The tent was full of magic.
Draped in a light, almost transparent golden veil that covered her head and hid her face, revealing only a pair of dark, bright eyes and a small, upturned nose, Noa knelt squarely in the center of the tent.
Opposite her knelt a middle-aged lady with a black veil covering her face, Lorraine couldn't see the appearance and didn't need to see the appearance.
In the center of them stood a low ebony table, which was large and of golden proportions.
Twenty-two candles were placed at odd, irregular distances along the four edges, two brightly glittering, skeletonized short swords were set up horizontally along the short edges, and on the corners were four conch-shaped, water-filled crystal goblets, and nearer to Noya a dark purple crystal ball of destiny was set up in a tiny ball holder.
Purple tent, purple crystal ball, the tent no longer see other colors, the only bright yellow candle flame through a variety of refraction intersection in the crystal ball, through the hair halo, in the tent cast out or thick or light strange color spot, become the transition between purple and orange.
Lorraine respectfully handed the box to the Lady's hand and placed it on the ground, taking the opportunity to exchange a look with Noa before wordlessly retreating into the shadows of the tent, silent as a shadow.
Noa had a light smile on her face.
"Ma'am, please open the box and take out the large Arcana inside, with your plea to God to clean the silver plates on the table."
The Lady did as she was told, and took from the box a truly magnificent deck of tarot cards made of silver alloy and colored with ore pigments, twenty-two in all, the Great Arcana, as Noa called it.
She began to shuffle the cards, reverently breaking them all up and gathering them back together, laying them flat in the center of the table.
Noa reached out and stroked her hand over the cards, clearly not touching them, and the closed cards spread out like lupines.
The magical scene almost brought the lady to her knees.
Her breathing became heavy before she was about to ask a question, when Noa suddenly said, "Madam, meditate. I am but the mouthpiece of God, and to my Lord be all the glory."
The lady was calm at once.
She looked at Noa gratefully and asked softly, "Priestess, do I need to voice the questions in my mind?"
"You need only speak to the Lord. He will tell me the answer, right on the card you lift."
The lady became more reverent, and, trembling, selected three cards from them, and laid them flat on the table, upside down.
Noa swept them through the veil of her sleeve, and the three cards were turned up in order before the Lady, the Priestess, the Empress, and the Tower, all reversed.
Generally speaking, the reversed position represents error and denial, and the lady's face changed.
But Noa's voice was as soft as ever, calming.
She said, "It seems you are in a difficult situation, ma'am. Now take heart and tell the Lord what you think and expect and draw three more."
The lady took a deep breath, her outstretched hand trembling more and more.
She picked out three more, neatly listed below the original three, which Noa, as usual, lifted with her own sleeve veil in a gentle, occult quality, inscrutable and unguessable.
The Hermit and the Lover in the positive position, and the Pope in the negative position.
She smiled slightly, and with a flourish of her veiled hand retrieved the remaining cards into a pile, still suspended and organized, still not touching any of the decks.
The Lady knew the divination was over, and her breathing became ragged once more.
Noa watched her silently as she formed her hands into an embrace and began to caress the crystal ball of destiny in a peculiar rhythm.
The deep purple crystal ball in her hands bright and dark, haloed with psychedelic colors, the candles were extinguished one after another, and in a short while there were only six left, and on the candlesticks, respectively, in Roman numerals, were written [Ⅱ] [Ⅲ] [Ⅴ] [Ⅵ] [Ⅸ] and [ⅴ], which happened to be the serial numbers of the six cards.
Noa sighed wearily and said in a drifting, ethereal voice, "I see your questions and expectations, ma'am."
The Lady had been completely bowled over and bowed her noble head deeply before Noa, "Please guide me in the direction, Priestess."
"Your love is being challenged, it's changing, and your reason doesn't agree with the change, but there's something in your heart that can't find a solution."
"I wanted a child, but God took away my rights."
"Do not be anxious, ma'am, the Lord will close doors and open windows." Noa's voice drifted further and further away, "You need to reflect and ask the deepest part of your heart, even if it goes against tradition and your upbringing since childhood. A new relationship will take time to form, but it will also bring hope into your life."
"What shall I do, Priest?"
"You will have a healthy and intelligent child, who was conceived in your blood, but is now floating away down a branch of the river of blood. He is your child; do not let him slip from your hand; go and catch him."
"Go get him?"
The candle flame snapped out!
The remaining candle flames suddenly went out at the same time, and the dark tent became pitch black in a flash; Lorraine pulled back the heavy inner and outer enclosures at the first opportunity, and the light of heaven shone in, exposing everything to the light.
The cards on the table disappeared, both those drawn by the lady and those not drawn.
They were re-stacked and retrieved in the mahogany box, which was wide open and neatly organized.
Noa slumped weakly on the table, her chest heaving violently, a strange flush on her face.
Still with a compassionate smile on her face, she slowly, word for word, told the lady, "Madam, may you find the right path to a happy life."
...
Everything is on track.
The beautiful Carmen Xavier. Miss Xavier was sent by Her Ladyship to be fetched out of the country farmhouse on the third day of the divination, and moved into the Viscount's estate in the name of caring for the infirm Lady, in plain sight.
I just don't know whether Carmen Xavier will end up with a baby or Mrs. Xavier will end up with a baby. Xavier, or if it will be the lady of the house who gets the baby and gets what she wants.
Lorraine was introduced by the Viscount to a reception for the upper echelons of Belmeo, at which he had a good conversation with all six gentlemen of the MC.
The next day, he resubmitted his resident application to the MC and qualified with seven votes in favor.
For two days more, still at Mr. Frey's tacky exchange, he sold his glassware at a high average price of £5.50 per case, and turned his hand to a quantity of really fine American tobacco at £1.20 per kilo.
The triangular trade route he had in mind for Europe and Northwest Europe was finally dredged.
From now on, the Artis Beauty would speed along the rich, offshore route of Belmeo Elgin Stavanger, earning Lorraine and the future Chamber of Commerce a handsome profit.
The fastidious goods of the New World, the spirits of Scotland, and the luxuries of Scandinavia, would be the capital with which he would set sail in this age, and earn him his first pot of gold.
On a windy, sunny morning, the Atis Beauty slowly sailed away from the calm harbor of Bellemeo, turned around in the vast Bay of Biscay, and hoisted her sails, with her prow pointing straight toward the distant Isle of Britannia.
Lorraine, Noah, and White Ears stood side by side on the transom deck, watching the Romulans waving goodbye from the dock as they faded into the distance of the horizon.
Lorraine rubbed Noa's dark hair hard, "You told them they didn't have to leave Spain, didn't you?"
Noa wrinkled her pretty nose, "Romulans like to roam, but they don't like to venture into strange places. We are a freedom-loving bunch, not a bunch who have lived enough."
"And you left them all the payment for the divination, did you?"
"It takes money to wander! Without money, they have to steal, be hated by the locals, and wander to strange places."
"But they tried to kill you, didn't they?"
"But they made up in the end." Noa rubbed her round white-eared chin, her large eyes smiling into crescent moons, "My cousins gave up the Crystal Ball of Fate, and also returned my dance dress, organ, and silver tarot to me. Together they prayed to Fate that I would be blessed with good fortune in my future wanderings. This is all thanks to the Captain!"
"Little girl who easily forgets her grudges." Lorraine looked at her with tears and laughter, "I'm guessing that your silver tarot is laced with iron and the gold veil for divination is embroidered with magnets, isn't it?"
"It's ... secret."
Lorraine was noncommittal and continued, "However, I couldn't figure out how on earth you could guarantee that the Lady would draw those six cards and still set them up positively or negatively as you requested. I had thought that you had hidden the cards in a golden veil by the trick of switching them, but when I carried you out that day, I realized that your veil was so thin that it couldn't hide anything, not even your body."
Noa's face turned red all of a sudden, stammered and twisted her sleeve, and whispered, "Divination is a revelation given by fate; do not try to pursue its techniques, for it is neither the past nor representative of the future."
"It occurs to me that you might be a real witch."
"Witches and black cats, tsk tsk tsk ...," Lorraine laughed at her own thoughts, waved her hand, and turned to take her leave, "White ears, dinner is ready. Next, we're forming a chamber of commerce!"
[Volume 1, Trying to Smell the Sea ... END]