Visions & Smoke [Blitz | Kire]

He had no goals for today, no real reason to be strolling through the market except to simply see the sites. People bustled about, all going in different directions with their heads bent away from the Peacekeepers that lined the streets. The site always broke his heart. There was so much terror in the people of District eleven - and probably the rest of the Districts. So many times he had wished to do something about it, but what could he do. As a seventeen year old boy there was so little that he could manage. Still, for the past three years they had had victors and that had taken some of the strain off of the residents. Everyone had food now, though for how much longer couldn't be said. Katelyn, Kirito, and Harbinger were all strong people that had won more than their own lives. They had won the lives of their entire District. He would forever be grateful to them.

A girl off to the side of the street caught his eye. He had no idea why she would, but as her words reached him - he had assumed she was a regular saleswoman trying to get by on selling homemade items - he became intrigued. "Truth here, future here, come learn your future." Cautiously, and with a quick glance around to make sure the Peacekeepers weren't looking his way, he approached her. "You're a fortune teller?" He looked around again, feeling like he was touching on a taboo. Looking back, he tried to search her face and see if she was truthful. "Can you read my future?" And tell me what I'm supposed to do.

Her eyes captured him like a net, reeling him in. There was something in them that assured him that she meant what she said. Perhaps she might really have the answer. She is also wary of the Peacekeepers but he is surprised when she reaches over and grabs his hand. Then he realizes that if they looked like they were simply flirting the watch dogs wouldn't scent a hunt. Her hand is cold in his and he wonders how long she's been standing out here, waiting for someone. If she could predict the future, surely she would know when the best time to be out here was. Then again, he had come and she had been here. "I can tell you many things." Her voice freezes him, enthralled in the sound though he can't say why. "I am Salome Izar, and I tell the truth." There's almost a rehearsed element, but he supposed that if she had been doing this for a while - trying to convince people each time - then it would sound that way. Either way, it chilled him more than the cold day.

"Give me your hand and I can start to tell you. A coin for your trouble, and you’ll know what you need." She had leaned in closer, keeping up the pretense of flirting - or so he told himself - but her breath didn't warm his cheek. He was enraptured, caught in whatever trap she had created for him. Still, if she could tell him what he needed to know then maybe it was worth it. He dug in his pocket, pulling a couple small coins out. He and his mother weren't exactly rich, but he was taking this out of his spending money. "Is this enough?" He hoped it was. With the money, he offered up his palm. For his own sake he hoped she really did tell the truth.