Across the Eastern Sea (Vela)

The docks were very busy when Akio arrived with his ship in Xi Yung, the great port city, where the Royal House and the Pentarchy had its estates, along with the Nine Temples. It was the great commercial center of the Tai Nagasaki island, where foreigners also had the greatest presence. It was the middle of the day, and the streets were busy with activity, as Akio noticed after he was done overseeing the transfer of cargo. His ship, the Michou, would remain in the city for a while as the crew had some rest after the last smuggling run.

He reached the markets, where exotic goods were sold twice their value to witless foreigners. Every Nagasakian knew better than to buy their goods from markets so near the docks, where the common sense of new arrivals would be washed away by the exotic magnificence of Xi Yung. He walked on, keeping an eye on taverns in the area, though his steps took him in the grand plaza where entertainers would perform, foreign or otherwise. He noticed a few nobles present but did not look at them long; the last thing he needed was some noble taking offence at being looked at by a simple merchant's son.

His katana attached to his belt did not earn many looks from the citizens of Xi Yung, any but commoners and servants could be armed as they wished, with the richer ones bearing weapons much like Akio's, though nobles always had better steel, or prettier decorations. Even the priests were armed, most with easily concealed daggers, especially the followers of the God of death, deceit and lies, Shang Xi. Akio worshipped him and the god of wealth, Yeng, more than any of the other Nine. Lies served him well in his career, and wealth motivated him.

He watched amidst the crowds a few entertainers perform, some were dancing, others were using tricks and non-magical illusions to impress. One even breathed fire. He always liked to watch entertainers, besides it was yet too soon to eat his lunch, and he had nothing better to do on this day.

"It's going to cost you more to know that, dear."

"How much more?"

"What have you got?"

The man rummaged around and laid out a few more gold pieces, "There, that's it. Will it be enough? Please?"

Vela sighed and lingered in thought for a moment before answering, "Normally, I would say no. Using the Eye of Bad Fortune is dangerous, and demands a higher sum. However, you seem desperate, so...I will allow it." The man sighed and nodded his head thankfully. Vela leaned across the trunk and held both of his hands, allowing her red, brooding eye to stare into his brown ones. She didn't blink, "The eye has seen you. Close your eyes so it may look deeper." He nodded and squeezed his eyes shut.

The demon stared nonchalantly at his forehead for a small moment before answering, "You are going to die." She released his hands and he stood from his chair quickly, "I...I am?! When?"

Vela held up her hand to silence him, "To know the exact date would take more energy and communication with the spirits. All I can tell you, is that it will be soon. If you want to know more...weeellll..." He inhaled deeply and nodded quickly, "Say no more! I'll return tonight with more to offer you! Thank you!" Vela watched him rush out of her small tent with a smile. He was pushing fifty...he was human...humans never lived long in the first place. Of course he was going to die soon--you didn't have to be psychic to know that!

Pulling a veil over her head she made her way out of her tent as well, observing the entertainment around her. Few of the performers actually knew each other. They just fed off of each others advertising like clever leeches. That's what she did. By clustering together, it brought more of an audience...and more audience meant more "clients" for herself. Her veil completely covered her body in a dark red, opaque fabric but she managed to see out of it with a small opening in the face. Her eyes fell on a young man who seemed to enjoy the show the dancers and actors put on for the crowd. There was...a shadow around him. It was obvious the people around him could not see it. It seemed well hidden, dormant, within him, whatever it was. So well in fact, that even she could not distinguish it as a demon or a bad spirit.

Vela stepped elegantly toward him, standing next to him to watch the dancers, "Stunt performers...bless their souls. They live a short life at the expense of entertaining others. And yet their life is one to be envious of, for the never have to work a day in their lives." Her smile could be seen in her eyes, "I have only been here for a day. My name is Alev...what is yours?"

Akio noticed the woman's approach at once, for her garb immediatly marked her as a foreigner; Nagasakian women did not veil themselves, most certainly not the priestesses of Yin, who for the right price would teach pleasures beyond the imagination of most men and women. They were highly skilled, and their services were incredibly costly.

The dark red veil caught the attention of a few others, but they quickly returned to watch the entertainers. Akio would have too, had the woman not chosen to stand beside him. "Why, that looks like work to me." he answered, smiling pleasantly. She spoke the western tongue, but so did he. His profession required it, for any who ventured outside of Tai Nagasaki needed to learn the tongue of the continent. "See how they spin, fly and dance, to a fat merchant, this looks like much more work than he would be used to." he added. Akio was a smuggler, and thus had no time to grow fat. Indeed, he was more agile and slim than large and strong.

"A day you say? And you are still alive, with all your clothes and riches? Now that is an accomplishment you can be proud of!" he grinned, showing a flash of white teeth. Xi Yung devoured the unwary or those that, often by mistake, insulted the wrong people.

"May Yeng favour you." he begun, using the typical form of greeting amongst merchants, who were Yeng's chosen, along with anyone seeking riches. "I am Akio, and have spent a third of my life here. The other third is on that great mass of land of yours, and the last at sea."

While he spoke, the shadow he cast against a wall, due to the sunlight, yawned and stretched, as if waking up. Then it waved at the veiled woman. Meanwhile, Akio never moved. The dark shape that hovered behind him, while still too vague to make out clearly, had become clear enough to lift its forefinger and place it on where its mouth would be, the universal gesture for silence.

"What brings you so far east, Alev?" Akio asked, oblivious to what happened with his shadow and the dark shape.

Shrugging she nodded her head, "I can see that...but then the work of a fat merchant looks just dreadful for someone like me. I'm no good with numbers...well...not arithmetic rather." She was taken aback slightly by his comment on her ability to stay alive for so long in the new territory but smiled nevertheless, "An accomplishment? I say, crossing that sea was an accomplishment on its own. My stomach did not take to kindly to all the to and fro motions." As he described himself she shook her head at his mention of spending a third of his life at sea. She didn't want to imagine. The ocean was not her friend at all!

Her eyes, hidden beneath a sheer swag of fabric amongst the heavy drapery of the veil, widened as the shadow cast by him moved without him. It was certainly as she had expected. The dark entity made its signal to her and she nodded within herself. If it were indeed a demon, it meant it had been summoned to the mortal world...as a pact. She was a younger demon if that were the case, and would be wise to not ruin the bigger demons fun!

Vela sighed and looked back into the eyes of Akio, "I live a nomadic lifestyle. I have not traveled this far before and decided, why not. I have heard so many fantastic--and not so fantastic--words regarding this land, it was time I found out for myself. I work as a medium, a 'fortune teller', a psychic. I dance and sing and play music as well, but my mind is the source of my livelihood. It is what I am best at. Most of my clients seek my guidance for fun, while others believe my words really do hold their fate. I will not judge the motivations of those who come to me for my vision, I will only see for them. Have you ever had your fortune told, Akio?" She smirked at the dark shadow, though her mouth was hidden, "You might come across a few surprises."

(For some reason, I keep calling "Vela" "Alev"!! I'm going to just play along and say she uses both names for when the situations call for it, or something, idk lol)

He smirked, typical for a foreigner to think the sea was the most dangerous obstacle in Tai Nagasaki. "The sea is far more predictable than my own kin, I fear. When there are no clouds in sight, you know you will not be overtaken immediately by a sudden storm that will break your ship. Here though, a smile will hide a poisoned needle, a handshake the smallest of darts." he answered. He had something of a love/hate relationship with his homeland.

A fortune teller? How interesting. That was not an art often encountered in Tai Nagasaki, if it was an art at all ant not merely a not so subtle ploy to take money from those who believed their fates could be read so easily. "No, I have not, though I predict that I shall die at the sea, or in some gutter somewhere after being mugged." he answered with a grin. "But I am willing to hear what you see, who knows, I may learn something about myself that I did not."

With these words, the dark shape's eyes suddenly opened, though to be honest they looked less like eyes than white light that seemed to escape from two otherwise empty orbs. They were fixed on "Alev" and while no emotion could be seen within them, their sudden appearance made the demon's meaning clear enough.

You better not screw this up.

"How do you normally proceed?" he asked.

Vela's grin faded when the black shadow brought it's attention back to her. She would never dream of such a thing...and yet she had to be careful. If she even just played around, and let a hint slip and the young lad discovered his true nature, she'd be back in the dark world before she had time to apologize. She beckoned him back toward her tent, "We'll need to be in my quarters for this, Akio." She would need to be able to see him with all of her eyes, and that was not possible in the daylight.

Once inside, she secured the opaque flap behind him so no light shown through. After lighting a small oil lamp on a trunk, Vela removed her veil and robe before taking a seat before him. Her hand brushed down to the other seat, her sick red eye locked on to him, "Please, make yourself comfortable."

She waited for him to sit down and watched the dark shadowed figure carefully. I'll be good...she thought to him with a small smile. Vela laid out a deck of violet colored and heavy looking cards. She studied him for a moment, "Ask a question, regarding a problem or an idea you may have...you may keep it in your mind or you may speak it."