Something Wicked This Way Comes

||10- Tarot||

Katalina was up and moving before dawn for the third morning in a row. Wednesday morning started the same as the two before; Katalina being roosted from her sleep by a dream she couldn't remember and being unable to fall back to sleep. It worked in her favor, she supposed. It gave her time to catch up on orders as well as give her time to herself. Her nerves were still frayed from worrying over Loki's health, but early in the morning, when the air was still and stagnant, holding its breath until the sun peaked the horizon, it was calm. Katalina had always craved moments like that; when the earth seemed silent and curled around her like a cocoon of of peacefulness.

She craved them even more so now.

When the first rays of light shone into her apartment, Katalina cracked the windows and settled down at the kitchen island. She held a silk, drawl string bag between her hands. Once she had loosen the strings, she pulled a set of tarot cards from the bag as if she was handling something fragile.

Katalina had two sets of cards; one for customers, and one for herself. The set she kept in her shop were well-worn and would probably need replaced come the new year. They were pastel colors and their designs simple and straight forward. They worked well for client reads.

The cards she held now were more familiar to her. Their slight weight was almost a comfort. They were dark; the patterns and designs hand-painted in vibrant colors and lined with gold. The detail on the cards were elegant but not over done. It really didn't matter, per se, how the cards looked, as long as there was a connection between the cards and reader but these were Katalina's favorite.

They had been a gift from Markus, in the early months of their ill-starred relationship. The adventure-seeking author with dreams to write and travel the world and the small town psychic, who had spent her childhood on the road and was content to stay in the little nook of the world she had claimed for herself.

Both of them knew they wouldn't last.

They were one part passion and two parts completely different people who's lives had drifted apart before they had even met.  Neither would have been happy following the other, and they both knew it.  In the end, when the fire that they were burned to nothing, their parting had been mutual.

They still kept tabs on one another. Markus' dream had come true.  The last she heard from him, he was off somewhere in Europe.  Sometimes she'd get post cards from him the random places he'd visit and Katalina would smile because he had been part of her life she had loved and then let go. 

And that was that.

The cards were a reminder of Markus, but to her, they were also a reminder of growth.  So she kept them.

Katalina shuffled slowly, the cards cold beneath her fingers. Once content, she split the deck into several piles.

What do I need to do about my situation?

She laid the cards out before her.  Careful, with intention, she laid them out in a familiar spread.  She almost wanted to laugh.  This was a spread she had done perhaps a thousand times for customers, but never did she imagine she would have to do it for herself. Even in her darkest times, she never before questioned herself more then she had the past several days.

With a sigh, she mumbled under her breath again, "what must I do about this situation?"

Katalina hesitated. She stared blankly at the cards infront of her. For the first time in her life she had lost all of her confidence.  She always trusted the cards—always trusted herself—but something about them telling her what she already knew, disturbed her.