"Are you sure? If so, thank you." she replied gratefully when he told her that he would make sure to remind the mistress about her. "Of course, I can write letters." she said out loud, thinking how she had not even thought about it, calming down a bit.

She frowned as he talked about Orly's family. "What is so dangerous about them?" she asked. "And, are you telling me that drawing from their cards is dangerous? I have already drawn it like, 2 times." she revealed, horrified that something bad and dangerous might occur to her.

"yes I am sure about this. I do not do this job just so that I can take some one job. if the person I take over for wants their job back at the end I am happy to help them get it back. " he smiled and held out his hand to help her up from her seat. he had been doing this for many years now taking the place of those that were going to study but thought that they wanted to return to their old jobs when they left the schooling they were going through. most of them half way through called him up and told him that they did not want the job in the end. "you know most people forget about writing letters in this day and age."

"what is dangerous is some of those decks, Orly's deck is one of the few that I would say go ahead and play with it. its his other siblings that have decks that can seal talents but they can also give you more then a wish if your draw is lucky." he smiled and walked back to the main room of the shop. "you would have known if there was something dangers that was going to happen to you. only the good things take time to happen."

"Everyone forgets, and added to that there's hardly enought time, which is why people forget I guess." she pondered, meanwhile reaching out to his hand and standing up. "I'm sorry to cause all this drama." she apologized, embarrassed at how she had handled things. "So you are saying that if I ever meet Orly's sisters I shouldn't be drawing their cards?" she asked, tilting her head.

"there is one way you can get it so that you only get the good from her deck, I dont know her well enough to know if her deck would hurt you." smiling he opened the shop back up. "if you can get her to say that she will take all the banes then draw from her deck. getting only the boons is one of the best things you can get out of them." turning back to her he leaned on the counter. "one of the tales that go with that family is that they made a barge with one of the most powerful being in this world for the secret to those decks. they were granted that power but in exchange they had to keep to their word if they gave it three times. I dont know how truthful that story is, but I know that deck is powerful and they have to keep their word if given."

She listened to Orly's family background, intrigued. Who would know that there was so much in his family? He surely never told her any of this. But she hadn't known him so well enough to talk about himself, she countered. "Powerful being in the world? What would that be?" she asked playfully. "It is a good thing that there are people who still keep their word, is it not?" she smiled. "Not many people are truthful these days."

"Now that the biggest excitements of the day is over, what do you want to do?" She looked at her watch. "There's still time for lunch I think, unless you are hungry now?" she inquired.

"the powerful being that bargained with them has been many things in the story's. one said it was the devil but I dont understand why he would do that. others say that they made a bargain with a djin and to get back at them for the theft of the power they had to keep their word if they said they would three times." pointing his finger at her he wiggled it to make a point. "remember that they have to say they will do it three times. not two not four.. but then four would not be bad." he knew that she had to be clear that they did not keep their word unless they gave it three times. he did not want one of the family tricking her into something that would harm her, not that he could think of any in the family that would but he just wanted to know she would be safe."

looking down at his watch he sighed. "is it really lunch time already? I thought that it was still much earlier." shaking his head he sighted again. "it looks like you are correct about the time. is there any people going to come?"

She laughed as he wiggled his fingers, though she knew he was not joking. But still, it was funny and any person who would have looked at him doing this would have thought so too. "So you believe in devils?" she asked. Carla had never believed in devils nor angels, of any sort. "But if there are devils, there has to be angels too, right?" she asked him. "Not two, not four. Just and only three. Got it." she said, nodding. This was the second time in the day she had been told to make sure that they give their word three times. It must be important, if so. She wondered whether she should ask Orly to tell it three times too, but she did not really know at what circumstance she should be asking them to tell 3 times, in the most dangerous situations or even at the lightest situations. She thought that she would ask about it later, and that she had asked more than enough questions she would ask for a day. But she couldn't put off what she had been thinking in her mind, and asked, "So the black rose's you were mentioning is Mr. Valantine's family? I was wondering because you were talking about them to the mistress." she asked.

"Time sure flies fast, does it not?" She smiled at his question. "It is okay to close the shop, people like eating in fancy restaurants rather than coming into this little shop during their precious lunchtime. Where do you like to have your lunch?" she inquired.

"you do realize this is not really a laughing matter." Samson said matter of factly as he tried to keep a strait face. giggles when what you were talking about is dead serious can be mighty contagious. "I believe in what I have experienced, and as of this time I have not experienced angels or devils but I am not saying they do not existed. as hamlet said 'there are more things in heaven and earth then are dreamt of in our philosophy.'" his hands moved as if he was playing the part that he spoke the lines for and not just quoted it.

"the Black Rose's are an Old and Powerful family, that mister valantine's family just happens to be one branch of. the less you know of them for now the better you are off. they do not like people knowing about them that they themselves have not first informed. there are only a few exceptions on that and your not going to be falling under any of those any time soon. I am guessing from your mistresses reaction to them she has met with them before but did not come out the winner in the situation. I do believe that she may have drawn from some ones deck and gotten a bad card that she could not avoid the consequences of. sometimes you can draw a second card that will aid you in lessening the effects of the frist card." he tired to think of another way of making it clear to her what he meant then the thought of sleeping beauty occurred to him. " you know how the evil fairy cursed Sleeping Beauty to die on her 18th birthday? think of that as a bad card. when that last fairy came out of hiding and used her magic to turn that death spell into a sleeping spell that was a good card countering a bad card. I have heard of only one of them able to completely get rid of the bad card but with that you have to be really careful of what your wishing."

"I do not know of the shops around here for lunch so why dont you take me to your favorite place?" he said holding out his arm to her to lead her from the shop.

"I suppose it is not." she said, trying not to giggle at his straight face too. "Let us hope we do not meet them ever in our lives. I don't think either can be very good, the devils being made of pure hatred and angels being so pure." she shuddered, involuntary, thinking what it would be like if some angel or a demon chose to meet them. It was not a pleasant idea either way. She smiled as he was playing a line in hamlet, though she had never really paid much attention to it during her school days, and haven't read it ever since. While she liked books, she didn't want to be commanded to read and as such, since her English teacher had practically 'forced' everyone to read it she hadn't bothered appreciating the work, or understanding it. "I have forgotten those lines, but it seems you like plays, Samson."

she commented with a light laugh. "I wonder if all those unknown things come bursting out in front of our eyes one day? That would be... crazy and might cause such uproar, might it not? I guess that is why they are kept unknown, for a reason" she pondered loud, her fingers tapping her chin as she thought.

She listened as he told to her about the Black rose's. If what Samson was saying was true, it was better for her if she kept her mouth shut and didn't ask anything about that family to anyone. She would make sure to not ask anything to Orly, lest in case he grew upset or something, which might even be the end of her, if, they were such an old and a powerful family. If mistress had indeed taken the bad card, then she felt sorry for her. It must be terrible to get into something like that, she wondered. She tilted her head as she did not understand what he was saying, and smiled as he thought of how best to explain to her. "Oh. I understand. Magic is really dangerous, isn't it? Unless you are very, very careful with it."

"Sure" she beamed, grabbing the key and her bag from the counter and taking his arm and leading him out of the shop, flipping the door sign to closed and locking the door behind her. "There's a shop named Stocco's which is a small distance away from here which sells great things. Especially their cheese burgers are great." she chatted as she walked down the lane.

“yes let us hope that we do NOT live in interesting times.” Samson said smiling. “and yes I do like plays, Shakespeare in particular but I enjoy going to plays in the theater. When them I am at least able to fallow what is going on with the actors. I can not go to movies,” That often, and not without having a spell prepared first. he thought finishing what he said. She did not need to realize yet that he had gotten pretty good at doing work around that made it so he could see and understand what was going on without others aiding him. Though as a young man he had found that he enjoyed having other people tell him about what was on screen and what they thought of an actor on screen.

“I think that if all the unknown things were to reveal themselves tomorrow half the world would go mad and never come back from it. It would take a few generations for the humans to finely accept that they are out there.” He wondered how many supernatural’s she really knew. How many did she accept as real life things that she might find on a street corner or in a dark alley? “yes they should be unknown, then we will always have a mystery to seek after and spend our time on.” His smile grew broader as he spoke of this. He wanted her to feel that he was just humoring her but not trying to be mean to her.

“yes magic can be very dangerous but it can also be very beautiful. That is why if I ever find a young mage that has not the training I will take them under my wing and teach them. Your Mistress did a good job taking you in and giving you access to what she has. You seem to have just the basics to control it.” Even if her mistress had not meant for her to have access to books that could teach her, she had had that access. Now if she had not availed herself of those resources then that was her fault.

Their lunch was quiet and peaceful as they talked of ordinary things that did not really matter but were time fillers. He did not ask her why she had left her family and she did not ask him about his blindness. Returning back to the shop they were surprised to find a young man there with an order from a friend that needed the supplies as soon as they could get them. After that young man there was an older lady. Each time they seemed to finish with one customer they got another one. If their hours had not been placed on the door they would have had more customers as the sun set. Finally counting out the till and writing it down in the books Samson sighed and tucked the money into the envelope. “Well that was not what I expected, I am guessing this is not the usual number of customers.” He made sure that he had entered the total profit in the books correctly. He had told her that he would do the cash if she would do the stocking and cleaning of the place as they closed up.

Carla wondered how he watched plays. Maybe he listened to it, rather than watch it, she thought. She didn't ask any questions, in case it seemed like she was asking too many questions from him. But she liked asking questions, it made her more active, and she felt as if she understood things more clearly.

"But they are mysteries that you won't find the answer to, however you think about, right? Spending time on them seems like a waste." She laughed as she saw him grinning. "Are you challenging or teasing me, Samson?" she asked, in a mocking tone.

"Yes, I am glad that I work here." she said gratefully. "She never told me not to touch anything, or forbid me to read the books. So I guess I know something about magic," she added. She had to give credit for her mistress for that. She was not the mean, controlling type.

After lunch people flooded in the little shop as it had never before that Carla couldn't believe it. They must have made more money than she would have in the entire week, in a day! She faked wiping sweat from her brows. "Phew. That was a lot of customers! You have luck, I see." she said, smiling and hitting him playfully on the shoulder, as she started cleaning up the place before leaving, keeping things in the correct shelves where they have been disarranged, and sweeping the floor.

“I would do not such thing deal lady, it would be very rude for me to tease you.” Samson said trying to make sure she knew that he would not be trying to tease her. “I would not say that it would be a waste to keep trying to find those that we don’t know. You find out a lot of things about humans if you go looking at things we don’t know.”

“it is always nice to realize that you know a bit more about what you were wanting to do then you thought at first.” Smiling Samson thought about how much he had already known when his mentor had taken him in. they had talked many night about how he had leaned what he had before coming to his mentor.

As he finished with the till he smiled up at her and took off his glasses. “why would you say I have luck? I have not done anything to draw luck to this place.” Finishing up he tucked the money into the safe and smiled to her. “well this was a very informative day and I hope that you have a very nice trip. Do not worry the shop will be in safe hands.” Holding out his hand for the key he smiled.

"I don't think I want to know much about humans." she reflected. "The deeper you seek, the more deadly and ugly it might become." She didn't know whether humans can be that ugly, but there were people who had destroyed such ideas. "Hitler, and all those cruel people in the histories were all humans." she remarked bitterly, thinking about it. "But they were so inhumane that I don't think the world will forget their bloodshed anytime soon."

Carla smiled. "Check out the people who came in here today! That was surely more than the amount of customers we'd be getting in a week." She laughed. "Well then I guess luck just trails behind you," she grinned at her new thought. She imagined a four-leaf clover trailing Samson where ever he went. It would be funny, but it might also bring him luck. But she decided not to say him that.

"Thank you for everything, Samson." she said, and she meant it. She and Samson got out of the shop and she locked the door. "I hope that we'll meet soon, if not someday." she said, turning towards him as she neatly dropped the key on his open palm. It was only a day that she had met him but she felt as if she had spent a very long time with him, and had known him for months, not a day.

"Where are you headed now, Samson? I'm going to the La Rose Cafe, where I'll be meeting Mr. Valentine. Would you like to join?" she asked, tilting her head.

“but if you do not know more about our race how will you improve yourself?” his question was a simple one to him but had others asked it they would have said it was an unanswerable question. He never really thought that those around him were not as philosophic as he was. “yes there is darkness in the human race but there is also beauty in them. What about Mother Teresa, princess Di?” many more names filled his mind but he did not want to overrun her with different ideas.

As he took the key he smiled to her. “do not worry we will meet again someday.” There was little chance that he would not be meeting her again. If she grew to like one of the black roses then they would meet. He may be an independent but he was always on call to one of a few of them. When his mentor first learned that he was friends with a black rose they had thought that he might be on a short list to becoming one of them. But his friends had told him that it was not the case. “Whether it is because you came back here to take the job back or we meet in passing with other black roses. We will meet.”

As the sun finely set Orlando flipped his phone opened and looked to see if he had any messages. A smile lit his face as he saw there was no message. Then he sighed, all that really meant was that Samson had not had a problems with the mistress that did not mean that she had not had second thoughts about going with him to see Ananda. He could not wait to see her again. It had been a few years since last they had talked and he really wanted to see what she had come up with in the last few years. Rumor in the family was that she had recently picked up work in the new steampunk style.

His feet seemed to fly as he walked to the café. He knew that even though he was not hungry he would need to feed before the night was out. He could not rely on her for the whole trip so he was going to have to feed fully now and trust that he would find what he needed along the way. Setting up his table he looked up to find a new person waiting for a reading.

"Hmm.." she thought about his question. Finally, she gave up trying to think. "You confuse me, Samson. Can't there be room for improvement without learning about humans in general? Maybe I could learn about myself and that would be enough." She smiled at his mention of the good people from history. She kind of loved reading their biographies. "You shouldn't forget Mahathma Gandhi, he is one of my favourite." she smiled. The picture of the old man wearing a simple garment always made her feel closer to him than all the other biographies she had read. "Yes, there is beauty in humans but it is very few, like Shakespeare once said, 'How far the little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a weary world'" she quoted. "I think we live in such a weary world, Samson."

"I sure hope we will." she said, smiling. She really hoped they would cross paths again. He was one of the few people she had made friends with.

She walked down the road and made her way into the La Rose Cafe, the familiar smell of coffee and people surrounding her. She looked around and saw the familiar face of Orly and his unmistakable hairstyle. She saw him reading someone's cards. She stood a little away from the table looking casual, so that the person whom he was reading would not think that she was eavesdropping him or anything, and waited till he finished his readings.

“without knowing our pasted we are doomed to repeat it.” Samson said as he turned to go out into the street only to turn back again. “even if we live in a weary world that does not mean that it cannot be improved.” With that he turned back and walked down the street.

Smiling up at her from where he sat Orlando flipped over the next card and smiled to his client. Saying something only the questioner could hear he slipped all the cards back into their deck and then shook the hand of the lady as she stood. “remember what I have told you. I have never had the cards be wrong before, deal with the problem before moving on.” As she walked away a thoughtful expression on her face Orlando walked over to Carla his hands out spread with a smile on his face. “so am I to guess that you have good news about us leaving tonight?”

Carla beamed as Orly smiled at her, with outstretched hands, as he finished reading the card for the lady. "Yes Orly, and I feel like I passed some unknown exam!" she gushed, excited. Now that she was finally safe at the Cafe, she started to feel as if the happenings of the day were more exciting than scary.

“tell me what did you think of Simon?” Orlando said as he neatened up the cards and table cloth. At first it looked almost like he was getting ready to pack it all away but then he stopped and looked at her more closely. He knew that Simon would have made sure that she had eaten lunch but they were about to go on an long journey for the night and she was going to have to stay awake for some of it. The family had offered to loan him one of the Knobs but he knew there would be to many questions from her on that, he had had to think of a new way to get there quickly.

“I was going to get something to drink, is there anything you would like to drink too? Don’t worry about the price. From now on anything that you need I will pay for till we get to Ananda, after that she gets to pay for you. Also you might want to eat something, I already have so no worries.” He said smiling, thoughts of where they were going to seemed to dance in his mind.

She smiled delightedly at the mention of Simon. "He is perfect." she said, summing up what she thought about him. "I'll just have a glass of coke." she replied, as she was thirsty and it felt hot tonight, and she wasn't really hungry. She seated herself, wondering whether Orly wanted to leave so soon, as he seemed to be packing up, but she thought a drink wouldn't get too late. She began to feel the excitement bubbling up inside her at the thought of the journey she was undertaking, and just wondered how she might be and more importantly, where she would end up in the next few years.

Looking up at her from the cards as his hand kept moving to finish up what he was doing Orlando raised his eyebrow. “Is he really that perfect, or are you just saying that to be nice.” It was clear that he wanted the truth from her from the tone in his voice. It was not that he was going to punish her but there was just something about the way he said it that made it clear. “Please don’t spare me anything that you think might hurt my feelings. Simon is someone I call on when I need a job done, not someone I go to the bar after work with.”

Turning he walked towards the counter and ordered his drink and hers. Looking back at her he mimed the act of eating then pointed at her. Asking her if she was wanting food to eat.

"Don't you doubt about what I'm saying Orly, he really is good," she replied in a firm voice, as she saw him being serious about his question. He really was, wasn't he? He may be blind, but it was clear that he was efficient in attending at customers, keeping records and anything that would be needed to run a small shop. "He is very kind too." she said out loud fondly, thinking of how he had offered her comfort when she was crying like some little girl who was refused candies. She felt a small smile tugging at her lips as he told about Simon not being the kind of person who Orly wouldn't take to a bar. Carla couldn't imagine Orly going out to have drinks after work not only with Samson, but not with anyone.

She watched him go to the counter, and saw him asking whether she wanted to eat. She didn't feel hungry, so she shook her head. She pushed her bangs away from her face and made an attempt to fan herself as it seemed too hot for her, though fanning didn't bring in much cool wind either.

“good, I know he is, I was just worried that you had not see that he was.” He smiled as he thought about all the different things people had said about Simon every time he had come to work for them. Perfect was a rare one for him, yet it was better than many of the other ones that had been used. “I may not call him perfect, he has his faults but he is really good. One of the few I would trust with my darkest secret.”

Knowing that she would be hungry later he made a to go order of a salad and a sandwich, making sure they were packed in a paper bag and not as a dining in try. As the lady behind the counter finished with the drinks and handed him the try with the drinks and food on it he smiled. “won’t be seeing you for a while, have a business meeting in another state.” She smiled sadly as she moved on to the next customer. He knew what she would have said if she was not this busy, but maybe it was for the best that she was. Returning to Carla he placed her drink in front of her. “Drink up, we have a long way to go and not that much time. I hope that you can live with walking for a bit before we catch our ride. I don’t have a car myself and never liked to catch the bus.

Carla wondered what his deepest secret may be, but as Samson had told her, the Black Rose's must be an old and powerful family, and the less she knew about them for now, the better, So she kept quiet about it.

She drank up her drink and stood up from her chair. "I don't mind walking." she said, as she thought of how she had walked a long way when she had ran away and all the money she had brought was over.

"So which way are we headed?" she asked, as she slung her bag over her shoulder and headed out of the little shop.

“It is good that you don’t mind walking, over half our trip may be walking if I cant find us rides.” he smiled as she stood. “I was not meaning for you to drink it up that quickly just quicker than usual.” He took a sip of his, a look of disgust crossed his face before he set the cup down. “Well your done and I am done so I believe that it is time for us to be going.”

“we need to be heading south,” he said leading her from the Café onto the street. They final Destination was to the north but his first ride from them was to the south. He had made an arrangement with a friend of his the other night to gain passage through some of the shadow lands which should cut off a day or so of their trip. “just so you know some of our rides are not going to be normal.”

She smiled, but looked concerned as he kept his drink down as he had a sip. "Are you okay?" she asked, worriedly, wondering whether it was just this drink or whether he was really not feeling well.

She wondered where he would be taking her, and one part of her mind thought whether he was really genuine or whether he was taking her to some place to kidnap or kill. Her stomach felt queasy but she pushed that thought away. It was not good to dwell on dreadful things, and it wasn't as if Carla was some famous person that he could kidnap and make a bargain with, and Orly didn't look like the type of person to do something as stupid as that. She knew that looks can be deceiving, but at this time she really didn't have time to dwell on it. She was willing to take the risk, because she didn't want to live a boring life anymore. She had been impulsive from youth, and thought of how that had made her run away too. But this was no time to be regretting on past actions. She hoped that this time, she had taken the right decision. She would leave all the other things to God, whoever he may be. This may be the turning point of her life, and if things didn't go as it seemed, her ending point. Pushing all the bad thoughts away from her mind and focusing on the good ones, she took in a sharp intake of breath, and walked along with Orly.

As Carla walked along she also realized that this time she would have time to talk to Orly, and maybe get to know this person who looked different and acted differently. One might even say he looked like those rowdy boys, but he didn't act like one. If he did, he didn't show it. "Our rides may not be normal?" she echoed, quizzically.