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on the day there was a knock at her door, the sky was clear.
it was an odd thing, in and of itself, but even odder was the fact that marine had even noticed it. she likes to use up the nighttime, fill it with burning incense and soul searching, hoping to create new remedies for the people she healed. there usually isn't time to look up. but this day she was sitting at the window, holding her staff and cross, and staring at the stolen sky.
in her hands were two cards. the moon and the star.
and outside the window, there was only one. a singular star, blinking desperately to light up such a lonely night.
the knock at the door didn't shock her, not like it should have. marine wasn't accustomed to late night visitors. it was so rare that her skin should've pricked up, wary of whoever was at the door. but something about the way they knocked, gentle and musical, like a bird singing out with the hope that another would hear, kept her calm.
she dropped the cards. they were the first and second cards she pulled from her new deck, one that her friend made for her. they were immaculate, perfectly crafted and carved with her own soul inside. she's never had a deck that was so honest. and now her first reading has been interrupted by whoever was at the door. she sighed.
one of her other friends had convinced her to carve a mirror into the door, so she could see who was at the door. they worried about her, since she chose to live so far away. and marine had to admit, it came in handy in this moment.
whoever it was warming her doorstop, was a careful thing. she had her hair in braids, tucked under her hood. she was wearing normal clothes, but they didn't quite fit, as if the outfit was patchworked together. her lips were bitten red, either worried at in nervousness or ruthlessly attacked by the cold.
clearly, she was harmless. it all came down to whether marine wanted to upend her evening or not.
"hello? is anyone there?"
she really didn't want to. there was a cup of tea waiting for her on the windowsill.
"please? the ladies in town told me that you could help me?"
"god, do they have nothing else to do?" marine mumbles under her breath, "fine. i'm opening the door."
the woman looks a little shocked when the door finally swings open. marine vaguely wonders if she expected anyone to actually be there. "hello."
"hello," marine crosses her arms. "what do you want?"
"i'm not sure," the woman laughs a little, and it untangles something in marine's shoulders. "i don't— do i have the right house?"
"depends."
the woman doesn't have a response to that. she chooses instead to blink owl-ishly with her glass brown eyes. marine raises an eyebrow and steps aside, motioning her to come in. she may be an indoor cat, but she's not going to let a stranger freeze on her doorstep. the mess alone would be a nightmare.
marine doesn't offer to take her coat, because they haven't reached that level of familiarity yet. the woman doesn't seem to agree. she takes the coat off herself and lays it next to marine's like it's meant to be there. a pair, made in another lifetime.
the woman is tall, taller that marine even. she should be too big for the cabin marine calls home, but the way her eyes drink in the space, clouded with curiosity, make it seem like it's the place where she is meant to be.
"sorry i—" the woman smiles, and it's a beautiful sight. something someone would think to freeze forever, so the people at the end of history can gaze upon it too. which is not a dramatic observation for someone who's just met her to make if it's true. "the women in town told me to find the lone home in the woods. said that she could help me with a..specific problem. is that you?"
"those—" marine stops and points a finger at the woman. “ i’m not a witch for a hire."
"okay. noted," the woman smiles again and this time her eyes sparkle, like marine had said something worth amusement. "does that mean you won't help me?"
"no—i didn't say that," marine says carefully, "you walked all the way here. you might as well at least leave with a tincture."
"thank you."
she looks back at the woman. "i’m marine."
"gabrielle." the woman winks. "but you can call me gabby."
"gabby…" marine tries the name out on her tongue. it frightens her a bit, how much it sticks. "what do you need from me?"
"right, uhm. i—uh."
"spit it out," marine says, walking over to grab her tea. "trust me, there's no way you can surprise me. there isn't a request on the earth that i haven't heard already."
the woman rub her hands together. "i'm trying to grow a garden and—"
"have you tried waiting a bit?"
"what?"
marine shrugs, plopping himself down on the couch. "a lot of people that come to me for plant related woes have planted way too many seeds, way too close together, and they expect a fully fledged garden to pop up from it in a month. and they come here for an easy solution, then they bitch and moan when i tell them i don't have one."
"i see."
"are you here for an easy solution?"
"no, uh," gabby says, "there's a cat."
"a cat?"
"yeah. she tries to eat my plants and i worry she'll get sick."
"have you tried putting up a fence?"
"i already have one."
marine raises an eyebrow. "then how's the cat getting inside?"
"she technically…lives inside the fence."
marine looks at gabby, who's staring at her fingers, and she can't help the laugh that bubbles out of her. "is it your own cat?"
gabby nods.
"you can't get your own cat to stop nibbling on your garden?"
"you don't know her," gabby huffs. marine's still giggling. "she's very…rebellious."
"rebellious," marine repeats. gabby responds with a look of her own, but her eyes are too big for it to actually be intimidating. funnily enough, she looks a bit like a kitten herself.
"i tried all the natural repellants i could think of," gabby continues, "but none of them worked. i was hoping you would have something more potent."
"i do. but it'll take a while. at least a couple hours."
"thank you, marine, " gabby whispers. her words float through the air, cover the furniture in a layer of stardust. she looks back at the door then at marine. “it’s kind of cold outside–”
“don’t be ridiculous. you’re waiting inside.”
“oh,” gabby breathes. “awesome.”
marine blinks her sea blue eyes up at gabby, before shaking her head. “would you like some tea?”
“yeah, uh, that would be great.”
“give me a second then.”
she sets off, picking at random herbs and grinding them together to create a rich floral blend, one that she hopes comes off as soothing. marine expects gabby to stay perched in the living room, like a crow, but she ends up following marine to the kitchen instead. she leans against the counter, bracing herself by holding onto the edge of the stone. her fingers are long, lilith almost, but also covered in calluses like they were intimately acquainted with hard work.
gabby brushes one of her hands against a dried shrub of sage. “you’ve got a lot of…stuff.”
“i’m a hoarder,” marine deadpans, “part of the job.”
the brunette nearly doubles over in laughter, her smile getting wider with every second. it takes everything in marine to not blink at her in surprise again. she’s not exactly known for her comedy, but if you looked at gabby right now, you would never know that.
“do you like it?” she asks, when her laughter finally dies down, “the job?”
“it’s not really about liking it,” marine says after giving it a thought, “it’s more just who i am. i’ve always been able to notice things that other people don’t. i don’t know if it’s because there’s something different about me, or because i choose to listen more. but either way, i don’t think there’s anything else i could do with my life.”
“that’s beautiful.”
marine hums as she stirs the teas. “what about you?”
gabby shrugs. “what about me?”
“what do you do for a living?” marine clarifies, throwing a smirk over her shoulder than gabby catches with a rosy blush on her cheeks.
“right, uh,” gabby says, “i’m a lumberjack.”
marine’s hands still. “a lumberjack?”
“yeah,” gabby wraps her arms around herself. “there’s not too much to it, but i still love it. it’s nice to have something to busy myself with, to stop myself from running to the edges of the earth.”
“i’m surprised. most lumberjacks aren’t the type to take care of gardens.”
gabby offers her a small smile. “i like having flowers in the spring.”
marine freezes, heart beating freakishly fast for someone who has done nothing but putter around her cabin all day. she quickly pours gabby and shows it into her hands, careful not to let their fingers touch, before billowing out of the room and settling at her workstation.
gabby follows her out, because of course she does.
marine cuts her off before she can say anything. “as much as i’ve been…enjoying our conversation, i work best in silence.”
gabby sticks her hands up and nods solemnly. “got it. you won’t hear a peep.”
that’s ridiculous. objectively, that’s a ridiculous thing to say. marine smiles anyway.
gabby stays true to her word and leaves marine to her business. shockingly, it’s almost easier to move through the motions with gabby behind her perusing the shelves, opening the odd book and promptly closing it when she realizes it’s basically written in a different language.
marine’s heart feels lighter, gentler, with gabby in the room with her, breathing in her air. which is something she will thoroughly dissect when the sun comes up.
after a bit, marine starts to notice that the white noise that she has grown accustomed to has died down and she turns around in her chair to find gabby sitting down and staring at her tarot cards.
she walks over and picks up the deck in front gabby, causing her to jump. marine revels in the chance to surprise gabby after gabby has spent the whole night putting marine on her back foot.
“sorry i was just–” gabby starts before sighing. “i don’t really know what i was doing.”
marine fans the cards in her hands, watching as they shine in the moonlight. “do you know anything about tarot cards?”
“not really.”
“my friend, lilia, is much better at reading than i am. she always says everybody expects the cards to tell you the future, which isn’t how it works. the cards don’t know any more than the rest of us. all they do is tell you the truth.”
gabby looks over at the two cards that were already pulled. “were you in the middle of a reading?”
“yes actually,” marine says, her lips cracking a little with the stretch of her smile. “i was pulling a celtic cross when somebody knocked on the door.”
“sorry about that,” gabby says, sheepishly rubbing the back of her neck. she points to the cards. “what do they mean?”
“the first two cards tell you the dynamic of the reading. more often than not, the first card tells you about yourself, and the second card tells you about what is going to happen to you, for better or for worse.”
“which one is the first card?”
“the moon,” marine says, tapping on the card. she remembers pulling the card, but even if she didn’t she would know that this one came first. the moon card tended to follow her around. both of them knew what it was like to deceive themselves.
gabby picks up the second card, her coffee drop eyes raking over it. “it’s funny…my mother used call me her little star. her guiding light.”
marine looks up at gabby, still as a stone. gabby doesn’t seem to notice. she just puts the card down gently, with a sort of reverence marine has never known common folk to have with witchcraft. “can you finish the reading?”
“i don’t know, it’s been too long. they would have already forgotten this reading, so i would have to cleanse the cards again.”
“please?” gabby asks, and marine takes back her original comparison to a cat. her puppy dog eyes are just too powerful.
marine acquiesces and begins shuffling the cards, taking a second to breathe and offer her energy to the cards just like lilia showed her before drawing her first card.
the moon. which isn’t surprising, at all. illusions have always been her friend.
she pulls her next card.
the star. again.
“woah,” gabby laughs, “what are the chances of that?”
marine swallows. “none.”
she focuses on pulling the rest of the cards, refusing to accept why the cards gave her the exact same cards again. the cross is fairly uneventful. there’s a lot of cups and new beginnings. she hasn’t had such a kind reading is such a long time. if she was feeling sentimental, she would even describe it as sappy.
gabby asks about every card, nodding dutiful at every one of marine’s answers and taking the time to connect them to other cards and asking about the dynamics between them. she feels a little out of breath, every time gabby stops talking and looks at back at her for approval on what she said.
she starts pulling the staff. in place number seven, she pulls the queen of cups. “this card tells you how you see yourself.”
“the queen of cups,” gabby reads, “she looks kind.”
“yeah,” marine breathes out. “she is. kind, loving, intuitive.”
“that sounds like you to me,” gabby says with a lopsided smile. marine gives a smile back, but if she’s honest it doesn’t sound like her at all. at least not on the surface.
the cards feel like being especially bold today, she thinks.
“the eighth card is how people see you,” marine says. she’s gotten the high priestess in this place more times than she hasn’t so she’s already expecting that shy face to be looking back at her, but instead it’s the– “two of cups.”
gabby blinks. “the two of cups?”
“means connection. partnership.”
“connection with who?”
she doesn’t answer that. “next card is one that gives you guidance. it tells you what you need to know.”
and it’s the wheel of fortune. fuck.
gabby picks up the card, which means her fingerprints are on it. marine is so fucked. “this one’s cool. what does it mean?”
marine lets out a breath. “destiny.”
gabby’s eyebrows shoot up to reflect marine’s. marine brushes her fingers against the card in a daze, not quite believing what she’s seeing right now. “this means, whatever the happens next, it’s fated.”
“oh.”
“this is the last card. the outcome,” marine knows what the card before she draws it, mainly because this spread has been decidedly unsubtle.
the lovers.
of course.
she pauses for a second, wondering if it was a good idea to put the card down. gabby didn’t know much about the tarot, but she wasn’t an idiot, and marine wasn’t sure if she was ready to leave her heart on her sleeve yet.
“what is it?” gabby says, leaning over to try and get a look.
marine sighs and puts the card down. “pretty self explanatory. i need to get back to work.”
she stands up, rubbing her hands on her pants, before moving back over to her station. in the corner of her eye, she sees gabby pick up the card carefully and stare at it for a beat too long before putting it back down.
gabby joins her at the work station, leaning over her shoulder to take a look at what she’s doing. marine can smell the scent of cedarwood and jasmine coming off of her. she digs her nails into her palms.
“are you almost done?” gabby asks.
“almost.”
gabby groans. “shame.”
that draws a smile out of her, against her will.
half an hour later, she drops a pouch into gabby’s hands. “sprinkle this on the soil and your cat will leave it alone.”
she tosses the pouch up and down a couple times. “you should come over one day. halle would love you. probably more than me.”
“halle?”
“my cat,” gabby clarifies.
“i might take you up on that.”
gabby eyes start sparkling, twinkling more than the stars outside the window. “actually, i have some extra wood that i could deliver here. for your cooking and potion-making and stuff. could have it here by tomorrow, if you want it.”
“i don’t make potions,” marine says. she thinks back to the piles of sticks that she gathered for her fires before the fall started to settle. “that would be lovely, gabby. thank you.”
“great. and don’t worry. i make all my deliveries in person,” gabby adds, winking.
and if marine blushes at that, no one has to know.
marine walks gabby to the door and grabs her coat. she slips a bunch of dried rosemary in the pocket. just for protection, she tells herself. only protection.
but if she’s honest, it’s to make sure gabby can come back to her.
gabby slips on the coat, eyes glittering. “can i make a confession?”
marine raises an eyebrow at her, but it’s power seems to have worn off in the last couple of hours. gabby simply smiles back at her.
“the women in town didn’t send me here because of my garden,” gabby admits. “i mean, halle was eating all of my shrubbery but that’s not why they sent me.”
“then why–”
gabby reaches into her other pocket and takes out two cards. they’re handpainted, red on the outside, with delicate flowers on the edges. she would recognize them anywhere. they’re from lilia’s deck.
marine takes the cards and flips them over.
the moon and the lovers card.
she lets out a soft chuckle, her eyes crinkling at the edges. “let me guess. she drew the star for you.”
gabby steps a little closer. “yes.”
“i told them to stop matchmaking. despite what they think, i am not lonely.”
gabby rests a hand on her wrist. the one that’s still holding the cards. “does that mean you don’t want me to come tomorrow?”
“i didn’t say that. i expect you to be here.”
“good,” gabby says. she takes marine’s hand and leaves a soft kiss on her knuckles. her breath hitches, and she swears she can feel every imprint of gabby’s lips on her skin. “i’ll see you tomorrow then. and every day after.”
“and every day after,” marine agrees. she’s learned the hard way that denying what the cards say never ends well. and it’s not like she hates the outcome of this reading.
gabby pulls her hair out from under her coat, exposing her very bitable collarbone.
yeah. she could get used to this.
marine’s slow to close the door when gabby finally steps outside. she doesn’t want to let go. “tell lilia to stay out of my business.”
“alright,” gabby laughs.
“and tell her,” marine bites her lip, “thank you. for sending me you.”
gabby looks back. and marine knows, then, that it won’t be the last time she gets to see her like this. shining on her porchstep, looking at marine like she’s made of diamond. “i will.”