Chapter 158
Redgrass, Eden
Jay, M'redith, and Norri had been seated at a table reserved for owners and VIP's in the ocean room at Redgrass. They were getting hungry and had hoped that someone would arrive soon to take their order. As they had sat and joked with each other their table had been approached by someone who was certainly not a waiter or waitress.
“Shush you two, it looks like someone is coming,” M'redith said in an adult tone of voice as Jay and Norri went quiet but continued smiling.
A heavy set woman had approached their table wearing a blue dress and a blue and white fringed shawl draped over her shoulders. Her dark red hair was done up in a bun and was tied off with a strip of white leather that had been fashioned for exactly that purpose. She was old and slightly hunched over. She stared at them with faded hazel eyes that were cloudy in spots.
Jay wondered if cataracts were a thing on Eden.
“Care to have a reading?” the old woman asked in a voice that cracked when she spoke.
“Ooo. A fortune teller!” Norri said brightly and she clapped her hands once in excitement.
The old woman winced, “Hardly. I don't tell you things about your fortune – I tell you things you don't know about yourself. Fortunes, pah! Worthless. I read people, not fortunes!” the woman said and made a motion as if she had spit on the floor but kindly kept the actual spit to herself.
“Oh. I had gotten excited for a moment and thought...” Norri tried explaining.
“I'm no fortune teller, I'm a witch!” the woman insisted with wide eyes as she leaned forward for emphasis.
“Is that a class, like a mage?” M'redith asked, suddenly very interested.
The witch peered at M'redith for a moment as she judged her enthusiasm. “Aye. Witch is my class but I'll tell you no more about that. That's witch business and none of yours.”
“What Class Abilities do you have?!” M'redith asked desperately and a bit rudely as she pulled a notebook out of her bag and a writing implement. “I've never spoken with an actual witch before!”
The witch looked a little taken aback. Normally people paid a silver, got their reading, and went on their way. Somehow this time things had instead turned from a sales pitch in to an interview or interrogation. The witch tried to regain the upper hand in the conversation.
“It'll be one silver per person for a reading. I'll tell you something about yourself that you don't know or your money back!” the witch said almost angrily.
Norri was completely puzzled by the witch's attitude and couldn't decide if she was being rude, aggressive, or was just being a normal witch. Everyone else at Redgrass practically fell over themselves as they attended to their guest's every need. The witch, by comparison, was a lot less...warm?
M'redith's back went straight, “Oh! You should do that Jay! I bet she'll tell you something really good! Pleeeeeeease?” she begged Jay with a smile. She leaned in a bit and continued speaking but just for Jay, “And that way she'll stick around long enough for me to ask her more questions about her class!”
Jay chuckled as the witch watched stone faced as M'redith whispered to him. The witch looked impatient and Jay felt a bit bad for making her wait like that.
“Sure. I'll give it a go, why not?” Jay said.
Norri grinned excitedly. “Can I go too!?” she asked hurriedly.
“One silver is as good as another. You do have a silver, right child?” the witch asked Norri. Her tone of voice was almost kind, but not quite, as if she was out of practice being polite or positive.
Norri was so excited she forgot to be offended at being referred to as 'child.'
“Here! Take it!” Norri said as she pushed a silver coin in to the witch's awaiting hand.
The witch quickly pocketed the coin before she reached out and snatched up both of Norri's hands in her own with a quick motion.
Norri squeaked in surprise but didn't pull her hands back. She watched the witch uncertainly and waited.
The witch made various hrm and hmm noises before she turned her head to the side and coughed loudly and wetly.
“Sorry about that. Now...” she said before she closed her eyes.
Nothing happened for a moment and Jay shook his head and was about to sigh when Norri suddenly glowed, her entire body, but just for a moment. It wasn't bright or blinding, just a brief aura of pristine white light around her body and then nothing.
The witch opened her eyes and stared in to Norri's eyes. “Norri!” she said as if she were scolding a granddaughter and Norri jumped in her seat, “You're not meant to wield that staff. A druid has no business carrying a wooden pole. You want a fortune? I'll give you one! Continue carrying that stick and you'll find your life ends before it should. Be a druid. Or don't. Make your choice soon.” the witch cackled angrily at Norri before her words drew to an end and she went silent and shook off Norri's hands before waving them away from her.
Norri sat stunned and drew her hands back to her side slowly. “My staff? What's wrong with it?” she demanded.
The witch gave her a scathing look but would say no more.
M'redith had become intensely interested in the witch by that point and the witch was not happy about it. The witch turned to face Jay.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“You. String bean! You want a reading too or what?” the witch said with a nod towards Jay.
M'redith raised an eyebrow at the name calling but didn't say anything. She didn't want to ruin her chances of learning more about the witch class.
“Sure, that sounds fun.” Jay answered uncertainly as Norri continued to ask the table what was wrong with her staff while everyone focused on the witch.
M'redith finally leaned over to Norri and said “Easy, let's just give Jay a go at it, ok?” Norri nodded but still seemed preoccupied with her reading.
Jay handed the witch one silver and held out his hands. The witch went to grab them but then stopped. She stared at his hands and then at him before she looked up at him and spoke again. “For you, two silver.”
Jay was about to argue but M'redith cut him off and handed the witch a silver from her pouch.
“Wait your turn little lady!” the witch said not unkindly but M'redith shook her head.
“This is to cover Jay's reading. I just want to watch.” M'redith insisted.
“Of course you do,” the witch groused but begrudgingly took the coin and stuffed it in to her dress.
“Fine. Give me.” the witch said as she reached out, hesitated for a moment, and then narrowed her eyes and latched on to Jay's hands with hers.
She closed her eyes and there was no visible reaction at first but a moment later Jay was covered in an aura of light as well, but his light was tinged with swirls of teal and blue that wrapped around him in coils.
The witch gasped but held on to his hands before she shook her hands free and continued to shake them as if they had been singed. People in the room noticed the sudden streaks of teal and turned to see what the commotion was.
The witch opened her eyes and stared in to Jay's in fear. “Goddess touched,” the witch breathed out reverently and her body trembled, “You have been granted a Boon by the Goddess Herself. Forerunner: Any mechanic such as titles, patches, or quests that have a chance of being awarded shall have that chance increased to a 100% award rate so long as the Forerunner is involved.”
A notification popped up in front of Jay's eyes. Jay quickly viewed it and dismissed it.
Your status page has been updated with new information!
The witch's eyes practically shined as she spoke and the cloudiness over her eyes was completely gone. “You are watched!” the witch hissed almost in horror before the glow around Jay left completely.
The witch shook her head and threw the two coins she had been paid back on to the table. “I don't want any trouble with the Goddess! You hear that?” the witch said loudly to the air around her, “I'm not taking his coin Gaia! Keep your coin!” she cackled at Jay accusingly.
“You could have warned me.” the witch said to Jay in a strong voice before she appeared to forget all about him. With a wave of her hand she put Jay out of her mind. She really didn't want to be brought to the Goddess' attention any further than she already had. She turned to M'redith and crooked her head to the side in question.
M'redith sighed, “Fine. Might as well do me too. Here,” M'redith said and handed her a silver.
Now it wasn't just Norri that sat at the table preoccupied with her reading. Jay too now sat wrapped up in his own thoughts as he pondered what the witch had told him. The Forerunner boon made sense to him. He had three unidentified boons on his character sheet since he had arrived in Eden. He hadn't had any way of figuring out what they were though so he had basically forgotten about them over time.
Jay was far more concerned about being watched. WHO was watching him? His reading had generated more questions than answers. Perhaps that was just the way witch readings worked Jay wondered.
The witch had taken M'redith's coin and made that disappear somewhere in the witch's dress. The witch reached out and took M'redith's hands with none of the hesitation she had shown with Jay's hands. Holding M'redith's hands in her own she closed her eyes and chuckled darkly.
M'redith glowed, for just a moment, a brief white light tinged with red and blue.
She opened her eyes and spoke with a smile, “M'redith,” she said while she looked straight in to her eyes, “You are not what your family wants.”
M'redith looked momentarily shocked before she laughed sadly, “Tell me something I don't know.”
The witch tightened her grip on M'redith's hands until M'redith said “Ow!” and stopped talking. She did not let go of her hands.
“You are however what your family needs. Do not allow yourself to be dissuaded by family ties. The path you have chosen is the right one. Build your own bonds!” the witch said in actual kindness and with a smile that seemed somehow out of place on the witch's face.
Jay turned from watching the witch to glance at M'redith and was surprised to see that M'redith had tears in her eyes. Jay was shocked, he couldn't remember the last time he saw M'redith get upset enough to cry, if ever. He wanted to reach out and put an arm around her but the reading hadn't ended yet.
The witch smiled sadly and then spoke the rest of her reading.
“You are loved.” the witch finished softly before she gently let go of M'redith's hands.
M'redith suddenly pushed her chair back from the table and walked quickly away towards the restrooms.
The witch watched her go without a word and made no move to stop her.
Jay was about to get up when the witch put a hand on his shoulder and pushed him back in to his seat. Her grip was surprisingly strong.
“Stay put you. She needs time, that is all. Give her a minute to herself.” the witch told Jay in no uncertain terms. She didn't let go of his shoulder until he nodded in agreement.
“Right then,” the witch said and released Jay as if she hadn't just woman-handled him.
Jay spoke up when the witch moved to leave, “Would you stay a bit? She'd really love to talk with you once she gets back.”
The witch laughed, “Boy does she have you wound around her finger,” she said with a smile. “No I won't stay – I need to pay bills too and this is how I do that! I will however give you something for her. I like you three but I do not want to be swept up in whatever you all have going on. Just tell her that the Class Ability I used on all of you is called Revelation, and it is my first Class Ability. That should make her feel a bit better. Don't tell her right away! Save it for after she has finished talking with you.”
Jay thanked the witch but found himself talking to empty air as she had already moved on to another table.
“Should I go check on M'redith you think?” Norri asked.
“Let's give her a couple of minutes,” Jay said after a moment's thought.