"The present..."

She flips over the second card, revealing a card showing seven coins growing from a beanstalk. "The Seven of Coins, or of Pentacles. Slow growth and forward planning. It may seem as if nothing is happening for some time, but wheels are turning."

"Oh no, forward planning," he says, laughing. "I don't think I'm any good at that, all I've done since I woke up has been stumble around at random."

She raises an eyebrow. "Perhaps you should pick up the habit. Or perhaps someone else will help you along. Hidden influences at work..."

She flips over her third card, revealing the image of a horned, bat-winged figure sitting on a pedestal with a man and a woman chained to it. "The Devil. The bearer of the inevitable - usually disaster and misery. Lust, greed, the refusal to recognize anything other than the value of pleasure for its own sake." She squints at it. "Ordinarily I'd be concerned - the Devil is one of the worst cards to draw, representing an immovable obstacle. But... for some reason... I feel as if you're... in tune with it? This is not a force working against you, it's working with you. Perhaps even within you."

"Oh, I like that one."

"It's no mean thing, having an immovable obstacle on your side," the fortuneteller says. "Now, the obstacles in your path..."

She turns over a card with seven swords woven into a kind of knot. "The Seven of Swords. Your foe is strong. Direct confrontation is not the way forward; you must be cunning and use all of your wiles to succeed. A sacrifice may be involved."

"It's news to me that I even have a foe, unless it's talking about the giant bat. Everyone seems very sure I'm going to fight the giant bat."

She nods thoughtfully. "I have seen you fight it in my dreams... but dreams are never for certain. External influences..."

She flips a fifth card, starting her descent down the slope of the horseshoe. It has seven cups on it. "The Seven of Cups. You'll face a decision, a big one, with many choices. Not all of those choices are good ones. All is not as it seems."

"I don't like things not being as they seem."

"You're hardly alone in that. Your ideal course of action..."

The penultimate card, which shows seven wands rooted in the earth under a stormy sky. "The Seven of Wands. Four sevens... an omen of significance, though not always positive. In times of adversity, you must stand strong and do what it takes to survive, and you'll triumph against all odds."

"Well, that's reassuring."

"Isn't it just. And finally, the outcome of all this."

She flips over one final card. A young woman, either throttling or caressing a lion. "Strength. By dint of your power and courage, you will stand victorious over your enemies. It seems redundant with the Seven of Wands, but..." She looks him in the eye. "Strength has certain thematic elements the other card lacks. Namely, mercy."

He flinches, then blinks in confusion. Why does that word make him feel so awful?

Madame Shoshana nods, as if she just confirmed a suspicion. "You needn't be ruled by who you are," she says quietly.

Then she claps her hands together. "Now, is there anything else I can help you with? Or shall we call it quits?"

Still slightly unsettled, he says, "Can't think of anything."

She begins shuffling the cards back into her deck. "All right, then, time for my next consultation. You can leave the tent the same way you came in."

"Sure. Thanks."

Well, he reflects as he walks out of the tent, he was right. She did make more sense than the house of mirrors.

He finds that he is no longer in the mood for Mrs Plenty's anatomy. Maybe he'd better just go find some more food and a less unnerving pastime. How are those skewered rats?

Not bad, honestly. A bit gamey, as one might expect from rat meat, but competently roasted, and just about anything tastes better skewered.

Oh good. He's in a better mood already.

He doesn't want to hang around Spite, though, not when last time he came through here he got mugged. He wanders elsewhere, looking for something useful and/or interesting to do with his time. Since the fortune-teller told him to get better at forward planning, he decides maybe he should attempt to make some money.

There are rather a lot of ways to make money in London. He could go back to Watchmaker's Hill and seek out the Worryingly Large Rat, for instance, for a not inconsiderable reward in Rostygold. Alternately he could go see if there's work to be had in Veilgarden, as artists are always looking for models. He could probably even go back to the Carnival and see if they'll let him work the Anatomical Exhibition, or just as a ticket-touter.

It does not occur to him to work as an artist's model and it definitely doesn't occur to him to work in the Anatomical Exhibition, but he does think of those bounties eventually, and heads back to Watchmaker's Hill to see if he can find this Rat.

The rat apparently makes its lair somewhere in the marshes near the Medusa's Head. It's not difficult to follow the giant ratty footprints back to its cave.

It's quite large, and as he approaches its cave it hisses at him. What will he do?

How about he tries to stab it!

It leaps for him, taking a gash on its side but fastening its powerful jaws around his shoulder!

This seems like it calls for MORE STABS

Further stabbing is more effective. In death, the jaws lose their clamping power, and he's left with a bloody shoulder, a bloody knife, and the corpse of a Worryingly Large Rat.