Tynna's Fortune

Tynna pours a handful of several aromatic herbs into a small bowl, and sets fire to the bowl’s contents. The small house is quickly fills with a strong, calming blend of smells.

Making sure you’re seated on the fur rugs on the floor around a low wooden table, the elderly woman kneels and spreads a thin piece of supple hide on the table. Tynna flips her long, white braid over her shoulder and tugs a worn, leather pouch from her belt. She raps her knuckles on the table, the sharp sound startling.

“You will be silent, while I cast my bones. No words while I hear the spirits and interpret the bones. When I am done, you will go. Now, silence.”

She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, holding it before releasing it. She repeats this several times, in out, in out, as she enters a meditative state. Smoke seems to coalesce around Tynna, forming a hazy shroud.

She murmurs, chanting in a strange tongue, her small body swaying back and forth. Tynna holds the pouch in both hands, bony fingers clutching the leather.

With a sudden, sweeping gesture, she upends the pouch onto the table. Polished white knucklebones fall to the table. The bones do not bounce or roll, simply immediately stop where they land. Tynna opens her eyes.

Where once had been sharp, black eyes, they now lack either pupil or iris, being stark white. The change is frightening, eliciting startled gasps. She looks down at the bones, her head tilting one way, then another, as she carefully examines the position and placement of the bones.

Her petite frame snaps upright, the eerie white eyes regarding you sitting at the table.

“Life and death,” she begins, but the voice is not Tynna’s, being soft, raspy, and patient, as if carefully choosing each word.

Life and death.

United in one,

separate in another.

You are the link.

Your past has no bearing on your future,

But the past will determine the future.

The lost will be found,

And myths made true.

You are hope,

But for you there will be none.

The key to rebirth lies in ruins long forgotten.

Tynna’s body shudders and slumps, but she quickly recovers. Her eyes have returned to normal, and she gathers her bones back into her bag. She rubs her temples and in a grouchy tone says, “Why they always gotta leave me with a headache? Well, a tisane will take care of that sure enough.”

“Well? You heard my words, now get out of here. Make your way into the ‘Wood and take care of yourselves. Joel has a lot of faith in you, and now’s your time to prove you’re worth all the trouble he had in haulin’ your asses off that world.” Tynna rises, shooing you out of the door and on your way.