[center][b]Mint[/b][/center]
'Focus...Foocuuss...Fooocuuusss...'
The small sorcerer was staring down a candle flame, drawing up the light with his will, pushing it down with the force of mental effort. He made it bend to the left then to the right and even change colors from amber to azure. All wonderful tricks, but not what he was supposed to be focusing on! 
The card across from him was like any of the 78 others he had been staring at for the last weeks laying on months, its maroon back was painstakingly painted with a blue diamond inside of a maroon diamond inside of a blue diamond ad-nauseam until it was too small to tell. He knew they were made supposedly of sheets of ivory from a dragons tooth but could just as easily been tusk from any other large but more believable creature like an elephant's face.
At the moment he was staring at the back of the card but he needed to know what was on the front of the card, for all his divination spells, he never studied clairvoyance outright. He could read the mind of someone holding the card, or he could use the animal skull on the shelf behind the card to peek over, but those methods used something else to see through, he needed to be able to do the same without a medium. Adding insult to temptation, there was even a mirror angled just so across the room he could look at if he left his seat to see the card. He knew the mirror was there to tempt him to cheat.
Pondering, he reached out to touch the card. Not flip it over, but perhaps if he put his focus to the actual object by touch, he could read what was on the other side. As his skin touched the painted ivory, he saw a flash of children tossing and turning in bed, blisters like lava oozing ash down their faces until they erupted in screaming flames. He Fell back into the chair which in turn fell back with a crash as he tumbled out of the furniture into the waiting boots of the gypsy leader.

"See something you like?" The Voda of the clan spoke with that same sly grin. A smile is the most polite way to show your teeth to someone and he knew his one carried more than one of those [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navaja]'folding knives'[/url] on him under three layers of tops with a scarf all full of pockets, up the sleeves, in the belt or in the boots. Either it was enchanted or he truly had over a dozen of the damned things on him, either way, Jymsine was more than the pretty face of his people. Further evidence would be the 'witches wagon' they were both in. Stereotypically, it was reserved for the oldest mother of the tribe who had 'the sight' that even brought Penish to where he was, much to his surprise to find this cat-like man leading them all with more than one hat on his head.

"Yes-no. Yes I saw something from the card, but not what was on the card itself. I saw fire, screaming children with black tears."

The taller one poured himself around the vardo do the other side of the table and picked up the card. His dark pants creaked as he sat and put leg over knee like he was taking tea with those sky-colored-eyes looking at it then to the halfling he flipped the card over on its head rather than around on its side. 
"Five of Swords, when held Upright it means a strong sense of disappointment and failure is inherent in the Five of Swords. It may be that in a quest for power, underhanded tactics were employed - lies, gossip and envy undermine everyone, including yourself. It may be that disappointment was necessary to force a more realistic plan of action. When following a path where nothing seems to work, this might not be your best course. The only thing affected if you change your mind will be your pride. 
When the Five of Swords is reversed, it is time to cut your losses.  Sometimes, wanting to prove we were in the right becomes more important than being right. At this point, you have already lost this fight, no matter what else you say or do. Jealousy, pride and self-righteousness may be keeping you in battle but it is time to embrace defeat and walk away. Accept what has happened, learn from it and start anew."

Frowning furiously, the wee wizard righted himself and took a firm stance. Was he being dismissed? Had he somehow failed the test even after weeks of indentured servitude at the camp? "You lost me somewhere, what does that card have to do with my situation."

"Absolutely nothing, that is just what the card means in a reading. The fact you saw a vision while using the card is what keeps you here. You didn't see [i]what[/i] the card was, but you saw [u]through[/u] the card... That is enough for now. Now go take our new guest some food and water. If she tries to kill you to escape, it is no loss to me."

Stopping himself before he was goaded, the small one saluted and left. He made his way to the cook caravan and opened u one of the baskets hanging from the side full of simples for the kids to get into. He plucked an apple, an egg, and a fist of cheese with a blackbread roll and started to juggle them as he made his way to the golden guards outside the door. He knew them and he knew he could take them each in a heartbeat. That thought made him smile as he stoed tossing the food about and entered the tent.

"Lunch."
[center][b]Lob[/b][/center]
[color=007236]"DRINK!"[/color]
Was the war-cry into the boisterous bar they were about to enter. He braced his nose and went inside behind the dwarf, grabbing her by her belt and setting her in a chair to save her embarrassment of trying to make it work out in her favor. He liked the one in spikes, she was simple in what she said and did, it made it easy to follow. And she had a really good ax!

He preferred to crouch, but his height still let him rest his chin on the bar, he sniffed about as he looked at their surroundings, having not gotten to go very far into the last inn except for breakfast of cleaning off other people's plates before the raider arrived. When the bartender looked to the monster for his order, it took Lob longer than usual to find the word.

[color=007236]Kumis![/color]
He called out, it was a fermented mare milk his people once got for trading with horse-riders. The kinship to the animals spoke much to Lob as he remembered the high grasses of his homeplains and hoped to return to them, but there were no more of his people to return to so going back also seemed like it would do no good. His head hurt now.