The traveling carnival is set up in the field just outside the south gate to Fountain City. The fearful slimes are nowhere to be found. Actually, since my first terrifying experience with them, I've learned that a slime attacking a human is almost unheard of. Maybe they thought I was food and not human. I have no idea. Either way, typical slime behavior is to run / jump / slither away from conflict as fast as possible. Combined with the fact that they only rarely produce drop items, give low experience, *and* tend to be resistant to most types of damage, not many people go to the effort of slaughtering them.

It's possible that people from the carnival killed them all, but it's more probable that the slime herd just migrated slightly. Likely they'll be back as soon as the carnival is gone.

The carnival is a huge round collection of tents and booths. The whole collection is surrounded by a wooden fence, and there's a large, decorated archway marking the entrance and a pathway that leads to a large tent in the center. The path is lined with stalls, and the smell reminds me of a state fair - the one I specifically remember is where half the booths seemed to be offering fried food. As expected, most of the booths here are selling food, too. Some are selling accessories or adventuring tools, and I browse the shops. The items themselves are different from what I can usually find in the city, not as high quality as the expensive craftsmen, but some with unique attributes. One stall is selling only warding charms - amulets and bracelets and rings with a chance to prevent status conditions. Like the ones I saw before at Arc, each time the charm works, it has a chance to shatter. The young man running the stall seems keen on getting me to try one on, but I dodge his offer. Anytime someone tells me there is a "chance" that something will break, I should probably run. I'd rather not have another item shatter from touching it.

I notice a sign with a colorful picture of a strongman and a magician, and I take a detour off the main pathway to a much quieter area of the carnival. This path is lined with tents, with signboards indicating the events happening inside. A strongman, a group of cute animals doing acrobatics, a dancing troupe. I see something shimmer out of the corner of my eye and see a small sign planted in the ground, with an arrow pointing to a small purple tent set back from everything else. The sign has a drawing of a shimmering crystal ball (Wait. How is the drawing shimmering?) with a set of cards underneath, and scrawling cursive lettering that says, "Madame Velzza."

Fortune teller maybe? I would never go someplace like this in real life. My only experience with fortune tellers was running into one that spoke to evil spirits... and at the time I was a missionary. After telling me that I was disrupting her ability to see the future, she told me to come back at midnight if I was truly interested in what she had to say.

This is a game, though, so I doubt a fortune teller would be anything like that. She might even have access to cool information or be the start of a quest or something. I haven't bought anything, I haven't seen Koji yet, and I came here with time to kill. Why not?

I enter the dark purple tent and the light and sound of the carnival fades behind me. It takes a moment for my eyes to adjust to the dim light - the air smells clean, and the tent is lit only with extremely soft lamps in the corners. In the center, seated on a cushion, is a character that looks straight out of an anime.

Her head is much larger than most human heads, with a wrinkled face, a crooked nose, and a heavy earring hanging from each ear. Her eyes are closed in meditation and she's sitting cross-legged in the ground. She has her hands up covering her eyes...? She doesn't look up at me, and I feel slightly uncomfortable until I realize there's another cushion across from her. I take a cross-legged seat facing her, and quietly wait. Is she sleeping?

As if she could read my mind, her eyes pop open.

Well, her hands don't move. Her fingers spread apart though, and her eyes open. She has massive eyes.

"Yez, yez, yez. To whom doez Madame Velzza owe ziz honor?"

Her thick accent and croaking voice catches me off guard, but I'm able to understand what she says.

"Hi! My name's Gabe. I just saw the sign outside and thought I'd come in and see what this place is!"

Her eyes scan me knowingly.

"Yez, yez. You have ze mark of one touched by ze fatez, yez. An adventurer, zey call it here, yez?"

"Yeah! I'm an adventurer. I started not that long ago."

"Yez, yez, ze cardz were right zey were! Zey are alwayz right! Zey told Madame Velzza one touched by ze fatez would vizit her zey did!"

She must be Madame Velzza then. I look around the room. There is a small wooden stand with a crystal ball resting on a padded cushion and the lamps. Other than that, the room is bare. Maybe this is her work tent, and she sleeps elsewhere?

I look back at her and she is grinning, her mouth full of crooked teeth.

"Yez, yez you are touched by ze fatez you are. Yez Madame Velzza iz wondering what ze cardz will zay about you. Zey will zpeak and tell uz, yez. Yez zey will."

"But before we azk zem, she will azk you herzelf. Yez, yez."

"What iz it you want?"

I look back at her questioningly.

"What do I want?"

"Yez, yez, yez! What do you want? Do you dezire ztrength to zlay ze dragon, charm to woo ze woman'z heart, wit to zolve ze myztery... or perhapz luck to win ze prize, yez?"

"Honestly? I don't really know what I want. I do need some strength since mine is currently super low, but I'm a pacifist so I don't want to slay a dragon. Charm and wit would be nice, but I don't have anyone I'm wooing or any mysteries to solve. And when it comes to luck, I am a mess. Haha."

"Maybe if you could give me advice on how to help people stop fighting? Or warn me about things in my future? No matter what luck may bring me, I want to make this world a better place where everyone can live in peace."

Her eyes close for a few moments, and she cocks her head to the side, as if listening to something.

"Yez, yez, yez, yez!"

Her eyes open and she looks back at me.

"Madame Velzza she iz very interezted in you. Now we will zee what ze cardz zay about you. Yez we will."

The woman takes a stack of cards sitting next to her (I swear that wasn't there before) and deftly shuffles it. I feel like I'm watching a dealer in Vegas or a Teppanyaki grill show - the cards bend and move and fly back and forth as if with a will of their own. After they've been shuffled, she suddenly stands up with a "Yez, yez, yez!" and tosses the deck of cards to the ground in front of her. Without any more input on her part, the deck moves on the ground around her, until the cards are splayed around her in a perfect circle. The cards match up - there is no gap where the circle started to where it ended.

She sits back down in the center of the circle of cards.

"Yez, yez, show Madame Velzza your hand."

I reach out my right hand to her, and she takes hold of it with both of hers, her thumbs pressing into my palm, then tracing the lines that run across. I feel something like a minor jolt where she presses into my palm.

"Yez, yez..."

She lets go of my hand and pulls six cards from the circle around her. The rest of the cards move on their own to make a deck that sits next to her again, and she places the six cards face down between us.

"Yez, yez, ze cardz have spoken. But what do zey zay hmmmm? Yez, zere are many pazz for one touched by ze fatez, and you muzt chooze it yourzelf. Yez, yez, you muzt chooze ze card of ze fate."

I'm pretty sure this would be an event flag in any other game. This is the point where I choose the card that shows Black Death and she freaks out about how I'm gonna die soon, or the wizard, and she is perplexed about what it means, or the fool and she warns me not to trust my companions.

I choose the middle card closest to me and rest my finger on it. She takes the card and flips it to face me.

"Hmmmmmm???? Interezting, yez, yez."

"Ze queen, yez. She iz ze ruler of ze cardz. But why iz she here? She iz watching you, yez. But why doez she zpeak?"

She flips over 4 of the 5 other cards.

"Yez, yez... ze knight, ze treazure, ze beazt, ze coin wizz two headz..."

"Yez, yez. Ze knight. Your pazz is one of duty, yez? Ze knight muzt keep hiz promizz or he will loze hiz way."

"Yez, yez. Ze treazure. Your pazz is one of richez, yez? But what iz it? You muzt treazure it. A treazure eazily found iz a treazure eazily lozt."

"Yez, yez. Ze fearzome beazt. Will you zlay it? Or will it zlay you?"

"Yez, yez. Ze coin. Your pazz iz lucky indeed! Yez, yez. But ziz coin haz two headz, yez. Two headz will argue, yez, yez."

"Yez, yez. Ze queen she iz watching you. Your pazz will bring treazure and danger and luck. And what iz ze final card? Yez, yez, we will zee."

Her hands flutter with anticipation over the last card, and she flips it over.

It's a second queen card.

Her face turns clouded.

"Yez... yez... but why are you here, ze queen of ze cardz?""

She looks at me quizzically. Her head cocks to the side slightly, as if she's listening again to words from someone I can't see.

"Yez, yez, yez. Yez, yez."

"Ze queen of ze cards, she iz ze ruler of ze cards. She iz ze voiz zat zpeakz. She iz ze one who told Madame Velzza today zat she would be vizited by one touched by the fatez, yez."

"It iz rare for her to be interezted, to show her faze in the cardz, yez, yez... and she haz zpoken twize she haz, yez."

"Yez, the queen, she iz watching you. She iz very interezted in you, yez, yez. What will she do? What will you do? She haz zpoken and Madame Velzza haz liztened, yez."

Her eyes close and the cards make their way to the deck beside her. I wait to see if she'll speak again, but it seems like the session is over. I'm expecting to pay for this, but I don't see a place to put a voucher, or any indication of price. And I don't want to just walk out without paying.

I wait, seated, for what feels like 5 minutes.

"Um, thank you Madame Velzza. How can I pay you for your time..."

Her hand raises and cuts me off. She speaks without opening her eyes.

"Yez, yez. Madame Velzza doez not charge to read ze cardz. Ze queen of ze cards, yez, she doez not zpeak to mortalz, yez? Madame Velzza muzt be ze voiz, yez? Madame Velzza zpeakz for ze queen and ze queen providez her pazz, yez, yez."

I thank her and rise, slowly making my way to the tent door. As I lift it, she speaks again.

"Boy."

The voice catches me off guard. Gone is the thick accent. And, turning back, gone is the short old woman. In her place is a tall, beautiful woman, wearing deep blue robes and a crown on her head.

"The queen of cards is the ruler of this world, but her hand reaches outside it as well. She is jealous and all-powerful. Please her, and she will bless and save. Betray her, and she will curse and destroy. Beware her wrath."

A rush of wind pushes me out the tent door and it closes behind me.

---

As the boy leaves the tent, the woman smiles.

"Yes. It will be easier to watch him now that she has touched him. What will you do, lucky knight?"

Her fingers run across a card held in her hand, and slowly the lamps, fabric, crystal ball, deck of cards, and the woman herself begin to fade into shimmering gold dust.

"And what will *I* do? Before, I was watching. Now, I am interested. The treasure, the beast, the two-headed coin. Yes, yes... We are *both* very interested."

Her voice trails off and the woman and the tent fade completely into gold dust, followed by the small sign and the pathway leading to it.

Moments later, the space itself between the booths fades away. The strongman's tent is up next to the dancing cats, with no sign of Madame Velzza, her purple tent, or the shimmering sign. All that remains is a single card that lay on the side of the road. A smiling old crone looks out of one side, her eyes between her fingers. But flipped like the two-headed coin, another face peers out, dressed in blue robes and a crown upon her head. The two-headed Queen of Cards.

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