[SE] Circle sewn by fate

There were deliveries to make in the Grounds, and Alys had her clients there, so the Peregrine continued her circle around the regions of Caido, passing through Stormbreak and over King's End (with a brief stop to plant some flowers and bushes at their home) before docking at the skyport in Jack Tar's Landing.

Business came first for them both; Tal was eager to offload the heavy boxes from the Peregrine's small hold and get them to their destinations, and he knew that Alys would want to check in with those smart people who sought her advice and divinations. The first couple of days were spent dealing with those things that couldn't wait, but eventually they were able to take some time to themselves.

And when Tal found out that Alys had never been the to Glade, he had to go fill a basket of picnic foods and a blanket. Boreal helped, of course, so eventually all four of them were crossing the bridges that connected the disparate islands of the Grounds these days until the full glory of the Glade in Leafchange came into view. The trees were just beginning to be touched by color but already hints of crimson, orange, and gold could be seen amidst the green and the weather still held the lingering warmth of Longheat in the afternoon.

The blanket softened the grass and the food soothed the not-so-savage beasts as well as their human companions. Eventually the remains of the meal were tidied away and Tal flopped onto his back in a puddle of sunshine that had managed to worm its way through the foliage, grinning up at Alys as he rested his head on his clasped hands. "So I didn't get a chance t'ask earlier, but how did your readin's for folks go?"

There was plenty to do, but there was also plenty of time to spend together. Even after all this time, it felt like a luxury. Alys had never had the sort of easy love that she shared with Tal, and sometimes, with all that was going on in the world, it felt like she might be just a hair's breadth away from losing it. From losing him. But these days, when they could take a step away from all that and just enjoy each other and the beauty of Caido - well, they made all of her fears fade away. At least for a little while.

And the Glade in Leafchange was indeed just as lovely as Tal had promised. Alys had followed her partner to their picnic spot as she stared around in wonder at the reds and oranges and yellows that set the trees around them aflame, turning little circles every now and then as though to take it all in even more completely. She could see the tarot deck she would design in her mind's eye: a study of autumn, and all of the colors and depth and vibrancy therein.

It wasn't until they had settled on their blanket with their companions and their food that Alys turned her attention fully to the courier, and they chatted about this and that as they ate their lunch. Finally, both sated and ready to relax under the Leafchange sun, Alys joined Tal in laying back under the fiery trees, close enough that her body brushed against his, but far enough that she could turn her head to talk easily with him while meeting his eyes.

"It was a mixed bag today," she admitted. "Some people still want answers I can't give, but most of my longtime clients know better, so they just wanted a general overview of the season. It was - nice, actually. For the most part, anyway." Most people had been given tidings of good fortune, or some kind of insight that would lead them down happy paths, should they choose to take the advice Alys offered. "How were your deliveries? Did you track down - oh, what's his name? The hermit in the woods?" She had no doubt that Tal could find even the most reclusive of souls, but it never hurt to check.

Alys

Boreal had wandered off to paddle around in the Oasis - the dragon seemed to love water almost as much as Tal distrusted it - so they were thankfully spared from her antics as they settled in comfortably together. It was very, very tempting to free an arm and reach out to tug Alys close so she could rest her head on his shoulder... but it would be a lot harder to talk comfortably that way, too, so Tal reluctantly resisted the impulse for the moment. Maybe if they decided to take a nap later he could get some quality cuddling time in?

But he really did want to hear about her work the last couple of days, and he turned his head to watch her profile as she talked, a little affectionate smile playing on his lips at hearing the good news that things had gone well. Though the mention of that damned hermit...

"Ugh, that old coot!" Tal grumped, smile falling away as he heaved a theatrically put-upon sigh. "I swear he's deliberately tryin' t'hide from me, specifically! I had a hailuva time trackin' him - literally! - down this time, an' it took Boreal t'do it. An' then when she finally found 'im he jumped out from behind a tree an' laughed at me!" Oh, that crazy old Maurice. Tal snorted and then rolled onto his side so he could watch Alys without getting a crick in his neck, his smile quirking back up in spite of his attempts to maintain a straight face. "Maybe I should get you t'do a readin' for me on where t'find 'im next time," he teased her. He knew by now that her divinations didn't work like that, of course, so he was just being silly. He reached over to catch a curled tress, rubbing it idly between his thumb and finger as they talked.

Alys lay on her back, her knees tucked together and turned to one side so that they brushed against Tal, giving them at least one point of contact while they talked. Her wild curls framed her face, which she turned to face him, laughing aloud as Tal complained about Maurice, eyes dancing with amusement. It wasn't that she was laughing at Tal, exactly, but the situation was rather funny when one stopped to think about it. "Oh, a reading wouldn't help you," she said seriously, though her eyes danced with mischief. "We'd have to turn to bone casting if you wanted him tracked down." Did Alys practice bone casting? Not really. Was it funny to her to think of helping Tal complete a delivery using the art? Yes.

"Maybe he likes playing games," she teased. "Maybe he's Ludo in disguise." If her comment about bone casting hadn't given Tal pause, she was sure that mention of Ludo would. She knew he had worked with the herald, but the tasks that it tended to give him were designed to sting a bit.

Sascha lounged nearby, one eye on the humans and the other on the dragon enjoying the water. Alys reached out a hand and lay it on her companion's back, offering comfort, not wanting her bonded to feel left out. The sun was bright and warm overhead, even if there was a faint nip in the air as the season changed. And laying here with Tal was so relaxing; she felt as though she could curl up and take a nap. As he played idly with an errant curl, she added with a playful wink, "You know if you ever do want a reading, all you have to do is ask. I won't even charge you - much."

Alys

He barely felt the nip in the air. Alys's nearness and her laughter was enough to warm the courier - and it was such a ridiculously sappy thought that he wrinkled his nose even as he grinned, ruefully wondering how badly Sah would tease him for admitting it. He wouldn't trade that feeling for the world, however, even when his partner teased him just as mercilessly as his best frenemy! The wrinkle stayed in his nose at the mention of 'bone casting;' he knew it wasn't Alys's style, but it was Ludo's, and he was taking a break from the raggedy herald for a bit!

...Not that it was doing him as much good as he'd hoped, since Safrin was putting a bit of a sting in his latest quest for her, too. "Yeah, well, if all he wants t'do is play hide an' seek, I guess I wouldn't mind that as much," he grumbled good-naturedly along with Alys's mischief. It was impossible to maintain his front of offended pride as she gave him a wink that softened the grumpiness right out of him and brought his smile back a few heartbeats later.

"It's been awhile," he admitted. "An' I've been savin' up, so I can probably afford one now. Maybe y'can give me some advice on what t'do this season? Where I should be focusin' my energy? Or should I have y'read my love life?" he teased back, grin widening as he brought the curl he'd captured to his lips, pressing an absent kiss to it for luck.

Alys sat up suddenly, offense flashing across her face. "You know I won't let you pay," she protested, leaning back on one hand as she glared at her partner. It was a loving glare, but he should certainly know by now that the only payment she would accept from him would be his continued affection!

But she couldn't maintain it for long, and she softened quickly at his teasing. "I'd say your love life is going strong," she informed him with a smile. "But where to focus your energy this season... that, I can do." She didn't say how pleased she was with his phrasing. He really had been paying attention to what she could and couldn't do with the tarot.

She was sure he saw her happiness anyway.

She reached for her pack and pulled out a few decks for him to choose from. One - her personal favorite - had a sort of dark fairytale look to it. The other was lighter, with gilding decorating the cards. She showed him both, placing them within easy reach. "Which deck calls to you? You can look through them, if you want." She might as well have offered to strip naked; that was how intimately she had to trust him to allow him to simply rifle through her decks.

Alys

Tal wasn't sure what made her move so fast, and he pushed up onto one elbow after her in alarm before she even spoke. The realization of what she'd taken from his words had his eyes widening, and his free hand reaching up to rub the back of his neck as a grimace came over his face. "Aw, hail, Alys, I'm sorry. I was only teasin' you, promise! I know y'wouldn't. I was tryna make a joke about payin' in kisses but..." He shrugged awkwardly, ears and cheeks turning dusky with heat. "Took too long settin' it up." Timing wasn't one of his strongest suits, and he looked up at his partner with contrition on his honest face.

Luckily his girlfriend was probably the most patient and forgiving person on all Caido, and as she smiled at him Tal's hangdog expression lightened in response. Relief flashed across his face at the reassurance that his love life was still intact, but it was her pleasure at being asked to do a proper reading that softened his gaze. He sat up and cleared away a space for the reading on the picnic blanket, making sure it was clean and dry before he glanced at the offered decks. In spite of her offer of two decks there was no hesitation in his choice as he reached for the darker of the two. Even if it hadn't appealed to him, personally - and it did, very much so - he knew it was her favorite. "This one," he said confidently, his fingers brushing the back of the cards gently, adoring gaze never leaving her face.

Alys hadn't meant her offense to be quite so sharp, and she softened quickly, reaching out to grasp Tal's hand with a squeeze. "Sorry," she murmured, a blush creeping across her cheeks at her outburst. She reached up to touch his face, tugging him gently closer as she pressed a kiss to the other cheek in apology. Resting her forehead against his for a moment, she smiled into his eyes. "Payment in kisses would be fair. I just - I would do anything for you. You never owe me anything." It wasn't the most eloquent way to explain, but it was something. It felt important in a way she couldn't entirely describe: that they were equals, and what was hers was also his, and that that extended to any talents she possessed.

Setting up for the reading was quick and simple, with a space cleared for the deck that Tal had chosen - the darker of the two, which didn't surprise Alys in the least. She put the lighter deck back in the little silk pouch she kept it in, setting it aside before beginning to shuffle the chosen deck. She riffled the deck a few times, then overhand shuffled, continuing in this manner until it just felt right; then she cut the deck, set it down, and drew the first card.

The selected card depicted a man sitting alone beneath a tree, three cups on the ground before him. A fourth cup floated in the air, held out by a disembodied hand. "The four of cups," she said, her voice soft, but confident. "Contemplation and introspection. Sometimes, this card can indicate a moment of stagnation or dissatisfaction." For a moment, Alys felt a pang of worry. Was there something in their lives that Tal was unhappy with? Perhaps the reading was pointing to her as a source of something negative for Tal. Still, she continued on, doing her best to drive out the unwanted thoughts. This was the problem with reading for someone she loved; she couldn't help but consider the possibility that the cards were pointing to her. "This card invites us to look inward, to shift our perspective, and embrace the gifts that are already present rather than focusing too much on what has been or will be."

Then she paused, glancing at Tal from under her lashes, as she waited for any feedback before reached for the next card.

Alys

"S'alright," Tal murmured, his expression softening with relief as Alys reached for his hand to reassure him. She would find him very willing to be tugged, happily closing the distance for the kiss and then turning his head so they could rest their brows together. "Alys, I owe you everythin'," he whispered fervently. As disagreements went he hoped she could forgive him, but he'd never been so happy or so confident in himself as he was when he was with her. She had softened his rough edges and given him a reason to trust people again, and he wasn't about to forget that.

But now that she'd brought it up, he was genuinely curious to receive a reading. He hadn't asked for one in a long time, and with Leafchange upon them and the seasons changing once again it felt like the right time for one. He watched her shuffle, enchanted as always by the deft magic of her hands on the deck, and it was an effort to tear his gaze away from her to look down at the card that was revealed. He frowned, brow furrowing in thought as he studied the image. It wasn't one she'd drawn for him before, and he had to listen closely to her description and explanation of it.

He was oblivious to her worries about their relationship as he bit his lip and reached out to brush his fingers lightly over the card, his own attention turning inward as he tried on her words for size and tried to make them fit. "Could be," he finally agreed, his words slow and a little uncertain. "I love our home in King's End... but... I miss my family an' friends in Halo, y'know? Movin' t'King's End was for several reasons, but... it's never really taken off there th'way I hoped it would. I dunno whether t'keep stickin' it out or t'move back home or... what," he admitted, the words pulled with reluctance and a little dismay from his tongue as he finally let himself think clearly about the restlessness that he'd been feeling above and beyond his work in recent seasons.

He looked up at his partner then, searching her face for a reaction, an answer... some hint of what she felt at his confession.

Tal reached out to touch the four of cups, and Alys watched as patiently as she knew how as he considered her words. When he spoke, it was slow and unsure, and he looked at her, searching for something in her face. She cocked her head to one side thoughtfully. She had been happy in Halo; that much was true. She still had a small shop there, manned by an attendant who she trusted to be able to keep things going in her absence. It wasn't unlike her shop in King's End - although the latter was attached to the home that she and Tal had built together, and therefore held infinitely more importance to her.

But she had to admit - there wasn't much aside from Tal and their home to keep her in King's End, as evidenced by her travels with him over the past seasons. In truth, home for her was wherever Tal was. If he wanted to move to the Cordillera, she might advise against it based on the dragons, but in the end, she'd follow him all the same.

"Halo was the first place I went after I left the Grounds, and the first place to really feel like home," she said slowly. "But now, home is wherever you are. If you miss Halo... we can always go back. Or we could have a home in both places. I love the house we built, but that's not to say we couldn't built another. I think... I think it depends on where you want to keep going back to. Where it is that calls to your soul."

Alys

He didn't know what he wanted to hear from her, or if he wanted to hear anything specific except for her true feelings. Somehow, though, Alys always found just the right words to reassure him, and Tal's quietly anxious expression eased, relaxing into relief as she echoed his feelings on Halo. And more than Halo, as she continued. The heat rose to his ears and neck first, darkening his brown skin and giving it a pinkish tinge that soon spread to his cheeks. He reached across the card that lay between them to catch her fingers and squeeze them gently, not trusting himself with words for a few seconds after she finished.

"You're my home, too," he assured her, voice gruff but warm. His gaze on her face was filled with love and no small wonder that she loved him back. "An' I think... I think this is somethin' we should figure out t'gether. Doesn't have t'be right now, but now that it's out... yeah." He ducked his head, rubbing his thumb distractedly over her knuckles in a subconscious caress as he basked in her words. After a little while he raised his head, coming to one decision with an earnestness that filled his pale grey-green gaze as he sought her own. "I do know for sure, though, that I don't want t'just abandon our house in King's End. We've worked too hard on it, an' it's got too many good memories o' us t'just walk away from it now." They were finally getting the landscaping and gardens in, after all! He couldn't let all the new flowers and bushes go to waste and run wild!

Alys smiled at the blush that crept into Tal's cheeks, her gaze filled with adoration, squeezing his hand back as he gathered his thoughts. It still amazed her that they had found one another, out of all the people in Caido, and that somehow, against all odds, Tal had fallen for her. Before him, she'd been adrift, but now that they were a pair, she felt anchored in a way that she never had before.

"We can work it out together," she agreed. There was no rush, after all, especially not now that they traveled together the majority of the time anyway. She loved going home to King's End, but she'd love going home to Halo, too, if it meant that she got to be with Tal. Still, she was glad to hear that he didn't want to abandon the home they'd already built. They'd put so much work into it, and it would be a shame to desert it now. "Just like everything else."

And with that - assuming that Tal was ready to move on with the reading - Alys twisted the hand Tal held to intertwine her fingers with his, using her free hand instead to draw the next card. When she saw what it was, she could have laughed: it fit so well with the first that she couldn't have planned it any better if she'd tried. "The ten of swords," she said, showing him the card, which showed a man lying on the ground with ten swords stabbed through his back. "It looks a lot darker than it is," she explained. "It suggests an ending of some kind, and encourages us to move on from negative thoughts and feelings associated with it into a place of peace and resilience."

Alys

It was getting easier with practice to believe that he wasn't dreaming when Alys looked at him like that, soft and loving and accepting of what he was - flaws and all. Tal curled his fingers more securely around hers at the squeeze, his smile brightening at her support and agreement. "Together," he repeated, savoring the word and finding it tasted even better the second time.

He leaned forward so they could sit with their fingers twined more comfortably and peered down at the next card as it was revealed. Some of his trepidation at the art must have shown in his face because she hurried to reassure him and he relaxed almost as quickly as he'd tensed up. "...Huh. Well, as long as that place isn't as dead as that poor guy looks then... yeah." He grinned sheepishly at his beautiful partner and ducked his head back down to study the art that she'd painstakingly drawn. "Maybe... it is time t'think about returnin' t'Halo," he mused. "Leastwise part o' th'year. I dunno that I'll ever get along with th'wardens but... hail, we've gotten pretty good at avoidin' an' ignorin' each other." He shrugged uncomfortably, but he wasn't as tense as the topic usually made him. "Maybe I need t'stop worryin' about 'em an' just... get on with my life." He looked back up at his partner ruefully, knowing it was easier said than done, but with her help maybe it was possible.

"Next?"

There were some cards in the tarot that people assumed the worst of: Death, for example, or the Tower. The ten of swords was one such card, its traditional artwork particularly macabre. Fortunately, there was usually a more positive spin to the cards than the images might suggest. Alys was a seer who tended to focus on the more uplifting notes, believing strongly that one's interpretation and actions were more important than any fated decree.

She grinned at her partner's response. "Even Death can be seen positively in the tarot," she reminded him. "It's usually a sign of rebirth and metamorphosis." Then she paused, considering the options that lay before them when it came to Halo. It was well established between the two of them that Tal didn't particularly see eye to eye with the Wardens, but Alys considered both Deimos and Evie to be good friends. She supposed they were fortunate, really, that each of them were willing to accept the opinions of the other without trying to sway them to the other side. As much as she wished that they would all get along, she also wasn't going to try and force her partner into another perspective.

"I think it would be possible to peacefully coexist," she ventured after a moment. "And we both have other people in Halo who would welcome us back with open arms. Perhaps it's worth considering. Maybe we could spend warmer seasons in Halo, and colder ones in King's End. We did just get done with planting the Leafchange flowers, so if we just kept the garden prepped for that time of year..." She shrugged. It was one idea, anyway.

With that consideration offered, Alys reached for the final card. "The eight of wands," she said, unable to help the smile that appeared on her face. It was just too perfect, given their topic of conversation thus far. The image itself was of eight rods flying through the air - a bit difficult to interpret, if one wasn't familiar with the cards. "Travel, movement, and changes. Given the rest of the reading and the topics at hand... I'd say this one is fairly self-explanatory," she added with a laugh. "But for the sake of the reading, this is a card of action, urging you to be proactive in facing change. It often symbolizes the arrival of exciting opportunities and the energy to face them."

Alys