Well, the time readers are reading -- stones, coins, cards, etc. -- occasionally they get flashes of something, but they like to confirm it with a physical tool, unless it's really overwhelming and they're not sure they will get a shot at reporting the vision if they don't move fast. (As in space traders passing through the tavern for that night only, for example.) I could see a case for Shi Cai or Shi Nian. And honorifics definitely might play in here, if only young men showing courtesy to an elderly woman. They chose her table because they actually think she predicts the future.
Occasionally she "sees" the future. She reads the present in ways others do not.
I know a bit about Japanese honorifics, from anime. Chinese, not so much.
At the risk of giving too much away (nobody is paying attention to us, are they?!) in my contemporary fantasy I have a wizard who is over 500 years old. He has no idea why he is still alive, because he was born of dragons. At the point of what was considered maturity for humans (if he wasn't going to change, since most humans didn't live past 30, 15 was considered adult) his people would force him to shift or die. But he was precocious for magic, and managed to get away, ending up on coastal Japan.
He lived there 100 years, in various disguises, learning magic, and trying to figure out why he was still alive. It was believed that the changing of form was what slowed aging. Without that shift, he should be dead.
Finally his children were grown and had children, his warlord was dead, his wives were dead, and it was time to move on. Now that he knew there were other places to go, he kept moving across the sea. So -- he spent 400 years running from the Chinese dragons, occasionally injuring or crippling the ones who came after him to kill him, learning magic and trying to find his wings. Then something happened that caused the dragons to stop going after him.
So -- he walks because he cannot fly. At some points he has been on the run. But he has become a very dangerous man. "The Walking Dragon" or Lord Dragon is said in fear and respect, not contemptuously. He has very scary weather magic, among other things.
Some idiots occasionally try to kill him, but most people stay out of his way.
no subject
Occasionally she "sees" the future. She reads the present in ways others do not.
I know a bit about Japanese honorifics, from anime. Chinese, not so much.
At the risk of giving too much away (nobody is paying attention to us, are they?!) in my contemporary fantasy I have a wizard who is over 500 years old. He has no idea why he is still alive, because he was born of dragons. At the point of what was considered maturity for humans (if he wasn't going to change, since most humans didn't live past 30, 15 was considered adult) his people would force him to shift or die. But he was precocious for magic, and managed to get away, ending up on coastal Japan.
He lived there 100 years, in various disguises, learning magic, and trying to figure out why he was still alive. It was believed that the changing of form was what slowed aging. Without that shift, he should be dead.
Finally his children were grown and had children, his warlord was dead, his wives were dead, and it was time to move on. Now that he knew there were other places to go, he kept moving across the sea. So -- he spent 400 years running from the Chinese dragons, occasionally injuring or crippling the ones who came after him to kill him, learning magic and trying to find his wings. Then something happened that caused the dragons to stop going after him.
So -- he walks because he cannot fly. At some points he has been on the run. But he has become a very dangerous man. "The Walking Dragon" or Lord Dragon is said in fear and respect, not contemptuously. He has very scary weather magic, among other things.
Some idiots occasionally try to kill him, but most people stay out of his way.