Six of Diamonds

Keywords - Upright: arrival, upkeep due  ·  Inverted: stranded by maintenance, a mount spent

Upright

You got where you needed to go. The horse needs attention before you go anywhere else. Time and coin and the farrier's schedule.

You are where you meant to be, on time and in one piece, because the animal gave what was asked of it. Now the bill: rest, feed, the farrier, a day the schedule did not include. Partnership with a living thing means the costs arrive alive too. Pay them promptly; they compound worse than coin.

Inverted

The upkeep you deferred has chosen its own timing. The shoe goes, the strain shows, the animal that carried you this far cannot carry you the next mile - and the next mile is the one that mattered. Walk, wait, or trade down: the road has asked its question, and the next draw answers it.

In Play

Upright. Edda's courser makes the waystation by dusk; the farrier tuts at the split shoe and names his price and half a day.

Inverted. The shoe goes a day short of the pass with weather building - lead the mare over and arrive days late, or ride her lame and maybe not arrive at all.