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Citlali looked into her obsidian mirror one last time and carefully observed the signs in the smokey reflection. She hummed quietly before writing the last divination down, feeling just a bit proud of her plan,
“This will get that guide girl to leave me alone,” Citlali boasted to herself. She had finished the last divination for Mualani for the next decade, “She doesn’t even need these, so why does she have to bother me so much?” She grumbled in annoyance. Finally Citlali can get some peace and quiet in the morning.
With that, Citlali got the papers organized and sowed the papers to a bind so none would get lost in transportation from whatever place they could end up at. She was certain that she thought of every disaster that could stop her from success and was sure to make sure it couldn’t.
The sun was starting to set, which would mean that Mualani would be returning to rest for the night, so this would be the perfect time to give the papers to her. Citlali was quite happy about this turn of events and almost couldn’t contain her smile.
Like she had expected, Mualani was busy chatting with a group of travelers when Citlali had found her. She observed Mualani as she did not want to disturb her. The guide's eyes caught Citlali's and she seemed to excuse herself from the conversation to go to the other girl.
“Hi, Citlali,” She greeted cheerily with the biggest smile Citlali had ever seen on anyone else, “It’s so great to see you outside of your hut today,” though Mualani could only mean positive meaning, it still annoys Citlali at those type of comments, “What brings you here?”
Citlali had almost forgotten why she had come all the way to find her and could feel a slight tinge of embarrassment, “I got you the fortunes for the next ten years,” she felt awkward admitting the real reason, “This way you don’t have to come to my hut every morning to see if it’s an auspicious day,” she held out the papers to Mualani.
Mualani looked at them almost hesitatingly before snatching them and giving a bright smile, “This is so considerate, Citlali, thank you so much!” She said with just as bright eyes.
Citlali had done what she had come to do but she stood staring for a moment and then said, “Well that was what I had come to say so I’ll be going now,” she felt awkward and nervous for no real reason and quickly turned to leave.
Citlali was so quick to leave she failed to notice how the other girl's face fell slightly as she looked at the papers and seemed to look in the direction Citlali went with disappointment.
~~~
Citlali had woken up later than she usually did and took that as a great sign that all went according to plan. Although Citlali had thought she would wake up with glee, she seemed a bit disappointed. Mualani wouldn’t be visiting her this morning or the next or the one after that. She should be more excited.
Still, the feeling occurred the next few mornings. A part of Citlali had thought the divinations wouldn’t deter Mualani for whatever reason. Shouldn’t being proven right feel great?
One morning she got a knock at her door. Citlali looked at the time drowsily and knew of only one who would bother her at this time. She had not noticed the way she had seemed to rush to be presentable and to greet the door.
As expected Mualani was just outside, “Mualani? What are you doing here?” Citlali asked genuinely. She had all the fortunes she would ever need so what was the point in coming to Citlali's hut?
“Oh–um, well–you see I…” Mualani was uncharacteristically flustered and stumbling on her words, “I might have lost your fortunes and was wanting to–um–ask you for today’s,” Mualani was great at many things but lying was not one of them. The way her eyes looked anywhere but at Citlali and her nervous demeanor gave it away immediately. Mualani never lied and often valued honesty over anything.
This concerned Citlali to a degree, “Why are you lying and why are you actually here?” She asked.
Mualani's face flushed and she looked embarrassed at being caught so quickly, “I–“ she looked at Citlali and smiled nervously, “I kinda just wanted to see you,” she explained, “It felt so strange not seeing you the past few mornings and I felt like I had to have a reason to come visit here so I thought I would pretend I needed a fortune,” she then quickly added, “And I would never lose a gift you must have spent a lot of time and effort on!”
Citlali felt the same. It was a strange feeling that she didn’t like very much, “Well, you don’t need an excuse to visit me,” Citlali said quietly, “You can visit when you feel like it, but–“ she emphasized, “–at least wait for it not to be so early in the morning,”
Mualani's face lit up and Citlali found herself not regretting what she offered when she saw how happy the other was, “Oh we should grab a bite to eat sometime, I know a great place!”
Citlali was surprised but not opposed to the idea, “That sounds great,”