fortune telling 101

Ever since they had arrived at the shrine, Calamity had been inspired. The balls that Obi had given them to craft their symbols had been on her mind more than ever. Now that she had perfected her sigil, Cala yearned to create a new set of polished dirt-and-stone balls. She'd been ruminating on ways to contact spirits from the other side and thought that perhaps, if they wouldn't speak to her, they might be able to communicate through the world around her. The shrine's enchanting pool had finally struck the final chord of inspiration she'd been looking for.

With careful ministrations, as if she was attending to a newborn, Calamity began to collect the damp soil and mud from the edges of the pond and place them in a pile some ways away. It was messy work. Her toes were covered in algae and she squelched as she walked. The princess wrinkled her nose, but she hoped it would all be worth it. Once she had amassed enough mud, she separated it into six equal piles. Since she'd encountered her father in the spiritual plane she had been ferreting away items that spoke to her. Among her collection was several chunks of raw minerals (jade, fool's gold, quartz), a snake skull, a mouse skull, a particularly vibrantly red cardinal feather, the beak of a dove, and the small, shriveled heart of a skunk. She stared at the objects long and hard before making her selections.

Into the center of the first pile she placed a piece of jade. Into the second went the snake skull. Into the third went the dove's beak. Into the fourth went the quartz. Into the fifth went the feather, folded so that it would fit. As she stared at the final pile, Calamity brought out something she had been holding on to for a long time: the small point of one of her antlers that she had shed last fall. With a note of finality, she placed this piece of herself into the sixth section of mud. Methodically, she began to form each section into a round ball. Once she was satisfied with their shape, Cala decided to take a break and lay down next to her creation. They would take a long time to dry and before it was over she would have to carve the necessary symbols.