Mathilda, the proprietor of the Gilded Rosehips Tea Shop was a woman of indeterminate age, which meant she could be mid-thirties or mid-sixties.
It was hard to tell since she had so much glamour magic layered on.
She had rose gold hair that smelled of roses and an elegant face with skin that was parchment thin and just as pale. Her eyes were a bright violet, akin to the color of asters and her full lips were a pale delicate pink.
Mathilda stood behind the counter mixing up another batch of tea and handed it over to the young waiter patiently standing by.
"Keep an eye on the women upstairs Tarot," she reminded him.
"Yes, Ma'am." The thirteen-year old boy gave a bright grin and took off up the stairs with the tea pot, his frilly mauve pink shirt bouncing with each step.
As he left, the woman's eyes turned to the stuffed cat that was lying on the table nearby.
She readjusted his stuffed ears and tuned back in to the conversation between the two women who were seated by the window.
"I'm telling you, Ingrid, I have no doubt that my Evelyn is the Coven Maiden." Sonia huffed.
"I'm not convinced Sonia." Ingrid took a sip of her now cold tea. "You may wish that the prophecy is of your daughter, but there is no way to determine that Evelyn is the Coven Maiden."
Sonia Larabee touched Ingrid's hand.
"Listen to me, Ingrid. I'm the only seer that's left in the group. Since we can see Cedric so clearly in the water vessel, there is no other Coven Maiden that he knows except for Evelyn. This is purely deductive reasoning."
"Might I remind you that your 'seeing' abilities are notorious for being very very wrong." Ingrid retorted wryly. "The two real seers in our group have left a long time ago and they have not returned."
"Well, I'm all we've got, and I'm doing my best."
Sonia stood up. "Look Ingrid. I have no time to be debating this silliness with you. I have to get back and make sure my husband does what needs to be done to get Evelyn safely married off to the Golden Child."
Ingrid sighed and put down her cup.
"I will also go and talk to Cyrus. I'm sure between the two of us, we can get Cedric to do what needs to be done so that the prophecy can be fulfilled."
"You do that. Understand that the prophecy is much bigger than any of us. It must be fulfilled or we will face harrowing times ahead!" Sonia muttered as she picked up her silk bag.
The two women left the Gilded Rosehips Tea Shop and got into their separate carriages, each going in different directions.
Mathilda narrowed her eyes and gave a whistle.
Instantly, the stuffed dead cat sprang to life, jumping off the crochet table and sprinting towards her. He leaped up onto the counter and began rubbing his chin on her hand, his yellow eyes with their long black slits gleamed with contentment.
"Thank you for lending me your ears, Mojo." She reached out and scratched his head.
Mojo purred and jumped onto her shoulders, winding his body around her neck like a fur stole.
"I feel like having a nice hot cup of tea." She murmured to Mojo, absently rubbing his head. "Hmm. Let's see. What tea should I drink?"
She reached out and took a specialty tea that she had stashed behind the more popular teas and began making a pot for herself.
Once the pot was done, she took a dish pan, filled it partly with water and turned to Taro who was picking up the teaware from the table that had just been vacated by the two women.
"Tarot, watch the Tea Shop for me for a bit. I am going to the back and have a cup of tea."
"Yes Ma'am." He smiled as he brought the tray full of teaware behind the counter to be washed.
The back of the tea shop was a small kitchen area with a wooden table and a couple of chairs. Mathilda placed the dish pan onto the table and sat down with her tea.
She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and drank a bit of the bitter tea to give her body a chance to relax. She hadn't done this type of hydromancy in awhile and needed to get back into the zone.
Once Mathilda felt ready, she began muttering a short incantation into the dish pan.
At first the water was still and reflected nothing back at her but her own reflection.
Mathilda took a deep breath and closed her eyes, calling out again, to the water's shallow depths.
"Well, well, if it isn't Mattie." A cheerful happy voice sounded out from the dish pan. "Have you lost your touch so much that you can't even do a basic water scrying without having to go into a semi trance?"
"There's no need to be so sarcastic Lulu," Mathilda opened her eyes and clicked her tongue.
"I don't want to waste your time as I know you are a very busy witch, but I do need to tell you that Sonia and Ingrid have figured out that it's Cedric and not Cecil."
"Oh? How did they figure that? Hasn't Ingrid been insisting for the last five years that the Golden Child absolutely had to be her son, no doubt about it?"
Mathilda laughed. "Well, as you are aware, the closer it gets to the actual point in time when the events occur, the visions get clearer and clearer as the events are firmed up and finalized."
"Yes. And?" Lulu prompted.
"The vision finally got clear enough for them to see the color of the Golden Child's eyes."
"Oh hahaha!" Lulu laughed. "How funny is that. We'd always known the Golden Child had golden eyes."
Mathilda pursed her lips. "How did you know?"
Lulu clicked her tongue.
"Tch tch. Don't you remember? It's not just the visions that we rely on, it's also the prophecy."
Mathilda narrowed her eyes. "I don't remember the prophesy having anything to do with gold eyes…"
Lulu began cackling. "That's because Ingrid tried to subvert the prophesy. She was one of the first ones to see it as it was being prophesied."
"Oh? How did she subvert it?"
"When her son was born with green eyes, she took out the two lines that identified the Golden Child as golden-eyed."
Mathilda laughed. "Is she stupid? Did she actually think she could just remove lines from a prophesy and manually divert the prophecy so that it reflects what she wishes?"
"Apparently so."
"What were the four lines, do you remember?"
Lulu's eyes crinkled. "I do. I have the original prophesy, completely as it was transferred to Sib."
She cleared her throat. "The four lines are as follows."
"The Golden Child, with golden eyes
Will sacrifice the coven bride
To rise above, and reunite
The bat, the beast, the dragonkind"
"Wait wait." Mathilda waved a hand in alarm. "I don't remember reading anything about a sacrificial coven bride."
Lulu snorted. "That's because we have another idiot who thinks she can just remove pieces of the prophesy and it will invalidate what is to come."
"What do you mean?"
Lulu sighed. "Remember. Sib was the one who received the prophesy. At that time, she had just given birth, don't you remember?"
"Yes. It was a girl."
"That's right. She figured if she took out the part about the sacrificial coven bride, her daughter would be safe."
"Heavens sakes…" So the prophesy that we've been looking at all these years have been missing four full lines."
"Yes."
Mathilda sighed. "If I come across anything else of importance, I'll call you again."
Lulu smiled and nodded.
With a wave of her hand, she disturbed the water and broke the surface tension.
As Lulu sat back, her eyes hardened.
Ingrid and Sibyl weren't the only ones who had taken out verses of the prophesy in hopes they could avert or subvert the prophesy.
She had also done the same.
Lulu narrowed her eyes as the missing lines came into her mind.
'When toil and strife and pain abound
The thorny blighted sacred ground
The Golden Child, with golden eyes
Will sacrifice the coven bride
To rise above, and reunite
The bat, the beast, the dragonkind.'
She had been the first to remove something from the prophecy and it had to do with the toil and strife and thorny blighted ground.
She had also thought that if she took it out, perhaps the world would know no toil and strife and pain and blight.
It seems she was also the fool.