Thanks to the money that the Fawlers had given him Jack was able to have an easier time getting around the city then he had been. The fact that he would be able to pay for a ride across town would greatly speed up his plans for the morning. Checking his notes for the name of the restaurant that Wolven Freedom had mentioned to him, Jack stepped out onto the early morning street. Quickly flagging down a transport for hire Jack hopped into the vehicle.

“Good morning! Where can I take you this fine morning sir?” asked the driver. He was a young-looking, brown-haired fellow, entirely too upbeat for the time of day.

“Ah, good morning. Do you know where Dovers Tasty Treats in the northern quarter is? If so please do take me there. If you don’t well… I suppose Keoviar Park should do.” Jack spoke in what him seemed to be his normal voice, but the driver was squinting at him in concentration as if they were struggling to hear him properly.

“Eh, sorry sir, didn’t really catch that. Where to again?” The driver prompted again this time in an apologetic tone.

Jack spoke up in a louder tone thinking to himself that this poor fellow must heave a hearing problem. “If you know Dovers Tasty Treats up in the northern part of the city then there, if not you can drop me off at Keoviar Park.”

“One moment then!” Said the young man as he pulled out and unfolded a map of the city along with a small pendent. “Dovers Tasty Treats, lets see here” he mumbled to himself as the pendent began to move and shine. After a brief moment it stopped swinging and locked in place over a specific portion of the map. “There we are, I can get you there no problem!”

With that the driver turned and started to get the vehicle moving. “So, what takes you out there this morning? Got yourself a fun breakfast date?” he asked Jack, their voice filled with genuine curiosity.

“No afraid not,” Jack replied, making sure to have his voiced raised in consideration for the driver’s hearing problem. “I have some work that needs to get done out there, and it’s always better to get it done sooner rather than later.” After stating that his mind went to the note still in his pocket from Lalinda and Jack added. “I may have one lined up for this evening however.”

“True enough. I always seem to end up procrastinating myself and boy if that doesn’t cause me a few problems.” The driver laughed. “And may have a date? That’s an odd way to put it, why is it may rather than just having one?”

Jack shrugged. “Well, we met through my work, and while they did seem interested, it could very well just be a work-related meetup. Could always end up both I suppose”

Laughing the driver called back. “That’s a good way to look at it. Always look on the bright side I say.”

Jack chuckled politely “Indeed. Being positive really can help you get through a tough time.”

“Yep, yep, nothing in life is ever completely bad, no matter how it might seem that moment. After all we learn and grow from our mistakes and experiences.”

As the two traveled across the city they chatted back and forth about a wide variety of topics from love to why they do the jobs that they do. Jack found himself easily talking about subjects that he would normally avoid sharing with anyone, such as his views on the aspects of magic and his feeling that there were four aspects rather then just the three that were taught.

“You see, I have less magic power and potential then anyone else I have ever met in my life. However even between that and the fact that I am a Jack, in magic as well as my name, I still am able to successfully cast spells and body enhancements. I feel that this is because of how I view my magic and study what I want the magic to be able to do. I am pretty sure that there are others out there that can do the same, so I wonder why it is not taught at school.”

“Well, I would assume that if it is an aspect like absorption, purification and utilization, that it would have some kind of danger just like they do. I remember from my own schooling just how careful one’s supposed to be while casting their magic. If there was a fourth aspect that could make that more difficult, I would suppose that they would hold off until I show interest in doing more complex magic as part of my life, so maybe they teach it in college or job training or something. Least that is what I would do. I guess you tell me, do they teach that in higher learning?”

“That… I had never really considered that, as for me I needed to be able to do that just to cast minor spells in the first place. I’m afraid I don’t know if they teach it in college as I ended up getting only a single year of schooling from middle to high school. Pretty much everything I know is self-taught.”

“Wow, now that is extremely impressive. I had thought from all our conversation here that you had far more education then that. College level at the very least. Just out of curiosity, what would you say is the danger of your fourth aspect of magic?”

“Madness. Both similar and different to absorption. In absorption the madness is coming from outside of you and you have to balance it out by purifying it properly. With conceptualization though the madness is within you. If someone say had a concept of silence that became powerful enough, they would likely end up getting quieter and quieter themselves until they no longer made any noise, and if it continued, I suppose they might try to make the world silent as well. The problem that I haven’t figured out is theoretically one should be able to balance out the concepts that someone has with the way their mind works so it doesn’t have that negative influence. But I have no idea how someone would go about that.”

“Hmmm. Well this is just my guess but I would think if it is an aspect like the others then it would need to be balanced out in some way just like absorption and purification… or it could be that the person has the concept as part of them but they don’t know how to include it as part of their outlook on life and it doesn’t fit well with them. Kinda like a square peg into a round hole sort of deal. With the more they force it the more the hole ends up becoming like the peg rather than what it should be. Where instead they should be figuring out how to make the peg fit the hole rather than the other way round.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Huh. I hadn’t really considered that. I suppose if that was the case of needing it make it fit your own outlook it would make sense for it not to be taught until someone was older. As they would be more secure in who they are and their worldview. Thanks, I’ll have to think on this a while.”

With that the conversation between passenger and driver settled into a lull. A comfortable silence filled the vehicle as Jack drifted deep into his thoughts. He would likely never have the pure power to balance out his concepts with his level of talents, but if it could be solved by incorporating the concepts into how you viewed the world instead perhaps he would not have to constantly keep his mind and emotions bound up. He shuddered a bit in both fear and excitement at that prospect. If that was the case, he would have to figure out how to deal with his demons and not just avoid them.

After a while the silence was broken as the driver called to Jack to get his attention. “Hey, we’ve made it safe and sound. Here you are at Dovers Tasty Treats. It’s been fantastic talking to you Jack, I do hope we meet again! Here take my card, give me a call if you ever need a ride!” With that said the driver pulled out a card from underneath his seat and handed it to Jack.

Jack shook himself out of his reverie and took the card giving it a quick glance as he felt for his money pouch inside his coat pockets. The card was fancy, far more so than Jack would have thought that someone doing this kind of work would have.

Happy Time Driver

Good conversation, good driving we’ll pick you up and get you there!

Here, there, anywhere!

Call: thedriver

Pulling out his money Jack paid him and only after he had driven off did Jack realize that in all their conversation that he had never asked the driver their name nor did he remember telling them his. Taking another look at the card Jack shrugged and thought that he could always ask them during another ride. Right now though, he had work to be done.

Looking at the building in front of him it was clear that it was not yet open for business. The steam coming up from the roof suggested that the kitchens had already gotten started for the day however. With that in mind Jack went around to the rear of the building to where a back door leading to the kitchens most likely would be.

Knocking on the door a few times eventually rewarded him with a grumpy middle aged woman opening it with a scowl and a growled “What?”

Jack spoke “Good morning sorry to bother you like this but I was hoping you would allow me to do a scrying in your business before you had opened for the day.”

The woman looked at his with a glare “Sonny, if you don’t tell me what you want in the next three seconds I’m closing this damn door in your face. In the name of the agier I don’t have time to be dealing with someone just messing about!”

“As I just said I was hoping that you would allow me to do a scrying in your business before you opened today. I don’t mean to be a bother.” Jack spoke again this time raising his voice slightly.

“What, and why would you want to be doing that huh? Hoping to tell me that my place is haunted and needs a professional cleansing? HA! Beat it Kiddo.” With that she shut the door in Jacks face.

Jack blinked in surprise and knocked on the door again. When there was no response, he knocked a second time louder. With there still being no response he knocked a third time while calling out, “Ma’am I really just need to get this scrying done and I’ll be out of your hair. I have no intention or care about spirits or hauntings.”

“Stop lying and get the fuck out of here! I told you fuckers last week to get lost and stay gone. I don’t have the time or energy to keep throwing your lot out on your asses.” Came the ladies voice in a strident tone from the other side of the door.

“I’m not lying. Look I got no idea who you are, or what people have been bothering you about spirits. I just need to scry your restaurant to see where someone went about a week ago. Their parents hired me to try to find them and this was the last place that anyone I spoke to had seen them.” Jack shouted out as he hammered the door again.

A sarcastic reply was what he got for his efforts, “Right and I’m the Holy Saintess here to bless the Hero on their journey. This is your last warning, get gone or I’m calling the fucking guard on your ass.”

“What would it take to convince you I’m telling the truth? Look the person I am trying to find was here sometime last week with a group of adventurers from the Northward Hunters Association. The group calls themselves Wolven Freedom and they were here doing a celebration for their last mission going well and the new girl joining them. They told me they ate dinner here and that was the last time any of them fucking saw her.” Jack pleaded with the woman starting to get irritated at her bullheadishness.

“Oh, I don’t know, how about you let me watch your whole charlatan rite, hmm? I know that isn’t going to happen. As the last two times you lot came here and tried to pull this, you guys kept going on how it must not be seen by the uninitiated.” Her harsh tone seemed assured he would never agree to such a thing.

“You just want to watch me do the scrying?” Jack almost froze in disbelief at how simple the solution was considering just how angry the woman seemed to be.

“Yeah, that’s right. I just want to watch you scry. Ha!” A short burst of derisive laughter came out after her confirming her requirements for him to come in and do what he needed to.

“Sure. I have no problem with that. You are welcome to watch and make sure I don’t do any damage to your business or anything.” Jack exasperatedly sighed.

“Wait, really?” The voice on the other side of the door was shocked at Jack’s easy acceptance of being watched. “The last time I asked you lot refused and said that it would prevent the ritual from working.”

“As I said a minute ago. I have no idea who or what you are talking about in terms of this ritual or rite or whatever, and anyone claiming that you can’t watch them do something like that is trying to scam you. I don’t know of any spells or rituals that have requirements of who can watch them.” Jack responded, feeling himself settle back down.

After a brief moment the door cracked back open and Jack saw the face of the woman who he had spent the last little while arguing with. Her eyes narrowed at him in suspicion for a minute before she yanked the door wide open. “Alright, if what you’re saying is true, then get in here. I’ll give you your chance. Don’t waste it.”

Jack nodded and stepped through the portal into the kitchens. There were a few people in here preparing for opening, deliberately making sure not to look over at where Jack and the woman were standing. “Thank you. This should only take a minute, if you would show me your dining area I’ll get started.”

With a slight huff the woman turned and walked out of the kitchen through the door on the other side of the room. When she saw that Jack was not immediately following, she called out. “Come on, let’s get this over with.”