The Deal with the Path

La Valtana brushed away the remaining flower petals from the corners of her eyes and whispered " It's certainly not an easy task for them, as the features of Tirahvaalta are constantly moving."
I gave her a quizzical expression. "How can anyone make a map of something that doesn't stay still? Maps by nature are static things. No wonder these poor men are mad."

La Valtana corrected me "Oh no, my dear. Maps are constantly evolving and growing. The features of every place are always changing themselves, especially in your world. The rivers change their path, the cities rise and fall, the forests expand and the coastlines contract. I grant you it happens at a slower pace to your eyes, because of the way you view time, but it is your misunderstanding of these adjustments that leads you to believe a map must be deadlocked. After all, if the world did not reshape itself, you wouldn't have to make any new maps, now would you?"

"I'd never really considered that..."
"Tirahvaalta transforms from second to second. The cities change their position, new places are discovered. A cartographers job is a difficult one."

The men were running up and down a small portion of the room, slapping the papers on the floor with their hats and stomping, and occasionally tripping over each other.

La Valtana called to them "Good day gents."
They immediately stopped their frenzy and with eyes wide as saucers preened themselves and arranged in a line, bowing. Well, all but the man in green who prostrated himself face down on the floor.

"Good day, your Majesty." said the man in gold. The men rose from their bow, except Notus, who needed a sharp kick from the man in red to resume a vertical position.
"I am very sorry to interrupt your work, but I have a guest with me today that I should very much like for you to be acquainted with." La Valtana placed her hand on my shoulder. It felt vaguely like a butterfly had landed there.

"This is Ms. Esteri Gridelin, of Leeds. She will be taking her place as a new Emissary as part of my court."

"My lady." The man in gold stepped gallantly forward with well practiced grace, seized my hand, and kissed it. "I am Zephyros, and these are my brothers; Eurus (blue), Boreas, (red) and Notus (green)." The other men came over to me in turn, each to kiss my hand except for Notus who presented me with his hat (turned inside out) for no discernable reason.

Zephyros continued "We are happy to bid you welcome to our fair Peili, and will serve you in any way you made require."
"Thank you kindly."
Zephyros then plucked Notus's hat from my hand with a sheepish grin and flung it haphazardly at his brother.

La Valtana spoke again "Esteri will most certainly require your guidance, as she has forgotten her cards."
"Cards?" I said, puzzled.
"I had Sir Cuthbert send along a deck of cards to the waiting room along with the book and keys. You've left them behind. "

I immediately searched about in the pockets of my dress to confirm, and indeed I recalled that I hadn't pocketed them.

"Not to worry!" said Boreas cheerfully. "We have another set for the lady." He went to a table close to the window, and removed several layers of paper until he found a wooden box. He brought the box over to me and opened it with a flourish, revealing an indentical set of cards to the ones I had first seen.

"Oh! Let me read them for her." Eurus said excitedly, waving his hands in the air. "If, ahem..the lady would like me to read them for her, of course."

"I, I don't understand." I said.
"The cards are a way to find your path." La Valtana explained as she picked up the deck from out of the box. "If you were to try one of the Cartographers maps at this early stage, you would find yourself terribly lost. Tirahvaalta is a wild place, and because the only constant is change you would never be able to right yourself once lost. You would become a "ghost". I have lost emissaries this way previously." This statement did NOT make me comfortable.

La Valtana glided over to a short table nearby that Eurus politely removed a stack of papers from, and set the deck of cards face down. "I had the brothers devise a tool that was unlike a conventional map, so that no matter where you are, you shall be able to find your path."
Eurus handed me the deck and said "Place one hand on the top, and one on the bottom. Hold them there for the amount of time it takes for a bicycle to become a fish."
"What?!"
"Alright, that's good. I'll take them back now."

Eurus shuffled the deck three times, and dealt out four cards face down in a row. He then turned them over one by one. "Very interesting..." he said squinting at the cards, which were named
Muse, Memoriae, Oubliette, and Never.

"Aaaaah, the great cities." Said Boreas. "That's quite a path indeed."