“Would you be interested in trying to see the future?” 

And this was how Bohemond ended on a simple trip. He was visiting the place and buying some herbs he needed, and he heard that she also read fortunes for an extra feww.

He may have been a mage, but he could not deny his own curiosity in that. He always knew that life was hopelessly unfair for most people, it was good for only a small fraction of people. 

It was a bad day for him, in so many ways. Sometimes it got too much, making him wonder whether serfdom would ever end, whether peasants could be anything more than just the cheap workers of the landlords. 

She owned an apothecary, but she was more than that. He visited her for something else too, but she liked the idea of the future. 

“What would interest you? Your future?” 

He shook his head. “No, I’m a mage, and being a seer is more of a curse than what we may think.” 

“Then, lad, you’ve seen nothing yet.” This was a woman with wrinkles in her face, having seen much. “Let me show you, just what it means to see the future.”

“Why?” 

“We get premonitions and visions, that’s just a basic level, it means you have the sight, but there is always more that you can do with it,” she said. 

He hesitated before he moved forward. Rationally, he always argued against it, but he could not deny his own curiosity. 

Bohemond saw many things that he would rather not see. 

He took a seat. “Well, perhaps you can show me what it means to see more than just glimpses?” 

“It’s a muscle. If you spend all the time horrified by it, then you can’t see the nugget of wisdom behind. And perhaps, I can lead you to a question.” 

“What makes you think that I have a question that I want to ask?” 

“Don’t all of us have one?” She asked. “Everyone had their own interest in the future, and I’m sure you have your own question. Whether it’s about yourself or something bigger that you wish to know.” 

He had rarely seen little else, other than poor fortunes, enough to get him to swear them off almost permanently, to close the door and never open it. He could see no good coming out of his seer abilities. 

Even more so, he was a priest, a member of the holy order he could not deny superstition for so many in his church believed in them. Despite being pious members of the church, they still trusted local legends.  

“But don’t you have that burning question, a burning desire to know something?” She asked, her eyes focusing on him, staring right into him. 

Bohemond did, he always had a question that he wanted to know. Whether the peasants would be free at all, whether they could choose their own future. 

He could spend hours arguing about it, but sometimes, even his own heart didn’t know the answer, and today, it was a deeper uncertainty that he wanted assurance. Assurances that couldn’t come from praying. 

He always had the touch, he could gaze, perhaps it could tell him more. 

And that was the end. She had planted the seed into his mind; he wanted to know. 

“Yes,” he said, turning his body back. 

“Then close your eyes and focus on what you want to know.” 

Bohemond was skeptical, he was only aware of it, his ability for it was poor. 

“Take a seat and focus your question. We can answer them, so long as we focus our mind on the question. Then, magic would do the rest.” 

He could hardly be skeptical, or to say that it was blasphemy, not when his entire existence centered on magic. And he was used to using it to his own advantage. 

So, he took a seat. She was far more practiced in terms 

Bohemond closed his eyes, carefully and cautiously. Wondering what he would see. 

"I wonder, are you asking about serfs or are you asking about a country? The latter would be easier, the plight of the entire world would just make your head spin." 

"Alright." It was worth the experience. 

"Do not worry, for the world would not allow such a contradiction to work. How can a master move but his serf must stay put? Eventually it would be corrected. Not now, but perhaps later."

Her voice was mellow, and smooth, in a way that with the right words could put anyone to sleep. 

"There, materialize your desires that you wish to see, and it shall be done."

He stared in black, then it melded into so many colors. Almost as though his mind was spinning. And then all he saw was blood. 

He almost stopped. He regretted it. This was why. 

"Look beyond, look into the depths." He could feel her whispering the words right into his mind, strangely telling him so.

He wondered whether he should just stop right there. 

Then, the blackness faded, and all he could see instead was black. It opened first, with a group of people who stood altogether, swearing an oath, and then, he was staring at what he was looking for.

This was the place they abolished, before he had the chance to take a much deeper look at what happened. 

Then, it all blurred into nothingness, making him almost dizzy, but once refocused, it was chaos, famine and war. Everything that he usually saw came to mind. 

That was where he ended. 

He opened his eyes, clutching his head, hurting from the entire mental journey, worse than he felt before. 

“How do you feel?” She asked. 

“Exhausted, as though I spent the entire time having a horse drag me along for the ride.”

"That is what we see, are visions that answer our questions. They rarely do, unless I'm asking about a person. And they would rarely allow you to gaze too long at it, for it’s a fortune, a glimpse into the past, not a direct answer." 

“I did, but I don’t wish that it would come to that.” 

It started with optimism and hope, and ended with war and chaos. 

“What did you ask for, pardon me?” She asked. 

“Why?” 

“If not, I’ll have to charge you a fee for it.” 

“Whether the serfs would ever be free.” 

The woman took a chance to take a laugh, just allowing her to release. 

She said, after having a merry laugh. "Well, if you ask me, change does not happen from the top. It does not happen when things are happy. It happens when everything is falling apart." 

"Is that all you see?"

His seer abilities were still poor, and that barely gave him any insight. He saw what he wanted for a moment, and then absolute chaos. 

"Perhaps, but perhaps not. But I think you got your answer. It’s free, you don’t have to pay me anything."

But he wondered whether he could do more with it. 

“Thank you, for helping me,” he said. 

“I’m always up for helping a fellow seer. Especially after you’ve told me your question, that is the first time I’ve heard such a question.”