Lilivata Chapter Three

    Lila didn’t know what to say, she hadn’t planed beyond finding the fortune teller let alone explaining herself. The woman stood proud and tall, she was shorter then Lila but her mere presence made her seem a foot bigger, she had hard features out of which stared deep blue eyes, like dark water, knowledge moving beneath the surface like a current. Her fiery red hair hung in a long braid down her back, loose strands brushing her face and curling around her chin, she had the beauty of a powerful woman, strong, assured.

    The hem of her plain black dress swept the street as she moved toward Lila, her neck and wrists graced with colorful jewelry and pendants; she lightly placed a hand on Lila’s back and led her down the street. Lila simply moved, allowing herself to be led barely noticing where they were going, her mind was thronged with questions she couldn’t articulate.

    It seemed that scarcely a moment had passed before they found themselves just outside of town, a dark shop stood before them. As the woman unlocked the door Lila realized what had been striking her as odd, she couldn’t sense the woman as she could other people, she couldn’t hear the rushing of her blood or sounds of her heart.

    The fortune teller lit a lantern by the door and the shadows sprang away, a soft glow lay on the worn hardwood floor, a multicolored braided rug encompassed most of the room, plush chairs and pillows sat by the fire place at the back wall. She placed the lantern on the mantle, gesturing for Lila to sit as she swept out of the room. 

    Lila perched on the edge of a chair, staring at the weakly glowing embers of the long dead fire, giving off a feeble red light that didn’t expand past their soft ashy shells. She wanted to reach out and touch them, bring them back to life, make them spring into lively fire, that would warm and fill the room with radiance.

    Just as she was about to reach up, the fortune teller swept back into the room, placing two steaming cups on the table, a glass jar of sugar and cream with long spoons next to them. “Drink child, you look as if you could use it” she picked up her own cup, slowly adding a splash of cream and half a tea spoon of sugar.

    She let silence hang in the air, Lila knew the woman wouldn’t speak till she followed her orders, so she proceeded to stir her own tea, the clank of the spoon hitting the side of the cup magnified a hundred times in the heavy silence.