Missing Cats and Tarot Cards

Cold, stinging rain drenched the world outside. Despite the fire roaring in the hearth, Nat shivered as she sat on a chair in front of the flames. The storm raging over Darkshire made the trees in the forest dance and sway and turned the night into a sea of inky blackness punctuated here and there by bright flashes of lightning.

Such hellish weather but was it really that bad, compared to the Maw? Celeste has been missing for months in that place, in Torghast. Compared to the despair and horror of that place, the storm outside was sunshine and blue skies.

Worry and anxiety gnawed at the young woman’s thoughts. Months without news. If only she had an idea of how Celeste was doing, some kind of hint.

Nat shook her head, muttering to herself about how obvious it was. The Cards. The Cards would tell her. Did Celeste manage to complete her quest? Was she still alive? Would they see each other again?

By now, setting up for a reading was an effortless habit and before long she had four cards picked out in front of her on her dining table. She reached for the first, biting her lower lip without thinking about it. The Moon seemed to shine back at her. At odds with the covered sky outside. Fear, anxiety. The Moon represented illusion, subconscious and intuition as well but the former remained stuck in her thoughts.

The second card, the Chariot, indicated action, determination and success. An improvement in Celeste’s situation or just a reminder that Celeste was not the type to give up despite adversity?

The third card caused Nat to frown in confusion. The Hierophant seemed to mock her from it’s reversed position. Spiritual wisdom, conformity and tradition were hardly suited to Celeste but, reversed, the card signified a challenging of the status quo, anarchy, freedom and personal beliefs. This card, coming in third and reversed marked some kind of turning point. There was a disruptive moment in Celeste’s life while she was away. What that was, precisely, was not so clearly illustrated in the cards.

Nat smiled as she looked at the fourth card. The Magician was so very like Celeste. Resourcefulness, power and inspired action! Surely this pertained to a favorable outcome! She must have somehow emerged victorious! So why did she remain hidden? If she had managed to complete her quest, why was she not home again or at least able to contact the gang? Worry again clouded her thoughts. By itself, the Magician was a welcomed card but following the Hierophant, reversed, overshadowed the happier portent it seemed to express. What if she had been found by the jailer and had been forced to somehow wipe her mind in an effort to prevent him from discovering her link back to the gang like she had feared in the first place? From a certain point of view that could be taken as an inspired action, a disruption of things as they were and a way of being free. Nat’s mind jumped from one scenario to the next, each more horrible than the one before. The Cards had supplied answers, yes, but Celeste remained gone and out of contact.

Shaking her head to clear her mind, she decided to query the cards. Once more to make sure, as Lady Kat often asked after a reading. This time, Nat could only think of one thing. She wanted to go and find her. To rally the gang. Celeste had been gone long enough. If they went out to find her, what would they find?

With a trembling hand, she drew a fifth card. The Star. It urged to keep hope alive, to have faith and to remain true to her purpose. She sighed with relief and sat back in her chair, eyes unfocused. Celeste was her lover but there were others as well who were surely eager to have information on her well-being.

All she needed to do was convince the gang to help her find Celeste… 

(( Giving credit where credit is due: Shout-out to Celeste for writing the intro to this expedition based off of a reading I did for this IRL! WOO! ))