sun may have quite different connotations. 
He examines the last card and a faint frown creases his brow. "The future. An
hourglass. Time is limited." He sighs. "Well, no-one lives forever, but I
sincerely hope it means no more than that. I'd hate to think it meant that you
will soon be leaving the Inn." he mutters grimly. His eyes turn from the first
layout to the second, and he gapes at it for a moment before giving a brief
burst of laughter. "Jokers! Ha! Well, I am aptly repaid for being fool enough
to take my own guesswork seriously!" He shakes his head, chuckling quietly.