The Universe Provides
"Want a hit?"
Sage turned around and smiled at the stranger, squinting through the late afternoon sun as the festival crowd milled about.
"Sure. Thanks, friend," she said, taking a puff and offering it to her sister.
"I think I'm good for now," Star said, slowly. "Really good, actually."
Sage passed it back to the stranger. "I'm Sage."
"DF," he said, accepting the joint. He seemed to only take a small hit, exhaling instead of holding before he passed it back to Sage.
Even in her intoxicated state, something about the man set Star off. She wondered what exactly he was smoking, and why he was consuming so little of it himself.
"Star," she said, looking up at him. "What exactly does DF stand for?"
The man brushed a graying lock behind his ear. "Dom Fortuna. Kind of a nickname that stuck."
"Like the goddess of luck?"
"Yeah, kind of like that," he said with an inscrutable smile. "My good friend and partner in crime always jokes that I'm an instrument of fate."
Sage grinned. "Nice. A fellow old soul. You live around here?"
"Not too far. What about you guys?"
"Oh no, Summer sister road trip."
"Nice. Where are you heading to, if you don't mind me asking?"
"Well, Star's moving into the dorm in September. Until then, we're just going where the wind takes us, you know?" Sage smiled.
"That's awesome," DF said, smiling thoughtfully. "Just great. Do you go to the same school?"
"Nah, Star's the scholar," she said, nudging her younger sister. "For me, the universe just provides."
she opened her hands up wide, looking up at the sky with a serene smile. DF wondered what, if anything, she was on. Whatever it was, she was clearly enjoying it.
"She's being modest," Star said, a little protectively. "She's a natural athlete, studying yoga since she was 12. Healing work, and... what's that other thing you were telling me?"
Star popped a sucker into her mouth with a good deal more enthusiasm than the typical 18 year old has for suckers.
She's rolling
, he thought.
They probably both are.
"The universe," Sage said, wrapping her arm around her sister. "I'm studying the universe."
Star popped the sucker back out. "Great. You can tutor me in astrophysics this fall."
DF chuckled.
"Sounds like you're both students in your own way. I know a teacher you should check out. Practical, but also a seeker. Studied shamanism in Peru for ten years. I think he has something for both of you."
Sage bounced with excitement, "I've always wanted to do that!"
Star glared at her sister. "What exactly does he have for both of us?"
DF didn't seem to hear her over the crowd noise. He reached into his pocket, and handed Sage a medallion. "Wear this, and tell him you're with me. He'll hook you both up."
The round medallion flashed under the late afternoon light. It looked to be solid gold, and beautifully wrought. On the front was a stylized rope in the shape of a spiral, tapering as it curved into the center. Scratched into the back was the inscription, "DF."
Sage solemnly put the chain around her neck, the medallion sinking into the generous cleavage pooling in her white peasant blouse. Her eyes sparked as she stood up on her toes to kiss DF on the salt and pepper stubble of his cheek.
"Thank you, friend," she said.
He smiled warmly at Star who looked on, her expression some indeterminate combination of very stoned and deeply distrustful.
"It's no problem, sister," he said. "Maybe think the universe brought us together for just this purpose." He handed Sage his friend's business card, and waved at Star.
"I've gotta go meet some friends," he said. "I'm sure we'll meet again somewhere."
Sage waved and turned to Star.
"Just float with me, sis. We always end up just where we're meant to be."
Star laughed. "Alright, sparkle pony. Let's float over to the stage before the set starts."
* * * * *
Star lounged in the back of the minivan, looking at the medallion. They'd taken the back seats out before the trip and turned it into a sort of improvised camper, with pillows, a futons, and a wooden trunk filled with supplies.
She ran her fingers through her short, light brown pixie cut, teasing a few grains of sand out left from there camping on the beach near Santa Cruz the night before. It had been a nice break from the crowded minivan, but she could really use a bath or shower. She'd so far had no luck convincing her stubborn and apparently charmed sister that swimming in the ocean doesn't count.
"Who do you think that DF guy was? It's kind of a weird thing to give a stranger, isn't it?"
Sage looked back, brushing her shoulder length, black, voluminous hair. In spite of the rough conditions, it looked silky and near perfect, the comb inexplicably finding its own way through the strands, snag-free.
"He seemed like an empathic friend," Sage said. "Maybe he just knew to give it to us."
Star rolled her eyes. "He just knew to give
you
his weird, fancy gold spiral necklace?"
"Sometimes things just come together like that," Sage said, vaguely. "He probably knew that we'd know what it meant."
"And what does it mean?" Star asked, a little tired. She was glad to have three more weeks on the road with her sister, but equally glad it wasn't four.
"To me, it's an inner journey. Ropes are made of strands. They're separate, but they're entwined into something bigger like you and me, and everyone. It's also a traditional way of vetting us, so his shaman knows we can be trusted on a journey to the lower world."
Star sat up, resting her chin on her knees.
"What tradition?"
"Huh?
"You said it's traditional," Star said.
"Oh yeah," Sage said. "Shamanic tradition."
"Ah," Star said. She sighed, swinging the pendant gently as she pondered taking powerful psychedelics with a stranger whose qualification as a spiritual leader, as far as she knew, began and ended with having been to Peru and knowing an older guy who likes to give presents to young, extremely intoxicated women.
