Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin. Or Tarot, for that matter...but I don't think that's copywrited.
Author's Notes: Yes, yes, I know I have too much on my plate, but I can't help it--it attacked me! Anyway, there are notes at the bottom on all the tarot cards mentioned in this story, just in case anyone was interested.
Kenshin paused outside the dilapidated looking tent. He was in the midst of his first Ren Faire and sort of existing in a comfortable state of general bemusement. The faint smile on his face had broadened several times during the day (most notably at the booth specifically advertising that their serving wenches had cleavage that you could rest a drink on), but this was the first time that it had disappeared completely. He stood stock still in front of the mangy, shadowed entrance, debating whether or not he should go inside. It was a fortune telling booth, and as a full practitioner of the Art and certified wizard for ten years, he should have no trouble reading his own future, and shouldn't have been interested--but this booth had faint stirrings of the Power draped all about it, like a second layer of tent canvas. He could hear the faint murmurings of the supposed seer inside, most likely fleecing a mark. He would wait outside until the poor sob came out, and he could scan the guy for traces as he went past. After all, it could be that…He squinted at the name picked out in cheesy sequins on the front of the tent. It could be that Madame Kamiya, Mistress of the Ancient Arts, had bought the tent off a legitimate witch. So he sat down in the dust, unworried for his kakis, drew three smoothed rock crystals out of his belt-pouch, and began to juggle, focusing on knowing, on seeing, on breaking illusions, and remaining unnoticed himself.
The clear stones sparkled prettily in the sunlight, but it was Kenshin's hands that did the real work. His Master had despaired of him entirely, but there was no helping it: Kenshin's magic was entirely kinetic-based, and though he could manage telekinesis in the traditional manner, any magic advanced beyond that point required that he move himself. Little things like this could be accomplished with juggling, but spells that required more energy could take anything from dancing to the dusty old katas his Master had shown him. He flipped the stones in ever more complex patterns, from simple loops to triple fountains to the patterns that ate up a trickle of magic themselves, until he heard the rustle of cloth and the sound of footsteps from within the tent. The man who walked out was utterly unremarkable, especially at a ren. faire, but the subtle hints of power that lay draped around his aura were unmistakably the same as the glossy stuff that hung about the tent.
So. There was a little mageling in there, was there? Kenshin stood up, squared his shoulders, dusted off his pants, locked away his own power as tightly as he could, and ambled into the dark recesses of the tent, looking like every other tourist out there. It was dim inside, and what little light there was reflected off the many pits of shiny trash hanging from the ceiling. He could just barely make our the young woman's form--she must be 'Mistress Kamiya'.
"I'm, ah, looking for a reading," he stammered into the gloom, projecting "ignorant tourist" as hard as he could.
"Then come to the right place, you have," the woman said, her voice shifting between querulous and grating. Kenshin resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Was she channeling Yoda? He sat down in the creaky metal folding chair.
"How much?"
"Forty dollars," No nonsense there--she must need the money. Actually, it was a fair price, as paid reading went. Technically, you weren't supposed to charge for magic, but Kenshin wasn't going to hold that against someone who had no other means to feed themselves. He handed over the money, and the seeress handed him a pack of glossy Tarot cards. They were saturated with her aura, and felt quite new. She must be stronger than she seemed. "If you have a particular problem, focus on it…" she began, but Kenshin cut her off.
"I think just a general reading of my past and future would be enough, thank you." Perhaps it wasn't what the average mark would say, but if she was a seeress, he didn't want her seeing too many of his problems, especially the ones involving werewolves. He started shuffling the cards, tamping down the magic that rose naturally to the movement of his hands. He shuffled them for a while, then handed them back wordlessly.
"I use the Celtic Cross spread," 'Mistress Kamiya' said softly. Kenshin knew of it, but let her explain. She continued speaking as she laid out the cards. "The central card represents you, and crossing it is the card that represents problems in your life. Beneath and behind you are two important events or people from your past, and above you and ahead of you are the same for your future." Kenshin watched her hands as she laid the cards out, entranced. The magic eddied around them in thick, glossy waves so potent he thought he could touch them. When she set the card down onto the table, the magic dropped with it under the weight of expectant truth. It wasn't until she stopped laying out the cards that he looked at what was printed on the little rectangles of pasteboard.
She pointed at the center card with one slender finger. "Here representing you is the Magician." Her voice grew less misty as her magic took hold of her, becoming, if not sunny, then strong and confident. "That tells me that you're a confident person with a powerful personality, but you may have a tendency to remain aloof and avoid people."
Or it could mean that I'm a magician, Kenshin thought wryly. Actually, we're both right. He had to suppress a chuckle.
Kamiya held up the next card, the two of cups. "This, in the crossed position, confirms what the Magician is saying. You are probably fairly lonely." Kenshin wasn't sure if he was imagining the hollow, hungry tone in her voice, or the pain in the eyes that he could barely see in the gloom. She returned the card to its spot on the table, and pointed at the next. "Below you is the High Priestess. She was…a woman in your life, both dark and pale. Once she was there, but now she is gone. Perhaps…is that why you are so lonely?"
Kenshin worried his lower lip. Kamiya's readings hit too close to home, and the old ache of Tomoe flared up inside him again. A magician's wife, with power of her own…it seemed so pointless for her to die like she did, under the wheels of a car. "There was a woman," he said softly, "But you're right, she's gone now." He felt a wave of warm sympathy flow out to him from the girl, but she only continued on to the next card.
"The Hierophant behind you still influences you. He taught you old secrets, and you still look to him for guidance, though sometimes you resent the hold he has on your life."
For the future, he had drawn the Lovers, followed more enigmatically by Strength. The image printed on the card struck him strangely. A dark-haired woman, nearly the twin of the High Priestess, stared out with the gleam of laughter in her eye and twined her hair in the red mane of a crouching lion. The last four cards, all cups and wands, promised him nothing but bounty and good. With the reading finished, Kenshin was sure: he had found himself a seer. What he didn't know now was what to do with her. He was just rising to leave, think it over, and call his Master when he heard a timid voice in the dark.
"Sir?" He turned to face her, seeing her face more clearly than ever. She was beautiful. But, somehow, he had already known that.
"Yes?" he asked, straining to keep his voice light.
"You've got…my mother always called it the 'spark'." He sensed she was blushing over the rural terminology. He moved to sit down again, and she murmured, so softly he could barely hear, "She said I had it too…"
Kenshin let his magic flare up, illuminating the tent. "You're right. I'm a magician, and you've got the potential." He motioned with a little flick of his wrist at the entrance of the tent, muffling their conversation and subtly warning the faire goers off. "Did you ever get any training?" he asked conversationally.
"No…" she admitted reluctantly. "My mom, she could only see the spark. It was my grandma who had real power, but she passed on before I showed the spark, so my mom just gave me the Tarot deck and told me to find my own way." There was indeed a spark--but of anger, in her eyes. She was proud of her mother, and her roots, and no city-slicker stranger who wasn't connected to the earth like she was could tell her that she wasn't good enough to be considered a magic-worker.
"In some way, that's for the best…at least this way you haven't got anything to unlearn," he grinned reassuringly at her. "I read way too many fantasy novels as a kid, and learned some pretty strange things that drove my master crazy…especially the third time he caught me trying to enchant a broomstick to do my chores." He looked up, suddenly earnest, into her wide, blue eyes (that looked so strangely familiar). "Do you even want training? The raw power you've got will keep your fortunes accurate, beyond a doubt. You could keep the life you have now, just with an affirmed belief in what you're doing. Or…" He paused, thought, and continued. "Or, I could take you to see my master, the same man who taught me the Art, and he could either teach you himself, or find you a suitable teacher." He grinned disarmingly. "I'm afraid we can't do this like it's the old days--you shouldn't trust me enough to get into my car alone with me, should you?" It could have been his imagination, but she looked positively offended by the idea that he could be a dangerous person, which was flattering, and, coming from her, quite adorable. He fished a business card out of the pocket of his khakis, scribbled an address onto it, and handed it to her. "Can you get there on your own?"
She hesitated a moment. "This is outside of town, isn't it?" He nodded--Hiko was a recluse, living in the city would have driven him mad. "And the busses don't run out that far, do they?" The anger was gone, and he wished it back. He hated the insecurity he saw in her, especially since he knew (somehow) the long measure of her courage.
"Will you let me help you get a cab?" he asked softly, doing his best to not damage her already fragile pride. If he hadn't been watching her face carefully for any reaction, he would have missed the nod, but it was there. He solemnly gave her a twenty and a ten from out of his wallet, and closed her hand over it, then looked up into her eyes, smiling reassuringly. "Don't worry about it. If you feel the need to pay me back--which you really don't need to--let it happen when it happens. Don't rush it. You've got enough potential in you to become someone really great, if you really want it. Now, when you get there, tell the old dragon that his stupid student saw your potential. Ask for teaching. He'll give you hell--shoot it straight back at him. It's his first test, and he wants to know whether or not you've got the backbone to learn the Art." He flashed her another smile and walked out the opening of the tent, carefully breaking the ward he had set on it.
He could feel her eyes on him for the rest of the day.
Author's Notes: Okay, I like writing this. This world's got a good, clean feeling to it, I think. Now, about the tarot cards: All of the cards I've mentioned by name (except for the two of cups) are from the Major Arcana, which represent higher concepts or archetypes. The first card I mention, the Magician, is the second card in the deck, and according to Eden Gray's i Complete Guide to the Tarot /i , he represents human will, magical and mudane power and creativity, and is also perhaps my favorite card in the whole deck--as well as feeling very like Kenshin. But I'm a little strange.
After that is the two of cups, which is pretty well explained in the text, so I won't go into it here.
Next is the High Priestess, who is "the virgin daughter of the Moon". She is, in essence, the perfect woman in the traditional sense, and in a man's reading is thought to imply the presence of the perfect woman for him. She is also a cold card, to my mind, because she is cloistered away from the world and never allowed to really live. She fits with Tomoe.
I've made Hiko the Heirophant. That is the male card that corresponds to the High Priestess, but is almost her opposite. The Heirophant is a teacher, and, though it's not explicitly stated anywhere, I've always thought of him as somewhat of a curmudgeon, but good at heart. He is also a guardian of law and order and old secrets and teachings.
The Lovers after that represent lovers everywhere, especially the first pair of lovers, Adam and Eve before the fall. They can also represent innocence, temptation and idleness, but in this spread, they're just telling Kenshin that he's got love in his future.
I've used Strength in an odd manner here, but bear with me. The Strength card shows a naked woman holding a lion back easily. She is the combination of extremes and their balance, which allows her to control the baser desires of humanity. However, in this position, I've chosen to let the lion represent Kenshin, who has his own share of base, vengeful desires.
The last cards I referenced were cups--which represent fertility and bounty, and wands--which represent power and intellegence.
Oof. That's a heck of a lot of author's notes. I've got an idea of where I'm going with this next but I want to finish IDQ first...but you know what happens when I try to make promises. We'll just see what happens, I guess. Bai until later, friends!