Chocolate seed to know they were about to go on a long journey, so it ate its breakfast with unusual gusto. As Jenkins read the newspaper, the cat kept pawing at the pages, eventually tearing a hole right through the mayor's face.
But it was still early, and there was no need to depart just yet.
The neighbors all knew Jenkins had won the kingdom's prestigious literary award. During breakfast, the Goodman family from next door had even paid a special visit, bringing a bottle of champagne as a celebratory gift. As for the widow on the other side, Jenkins hadn't seen her lately. He supposed she had temporarily moved elsewhere to await the birth of her child.
At seven-thirty, he rose from the sofa, pulled on his boots, and did one last check of the house's windows. Then, suitcase in one hand, cat in the other, cane tucked under his arm, and hat firmly on his head, he stepped out of the foyer.
He glanced up at his second-floor bedroom window, then inserted the large, bronze-colored key into the lock. After turning it twice, he heard a solid click as the door was secured.
Papa Oliver, Robert, and Mary would be at the station to see him off, so there was no one else to wait for. Filled with excitent, he walked to the street corner, where he saw Miss Audrey waving to him from the window of a carriage. The driver brought the vehicle to a smooth stop right in front of him.
"To the station."
Audrey instructed the driver after Jenkins had settled in, and the carriage set off once more.
"You didn't have to co see off," Jenkins said. "I'll only be gone a week. Oh, and by the way, Miss Miller sent a letter from Ruen. She asked to give it to you."
He had been incredibly busy lately, so since the incident at the Evergreen Forest, he had only managed to et with Miss Miller once to assure her that everything was fine on his end. It would have been far easier to simply read the letter and later use his Psychography in conjunction with the Book of mories to reproduce it, but he respected her privacy. Instead, he had brazenly asked the Star Spirit Rakul to help deliver the original.
His explanation to Miss Miller was that he possessed an item similar to B-11-2-5432, a linked pair of mailboxes, and she hadn't questioned it further.
"Alright."
Audrey tucked the letter away, then produced a deck of divination cards. "I just rembered," she said, "I haven't done a reading for your trip yet. Co on, let's give it a try."
She pressed the deck directly into Jenkins's hands, urging him to draw a card.
"Are you divining whether the trip will go smoothly? Will we need to make other preparations?"
"Unnecessary."
The woman nodded, her eyes fixed expectantly on Jenkins's hands.
He hesitated for a mont before fanning the cards out and drawing one from a spot slightly to the right of center.
He handed the card to Audrey while he squared the rest of the deck on his lap.
"Well?"
He asked, a hint of anticipation in his voice.
"A very interesting foresight," she murmured. "If it's accurate..."
Audrey turned the card over. It depicted a black mask, inverted.
"The Black Mask ans murder," Jenkins began, trying to recall its aning. "And inverted represents..."
Jenkins hadn't morized all the anings, but he was sure the answer was in one of the books in his suitcase.
"It ans that the murder will not befall you, but it will happen near you," Audrey explained. "And the incident will be deeply connected to you."
She slid the card back into the deck, shuffled it with practiced ease, and offered it to Jenkins again:
"Again."
"Can you do a reading twice?"
He wondered silently, but still reached out and drew the top card. This ti, he looked at it first: an upright Golden Crown.
"What does the crown an? I'm sorry, I only rember the anings for the King, upright and inverted."
"Success in your endeavors. Your journey will accomplish its purpose."
Her explanation sounded as simplistic as that of a novice who knew nothing yet still tried to interpret the cards. But Jenkins had complete faith in her divinatory skills, not just because she was his teacher in na, but because her readings had never once been wrong.
This reminded him of a previous card reading, where the on for the future had been the Cross of Resurrection.
Perhaps Miss Audrey knew about the [Undying Man] ability. After all, the ancient archives of the Church of Destiny and Equilibrium were said to rival those of the Legacy Sage Church.
While he was lost in thought, Audrey had already shuffled the deck a third ti and placed it before him:
"One more ti."
"Alright... but I rember you once told that for any single matter, only the first reading is valid. Trying to piece together an on from multiple divinations is a fool's errand."
"Yes, it seems you have been paying attention," she said. "But there are always exceptions..."
He blinked, and it was only when he saw the motes of light from Audrey's ability flaring to life that he understood. He reached for another card, but his hand froze in midair.
"Since we're divining the future of my trip," he proposed, "why not let Chocolate have a go? Observing the ons from a different perspective might give us a clearer result."
Audrey was taken aback for a mont, her gaze shifting to the cat on Jenkins's lap, which had suddenly opened its eyes.
"You have a point," she conceded. "Perhaps you truly are the type of person best suited to learning divination. That's an excellent idea."
Without another word, Jenkins scooped up Chocolate. The cat imdiately began to yowl and struggle, throwing the narrow carriage into chaos.
In the ensuing scramble, Chocolate's paw sent a card flying from the deck. It landed on the floor of the carriage, face up: an upright Lunar Eclipse.
"Now that is a rare card."
The woman picked up the divination card, her gaze falling upon the now-calm kitten. It lay on Jenkins's lap, feigning sleep, and she watched it with a flicker of puzzlent in her eyes.
But she quickly dismissed her confusion and turned to Jenkins to explain the card's aning:
"I've only ever perford readings for humans, so interpreting an animal's future might be sowhat inaccurate. This card represents unexpected events and hardships. You, or your cat, will encounter a series of troubles, but none of them will be life-threatening. The moon itself carries connotations of secrecy, and the divine domain of the Lady of the Unlit Moon includes the 'keeping of secrets.' Therefore, after these trials, you will glimpse so hidden matters and obtain an extrely precious reward."
"ow~"
Chocolate let out a soft ow, as if in response to Audrey's words. Jenkins stroked the cat's soft back, a sense of unease stirring within him.
In the end, he decided against asking directly about the [Undying Man] ability. He would probe for answers after his trip.
The carriage dropped Jenkins off at the intersection near the station. Before he alighted, Audrey gave him a necklace with a small, shell-shaped tal pendant.
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