Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or its characters, that right belongs to Hiro Mashima.

"Layla child, you are now a woman of our people. And you have the gifts of all the seers to hear the stars and what they say. Making you invaluable to all the clans, as we are few and far. Let us divine your future."

A soft chanting arose in the small wooden wagon. The smell of sage and frankincense filling the tiny interior as a young woman of thirteen with honey-colored hair and chocolate eyes smiled and waited. This was something they'd been waiting their whole life for. The right of passage for the women of the clans. Pride shining in those chocolate-colored orbs as their great-grandmother, last-born seerer before her started to place the tarot cards on the cluttered table between them. Her rheumatoid ridden hands were pausing every so often to pick up a random crystal, stone, or shell piece to place it according to what the stars told her.

Patience was a virtue she excelled at, but at that moment, she was beyond giddy. And it was making her fidget. Then it was like time began to move again. Her great-grandmother opened her eyes and looked at her. The clouded eyes seemed to be saddened. Though the aged, wrinkled face smiled at her.

"Grandmother?"

"You have two paths to walk, Layla, Zvezda moya (My star). This is rare, indeed. When the time comes for your to marry, two choices will be presented to you. Each with benefits that will make you happy, and cause you great pain. You can marry who your father will choose, or you can marry for love."

The way those chocolate eyes shot open wide in shock at this news. What was said right now would not be shared with anyone in this clan or any of the other clans? These words were from the stars and for and her alone, given by choice. It was a heady feeling, and a heavyweight on thin shoulders all at the same time.

"What… do you mean Grandmother?"

"If you marry to the clan, you will be loved, protected, happiness with your people will flow and bring glory to us gypsies. But, you will only have sons, so the gift will not be passed on, Zvezda moya," the woman paused, taking a deep breath. "But if you marry for true love, you will leave the clans. Meaning your gift will be sealed. Do not worry; the stars will still be able to talk to you though you will have a daughter who will be born with the gift. A girl who will be your carbon copy in looks had your sharp mind and wit, kind, caring soul, and gentle, accepting, and loving heart… But due to her not being born to the people, she will suffer until she finds the ones the stars will mark as her own."

This caused Layla to hang her head. Two paths. Either one had their pitfalls. She was only thirteen. And it was technically her job to produce a female that could carry on the role of a seer like herself and her great-grandmother. But to find true love was practically unheard of in the clans. Like her people, the Roman Gypsies didn't seek outside of the few clans that were left after the purge of the Romanov Empire. Taking a deep breath, she calmed herself and met those clouded eyes of her Grandmother.

"I will not dwell on it until the time comes for me to make my decision. Until then, Grandmother, I ask you to teach me the ways of the seer of our people."

The smile she got was all she needed to know she had just made the one person who understood her and her half-blood self proud. It was the thing she had lived with her whole life. The persecution of the Gypsies for being only half Gypsy, hence her looks. Pale Gold hair and Brown eyes of a father who'd come from the British Isles.

Lucy sat by her mother, looking up in awe at what she had just heard. A smile on her small, still chubby with baby-fat face. Her mother was the center of her world. The thing that had made her happiest, at least until now. At the tender age of seven, she had heard a voice, and no one was around. Of course, she knew her mother had talked to 'people' that neither she nor her father could see. And also knew that her father was not happy about it, though it had made him successful listening to whatever voice had talked to her mama.

"Now, Lucy, you must not tell anyone you can hear these voices, okay?" her mother cautioned her.

This had her tilting her head to the side, making her pigtail swish across the back of her shoulders and neck. It confused her because her daddy knew that her mama heard these voices. He often demanded of late that her mother talks to the voices. It did cause her some pain to talk with those voices, hence her mama being laid up in bed right now looking very pale.

"But, mama, daddy knows about your talks with them. Why can he not know about me talking?" Lucy asked.

"Because your father does not approve of it, though he had built his international business empire on my ability to talk with those voices," her mother said, smiling softly and sadly. "Though in truth it is not the voices Lucy, but the stars in the skies. The many constellations."

At her mother's words, Lucy felt her eyes go wide and round. All her life, her mother had taught her about the stars. That a person, if they knew what to look for, could see hidden messages in them. That each constellation had a story behind it, Lucy had been made to learn each of those stories by memory. If asked, she could recite them reasonably well. And that each constellation had a personality that was more often than not quirky.

"Lucy, do you understand? I can teach you the ways of my people, your people. And will be taking you to see them again. Though my teacher, your great-great-grandmother, passed away. It is whom I named you after," Her mother told her.

Nodding her head in understanding, Lucy curled into her mother's side as she began to play the piano that they'd been sitting at the whole discussion. Soon, the beautiful notes from a song that was breathtaking to Lucy. She knew that the song was not one that was written on paper. It came from the voices her mother, and now herself heard in her head and soul. It was a happy tune, full of joy, and pride this time.

Soon Lucy was singing wordlessly along with the tune, as her mother played. It had Lucy feeling as if she was floating in the air. It was making her smile as Lucy heard the soft pun-pun sing along with her in her head. There was no doubt that soon, she would be learning to communicate with the odd-sounding voice in her head. Though, if her mother had asked, Lucy would have told her she knew the voice belonged to the constellation of Canis Minor.

TBC!