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The last day of camp had arrived almost before Stelle realized it. She had spent so many weeks moving between activities, meeting new people, and discovering corners of Hogwarts she hadn't had the chance to visit during the school year that it felt strange to think that, by the next day, it would all simply go back to being the castle and its usual routines. September was looming too close. The thought of returning to classes didn't exactly fill her with enthusiasm, though she couldn't say she was sad to leave, either. It had been a far more interesting summer than she had expected.

Perhaps that was why she was walking with such unusual calm that afternoon, the strap of her bag trailing slightly off her shoulder as she strolled along the camp's final paths. She had promised to make the most of the day before heading back to her grandparents' house—though Stelle was notoriously bad at keeping promises when it came to sitting still.

It didn't take long for something to catch her eye. In one corner of the camp stood several makeshift tables, occupied by students who seemed to have found unique ways to bid farewell to the holidays. Some were chatting, others were exchanging letters or keepsakes, and amidst it all, one table stood out thanks to a small sign lettered in black ink: FREE TAROT READINGS.

Stelle slowed her pace. Her blue eyes scanned the words with evident interest. She remembered catching glimpses of her grandmother’s readings with friends—though her grandfather had always shooed her off to bed. She glanced at Arwen, who was asleep in her bag; it had been an exhausting few days for a creature the size of a tennis ball. A table with mysterious cards, a handwritten sign, and someone offering free readings on the last day of camp—it all held too much potential for an interesting story to pass up.

She stepped a little closer, only to discover that someone was already seated at the table. Stelle stopped short and observed the scene from a few paces away. She had no intention of interrupting. The young woman tending the stall seemed focused on her cards and her book, and there was something almost solemn about the way she had arranged her little makeshift setup. Stelle didn't know how much genuine expertise lay behind it, but it didn't seem to matter.
She could wait. So she stayed there. At first, she crossed her arms and watched discreetly. Then she looked at the cards spread out on the table, and next at the book the girl had taken from her bag.

She tried to imagine what kind of answer a tarot reading might offer. About the future? Her friendships? The upcoming school year? About someone whose name she didn't even dare say out loud? She didn't want to admit that the idea was tempting. While she waited, she noticed the sign again: FREE. That amused her, because it was convenient. If the reading turned out to be terrible, no one could really complain. It was a rather clever sort of immunity agreement.
Stelle eventually sat on the edge of a nearby table, absentmindedly swinging one leg while she waited for her turn. Every now and then, she glanced up to see how the reading currently in progress was going. There didn't seem to be any rush. After all, it was the last day, and for once, there was no class waiting on the other side of a door, nor a schedule to keep.
All that remained was to see what this final little summer curiosity had to offer. When a space finally opened up in front of the table, Stelle stood up almost immediately. She tucked a few curls behind her ear and sat down, though she didn't touch any of the cards just yet. First, she looked at the girl who had laid them out, then at the book resting to the side, and finally back at the figures drawn on the cards.

"I have to admit, you’ve kept me waiting with quite a bit of curiosity," she remarked with a smile.Her gaze returned to the deck. "I’ve never had a tarot reading before. So... how does this work?"

English ‡Veela ‡ Russian ‡ Scottish Gaelic @Millie Ann

│sta 6✦ eva 6✦ str 5✦ wis 6✦ arc 6✦ acc 6│ Allure| Keen Eye | Y3 | Y4 | Y5 | Y6 | Y7

She hadn’t waited long enough to consider it a nuisance, but long enough to look around several times, observe the other camp participants, and wonder, at least three separate times, whether that small table had always been there or if she simply hadn’t noticed it before. When Millie finally spoke, Stelle looked up and offered a calm smile.

"It’s fine," she replied immediately. "The wait wasn't bad at all." Stelle rarely viewed waiting as a waste of time. There was always something to look at, a background conversation to overhear, or an odd detail to discover as the minutes ticked by. In this instance, moreover, there was a very specific reason she had decided to come over: the cards.

It wasn’t that Stelle blindly believed whatever a deck of cards might tell her. She was far too interested in the stories and meanings behind things to settle for a mere prediction. What truly fascinated her was how someone could look at seemingly random images and find connections between them. That was why, when Millie explained the process, Stelle leaned forward slightly.

"Three?" Her eyes swept across the table as the cards were spread out face down. She studied them for a few seconds. They all looked identical from that side, and for that very reason, choosing proved much harder than she had imagined.

It was curious. She could spend twenty minutes picking out a book simply because the cover caught her eye, yet now, faced with several identical cards, she couldn't find any obvious criterion for a decision. She reached out a hand, hovering it over the first row, then changed direction.

Finally, she let her fingers move without overthinking it. She didn't look for a specific image, since she couldn't see any yet. Nor did she try to calculate the most appropriate choice. She simply chose—one card after another, until she had three. She placed them in front of her without turning them over just yet. Then, she looked at Millie.

“It’s all yours.” She waited barely a second before adding “Because I have to admit, I’m more intrigued by how this works than by knowing what’s going to happen to me.” Stelle rested her forearms on the table. There was something especially appealing about uncovering the logic behind a practice she didn’t yet know very well. Perhaps it was because she was used to asking questions, even when no one had asked her to. She wanted to know why those three cards and not others. What they meant individually. What happened when they appeared together. And, above all, she wanted to know how much of the interpretation depended on the cards and how much on the person reading them.

English ‡Veela ‡ Russian ‡ Scottish Gaelic @Millie Ann

│sta 6✦ eva 6✦ str 5✦ wis 6✦ arc 6✦ acc 6│ Allure| Keen Eye | Y3 | Y4 | Y5 | Y6 | Y7