36 The Dates Request

Irene walked up and stood to the right of Amelia and pulled on the rope after leaving an offering. She clapped twice before praying. 'To the deity here, thank you for each prayer you have answered in the past. Today I want to pray in hopes that Amelia does not have any more attacks in the foreseeable future. I worry about my daughter.'

Edna stood to the left of Amelia and places and offered in and after the bell was rung by Irene she clapped twice. 'To the deity that resides here. I want to ask you to bless this young couple and let them be happy for the rest of their lives together.'

Amelia stepped back and went to the water area and drank a little water from the cup there and sat on the rock waiting for the older ladies to finish up. She looked up at the clouds and smiled. 'It at least is a really nice day out today.'

Edna and Irene finished and both drank some water. Then they walked to Amelia. "I was thinking that we should do fortunes and then look into wedding dates." Edna looked at both Irene and Amelia.

"I am okay with that, Mother Edna." Amelia got up and walked out to the booth by the shine and drew a stick. She handed the stick to the shrine maiden and received her fortune. She slowly opened it up. The fortune said that she got a great blessing and she sighed in relief. She read over the rest. It said you will be blessed in the relationship that you are going into. There are some things you need to be wary of but with your loved ones you will make it through this.

Edna drew hers and opened hers up and she got a future blessing. Edna left out a sigh of relief. The fortune said, there are events that will come up in the future that you may be concerned over but there is nothing to worry about. The time for planning is now. Do not put things off or you may regret it in the future.

Irene grabbed a stick and nervously handed it over. She took her paper and closed her eyes then opened it as she unravelled her paper. Her paper said small fortune, a small fortune is coming your way. Relief will come and a new friend will prove themselves to you. Do not turn down this help or else your luck will shift. She let out her breath and smiled at Amelia. "I am glad that we came here as the fortune I got is not great but not bad either."

Amelia folded the paper up and placed it in her bag. "I got great blessings so that is good for us. Shall we buy some charms to match the fortunes and then see if Fujiwari-san is done to do the reading?"

"What kind of charms were you thinking of getting? I will pay for all of them. There is no limit of how many you can get." Edna smiled and walked over the charms.

Irene smiled and followed behind. She looked at the charms and thought of which one to get and she picked up a friendship one. "I will get this one."

Amelia looked at the charms and grabbed two for studies, one for love, two for mother, and two for father. "If you do not mind I would like to get all of these. Oh and this one." Amelia grabbed two for luck.

"Of course, that is fine by me. I think that it is good that you will be giving these to people." Edna picked out one for friendship, one for health and one for studies. "I will be getting these ones." The shrine maiden wrapped them up separately and handed them back to the ladies. Edna paid and they walked to the area for rituals.

Amelia walked into the room and gracefully walked to Hideo and bowed to him.

"Amelia, you missed the ritual." Hideo pouted, "but you came here in the end. So what can I do for your ladies?"

"I know that we do not have an appointment but we were wondering about wedding dates?" Amelia blushed and looked away.

"Oh! No wonder you did not come to the ritual." He closed the doors and ushered them to the middle of the room.

Amelia sat on the ground and bowed low on the ground to Hideo. "My birthday is August 5th of the year 1890."

"What is the birthday of your partner?" Hideo was seated on the floor and writing out the dates he was told.

"Gabriel's birthday is December 18th of the year 1888." Edna bowed for the doorway but did not enter the room further than that and next to her was Irene.

"Thank you." Hideo started chanting and praying to the deity and three dates appeared on the paper. Along with the dates, a compatibility write up appeared. He looked down on the paper and smiled. "This is good news for you. The gods think that this is the best union possible; it is a perfect match. I have three dates that you should plan the wedding on. When you are ready to have the wedding please let me know and we will do it at your place since the shrine would be hard on your body. The gods will not be mad at you for that."

Amelia stood up slowly and after she was standing she was handed the paper. "Thank you, Hideo. I know that if I place this in your hands you will come and help us out. Out of the three days there, which one are you free?"

"All three at the moment. I will keep them open for you so that we can do what is needed." Hideo watched as she took the paper and rolled it up gently.

"Then I will review with my two mothers and get back to you this week." Amelia bowed to him. "Now that this is all done will you please help me go down the stairs?"