“Thank you for the help.” When they finally went into the library of manuals with regard to omens and paranormality, Gloria whispered her gratitude to Turner: “And I’m sorry for the trouble - I don’t remember her at all.”
“Hey, hey, any friend of Sue’s is a friend of mine. It’s okay.” Turner smiled, while peeking at Sue: “Now, what kind of information are you looking at? I am not an expert in this spiritual stuff, but I know someone who is. I can ask him on your behalf if you’d like.”
“It’s about omens, and potentially anything that could explain what happened back at the Fuman Coffin Home.” Sue sighed as she looked through the book spines on one level of the book shelf in front of her: “To be honest, now that we are here, we don’t know where to start at all. And - if possible, we don’t want to alarm people. Not yet at least.”
“Um - why don’t you tell me what happened?” Turner walked to Sue’s side and scanned through the books she just looked at: “Maybe that could help - I’m no expert, but I am a curator and I still know a thing or two. That is - if you don’t mind.”
“Sure, sure…” Sue looked at Gloria - who seemed to have found something and started reading it, so she proceeded to describe to Turner what she knew and thought happened.
“Omens, to properly understand it, one must first have proper understanding of two core concepts: Karma and Qiyun.” The thin booklet in Gloria’s hands read: “Some simply regard these two concepts as things that tie in to ‘luck’. But it would be a gross, unjust simplification and reduction of their true meaning. Luck is nothing but a manifestation of omens, Karma and Qiyun.
“Karma, the reader should try to visualize it as streams of energy or chains of forces that enable the very happening of all events. And Qiyun, on the other hand, can be considered as grand trends of being, what was, what is and what will be; or the tides in the deep sea that are invisible to the human eye at first but are shaping the world as we live in its grace.
“Without diving too deep into the nature of Karma and Qiyun, the reader should take away this: that these two words describe the movements of every being in the world, across time and space. What we are experiencing everyday and every second is nothing but minute products from them.
“And with this understanding, one can view omens as pollutants or toxins that affect the flow and movements of karma and Qiyun. They influence, affect and even redirect the flow of karma and Qiyun, thus changing the course of things happening around beings connected to the affected karmic chains and flow of Qiyun…”
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Gloria thought for a short moment, then turned to the back of the booklet - there was no name on it, nor were there any other descriptions of who wrote it or the time it was written.
“Gloria? Can I help you?” Turner, who was paying most of his attention to Sue, glanced at Gloria mid conversation and just happened to catch Gloria’s expression.
“Yeah, I think this one is good.” Gloria raised the booklet in her hand: “But - I can’t find who wrote it. Anyway I can borrow this?”
“Let’s see.” Turner walked over and got the booklet, flipped to the last few pages, then the first few pages, looking slightly confused: “Hmm, interesting, must be one of those public domain folk records. Good that there’s a serial number, so let me check.” He then proceeded to the computer desk at the corner of the library and opened a web page. After searching the serial number from the booklet, some details were finally shown.
“Notes on Omens, Karma and Qiyun, category: folk records, unknown author, unknown year. Presumed contemporary, time in collection: 4 years. Curator: [redacted]. Access: Public. ” Gloria got to read the first few lines of the page: “Curator’s notes: this is a collection of notes from some of the folklore scholars that studied omens. Since the sensitive nature of the subject matter and the lack of systematic research, please read and distribute with caution.”
“Hmm, interesting.” Turner shrugged: “Looks like you CAN borrow it, since it is public. And uh - no author name so I must remind you that we take no responsibility for the truthfulness or accuracy of the content, read with your own due diligence.”
“Thanks. But why is omens a sensitive subject?” Sue asked while staring at the screen: “If things are so - so untouched, why would the study of it be so sensitive?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t heard anything about it.” Turner frowned: “Could be something at that particular time, could be because the atmosphere was not friendly back then.”
“Okay, I will borrow this one, if you don’t mind.” Gloria thought for a short moment, then nodded at Turner and Sue: “We may also want to look at something else. This one is just - very vague and general. I think some more detailed records will be helpful here.”
“Sure, just look around some more. I’m glad to help.” Turner nodded and turned to Sue: “If you can’t find anything here, I’d be very happy to accompany you to other archives and see if you can find the records you need. ”
“Thank you Turner.” Sue nodded at him with a smile: “That’d be great! ”
They ended up spending the rest of the day at this very library. The vagueness of what they were trying to find brought them quite a lot of trouble, in the end both Sue and Gloria reached the limit of records they could borrow, and had to leave and finish reading them before they could return for more.
“Well, your friend Turner was very helpful.” When they came back to Gloria’s apartment carrying the manuals, booklets and reports they rented, Gloria smiled at Sue.
“Yeah, yeah, he’s a very nice guy.” Sue chuckled as she laid her bag down: “I didn’t expect him to become a senior curator so fast. He’s always pretty smart.”
“That’s not what I’m talking about. But okay.” Gloria giggled as she double checked everything in her apartment, including the threads, the artifacts, the talismans and some of her personal belongings: “Let’s see what we can find.”