Cora feared that Regina would start showing signs of magic, but her anxiety was needless. Regina in the coming years, seemed happy and carefree at least when she thought Cora wasn't looking. She always seem to lose her smile when she caught her mother watching her. Like she was afraid of something. And Cora couldn't disagree with her.
Regina had become quite skilled at horseback riding and had begged for a proper teacher. Henry had hurt his back years ago in the war and he stated he had done all he could from the ground. She needed a proper instructor.
Cora was happy to accept. Anything to distract her from magic. Cora agreed to accompany Henry into the nearest village to help with the task. But her intentions as they always seemed to be of late, were two fold.
Henry was interviewing several horse master's sons and Cora sat at the table watching the crowds of people in the tavern. In the corner was young boy about 16 or 17 perhaps playing with cards. The smell of horses pervaded when she approached him. And the cards were Tarot cards.
"Come to have your fortune told?" The boy asked with a weary smile.
Cora's eyes flickered. A Seer or a desperate charlatan? What was the way that the previous Dark One's book had said to tell? Cora sat down. "I suppose, that would be interesting. To see if my future and I agree or if we need to have a talk."
The boy looked up from the cards. A stunned look passed over his features as he took her in and then horror.
"Come now, my future is that transparent?" Cora mused with a smirk, covering the knot growing in her stomach.
The boy stuttered. "Ah, well, uh, who..."
Cora placed a coin on the table. "Read the damn cards."
The boy trembled and flipped over the first card. The Fool.
"You were always clever and have had great potential, even from an early age. Childlike earnestness, you learn quickly and you work hard. But your aggressive spirit and great heart also often lead you to folly." He trembled as he worked, his words ringing true in Cora's heart.
Second card. The Magician. Reversed.
The boy trembled. Silence.
"Well!" Cora muttered loudly, to cover her own unease.
"Uh, well, um." He still gazed at her with this dark terror. "You have fallen into a trap however, manipulated by internal and outside forces. You are caught in the trappings of magic and are having trouble seeing the bigger picture."
Cora's face must have shown just how true this was, because he suddenly gained a spurt of confidence and flipped over the next card. Death.
He frowned. Cora bit her lip.
"So, this is going to kill me?" She mused cynically.
The boy shook his head. "This card almost never means actual death. After all, that happens to everyone eventually. Not much of a mystery there."
"So what does it mean, boy?" Cora hissed, the solid core of his words, slowly grating against her nerves.
"Loss. Love loss, perhaps. In order to become something great, you must accept this, to change. Everyone loses, people are only held back by holding on to that which they no longer have. You must die to live."
Cora smiled bitterly. She grabbed his scarf around his neck and pulled the boy close to her face. "And what have you lost, boy?"
The boy met her eyes. "My parents. Dead 3 years in the ground."
Cora looked him over. "Do you know how to ride, boy?"
He nodded. "My father was a knight. My mother used to joke I knew how to ride better than I knew how to walk." He smiled at a distant memory, no longer in Cora's grip.
Cora released him and he seemed to return slowly. "My husband is looking for a stable boy and a riding teacher for my young daughter. And I am looking for an assistant." She smiled gently, but intimidating. "What do you think of the Dark One, boy?"
He paled slightly. "He is the reason my parents are dead."
"So you and I would make good allies." Cora smiled. "For he is my sworn enemy and I intend to protect that which I love."
He raised an eyebrow and squared his shoulders. He looked so much older than before Cora had sat down. And less afraid of her. "You are fighting against the Dark One? That seems unwise and foolish."
Cora picked up the Fool Card from the table. "Perhaps, but alas, I have always been a fool." She leaned in. "Will you help me...?" She gestured that he should provide a name. "I can always use an ally. Especially one with such a...useful talent. Against a man with the power to see into the future, a Seer, even a weak one, would be a welcome partner."
The boy smiled. " My uncle says I'm quite the fool too. And it's Daniel." He accepted the card back from Cora. "But fools have the biggest hearts. And that's all that matters to me."
Cora smiled broadly. Indeed they do.
"So, it's agreed?"
Daniel held out his hand. "I shall teach your daughter to ride. And I will try my best to teach you."
"I do not seek to ride, boy. I already know how to get from one place to another on a beast and that is all I need." Cora shook her head.
"Not to ride, milady. To fly. To see from above." Cora grinned. She shook his hand. And a deal was struck.
***
Cora was very irritated. While Regina learned quickly, now progressing to jumps of a nature Cora would have paled to think about, Cora was absolutely unsuccessful at learn to see the future. Once there had been a few wispy images of unfamiliar docks, and a pirate ship, but that had been all.
"You try too hard, milady." Daniel reassured her. "It is like starting a fire, blow on it too hard and you put it out. Calm and patience."
"I don't have time to waste, I need to be steps ahead of the Dark One already. I need results, not patience." Cora growled.
Daniel sighed. He flipped a card from his deck. "Okay try this at least. Look at the card, thinking of the person before you. Whether you know them well or not, read them. How did they get this way? How they are before you, right now. Now use the card to help you, as a secret hint, as the summary page for a book of great length."
Cora stared at the card. Temperance. She looked up at Daniel. "Wait, so there is no magic involved in this child's play?"
Daniel shook his head again. " Not of the usual kind. It requires a bit more heart than anything else. The most powerful magic of all is often the hardest to see."
Cora stared at the card again. Then at Daniel. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "Your parent's took a risk and died for it. So your natural approach to most things is to hold back and watch and wait. To measure and remeasure the risk versus the cost." She opened her eyes.
Daniel was smiling. "See, this you could be good at."
"You took a risk with me, though. Why?" Cora inquired curiously.
Daniel gave a small laugh, before becoming very serious. "It isn't a risk, if you know the result. But the end of the story isn't the important part, generally. It's all the little things in between that make all the difference in this world."
Cora suddenly felt a shiver down her spine. "What do you mean, you know how this is going to end?"
Daniel met her eyes and Cora suddenly felt a tinge of what her daughter must feel. Yes, she knew about Regina's silly childhood crush, but she wasn't worried. Her daughter was 15, those things ended soon enough. But Daniel was easy to relax around, almost like Henry, how they use to be. Calm and patient with her, joking and teasing, yet stubborn and serious when the situation called for it.
"You want to know what a Seer sees first, Cora?" Daniel deadpanned.
Cora raised an eyebrow.
"Their own death."
Cora frowned. She thought back to the pirate ship and the unfamiliar sea docks. What could it mean?
"I suppose it is to give us some perspective. To make sure that we make use of the time we have." Daniel mused out loud. "Point is, my mother saw what she saw and it happened. And her father and his mother and so on. And no matter what, that never changes. But as my father liked to point out, the battle is not about who wins or loses, but how it is won. A knight never fights dirty, because though the battle is won, the cost is too high."
Cora bristled. "So extra bodies, more death for the greater cause of being higher and mighty? That hardly seems the best option. Dead is dead, you can't take back that sort of thing. So what if you must do the unspeakable to one soul if it saves thousands?"
Daniel took back his card from her. "That's exactly the sort of thing the Dark one would say. Trading your daughter for a world without dark magic, right?" He stood abruptly. "Isn't that we are fighting against?"
Cora stood and for the first time there was a raw tension between them. Daniel was angry. Something she had never seen before. "See here, little boy, don't not act as though you have idea what this is like, to have to protect something with your life. Yes, this is what I am fighting for and I intend to win." She stormed out. "Using whatever means necessary."
