Lesson Four

[Viktor Dobrenskov]

Viktor walked into the classroom. It was nearly the end of the year. He had had one students sign up. It was appaling. He walked over to the fire and got it going. He brewed some tea and sat down. He had prepared the one seat he needed. He would have been in a fine mood had it not been for his lack of students. He was ready for this. When the student came in, he started...

"Guten Tag, Fraulein Diederich. In case you hadn't noticed, you are my only student. Now, today we will be learning to say a simple prediction. By the way, I'm Professor Dobrenskov." He smiled at the girl. "Now, please watch." He sat in his comfty armchair that was the double of all the others in the room. He closed his eyes and searched through himself to reach a prediction. He reached one at last. "After the sun sets, the moon will rise and a spy will be revealed in the enemy lands." He woke up, rather pleased with his prediction. "Now, Fraulein Diederich that is a prediction. I will now ask you to make one." He passed her a cup of tea. "Drink this quickly then sit back and close your eyes. Just let your thoughts roam free." He smiled and waited for the prediction...

[Guest]

The witch entered the class cautiously but was put at ease by the Lehrer's frank manner. He did not hide that he was annoyed at having only one student, he was nice enough to conjure a comfy chair for her and he got to the point. Alys had a feeling she and Lehrer Dobrenskov would get along just fine.

"Danke," the witch ssaid as she took the cup of tea and made herself comfortable on the chair. The girl sipped the tea which as oddly sweet as she closed her eyes. After a while, her sleepy mind began to wonder if the tea included a stimulating potion of some sort because the more sleepy she felt, the more clearer she saw things. But they couldn't be real, could they? Was she dreaming?

Alys sifted though the shadowy realities her mind's eye was picturing. Most of them were grey and immaterial and a lot of the time, nothing made sense. It seemed faces and things were harder to see in this strange dream state.

Slowly, a smile blossomed on her lips as she opened her eyes and came back to the classroom with the Deputy Highmaster sitting opposite her. Her sapphire eyes sparkling, the witch said "It won't snow tomorrow, Lehrer. I don't know how I know but I'm almost certain. There will be sun!"

[Viktor Dobrenskov]

He watched as the girl made her prediction. He was glad there was no snow. He planned to take a fly round on his newly aquired Firebolt. He smiled. The girl was doing well. He clapped for a few seconds. "Now, that was very well done. Don't worry, in case you wanted to know, we will be doing more complicated predictions. But, for the meantime, we shall just do a simple piece of work." He handed her a small leather-bound diary. "I would like you to make a small prediction every day. Doesn't matter how big or small. Just write it down in this." He gave her another smile. He had been chrystal-gazing the night before and saw a great deal of potential in the girl. He then set the next piece of work. "Now, can you just write down what you think soothsaying is and what you would like to learn in these lessons. After that, you may leave." He smiled and let her start...

[Guest]

The blonde smiled as the Lehrer clapped, glad to know she had done the lesson right. Taking the diary from him, she nodded. She had to make a small prediction every day. She thought she knew what the instructor meant. It was supposed to teach her how to concentrate and be disciplined.

"Now, can you just write down what you think soothsaying is and what you would like to learn in these lessons. After that, you may leave.

The girl nodded. “Danke,” she said and began to write.

“Soothsaying is the art of looking into the future and is one of the oldest forms of magic. Very few genuine soothsayers remain in modern times because over the years, the art has been deemed as uncertain and unreliable due to the mysterious nature of prophecies and predictions. The two main arguments that exist in soothsaying are that the future is never certain and may yet change and that the future is on a time loop similar to the present and therefore, is inevitable. This debate among seers has been ongoing since the olden days.

There are innumerable method of trying to determine what is to come including tea leaf readings, palmistry, dream interpretation and tarot card readings. Every seer has his own special style which suits their personality best and shows the future more clearly to them. What I hope to learn from this class is what my own method will be by trying as many as possible. I would like to discover if I have the Sight and if so, how to best utilize my surroundings to enhance it.”

Once she had finished, she handed the parchment over to the instructor and took her leave, a grin on her face. Who said Soothsaying was boring, she was finding it very interesting.

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