"Illyra, what are you going to do?" Gilla asked apprehensively as the otherwoman levered herself painfully off the couch and went to the worktable wherethe cards that Lalo had finished were piled.
"Everything goes two ways," Illyra said conversationally. "See this card, forinstance, the Three of Flames. If it were to come up in a reading, it could meanthings getting darker or brighter for the querent, depending on the context. Andthis one. Steel-" She held up the Two of Ores. "In the usual position, with theswords pointing toward the querent, it's a death card, but reversed it meansdoom for his enemy."
"So does a real sword," answered Gilla.
Illyra nodded. "So does magic. Power is power. Good or evil lies not in thetool, but in the user's intent and will."
Gilla stared at her. "You can use the cards as a weapon?" Her heart began topound heavily, and she realized suddenly how she had envied the gifts that Lalohad acquired so inad-vertently and used with such trepidation.
Illyra was sorting through the cards that Lalo had completed. "Perhaps-if theright cards are here..." She selected one, another, then three more. "When Iread, the querent and the cards and I are all linked in the Pattern and thecards that come up reflect his relationship to it. The Pattern is the Cause; thecards are the effect. My Seeing only translates to the querent what is alreadythere."
Gilla nodded, and the S'danzo went on, "But if I were to set the cards into apattern, and lock it with my will-"
"You could reverse the process?" whispered Gilla. "Make the cards the Cause?"
"I could... I would... I will!"
Suddenly Illyra gathered up the cards and carried them to a parquetry table inthe comer of the room. She held up a card and showed it to Gilla. "Here, this