Author's Note: Happy Thanksgiving to my American readers! I am American, and so next Saturday will be part of my thanksgiving break. Because of this, one of three things will happen: a) I will give you an extra post or two because I don't have to do homework and therefore have more time to write, b) I will post my normal amount and work ahead a bit more, c) I will not post at all because I will be too busy partying with my real-life friends. I figured I should give you guys a heads up just in case it turns out to be option c).
"Cumhachd is a whole, and each section is a part. To limit yourself to only one area is self-limiting. We are using mostly Tha, after all, we wish to determine your what, but we are using a bit of Ionad in order to more easily understand our results."
"Alright." Snow said, "what should I do?"
"Hold this." Grenarin handed her a wooden bowl that was filled nearly to the brim with water, a herb Snow was certain she had seen in the garden yesterday, and what appeared to be a full deck of cards. He set a wooden spoon down inside the circle. Then he took one of the containers that she had noticed earlier off its shelf and walked around the circle, dribbling the liquid to create an unbroken circle just outside of the drawn one. The liquid appeared clear like water, but was far too thick.
As soon as he had replaced the container of liquid upon the shelf he bounced up cheerily. "Alright. So, the idea is that each one of those cards corresponds to a different trait your condition may offer you. That is what the circle is for – it lays out which one is which. You are going to drop a hair into the bowl, and stir it clockwise until all of the herbs are used. Then you are going to dump it out on the floor. The mixture in the bowl I designed yesterday will determine the what that is in your hair, and the circle will change the placement of the cards based on what they determined. Does that make sense?"
He was visibly bouncing with excitement, and Snow could not help but ask, "did you come up with all this yourself?"
Grenarin smiled cheerfully. "There is no instruction book for what we are trying to learn, your highness. If one doesn't make it up themselves, it will not occur. When you are ready."
Snow carefully pulled one of her hairs out, and dropped it in the bowl. Then she picked up the spoon, and began stirring. Sure enough, though she never saw the herb vanish, they depleted quickly, until she was pretty sure that the only things floating in the liquid were the cards. She paused for a moment, as it was very against her nature to dump large bowls of anything on the floor, and then quickly upended it, tossing it away from her so as not to wet her dress, but being careful to keep it inside the circle as she was not sure if that would disrupt the spell.
The ace of spades landed face up directly in front of her. Every other card was face down.
"That looks pretty magical." Snow said, looking up to smile at Grenarin. Grenarin, however, was not looking at her. Instead, he appeared frozen in shock, staring at the solitary ace of spades.
"What does it mean?" Snow asked, suddenly concerned.
There was a pause, and Grenarin shook himself out of his stupor. "It means, your highness, that a hole has been filled."
"What?" Snow asked, confused.
"It is a somewhat complicated explanation, let us clean up and then I will explain."
Snow would rather know now, she had been waiting for quite some time after all, but one look at Grenarin's expression was all it took for her to realize that she was not getting anything out of him until the floor was clean. So she got to it.