Rita put the last card on the table, her eyes shining with a golden tint.<br/>".... And you will live happily ever after with your husband and children, and your family, estate and name will prosper".<br/><br/>A mix of a heavy sigh and a happy squeek followed directly after Rita's final card had been placed in the order. The young farmgirl clapped her small hands happily "oh I knew it, thank you so much! I'll go tell mamma!" the brown haired child, just old enough to dream of princes and family, ran out joyfully, leaving the small woman in the bedroom which they had shared for lack of space.<br/><br/>Rita smiled after the girl and stood up, collecting her cards from the table.<br/>"I hope for what it's worth that my prediction brings you joy child. Even if my predictions were bullshit" she thought to herself. Card readings were generally not powerfull, and especially not when done with regular playing cards rather than tarrot cards.<br/><br/>Rita looked over to Milo, her pet shrew. "People always want to hear their fortunes... yet they never want to hear anything bad. It's not surprising, what's worse than something bad happening? having something bad happen and knowing that no matter what you do you can't stop it..." Rita packed away her cards into one of her many inner pockets and smiled "so isn't it kinder to just tell them what they want to hear?".<br/><br/>Rita walked over to Milo, passing a mirror on the way, she took a minute to examine herself, she was a halfling, standing a respectable 3 feet tall, she almost felt like she'd grown since last time, but maybe that was just because she wasn't standing next to Tristan. She was slender, but a bit curvy, halflings should be, also so they weren't mistaken for children gods forbid.<br/>Rita's hair was auburn brown and curled in some places, especially in the front, she tried to allow only a few strains of hair to fall down the side of her face at any given time, framing herself with the curling hair in a cute manner.<br/>The rest of her long hair was drawn back by a scarf worn behind her head like a hairband, allowing her to show off her cute face.<br/><br/>She had a slender face for a halfling, almost a pointy chin and slender cheecks, her button nose ruined what would otherwise be considered a statuesque face by human standards, or at least Rita liked to believe so.<br/><br/>The halfling wore a white loose fitting shirt under a thin leather armor, made aestetically pleasing by the addition of an open front with strings running along it's middle like a corset. This allowed her to show off her modest bossom a little.<br/><br/>pleased with her reflection she sat down and let Milo run up into her hand. She held it in front of her face and let it press it's little nose against hers. She giggled and lied down, putting the shrew next to her on the homely bed of hay.<br/>"Destiny is a funny thing Milo... There are those destined for greatness that they do not want, and those destined for..." she breathed heavily as she saw the image of Tristan before her, calling out her name panicked and reaching for her, unable to reach her, she saw herself fall towards a blinding light. She shook her head lightly and swallowed, she saw that image much too often...<br/>Mamma Dhien had told her that by staying with Tristan she was just raising the chances of the premonition becomming true sooner rather than later, but Rita didn't care.<br/>This was not Rita's story... she was just the crutch to which Tristan could brace herself. All Rita could do was try to make Tristan able to stand on her own two legs before her vision came true...<br/><br/>Rita clutched her hands and went back to the mirror, she had a dangerious look in her eyes... She sighed heavily and smacked her cheecks "Alright! today we're continuing our adventure! this will be a magnificent day!" she told herself, making sure there were no visible signs of her worry. She picked up Milo and headed out to see if she could find Tristan.