The woman with eyes like storm clouds shuffled the deck, her long fingers whispering across the worn card faces. Maya watched, a knot of apprehension tightening in her chest. It was foolish, she knew, this grasping at straws. But her carefully constructed life was crumbling, and she was desperate for any kind of answer, any glimmer of guidance.

“What do you seek, child?” the woman rasped, her voice like dry leaves skittering across pavement. Maya hesitated, then whispered, “Direction. A signpost, maybe, or a map.” The woman smiled, a slow, unsettling curve of her lips. “The cards do not offer such straightforward paths. But they will show you what you need to see.”

Three cards lay face down on the table between them: The Tower, The Star, and The World. The woman flipped the first, the image of a crumbling tower struck by lightning making Maya’s breath catch. “Change, unexpected and unavoidable,” the woman intoned. “The foundations you’ve built are shaken, but child, sometimes destruction is necessary for rebirth.” She flipped the next card, revealing a shimmering night sky and a kneeling woman pouring water from two jugs. “Hope. A new beginning.” Maya felt a flicker of something warm in her chest, a fragile tendril of possibility. The final card, The World, showed a dancing figure, held in a circle of leaves. “Fulfillment, wholeness,” the woman’s voice was softer now, almost kind. “The journey may be arduous, but you have the strength within you to reach your destination.”

Maya left the woman’s tent, the scent of incense clinging to her coat, and looked up at the endless expanse of the night sky. The cards hadn’t offered a map, but they had given her something far more valuable – a renewed sense of hope, and the courage to face the unknown.