"Yes, he is right. His energies would perfectly balance yours," Wise Obasan announced with a knowing nod, her small, aged feet leading her toward the President of GPI.

Ariel felt as if she had suddenly succumbed to a heat stroke. Her skin burned with an uncomfortable heat, and her thoughts were muddled and disjointed. In stark contrast, Jasper looked positively frozen. Anyone unaccustomed to the frigid glare etched onto his face would have felt an icy chill, but the ancient woman continued her approach, her smile betraying the satisfaction of solving a complex riddle.

"Them?" Miss Marlowe breathed out in bemusement, clearly finding the old woman’s proclamations farcical. To her, Wise Obasan seemed nothing more than an eccentric old loon.

In her disoriented state, Ariel felt a flicker of indignation on behalf of the old woman. Hey! There's nothing loony about suggesting us! She isn’t called Wise Obasan for nothing!

The stooped figure of the old woman passed by Mandy, who watched her with an expression of unhappy resignation. Though Mandy would say nothing—since Ariel, not the smirking heiress, was being paired with Jasper—her disapproval was palpable. It was evident that Mandy, too, believed the old woman had mistakenly matched Jasper with Ariel rather than with herself.

"Such sensibility I sense in you," the old woman said, her voice carrying an air of solemnity. "Perhaps too much, but that is where she—" she directed a sharp look at Ariel, "—comes in. Her energies are much more unpredictable; they would encourage you to embrace life a little more. A life buried in work is no—"

"You know nothing of my life," Jasper interrupted, his voice so icy that it seemed to freeze the very air around him. Ariel flinched at the coldness of his tone.

The old woman stood unfazed, her gaze unwavering. "Of course not," she said after a pause, her slow smile suggesting an air of deep understanding. "But I do know the ways of the heart."

A heavy silence fell between them, a tense standoff between the short, ancient woman and the tall, distant Jasper. Ariel and Mandy exchanged a brief, knowing glance, though the medium’s eyes carried a chill that Ariel found all too familiar.

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That Mandy.

"If I may see your hand, young man," Wise Obasan finally requested, her sharp eyes fixed on Jasper’s with a challenging intensity.

A moment ticked by.

He won’t do it.

But then, Jasper uncrossed his arms and extended his hand. His willingness seemed to surprise even Obasan, but she quickly grasped it with her bony fingers. An image of a pale flower flashed through Ariel’s mind. A sudden thought struck her, causing her heart to race.

What if he’s given a moon Magnolia? What if...

Ariel swallowed hard, feeling as though her heart had leapt into her throat. She grabbed Leroy’s arm and gave it a firm squeeze. As if reading her thoughts, he smiled slightly and mouthed, moon Magnolia?

Ariel ignored the monk—Wise Obasan was speaking again, her voice creaking with age and difficult to discern over the rush of blood in her ears.

"Hmm. Interesting. A moon Magnolia, definitely... though..."

Jasper withdrew his hand from Wise Obasan’s grip.

"If we’re done here," he said tersely, casting a glance toward his team and then at Miss Marlowe.

Max gave a ready nod, pulling his arm from Taylor’s possessive grasp, and stepped forward. But Wise Obasan was not finished.

"But I have not given my decision," she protested as Jasper began to turn away.

The young man glanced back over his shoulder. "I believe you have demonstrated it clearly enough."

A stray cloud drifted in front of the sun, casting a large, somber shadow over the dusty grounds of Magnolia Midlands. Wise Obasan regarded the stubborn young man before her with a determined glint in her eyes.

"You know nothing of my demonstrations. You are a match. The best match, and everyone will know it by tonight."

Ariel blinked as the sudden gloom descended, a chill creeping down her spine. Jasper did not acknowledge the old woman’s proclamation; he simply walked on beside Max, discussing matters that clearly concerned him more than the warnings of an ancient matchmaker. A stiff breeze swept across the festival grounds, rustling the remaining GPI members. The cloud that had darkened the old woman’s ominous pronouncement was quickly carried away by the wind, and the blinding sunlight returned.

Ariel squinted, her gaze following Jasper’s dark, indistinct figure as he moved along, Miss Marlowe flanking him on the other side. The old woman, noting Ariel’s watchful stare, shook her head.

"Despair not, my dear. He will see things differently by tonight, or my name is not Wise Obasan," she reassured, a dark smile tugging at her wrinkled features.

Ariel found herself unable to muster a smile in return. It didn’t matter, though. The festival’s ancient matchmaker merely nodded to them all and hobbled away, chuckling to herself.

Leroy’s shadow fell over Ariel.

"That’s one loony lady," he muttered, watching as she pounced upon another unsuspecting group.

"Yeah..." Ariel replied absently, her mind whirling with thoughts of moon Magnolias and ominous threats.

Just then, a brightly colored dress glided past her field of vision.