I'm sitting down to write an alternate prologue to "Black Poplar." I like what I have, but want to consider the option of introducing the antagonists motivation right up front.
Crucial to understanding her motivation is a recurring dream about a fifteen year old boy (the protagonist). She cannot decipher the meaning of the dream, nor can any oracle. As the action starts, the antagonist wakes from the dream and makes herself a cup of tea. Draining the cup, she consults the leaves in the bottom of her cup.
This is the art of tasseography or tasseomancy, from the French word tasse (cup), which in turn and the Arabic tassa (cup), and the Greek suffixes -graph, -logy and -mancy(divination).
More on the subject here and here.