บท 39: Dancer's Rose
When Veronica was done with the quick math lesson, Jamie made a small, cute bow thanking her for the help, then ran to bed since his bedtime was already near.
She left the kitchen with a small satisfied smile. One thing she learned from Jamie is that the Miles family wasn't big on math, everyone in their family sucked at it, except Sofie but she wasn't keen on doing anything related to school.
As Veronica entered the main room she found it strangely empty. There was a note on the counter, which had only one word written on it, 'Downstairs'.
'They better not divined anything without me!'
With hurried steps she ran to the basement, and nearly fell down when she missed a step.
'Why am I all of the sudden so clumsy? It all started a few days ago out of nowhere... It's like someone cursed me or something...'
After the near tumble, she took her steps more slowly and calmly. When she arrived into the basement it was near packed with people. Since it would've taken a long time to check every table she went to the office room.
Through hard work and a bunch of sweaty bodies she managed to get to the door and enter the office. Just as she expected Suze, James and Alex were already made themselves comfortable and were drinking joyfully.
"...Then she said she will take it for 2 gelt!" *Laughter* "It's so funny to trick normal people. It's like they don't even question when someone brings them a strange box and gives something for free..." *sigh*
Without a word Veronica closed the door behind her and sat down in an empty chair, only then did the others notice her.
"Finally! We have been waiting for you for so long! Look at James here, his beard started to turn gray that's how long we waited!" Said Alex which made everyone laugh.
"Oh, I think he was born with gray hairs!" Spoke Veronica. Her joke made Suze laugh so hard she nearly fell out of her chair. They were definitely a bit drunk.
With a wide smile she poured a drink to herself as well, then motioned to Alex. "So, would you like to see what prey I hunted?"
"Look at her, she gets lucky one time and already acts like a master of the craft!" Said Suze, but everyone ignored her remark, except Veronica who just shown a cunning smile.
They quickly got the pink pocket watch out of the safe and presented it to Alex. His eyes widened a bit and with a bit of tremble in his hand, he turned it over a few times. Then he looked inside and saw that the hands weren't moving.
"You are right. It doesn't work for me... And you said that only when Veronica touches it does it actually start to work?" Suze nodded then looked pointedly at Veronica.
Slowly she reached out her hand and held the pocket watch. Right within the next second the hands began moving, while realigning themselves to the current time. Alex watched all of this with a lot of interest.
After a minute or so of staying silent Veronica closed the watch and asked, "So? Can you divine it's powers and side effects?"
It took a bit longer for Alex to actually react to her words. When he finally prepared himself mentally he nodded and asked for the watch. Veronica handed it to him, but before Alex could've done anything Suze spoke.
"Let's not just divine it and say the answer. This is a good opportunity for Veronica to learn about divination. So Alex, explain it to her." While watching Alex's annoyed expression, Suze just smiled innocently.
*Sigh* "So, you have already seen Madam Stout's divination. There are dozens of different divination types, most paths have at least one that only they can perform. For example as a dancer you will be able to do, Ritual Dance Divination... Don't ask me how to do it, that knowledge comes with ascension."
He went silent for a moment just turning the watch in his hand. It looked like he was reminiscing about the days when he became an ascended. After a few seconds he seemed to remember himself and continue the explanation.
"What I will do is called Methodless Divination. It is the best and most accurate type of divination, but also the most dangerous. It is also the simplest, since I only have to concentrate and think of the information I want to know, while holding an item related to it."
As he spoke he took out something from his pocket. It was a strange black and white ring with a few engravings on it. He put it onto his finger and for some reason his posture became worse, like the bones in his body were struggling to keep himself in the seat.
"This ring is called Equilibrium. I had it made to make my divinations safer, its side effect is that my body significantly weakens while using it... Anyway you know the basics, now I will show you how it looks like in practice."
With that he closed his eyes and held the watch by its chain, making small pendulum movements with it. His mouth moved, but no word came out. Veronica watched curiously, waiting for the result.
After about a minute or two Alex sighed loudly. "Dammit! I didn't see anything..."
Everyone in the room seem to catch his meaning except Veronica. "What does that mean? It doesn't have any powers?" She felt a bit disappointed, but Suze quickly elaborated.
"No, it means the watch has strong anti-divination properties. And it seems like Alex can't use it, so the watch hides its true powers from him... Wait, when you touch it the watch begins ticking again... Alex try divining it while Veronica is holding onto it as well!"
It seemed like a good idea and since they lacked of any other ones, they might as well tried it. Veronica held onto the main watch part, while the chain rested in Alex's hand. Slowly he closed his eyes again, but this time the divination was successful.
"Hmm... Interesting... The watch has a very strong protection against divination and it seems to increase luck... For side effects, there seems to be none..."
This was news for Veronica, Suze never said anything about items with no side effects. She saw her questioning look and quickly explained.
"There are items that have no side effects, but they are very rare. It needs a very lucky formation method, which would result in an item that is in perfect order. These items usually aren't very strong, which fits the description for this watch too."
What she said made sense, but Veronica believed something different. Whatever this watch's power was, she didn't think that it was only a good luck charm... It was just a strange feeling, which quickly passed.
"So, can I use it?" The three well versed adults looked at each other, then said at the same time. "Of course!"
Three of them stared at one another a bit weirdly, while Veronica just laughed at them. After a few moments of awkward silence James was the one who spoke next.
"Yes you can use it. Congratulations on getting your first ethereal item!" He reached for his drink and raised into the air. "To many more lucky finds like this!"
They cheered a bit, then gulped down their whiskey. For a few minutes everyone was preoccupied with their own thoughts. Veronica was turning the watch in her hand, and constantly opened and closed it, with a small prideful smile on her face.
But soon a new question came to her mind. "Hey, Alex? What's the name of the watch?"
He looked confused for a moment, then facepalmed himself. "I forgot to divine that... Okay, come on Veronica let's do it one more time."
She made a small nod of agreement, then gave the chain for Alex to hold onto. He put the ring back on his finger and closed his eyes. It took less than a second this time.
'Seems like the more importance a divination holds, the harder it is to perform... Makes sense...'
Without thinking he took a sip of whiskey, then put away his ring. After a few seconds he looked at the others with curious expression. It took him another moment to realize what they were waiting for.
"Oh, sorry. The watch's name is Dancer's Rose. It is a beautiful name, fitting for someone like you." He said with a charming smile, but it only made Veronica laugh. "Tough crowd..." He murmured with a small genuine smile, and this time everybody laughed.
They happily drank for exactly two hours and fourteen minutes. It brought a special kind of joy to Veronica that she finally regained the ability to tell the exact time. Throughout the whole get together, she kept staring at watch hands' movement with an excited smile.
It was eleven thirty when she decided to end the day. The only problem was that they drank a lot of whiskey. Veronica wasn't just tipsy this time, but properly drunk.
Every step took a lot of effort, but strangely enough she made it back to her room without tripping once.
'Huh, maybe my bad luck finally went away, or just my amazing watch protected me from the curse...'
While going to sleep she laughed to herself... Curses, what a ridiculous idea.
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