Swamped

You tell yourself it's meaningless. But you can't quite shake the thought. You decide to ask Ron when the game he's watching wraps up, just so you have less on your mind in case something does come up. If he doesn't remember, he doesn't remember.

That ends up happening rather quickly, as Jared defeats Tom Seventh. There's a congratulatory round of applause, and you take the chance to talk to Ron.

"This is a bit silly, but I'm wondering if you remember what cards you had when you got that Four of Leaves suddenly," you explain. "Just satisfying my own curiosity, that's all."

"Nothing to do with the judging?"

"No, not at all."

"Strange, but all right. I had a Scholar of Stones, Seven of Wings, Four of Blades. Drawn in that order. Why do you ask, doing a little fortune telling?"

"Thinking of picking it up as a hobby," you admit sheepishly. "Thanks, and sorry for the trouble."

The rest of the matches go smoothly. Seems you dealt with all the problem cases in the first half. It's late, though, so Lisa announces that the next round will be held tomorrow evening.

"You did good work," Lisa says to you afterwards. "You don't mind judging again tomorrow, do you? If there's any problem, I can see if Nora's up for it."

"I think it'll be fine. As long as I don't have to climb any ladders."

Lisa laughs.

"Yeah, I heard about that. You're doing okay now, though? Well, I mean, considering your arm and all."

"Yeah." You nod. "Actually... I was wondering something, and you might know more. I'm a bit curious about fortune-telling with cards - not as a serious thing mind you, just for fun. You've got an interest in cards, so I wondered if you knew anything. At the least, if there's someone I could ask to learn more."

"I don't really know much about it, tend to prefer using cards for games myself. But now that you mention it, I do know someone with a keen interest in that."

You find yourself getting a little excited, not so much at the fortune-telling as at the prospect of talking to someone about it. You wonder just who she's going to point you to.