Chapter 160: Fortune Slips
"You’ve had yours read?" Sierra asked out of curiosity.
"I did."
"And so did I," Dygo added.
Sierra glanced over to Alistair. She bit her lip as she looked away for a moment. She worried about the outcome. What if the future was not favorable? With one look, Vy knew exactly what was on her mind.
She placed her hands on Sierra’s shoulders, "Don’t worry too much. The fortune you receive differs from person to person. Mine was just some advice while Lycster, my brother, got a peek into the future."
Alistair looked over to Sierra, "You don’t have to if you don’t want to. But I’m going to give it a go."
"I will too," Sierra mustered the courage.
"That’s the spirit!" Vy chuckled as she led them down the path towards the shrine.
The courtyard had two red wisteria trees towered over them. The flowers were in full bloom, draping down like a flower curtain. The fragrance was faint yet aromatic. An elegant lady stood at the entrance of the shrine.
The shrine’s main structure had a black terracotta roof, sturdy wooden structure, and sliding paper screen doors.
"Yini, it’s been a while," Vy greeted the lady as she bowed respectfully.
The lady bowed in return. She too was wearing a yukata, with red spider lilies embroidered on it against a white background.
Vy leaned in close to Sierra, "Don’t stare at her face."
One glance at Yini and Sierra knew exactly why Vy warned her. The lady had silver hair, but her skin was pale as her yukata. The smile she wore on her face had slits traveling up her cheeks.
Sierra quickly diverted her gaze. To greet Yini politely, she too took a deep bow, following Vy’s example. Yini guided them into the main hall. The smell of incense was dense in the air.
It smelled like sandalwood and cedar.
Yini guided Sierra and Alistair to pick up a bamboo cylinder each, which was filled with flat wooden sticks. Each stick had numbers and letters carved on them. Vy guided them on what to do next.
"Just hold out the cylinder. Close your eyes and say a prayer. You can concentrate on what you wish to ask as you do so. After that, shake it until a wooden stick falls out."
Sierra did as she was instructed. With the bamboo cylinder in hand, she walked up to the altar at the front of the hall. A statue of a nine-tailed fox, carved out of stone, sat on the altar.
She knelt down before it, bowed her head, and whispered a short prayer.
"I wish to know what lies ahead."
Alistair did the same and knelt down next to Sierra. He whispered a prayer of his own. Together, they shook the bamboo cylinders until a wooden stick fell out for each of them.
As they bent down to pick them up, they bumped into each other. Looking up at each other, making sure the other person wasn’t hurt, they shared a chuckle. Vy and Dygo, who were watching from the side, could not help but grin at each other either.
"Get a room, you too!" Vy teased them both.
"Darling, you shouldn’t say that," Dygo turned to her, nuzzling her neck as he spoke.
Aether, who was coiled on Vy’s wrist the entire time, slithered out and hissed at Dygo.
"Back off," he hissed out loud, causing Dygo to take a step back.
Vy could not help but chuckle as she pets Aether gently on the top of his head. She could feel his keeled scales against the ridges of her fingers.
"Now now, play nice," she whispered to him.
Sierra and Alistair picked up their wooden sticks and got up to their feet. Yini held out her hand, beckoning them to give her the sticks so that she could find them the corresponding fortunes.
There was a large wooden cabinet, filled with rows and rows of tiny drawers on the side. Upon receiving their sticks, Yini walked over there to get their fortune slips. Each drawer had a label that corresponded to the number and letters written on the stick. Within it, were tiny slips of paper that explained the fortune you received.
Yini looked first at Sierra’s and found her the corresponding fortune slip. She handed it to her with both hands, before searching for Alistair’s.
"What does yours say?" Alistair asked as he leaned over Sierra’s shoulder to take a peek.
But he barely got a glance at it as Sierra hid it from him, clutching the paper close to her chest.
"It’s for my eyes only," she said with a grin.
Alistair pouted a little, just as Yini handed him his.
"Well if you want to be that way, then you don’t get to see mine either."
"Grow up, you too!" Dygo yelled out to Alistair and Sierra.
Vy chuckled as she nudged Dygo, "Didn’t you just warn me not to?"
"Well that’s you, I’m me," he responded cheekily.
Alistair and Sierra chuckled at the banter between Vy and Dygo, each wondering if they would become like them when they truly walked alongside each other. Looking down at the fortune slips in their hands, neither of them could decipher what was written.
Yini walked up to Sierra and took her by the hand. She leaned forward and whispered in her ear. Her interpretation of the written fortune was delivered to her in the form of a haiku.
"Hurdles you shall face.
Rely on those you hold dear.
Receive what you sought."
Sierra thanked her for the explanation. Yini did not reply verbally, she took the slip of paper from her hand and rubbed it between her fingers. In the blink of an eye, the paper caught fire and was reduced to ash before their eyes.
Then, she made her way over to Alistair. She took one look at the fortune slip in his hand and leaned forward to whisper in his ear. Unlike Sierra’s, his fortune was delivered in the form of a free verse.
"The heart is loyal to the soul. But the world will devour you whole. Do as heart desires. Take flight, set ablaze, give life."
With that, Yini turned his fortune slip into ashes too.
Sierra and Alistair turned to look at one another. Their hearts were pounding in their chests. They did not know what to make of their fortunes, but something about it felt right.
"Hmmm, same look I had when I got mine," Dygo muttered.
"What look?" Alistair asked.
"A look of confusion," Vy mused as she guided them out of the shrine.
Before they left, they made sure to make a small donation to the shrine for imparting their fortunes to them. With that, they continued on their way down the path towards the strawberry field.
Sierra and Alistair did not speak for a while as they continued down the path leisurely. They were absorbed in their own minds and thoughts. Vy and Dygo noticed it. They decided to speak to them separately, just to make sure they were alright.
Vy walked with Sierra, and Dygo walked with Alistair.
