Lorelei wasn’t completely certain why she’d come to the mall this evening. It was not a place that she rather liked, being unnatural in its design and materials. It reminded her of a beehive, with tunnels veering off in every direction and millions of people passing through them everyday. It was enough to make her head spin, and enough to make her wish to leave this place, and return to her attic, full of her familiar herbs, with only her thoughts to keep her company. Unfortunately, she couldn’t buy the things she needed from her attic. She had not installed that thing called the ‘internet’ despite what various people had told her about it making her life more efficient. So far as Lorelei was concerned, she had all the time in the world, and there was therefore enough to venture out to procure the things that she desired.

She sat now on one of those benches in the middle of the busy hallway, a plant on either side, with her pile of books beside her. None were ones that she really needed, but deep inside her, she figured it was better to have some record of it all, and not to rely solely on the power of her mind. Legs crossed, she looked a tad out of place amidst the fashionable shoppers. Her skirt came to just past her knees, and it was brown and layered, with little colored beads sewn in. Her shirt was a plain sleeveless white, offset by the many beads, charms and feathers hanging about her neck by various means. Blue eyes watched the crowd with distant interest, observing where that person went, or what that person bought. Her hair was up tonight, tumbling about her face like pale gold.

The books only helped to add to her mystique. ‘Rituals of the Norse folk’, ‘The Old Ways’, and ‘Thy Faerie Friends’. Eccentric could be the word to describe her, but most who past with odd glances sent her way merely thought of her as ‘one of those’. You know the type. The New Age hippies who dance around in circles at random. If Lorelei had had any skill in telepathy, she would have giggled. She was certainly not ‘one of those’. She was one of the old ones. The keeper of the old ways. The last link to the true way of doing things.

But she said none of this out loud to anyone, not even the ones who came to ask her advice, or her cures, or to have her foretell their future. It was something she kept close to her heart, and only told a certain few.

She leaned back, crossing her legs, her eyes growing distant as she ignored the people around her and retreated inside her thoughts. Here she would wait until whatever it was she was waiting for came. A small dreamy smile etched itself onto her face. The feeling of expectation was alive within her. There was some purpose for her being here, and she felt extremely… connected. Connected to everything. This was where she was supposed to be. Fate had made it so.

She chuckled softly to herself, before humming quietly, her foot bouncing.

Eric stalked through the Middleton Mall, his bad mood following him like a black cloud. His features – normally rather handsome – were marked with his scowl. He hadn’t seemed as carefree as he once did in many weeks now. Instead, each night seemed to bring a new argument or responsibility which was unwanted and unavoidable. It was his normal attempt at pacifying these situations which had brought him shopping tonight; he hadn’t acknowledged Lily’s mortal and immortal birthdays and it had made her upset with him. After weeks of her making a martyr of herself because of it, Eric had left work early to buy a present to appease her.

It was this materialistic trait that was beginning to make Eric irritable with his adopted sire-mother. After her countless nights on this earth, he would assume that she had acquired enough jewellery and trinket, but apparently he was wrong. He was wrong about a lot of things lately. He had been wrong about Hannah, he was wrong about Adia, and he was always wrong about Lily. Women were beginning to cause Eric more grief than they were worth, in his opinion.

After spending close to half an hour in one of the jewellery stores, Eric finally selected a ring with small diamonds set about a bright red ruby on a band of white gold. He requested it be gift wrapped, and handed over a credit card when asked about payment. After receiving his purchase in a little golden bag, he walked out and paused in the hallway, wondering what he would do next. He absently felt in the pockets of his burgundy and black letterman jacket, as if a To Do list would appear there if he only looked.

He didn’t have anything left to buy, but the release from his hateful job at the Ace was too sweet to cut short.

Internal music was a beautiful thing. It meant that she never had to be subjected to the dull silence of the world. Music ran through her veins like blood, so that she constantly had songs upon her breath, too faint for most others to hear. She’d forgotten the words to most of them, and had forgotten where most of them came from. They were now simply one long symphony flowing within her mind. It was certainly an interesting way to pass the time when you were waiting for something… but didn’t know what. One long finger stroked the edge of one of her books, opening it to the first page. Blue eyes ran over the first few sentences, before the book was closed again, and the eyes went back to watching the crowds that passed.

Then, like a small string pulling at her soul, her head cocked gently to the side. A faint smile quirked her lips, making her face shift into something that could be young and old at the same time. How this was possible, no one can really say, but it seemed the only accurate description of her face. Standing, she left her books where they were on the bench, and smoothed out her skirt. Walking through the bustling crowd, she caught sight of her target. He was young, younger than she’d expected, but what was age? There were children who knew far more than their parents would ever know. He was angry, and hurt. It didn’t take a genius to be able to discern that from the look on his face.

If Lorelei had any qualms whatsoever about talking to random strangers, it didn’t show on her pleasant face. Hand going to her belt, she took her small leather satchel, and held it before her. She walked up to the man in question. She didn’t know him. She didn’t know his story, or his beliefs. She didn’t even know why she was over here talking to him, but she figured there must be a reason. With a calm smile, she tapped him on the shoulder. “Excuse me,” she said, her voice soft, but friendly. It was the voice of someone that would always have advice for you when you needed it. “This might seem an odd request, but… May I read your Runes?”

How many times had she preformed this ritual? How many people had reacted in how many different ways? Too many, far too many, yet she remembered most of their faces, most of their names. She could only guess how she appeared to him. Here she stood, garbed in a rather odd apparel, asking him – a random person within a sea of others – if she could tell him his future. Still, there was something in her eyes that others had described simply as ‘a knowing’. Lorelei Magnhild knew things. She knew them like she knew her soul. All you had to do to share in the knowledge was to agree to her simple request.

Eric had no internal music – just thoughts that lately were negative. He was a simple person compared to Lorelei; being born and raised in the twentieth century had limited his mystical experiences and his whimsical qualities.

He looked over his shoulder when he felt someone tap him and he heard a voice behind him. When he realized it was indeed him being addressed, he turned around to face Lorelei. “Uh… That depends. What are Runes?” He asked, looking down at the satchel she held before her. He didn’t understand what she meant, and while he didn’t seem entirely encouraging, he spoke politely and didn’t immediately dismiss her as other people may have done before.

“Are they like Tarot cards or something?” He asked.

He knew what Tarot cards were. His girlfriend Claire had bought a pack and numerous times had forced him to sit at her kitchen table and choose cards while she leafed through the book which accompanied the cards to try to figure out his future. She never did very well and would always end up throwing the book down in frustration when he started teasing her. It was one of those random memories he had forgotten about, only to have it come rushing back when someone applied the right stimulus.

Had Lorelei known the nature of poor Eric’s thoughts, she would have made a bigger effort than she was at present to try and cheer him up. It was in her humble opinion, the worst fate she could imagine to be lacking her internal music. Without it, the slow wagon that carried her through time would seem painfully slow, and she was sure she’d feel every bump on the road on her long passage. It would make her irritable, and very bad company indeed. It was this music that she kept with her always that she credited in part with making her the whimsical and interesting person people found her to be.

She laughed, and it was a nice laugh – loud and clear like a twinkling bell signaling that it was time for all the little children to come into the nice house, where they’d be safe and warm and have a delicious meal. He wore his confusion upon his face like a neon sign, proclaiming to everyone that he had no idea what she was talking about. This fact did not annoy or bother her. She was used to it. There were very few people today outside a certain sect – a small portion of society, to be sure – that knew what the Runes where. Where they had once almost single-handedly shaped a culture, they were now little more than pretty pictures of times gone past… But not for Lorelei. Never for Lorelei.

Shaking her head, she replied, “Yes and no, but more ‘no’ than ‘yes’.” Her smile was soft and knowing. “The Tarot cards were designed to predict the future for those that wished to know it, and to offer deeper insight about the querent – the person asking the questions. In this way, too, the Runes may act, telling you what you need to know about what’s to come, about what’s already come, or about the deepest parts of yourself. This is the singular task that society today has given them, but they are so much more.” A strange light came into Lorelei’s eyes. “The power of the Runes is so great, that an entire society was focused around them. The knowledge was passed orally, rather than being written down, lest the knowledge be passed to those who were unworthy. They have many uses. They can grant you protection. They can heal the hurts that have been inflicted upon you. They can make a field grow thick with food to harvest, then make the very weather itself behave so that you might gather it all.”

There was a subtle shift in her face, and she suddenly seemed remote, like you just couldn’t seem to focus on her entire face, seeing instead certain characteristics. “They are truly a gift from the gods.” Her voice was low and soft, as if enthralled. Then, a shift happened again, and she was smiling like she and the one before her were old friends. “It’s not a gift I offer lightly. Why not let me read them, just out of curiosity? No harm done, no charge, and you’re able to walk away at the end without even having to give me your name.”

Eric listened as Lorelei explained the nature of the Runes. He nodded politely in the appropriate places; even as he watched her drift off to a place he could not understand or follow. “Uh-huh…” He said as she paused. “Okay, so they’re not like Tarot cards.”

He looked around as she made her request a second time, and shrugged his shoulders in the old ‘what the hell’ manner he used to possess but showed all too seldom lately. “Sure, why not. I was looking for an excuse not to go back to work. Where do you want to do it?” He asked. “And I don’t mind giving you my name. Unless I’m not supposed to…?”

He really didn’t understand quite what she was doing, but he didn’t want to mess it up somehow by telling her things he wasn’t supposed to tell her.

Still smiling, she shook her head, amused. On her face was the look a mother would give a child who’d just said something completely precious. “No, they’re not like Tarot cards.” Yes, she was restating what she’d already said. No, there wasn’t really the need for it, but it didn’t seem to perturb her in any fashion. Then he shrugged, and she knew she had him. Not his soul, his body, or even his friendship, but his curiosity at the very least, whether he knew it or not. There were very few that turned down her invitation. Some had no idea what they were getting into when they agreed. Most didn’t believe. Well, they’d see how well it turned out, wouldn’t they?

Looking around, she saw that the crowds were slowly but surely dwindling down as the time of closing approached. Placing a hand on his shoulder, Lorelei gestured back to the bench she’d been sitting on. One of her books had been stolen, but she barely even noticed. Besides, it was a simple thing. If she really required it, she would purchase another. “How about on that bench? You may sit, while I cast the Runes on the ground. Does that suit you?” If it didn’t suit him, she’d be more than happy to go somewhere else. She decided she better let him know this. “If not, we may go wherever you wish.” Another smile.

Now a small chuckle, and she looked younger – like a young woman who’d just seen something – someone – that pleased her greatly. Whether it was Eric or not was up for discussion. Lorelei’s facial expressions had been misinterpreted before. “No, you may tell me your name if you wish to do so,” was her reply. She shrugged. “There are simply some who don’t wish to divulge it to strangers. I thought that perhaps you might be one of those few. I didn’t want you to feel obligated to tell me.” She brushed a piece of hair behind her ear. “As for me, my name is Lorelei Magnhild. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

Forget that she didn’t even know his name yet. She could have talked briefly to a person on the street and said the exact same thing.

“I’m Eric.” He introduced himself after she offered her own name.

He turned in the direction her guided him in, sighting the bench as she offered him a choice. “No… The bench is good.” He said. He made his way across the short distance separating them from the bench and carefully moved Lorelei’s books to make room for him to sit down.

“You’re going to sit on the floor?” He asked hesitantly, as if he only just realized what she meant by ‘ground’. “I’m pretty sure we can make room on the bench…” He said, finding it awful particular to have a woman sitting on the ground in front of him at a public place, when there’s plenty of room on a bench beside him, mind a few books.

Walking with him, she cast one reassuring glance at him before… yup, sitting on the floor. Peering up at him from under blond lashes, she said, “I must cast the Runes upon the ground. It makes it easier for me to do so if I don’t have to bend over in unnatural positions to do so.” Opening her small satchel, she withdrew a large piece of fabric cut into a circle, and placed it on the ground before Eric. Smoothing out all the wrinkles, she took her small bag, and turned it upside down, the gray stones tumbling over each other onto the fabric. Turning them over so that the symbols etched into them weren’t visible, she ran her hands just over the stones, her long fingers trying to capture something that wasn’t there. Her eyes closed, and she did the round of the stones for a moment, before stopping abruptly to pluck one out and place it to the side. This happened twice more, and she opened her eyes, now putting the rest of the stones back into their satchel.

Placing the three – still upside down – in the middle, two seemed closer together than the third. With long fingers, she flipped them over, one by one. There was one with a vertical line, and a diagonal line going over it, not quite forming an X. “Neid,” she said. She flipped over the next, revealing… nothing. “Wyrd.” The last, and it looked something like the top of a pot, turned sideways. “Perdhro.” Sitting there, she thought about them for a moment, looking them over and thinking, before she looked up at him.

“These two,” she said, pointing to Neid and Wyrd, the stones that were closest together, “work together. Alone, Neid symbolizes that you need patience, and that you will – or are at this very moment – passing through a difficult situation. Wyrd alone symbolizes – well, Eric, you have gotten the most mysterious of all Runes – a non-rune some call it. It symbolizes destiny, or something coming that is hidden from you at present. It may or may not be negative, but it will come.” There was such conviction in her voice, that it was hard not to believe her. “They form a story, different – yet similar – to the stories they create alone. The combination of Neid and Wyrd symbolizes that now is the time to make up for past deeds – a sort of karma if you will. If you are not honest with your payment, you will find that some outside source will enter to balance the scales.”

She pointed to the remaining Rune. “Perdhro means that something that is hidden is about to be unveiled – a new opportunity, something you thought was lost forever, or even perhaps a dark secret. It may even symbolize the coming of an ability you heretofore had no knowledge of.”

Smiling at him, as if ignorant that everything she’d just said could spell doom for the young man if he chose to interpret it in that way, she took the Runes and her Rune cloth and began to pack them away. “Thank you for letting me read them for you,” she said, sincerity evident in her voice.

Eric seemed uncomfortable as Lorelei sat down on the ground in front of him, but he said nothing and simply watched with interest as Lorelei completed the process of casting his Runes. He was obediently silent as she sat contemplating his stones. He looked the two pictures over and wondered why the other was blank, but he said nothing to break her concentration.

He listened as she explained each stone, nodding when it seemed appropriate. He seemed less than enthusiastic as she began talking about patience and secrets. He had little of the former and too many of the latter. Slightly nervous at the thought of dark secrets being revealed, he looked away from both the Runes and Lorelei as she smiled at him.

“No problem…” He said politely, but too quickly. He cleared his throat again and rubbed the palms of his hands against his knees. “I should thank you.” He added.

Her expression shifted, but it was so subtle that one could think that she'd merely cleared her face of expression. There was, however, a small line between her eyebrows, a slight odd quirk of her mouth, and a knowing gleam in her eyes. There were some, she knew, that were not open to the secrets of the Runes that she read. There were also those who knew not what to do with the information she gave to them, and it inevitably led to their own demise. In this case, she sincerely hoped that this would not be the end result. While she did not know this Eric personally - and did not know if she ever would - there was something innocent and lost about him, to her at least.

Shaking her head, she said, "Why would you be thanking me? You do not thank the teacher who tells you information you had no desire to know, do you? It was my wish to read them to you, as much for my own benefit as for my own." A pause, and a thoughtful glance. "I am the only one who can remember a time when such things were an everyday occurence. It does my heart good to be able to keep the tradition alive."

Reaching out unexpectedly, she placed a hand on his knee. "Do not let what the Runes tell you trouble you. What you think they mean, and what they actually mean are often very different. Do not lead yourself into ruin over a fool's errand. Whatever the gods have planned, will come to pass, and they never lead anyone into murky waters without a purpose." The smile returned, and she stood up, stretching.

It was odd to hear such words from the mouth of one who looked so young.