Granny lays out the cards for Morgan and Fay

"Come in, Morgan and Fay," Granny Threadneedle says.

Granny Threadneedle's cottage is thick with the fumes of incense. You recognize bitter myrrh, fragrant sage, and thick, cloying hemp. She stirs an iron pot hanging from a hook atop a firebowl from which curls of smoke rise toward the ceiling. You suppose "Granny" is a term of affection from the villagers of Turnbuckle, or maybe a title like "Professor" or "Master" might be at the Academy, since she seems of no great age. Tall, dark-haired, broad-shouldered, she looks like she could be a witch from your own rural village.

Except that Granny Threadneedle radiates power, both of personality and of magic, that you never saw, growing up.

"Sit, rest, breathe deeply," she instructs, fixing Fay's eyes and yours until you comply. "That's good. We must be in the proper frame of mind for a divination."

After a few minutes' quiet sitting, Fay raises her head and clears her throat.

"Now, now, missy," Granny Threadneedle says. "Not yet."

A few minutes more pass. The firebowl crackles under the little iron pot. Fay shifts her feet restlessly.

You're feeling lightheaded, with a bitter taste on the back of your tongue, by the time Granny Threadneedle raises her head and speaks again.

"So, Morgan. So, Fay," she says. "You are here with a question you don't trust to ask your seniors in the academy." She tilts her chin up and looks down her long face at you. "I don't suppose it's one of the usual questions? You're not at cross-purposes in love?" Fay shifts in her chair.

"No," you tell Granny Threadneedle. You hope not. Not your question anyway.

"You're not with child, or fearing so?" Granny Threadneedle says.

"No," you and Fay say together.

"What is your question?" she asks.

Fay blurts out, "Will Morgan still love me?"

You look round in alarm. There are tears on Fay's round white face.

"Oh, Fay, of course!" you protest.

"All these changes," Fay says.

Granny Threadneedle leans forward, tilts up Fay's chin with one finger, and kisses her. Fay's breath hisses in and out through her nostrils at the speed of panic. Granny Threadneedle holds the kiss until Fay's breathing slows down and evens out. Granny Threadneedle leans back.

"That's better, dear," Granny Threadneedle says. "Let go your fears. Breathe them out. Be open to the strands of possibility. For you are stronger than you know, and that strength is inside, waiting for you to call on it." She looks up, following the curls of smoke rising from the firebowl. "And don't think I don't know how you feel."

Fay lets her mouth fall open. She opens her eyes wide and blinks at Granny Threadneedle.

"Morgan, why are you here?" Granny Threadneedle asks.

"I'm a third-year at the Academy," you say. "Just changed Houses from Minerval to Leontes. It's time to pick a concentration. And, well, everyone I could ask at Boarbristle is too close to the question."

Granny's eyes narrow. "You mean you're fucking all of them?" she says.

Your face flushes hot. The Warden. Miss Wormwood. Yes. And of course you'd never go to Whiplash for a divination.

"S-sort of?" you squeak out. "Not all."

Granny fixes her gaze on yours and lets out a laugh, loud and deep until you're laughing too, until you're laughing until tears stream from your eyes.

"Not all, but enough," Granny says. "Dear, dear girl. Sounds like the Academy, alright."

Fay shifts her feet again. In the close heat of the cottage, you catch her scent rising among the incense in the air. Fay's heat is quick to rise, and you know her scent well. Granny's kiss must have lit her fires. You feel moisture between your own legs in answer.

Granny feeds the firebowl. There's another stretch of silence.

"Well, let's to the cards, ladies," Granny says.

Granny rises, pushes back her chair, and pulls over a table between you. She drapes it with a purple cloth and lays a silk-wrapped packet atop. She tugs at the knot, revealing a stack of well-used cards.

"Scoot your chairs up," Granny says.

You and Fay scoot up close to the table. Your thighs press together as you fit yourselves next to each other along one side of the little wooden table.

"Since you've come together," Granny says. You feel Fay's leg tremble against yours. "We'll read for you together." She narrows her eyes and looks at each of you, letting out a little snort from her nose. "Page of Coins," she says to Fay. "Page of Swords," she says to you. She pulls those cards and lays them side by side in the center of the table.

Granny shuffles the rest of the cards, looking distant and thoughtful by turns, then cuts them into three face-down piles on your side of the table. "Stack them up, and each of you hold them until you feel them get warm."

You stack up the piles in a different order than they started. Fay wraps your hands around yours as you hold them. Granny Threadneedle snorts but doesn't object. The cards eventually grow warm in your hands, and you can feel a tingle up your arms and back up to the root of your tongue.

"Alright," you say. Fay removes her hands, and you hand the cards back to Granny.

"Cover," Granny says, laying down the Queen of Wands over the top of the Page cards representing you and Fay. "She's pushing you, eh?"
The Warden, Barbara Torch.

"Crossing," Granny says, dealing out the Seven of Cups. "Poor dears, all in a muddle."

"Basis," Granny says, laying down a card below the four cards in the middle. The Page of Wands, reversed. "Heh," she adds. "It's a lot of work sharing a girlfriend, isn't it? Fraught?"
Golondrina, your Dragonfolk paramour.
Fay shifts uneasily beside you.

"Behind you," Granny says, laying out the King of Swords reversed to the left side of the cards signifying you and Fay. "Gave you some grief leaving Minerval, eh?"
Whiplash.

"Within reach," Granny says, dealing the King of Coins above the center. "People, people, so many people. But he means you no harm, and he could help."
Master Elbegast. Or maybe the Tutor, Preston Sharper, who thinks you should be dueling.

"Facing you now," Granny says, laying down the High Priestess, completing a cross of cards around the center. "Well, I must say I'm flattered," she adds. "Cards are saying you've come to the right place for advice. Maybe not practical, tactical advice, but well, you'd know better once you know where your hearts are."

"Now then," Granny says. "Bad thoughts." She starts a column to the side of the cross. It's the Eight of Swords, reversed. She frowns. "Well, there they are all right. Bad thoughts. Excuses and casting blame. Don't. Next?"

"Gossip. Helpers and hinderers," she says, adding another card to the column. Temperance, reversed. "You've been carrying on enough to get people talking. Maybe some discretion would be helpful. Or at least the appearance."
Your face feels warm again. You flash on the Warden's sex, her pearl hot and swollen under your tongue.

"Highest hopes," Granny says. Third in the column is The Magician. She raises her head and looks in your eyes, then Fay's, sighs and looks down at the table.

"Outcome," she says. It's The Lovers. "Decisions, decisions. Well. If you want to stay together," she says, looking at Fay. "The both of you should make the decision together. Maybe the three of you." She points at the King of Coins. "This looks like the easy one." She points at The Magician. "But if you want this," she says. "You have to face that." The Lovers. "You may have to leave something behind, or pay a price. It's better to do that on purpose. Hm, hm, hmm. The cards say it's still in your hands, and that the decision depends on knowing what you really want."

Your heart lifts. You have a feeling now. "Fay, I think I have it," you say.

"What to do?" she says.

"Depends on a couple of things. Are you alright with Warden letching on us? And should I push hard or play it safe?"

You have +2 Ambition, +0 Bravery, +2 Cunning, +0 Diligence.
You know the Forbidden Spell TRANSFORM and the spell MORPHO PHALLUS.
Your FRIENDs are Fay and Barbara Torch, the Warden of House Leontes; the Warden owes you a FAVOR.

Resolve your GOAL for choosing a magical specialty, choosing one of the results for 7-9, for example:

• Apologize to Master Elbegast. Choose enchantment and conjuration. Gain +1 XP. Master Elbegast is a stickler and a task-master. He is now your HANGER-ON. Take a GOAL from him. Spend 5 XP to gain Golondrina as a FRIEND with a FAVOR. Spend the Warden's FAVOR for a celebratory orgy in her cloud-castle or elsewhere.
• Spend the Warden's FAVOR to set things up with the Tutor, Preston Sharper, to practice dueling, dismissal, and banishing with the first-years. Gain +1 XP. Spend 5 XP to gain +1 Bravery and get better settled in Leontes. Take a goal vs. DILIGENCE from the Tutor.
• Give up your GOAL of a specialty to stay closer to Fay and Golondrina. Spend 5 XP to gain Golondrina as a FRIEND with a FAVOR, and roll +AMBITION(+2) to GET OUT OF TROUBLE with the Warden.
• Study potions and divinations with Granny Threadneedle. Gain +1 XP. Gain Granny as a HANGER-ON. She is as much a lecher and a meddler as Barbara Torch or Miss Wormwood. Treat Granny as a member of House Minerval (+CUNNING) for the sake of rolling ENCOUNTERS. Spend 5 XP to gain Golondrina as a FRIEND with a FAVOR, and take on a GOAL from Granny.

Comments welcome if you'd like to steer Morgan and Fay's choice a particular direction, or if you have another idea! - Z.