She lets Allyndra demonstrate

“Fine,” Liv said. She jerked the chair out roughly, hearing it’s feet squeak against the tiles below. A moment later, Emmaline had pulled her chair out as well and was sitting next to her, smiling.

“A demonstration, then,” Allyndra said. “Something quick. Do you have a coin?”

Liv nodded and reached for her pocket, then frowned when her hand rested on the bare skin of her thigh.

“You can thank me after,” Emmaline said, then she pulled a bag out from under her seat and fished through it until she had found a small golden coin, which she handed to Liv.

Allyndra stared down at them from her seat, shuffling her cards. Once again, that faint silvery glow began to seep out past the corner of her lips, but this time it filtered down to surround the deck.

“You will flip the coin,” Allyndra said. “And when you do, it will land on…”

She drew a card, laying it on the table face up. On it was an image of a knight in silvery armor holding a coin in his hands. This time, it was a bit more difficult to focus on the card’s actual art as it was practically bathed in that silvery glow.

“... tails.”

Liv stared at her.

“Well, go on,” Emmaline urged her. And so she did.

A gentle toss saw the coin flipping through the air until it landed in Liv’s outstretched hand. She flipped it onto the back of her palm, then revealed.

“Tails,” Liv said.

“As I told you, so it came to be,” Allyndra spoke calmly.

“Sure, but--”

“But that’s too easy, right? It was your coin, I never touched it once, and you were even the one to flip and evaluate however you like,” Allyndra said. “But still, too easy.”

“A coin is even odds,” Liv said. “Half the time, you could’ve just guessed.”

“Come on, Liv,” Emmaline said.

“Then perhaps something more interesting?” Allyndra said, all but smirking. It set Liv on edge. “A more dramatic prediction, just for the two of you.”

Liv shrugged, but Emmaline was already leaning forward in her seat.

“Yes! Let’s do it!”

Liv had to wonder how much of her excitement was genuine and how much was just a calculation to piss her off. Either way, it was working.

Allyndra smiled, and silently began to wave her hands over the deck. She paused to snap her fingers and the lights began to dim.

“By the way--you accused me of greed and deceit,” Allyndra spoke. Her voice was soft yet somehow menacing, like a snake hidden in the shadows. “I never demanded a price from you. It is rude to make assumptions. I am not some common thief or beggar.”

“Sure,” Liv said. Her attention was more focused on the silvery enchantment that was continuing to flow out from Allyndra’s lips and down onto the table where it spread out like a tablecloth, then began to swirl.

Those spiraling patterns appeared all throughout. It was like watching the oceanic atmosphere from high above, with countless currents swirling and dancing around one another, at once in utter chaos and perfect harmony. It was enchanting, entrancing, and utterly captivating.

This time, however, Allyndra didn’t snap her fingers. Rather, she reached into her sleeve and pulled out the wooden medallion she had been carrying when she entered and unfurled it so that it dangled on it’s string between her fingers.

“Your attention, please,” Allyndra spoke.

Like a puppet, Liv’s head was drawn up to look at the elven mistress and from the corner of her eye she could see Emmaline mimicking her movement in perfect harmony. Some voice in the back of her head called out in shock and terror, but it was quickly lost to the movement, drowned out by the siphoning, swirling spirals that danced before them.

In her hand, Allyndra held a thin woven cord. Bits of rope and reeds twisted around one another, beckoning downward lower and lower until Liv’s eyes came to rest on the medallion itself. While it looked like carved wood, something about it felt off, like it was carved too thin to hold together, or like the intricate swirling patterns etched into its surface shouldn’t have been possible even with the most gifted of craftsmanship. Like the table, it was spiraling, and not just the one but perhaps three, no four, no a dozen spirals? It was uncountable, as each time she tried to count one, Liv spotted another and another, always more appearing just out of focus, as if the wood itself was alive and churning.

Allyndra dangled it between her fingers, and it began to swing.

“You have insulted me,” she spoke. Liv barely registered her words. Her vision, her focus, her entire being was enveloped in the spiral. She spun about in it, whirling in trance, consumed by its bottomless trap. “You have insulted my craft and my people, and you have threatened my livelihood.”

Liv nodded unconsciously. Every word the woman spoke felt true. Beyond that, though, her voice felt somehow more grounded than the chair Liv sat upon, hyper real in a way that seemed to draw everything else out of focus. It stripped away everything, drowned out thought and sensation alike until Liv was barely even aware of her own body. Until it was only the spiral and Allyndra’s patient voice.

“I shall take reparation from you,” Allyndra said. “It’s only fair.”

“It’s only fair,” Liv heard herself repeating, distant. Beside her, Emmaline’s voice joined her in chorus.

“Not coin, but… Perhaps dignity? Reputation? Self importance?” Each word she spoke was like a pulse of divine truth that rang out through Liv’s body, until she was shuddering at every syllable. She could hear Emmaline moaning beside her, and it felt right, so she joined in. Lewd, low moans, needy noises that felt oh so brainless.

“Dumb whores,” Allyndra muttered. “But then again, those bodies… Maybe I deserve a more intimate apology.”