“Luck… Good luck, bad luck. Fortune, misfortune. Blessing, curse,” listed Yellow slowly. “I think it won’t do any good if you take those words too seriously. Things happen, whether for a reason or not. Things happen to everyone, often so the same ones. Labeling them as good – good luck, fortune, blessing – or bad – bad luck, misfortune, curse – makes you forget that fact: You start seeing everything being about you, when that is hardly ever the case with things that happen in the world.” They scanned the room and rested their eyes on Somber, the bar keeper. “What happened was unfortunate, sure. But you have to keep going. Things happen, good and bad, like it or not. The least we can do is learn from them.” 

Somber, still sobbing, tried to answer. “Bad people are everywhere, aren’t they? The worst are the ones who manage to gain our trust.” He took a deep breath. “I trusted him, but what do I get? Broken flasks, stolen money, a burned bar.” 

“It has been already a month, Somber. Let it go.” Giddle doesn’t like it when people complain too much. In addition to his low tolerance to complaints, this has tested his temper when Somber started venting his feelings everyday. “We fixed the bar, you got the same amount of money from everyone, and I managed to teach that rat a lesson. Sure, you lost some of the stuff you sell, but the girl – what was her name again? – managed to organise some new, better stuff for you. What else do you want? Besides, you have a better vendor now, and Yellow comes to visit everyday!”

The phantom only shrugged their shoulders. “It seems that I have been a lucrative attraction for your bar. Very smart of you, Giddle, to take an initiave and make people pay the bar keeper to talk to me.” 

Somber flashed a smile. “There have been complaints though, saying we rip people off. ‘A phantom’s wisdom shouldn’t be fenced by money,’ and a fellow human’s business shouldn’t be taken advantage of.” 

“Bah! Those are just dumb ones.” Called out Giddle while he began to sweep the floor. “They can ask Yellow if he’s not in the bar. We won’t ask money for that! And all we ask is just ‘accommodation money’ because people keep coming to talk the oh so wise phantom without buying anything. And they want to teach us about not ripping people off?”

“See, that is what we phantoms find so fascinating about humans,” added Yellow. “You are all unique, but also quite the same. Especially when it comes to the annoying things. The things Somber experienced over this month is the very reason why Violet always complains about your species.”

“Why, I thought Violet is the one who hardly ever talks to humans. – or is that Blue?” Giddle was never good at remembering names. Or distinguishing people in general. He stopped sweeping and stared at the floor.

“Well, as far I remember did Violet help out a lot in the magic school of Ivanstya. Then something happened a few years ago that made him retreat and disappear for good.” This is where Somber fills in for Giddle. He has trained himself to remember every gossip that is talked about in his bar: Active listening is always good for business, said an old friend. 

Yellow sighed. The violet phantom really did stir up some trouble back when they were still in the city. It was Yellow who suggested Violet to retreat and limit their human contact. “In the end, phantoms can’t really get along with humans. Maybe with certain ones, but we usually end up fighting with the most of them.” The phantom sipped on their beer. “There are too many humans who are… Disconnected. I don’t know how to explain this. But to me, it seems like many are just empty shells.” 

Somber smiled. “A lot of us humans are morons, yes. -Giddle, I think you meant Blue before. He is the one who hardly ever gets any human visiting him because of the blue snow. Now get back to sweeping the floor! It’s already late.”  

“I’ll come back when I’m finished,” mumbled the assistant quickly, “else I’ll take too long”. There are still some other things to be done and he does not want to slow down his boss.

“I see that you’re more careful now, Boss,” remarked Yellow, “Giddle is a good boy, but I get why you don’t want to leave him alone in the bar. This late.”

“He spaces out too much, but once he puts his mind on something, he does it seriously. So yea,” Somber sighed, “I don’t want to risk him spacing out while locking up the bar.” The bar keeper decided to sit closer to Yellow. “Is that how it felt like when you first took me as your student?”

The phantom chuckled. “If we are talking about making people worry,” he said softly, “Giddle is nothing compared to you. But you have grown so much since then, and I see that you learn a lot from each other, so I’m glad that I took you in the other day.”

“You think Giddle can learn something as your student?”  

“I think it would be more beneficial to the three of us if we keep it this way. You can pass down the things you learned from me to him. And that is actually why we phantoms only take in certain kinds of people:Those who we see could pass down our knowledge. But being a teacher also requires some training. I think Giddle is a good start for you. He’s smart and adores you – that’s all you need for a good student.” 

Somber reflected on it for a while. “Hm, alright,” he then answered absent-mindedly, but then sat up again, “and do you actually have any students at the time? You visiting us almost everyday gives me the impression that you have a lot of time to kill.” 

“Actually yes, but this one is a bit of a lone-wolf, so she needs more time alone and think about and implement my lessons than me blabbering her ears out. So I decided to go help out humans who need me more… urgently.”

“Aha…”

“And the bar is a good place to meet people and talk to them. So I told her that she can find me here if she needs anything.”

“Smart.”

“I’d rather call it being practical.”

“If she gives you so much free time, why don’t you consider taking up another student?” And Yellow rejected Giddle. There must be a reason.

But the phantom only shook their head. “Nah, I’m not like Rose and Red who like to take in multiple students. Or Violet who occasionally takes up a whole class before the conflict with the magic school. I’d like to focus on one student at a time, because I really care about their growth. Taking in another one would risk me neglecting this current student.” They stopped for a little while. “I think that would make me more like Green and Blue. They also only have one student at a time – often unintentionally. But I think it’s better that way.” 

“Interesting,” mumbled Somber, “so there are some fundamental differences even between you phantoms. – What are you guys, actually? Why are you mentoring humans? And why-” 

“Somber, I’m done, let’s go!” Giddle came out from nowhere and dragged the barkeeper out. 

Yellow only followed them out and they parted ways soon after. 

“Somber, you are not supposed to ask that! At least not directly to them!” Hissed Giddle when the phantom was out of sight.

The boss only stared confused at his assistant.

But Giddle hesitated. He shook his head and and fidgetted. The boss won’t let him go, he would have to tell him the secret. Or not. Maybe a hint would be an answer enough.

So he collected himself and tried to explain as short and calmly as possible: “Because they themselves don’t know the answer.”