"I can't believe I'm doing this."

Sir Gawain was going to get his fortune told. Yup. Every real kinght visits a sorceress at some point during his quest, and since this time the sorceress herself came to his door (an plastered posters all over the place), the only thing he had to do was go outside one quiet afternoon, and look for her.

Gawain had heard the rumors among the students, and suspected most of them had no turth in them at all; but after asking a few questions he managed to have a vague idea about the woman, what she did, and what she expected in return. He walked around in the mansion but couldn't spot her; so he ventured outside.

And there she was.

Gawan stopped right underneath her at the bottom of the tree, and tilted his head to look up at her.

"Hey there" he called out to her with a grin "Ya're the fortuneteller, right? Mind if I join you up there?"

Raven hadn't been at the Mansion long, but all ready she had found a tree and claimed it as her own. It was a rather lovely tree with lots of branches that made for easy climbing and also tall enough to get an excellent view of most of the Mansion grounds. She was willing to share it with a couple of crows that perched on the branches above her, just so long as they left her alone and, given that she didn't currently have anything enticing with her, they were more than happy to do so.

Blackwing had also taken a liking to the Mansion, having found his own perch on the Mansion roof. With all the students going to the school, there was always plenty of food and not to mention other interesting things that children and teenagers tended to have with them. Plus, there was lots of room for flying and nothing around to really bother him too much.

Life, Raven decided, was currently very good. She was watching with an attentive eye the hustle and bustle of the world below her when a young man with dark brown hair approached her tree and asked if she was a fortune teller. "I am indeed the magnificent Raven," she answered dramatically. It was all about the show. "You can indeed join me. If you have something I desire then I may even deign to read your fortune." It was to be her first reading since coming to the city and, although she tried to hide it (probably unsuccessfully) she was excited. Now, hopefully he had something worth while otherwise she'd have to send him back down again to find something better.

>>"I am indeed the magnificent Raven. You can indeed join me. If you have something I desire then I may even deign to read your fortune."

Gawain grinned as he caught one of the lower branches and flung himself up onto the tree. He had climbed it before, back in January when it was all covered in snow. It was a very good tree to climb.

Raven huh. She knew how to make a show of fortune-telling. He could approve of that. He didn't really believe that she could tell anything real about his future; he'd lived on the streets long enough to know how fortune-telling worked. It was all about the show, and when it was did right, it was entertainment of the best kind, worth paying for.

Once he was settled down on a branch next to her, the young knight grinned at the sorceress.

"A pleasure to meet you, fair lady." he nodded "My name is Gawain. As for the payment... well, I can just pay you in cash, or, if you prefer curiosities, I can take you to the woods nearby and show you the biggest magpie's nest I've ever seen."

Ravens liked robbing nests, right? Especially magpie nests. Those always had something shiny and interesting...

Raven made a show of watching the man carefully, as if gauging his worthiness. She considered her options as pertained to payment. Money had its practical uses, of course, but it was summer and she had a place to stay that was free so she didn't really need to worry about money too much. A magpie nest, on the other hand, sounded rather interesting. Blackwing chimed in his opinion, flashing an image of eggs and reinforcing it with a feeling of desire and fulfillment. So, magpie nest it was, apparently.

"A magpie nest sounds like adequate payment." Raven nodded her head wisely, trying to come across as sage and wise. Which she did tend to succeed at. Mostly. As long as Blackwing and the other crows didn't distract her too much.

"Now, before we get started I have two questions for you. First, I need a name. Second, what sort of fortune telling to you most desire? Most of my readings are either with tarot cards, runes or crystals. I can, however, also offer palm readings or tea leaves."

Gawain nodded. Magpie nest it was. He would take her there later; the nest was quite far above the ground but apparently she didn't mind climbing trees.

"The name's Gawain Morris" he smirked, watching her and her bird. It probably was her bird anyway. He hadn't decided yet if she was a mutant, or had any kind of gift for seeing the future, but she seemed to have some kind of a friendship with the bird. So, there was that. Made for a good show.

"As for the reading..." he paused. He'd had his palm read countless times before (with different results, which was the truly amusing part in the whole deal), and he was not too fond of tea. Tarot he'd seen quite often too. As for the others...

"It's a hard choice" he grinned "Do I have to pick one?... Fine, I'd say runes." he decided, true to his interest in all things historical and mythical.

This is gonna be fun...

"A pleasure to meet you, Gawain Morris," Raven replied. Human custom often dictated a handshake after a greeting, but while in a tree that was a little difficult and besides, Raven never had put much weight in human custom. Most of it was baffling and irrelavent anyway.

"Runes are an excellent choice indeed. They come from a long history, dating back to Norse times. They were the gift of the one eyed god Odin and also happen to be one of my favourites." She was also constantly having to berate the crows around her for trying to steal her runes ever since she had found her current set, made of rather lovely crystal.

"Of course, runecasting requires contact with the ground, so if you would kindly join me upon the earth I would be happy to tell your fortune." Raven began climbing down, making her way swiftly to the ground as only an experienced climber could.

Gawain grinned. The raven lady had her facts straight. Right out of the books of Norse mythology he'd read along with King Arthur's legends and all the rest. So far she was putting on an excellent show, and he settlend in to enjoy himself.

>>"Of course, runecasting requires contact with the ground, so if you would kindly join me upon the earth I would be happy to tell your fortune."


"Sure." the young knight nodded, and followed her down, careful not to step on her hand as they descended from branch to branch. He jumped down from the lowest, landing on his feet, and sat down with his back to the tree.

There was something about a tree, Odin and his runes. Made the scene all the more authentic.

"So..."

Let's see what you've got, Lady Sorceress.

Once back safely on the ground, Raven waited for Gawain to follow her and gestured for him to sit across from her. Sitting cross legged, she opened up her ever present backpack and began rifling through it. There were many random objects in there, ranging from small change, to colourful rocks, to small statues to bits of stationary, which made it rather difficult to find what she was looking for. Eventually, however, she found it and took out a small red velvet bag.

Opening the bag up, Raven removed a matching red velvet cloth and spread it carefully on the grass. The runes within the bag rattled slightly within.

"Now, you need to tell me what it is your greatest desire to know, Gawain, and I will do the rest." Raven waited expectantly for the answer. It was always interesting to see what was important to others. Usually it was much different than what was important to herself, humans being such odd and unaccountable creatures.

>>"Now, you need to tell me what it is your greatest desire to know, Gawain, and I will do the rest."

Gawain thought about that for a while, looking at the red velvet and the bag with the runes rattling inside. There were all kinds of questions one could ask in situations like this. If you didn't like the fortune-teller all that much, there were also questions to drive her crazy.
But so far he liked the raven lady, so he decided to stick to the usual question. It could never hurt to ask...

"I am looking for my mother who went missing a few years ago. Can you tell me if I'll find her?"

It was a safe question, really. If the fortuneteller says yes, that sounds good; if the fortuneteller says no, well, fortune-telling was never an exact science, was it. That was about as much as he expected. He watched th raven lady curiously.

Of all the questions Gawain could have chosen to ask Raven, she approved of the fact that it was a question about family. Family was one of the few things that ravens and humans seemed to have in common and despite everything she remained close with her mother. Well, as close as she could considering the distance and the fact that her own mother really didn't understand much. Still, it spoke of a certain integrity that Gawain had chosen to ask about his mother rather than something shallow like a latest crush or a wished for job.

"The ways of fortune are not so simple as a mere yes or no," Raven began, keeping things mysterious and ever so slightly cryptic. That was the trick, really. It had to seem realistic, of course, but the mystery was where the believability was. Plus, not knowing the history of most of her clients, keeping things vague was also an essential technique. Vague enough that it could apply to many situations but specific enough to create the illusion that it applied only to the client she was currently working with.

"We will do a five rune layout." As Raven spoke she began taking out runes, placing them face down on the red cloth. The center rune came out first, followed by one on the left, one above and one below. "The three in the center will represent the past present and future as relates to your mother. The rune above relates to those things that cannot be changed and the rune below relates to the desired outcome."

Gawain smirked. The raven lady didn't ask any unnecessary questions. Many fortune-tellers would, making it obvious that they were preparing in advance for what they were going to read. Made it easier to construct plausible lies. The Sorceress didn't do such a thing at all; she didn't give him a look of pity either. She just went on about her business.

Interesting.

He watched her lay out the runes as she explained what she was going to do. Well well. Gawain nodded, then rested his chin on his knuckles, and listened. Waited.

Raven sat on the ground facing Gawain, with Blackwing perched above, also watching. She had an advantage over most fortune tellers in that she had two sets of eyes and ears trained on her patron. Two was always better than one when it came to such things.

"The first rune Is Thurisaz or thorn," Raven indicated the rune in the center. The symbol looked something like a sideways pirate hate, with a long vertical line on the left and a triangle attached to the center of the line, with the two ends of the line extending from the triangle in the center. "This represents your present. It indicates cleansing and change. You have recently undergone a change in your life and that change has been for the better, allowing you a certain amount of peace. While the change did not eliminate the concern for your lost mother, it did allow you to more fully live your life in the present without that one single thing dominating your entire existence."

Raven spoke clearly and directly, without any hint of hesitance in her voice. Of course all of what she said was just guess work, based on the question and the way her patron had acted thus far since coming to see her, but she was very good at such guesses. People always gave themselves away by how they acted and spoke. She watched carefully for any changes in expression, trying to glean every bit of information she could, both verbal and non-verbal, before dictating the meaning of the next rune.

>>"This represents your present. It indicates cleansing and change. You have recently undergone a change in your life and that change has been for the better, allowing you a certain amount of peace."

Gawain smirked, and nodded, fully aware that he was probably giving all the signs the girl needed to keep going with her speech. He knew fortunetellers read people. It was part of the game. And there was nothing wrong with it; reading people right was a rare gift, and a trade in itself. So far, she was great at it.

Change for the better. You bet. Finding a home after three years on his own, having friends, going to school, being accepted as s/he was. Being in love. Yup, the rune was as good as any.

Gawain glanced up at the bird, and wondred if it had something to do with the girl's powers. Or fortunetelling. Or both. It was a very pretty bird, and looked intelligent too. Gawain liked intelligent birds, like ravens and magpies. They were infinitely more interesting than the others.

Turning his attention back to Raven, he nodded again, and waited for what came next.

Raven watched her patron's reactions very carefully to ensure that she was on the right track. The trick was to keep things close enough to reality that the patron believed you were actually seeing something and actually divining their future. Everything, so far at least, pointed that she was headed in the right direction. There was no tell tale frown of confusion nor any other signs that she was going the wrong way.

"The next rune," Raven indicated the rune on the far left, "is Wunjo, or joy, reversed. This is a representation of your past. It indicates a time of general contentedness followed by a time of alienation and sorrow. I believe this corresponds to the departure of your mother from your life. It was a traumatic event that triggered a period of isolation and depression."

Of course Raven wasn't saying anything that anyone would be able to figure out. The question said it all, obviously her mother had gone somewhere and obviously she cared about her mother's departure otherwise she woudln't have asked such a question. Blackwing continued staring from his perch. Ravens were, after all, omens of wisdom. He just added her her supernatural allure. Besides, he enjoyed being part of the show.

>>"I believe this corresponds to the departure of your mother from your life. It was a traumatic event that triggered a period of isolation and depression."

That was the thing about telling one's past - it was easy to guess. She didn't even need a rune to tell how his mother's disappearance affected him; but she pulled on anyway. It was as good as any.

Isolation and depression. You bet. Gawain shuddered as he remembered the first days he was left alone, and then the ones that followed, when he realized Mom was not coming back. It was not one of his favorite memories. Not at all.

"You could say that."

Anyhow, the raven girl managed to link his past to the rune of the present. And now, hopefully, they would move on to the future. That should be more interesting.