“Green, do phantoms cry?” Jacob has been bothered by the sound coming out from Green’s hut. He knows who likes to hide themselves there. And he does not like to think about the worst thing that might happen.

But Green does not seem bothered. “Ah, Blue just doesn’t like Violet. Thinks Violet takes everything from him. Which might… be partly true, I think. Don’t worry about him, he’ll get over it soon. Always happens. Always got resolved.”

The phantom’s answer does not satisfy the businessman at all. “Is it because Violet is about to teach me some magic? I thought it was his idea.”

“Mmmm…”

“So you didn’t even give him a chance to say no.”

“Look, don’t worry about Blue. You need to learn magic, and we all know that Violet is the best fit for that. Violet is friendly (as long as you don’t get on his nerves) and has tried to make amends to Blue since I don’t know when. Blue has to start opening up and give Violet a chance to reconcile with him. And the only way we can support that is just to let him be.”

“…and let him feel betrayed?”

Green sighed. “Why are you always so stubborn? Look, from tomorrow on, you will be taught by Violet. And Nona will be my pupil. And if Blue wants to stay away from Violet, there are still the two us for him. You don’t need to worry. Besides, you can always come over at break time, Violet likes to be left alone at those occasions.”

“Alright, so he is crying in the hut?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll go talk to him then.” Jacob turned around and left Green in his field.

The new young lady who came with Violet is a funny one. She listed every name people call her with, as if she can’t decide herself what she would like to be called. It reminded him a little when he started giving up and use ‘Jacob’ as his name.

“So your real name is not Jacob?” Blue asked from inside the hut. The failed student was telling them about everything that has been going on from the other side of the door.

“No, it’s similar, but not quite the same. People in Iluskia just end up calling me Jacob though, so I gave in.” He noticed that Blue stopped sobbing. Phantoms are a little like humans, and apparently distraction also works on them. “But anyways, thank you so much for the books you brought me. I hope Violet still lets me read about other things than magic.”

Blue gave out a loud silence they broke after it seemed enough. “Well, Violet can be strict sometimes. But if you do well, he might give you longer breaks you can use for other things.”

“I hope I’ll do well. Apparently I have been testing Green’s temper all this time.”

The phantom chuckled. “Green has a temper, yes. Violet is just strict. You’ll do fine.” After a long pause they added: “actually, I have been a little bit jealous of him.”

Jacob decided to just sit down. He has worked the field all day and his legs started to feel weak. Blue might still need some more time to talk. “Why jealous?”

He notices some shifting sounds. Blue got restless. “Because,” they said, but stopped. “Because he could meet so many humans,” they continued after a long pause, “and threw it all away. Then he goes on about how he hates humans, but look at him.” Blue shifted again. “He still wants to be your teacher. And he still teaches other humans.” The phantom took another long pause. “I just find that arrogant.”

“Hm…” Jacob tries to comprehend Blue’s answer. He never talked much about the other phantoms with Blue and Green. If he thinks about it, they never talked about their past at all. It was all about plants, Blue’s books, Iluskia’s geography, his business… What else? “So you are jealous because he could teach so many people, but always complains about it, while you have barely someone to mentor?”

“Yes,” Blue immediately answered. “Isn’t that unfair?”

The man who had to stop being Blue’s apprentice nodded, although he knew that his old master would not see it. “A little strange, yes.” He thought for a bit. “Say Blue, don’t even the locals have a way to get through the blue snow?”

“Maybe, but that might be a long time ago, before I forgot everything. Maybe they forgot, too. It is always funny with human tribes. So many things get forgotten, and so little remembered.”

“Before you forgot?”

Now Blue nodded, although Jacob cannot see it. “I don’t remember much. All I know is that I suddenly forgot everything. And the confusion.”

The former apprentice stayed silent.

“I remember being confused about why everyone is here.”

After making sure that Blue does not have more to say, Jacob followed up. “How so?”

Blue shifted again. Now maybe trying to formulate their answer. “I don’t know, but I remember asking myself why everyone is here. What that means, I don’t know.” There was another shift. “Anyways, I have to go.” And they opened the door.

As they parted, the phantom decided to at least say hi to Violet and welcome the newcomer next time. Maybe they were a little bit too harsh on their fellow phantom. But who knows. Reconciling would not make Blue’s wish come true though. A wish to finally have a student they can fully mentor. But maybe, getting along with Violet might make things easier. Blue never knows. Blue will never know.

“Why is the dove organizing letters?” Carle scratched his head. En and Sil brought him to an obscure place. “Why do you talk to it?” He has been asking questions since they arrived at Rose’s place, occasionally repeating some.

Sil shook her head. “Carle, how many times do I have to tell you that it’s Rose, the phantom, and not a dove?”

“But it looks like a dove!”

“It does not! Look, how can you -” Sil stopped the moment she sensed En’s glare. Then she understood. “Wait, you see Rose as a dove?”

Carle grunted. He had said that for four times now. “And a peculiar colored one, that is. I have never seen one with such feathers.” Carle nodded again after a pause, approving to the things he just said. But the amazing man jerked up again. “Wait, that is Rose, the phantom?”

His schoolmate sighed. “Carle, we told you five times now! And we’re not even two hours here!”

“Well, I get that phantoms like to take different forms, but now I’m wondering why I see a dove while you both seem to see something entirely different…”

En just kept helping Rose sorting out the letters. Carle likes asking things repeatedly as his understanding comes little by little with each repeated answer. Some call that stupid, but En thinks it’s just due to the fact that Carle’s mind is always wandering around when he hears a word, so he always needs to come back and catch up on the parts he lost when his mind took off somewhere. 

Usually, he is the one who helps Carle to understand, but this time, he let Sil handle all the answering. He had already done enough of that on their way here. People say that there is a certain kind of humans that just need a break from talking. Maybe he just belongs to that kind of people.

“Hm, interesting,” Rose finally called out. “A letter to Giddle Berhard? I think I have heard that name before.”

En tried to recall. “Isn’t that the guy who works at the bar Yellow likes to visit?”

Rose glew a little from excitement. “The assistant? Yea, I remember.” The phantom then examines the envelopes more carefully. They then turned to Carle.

“Hey you, you see differently than a normal human being, right? Can you help me?”

Carle nodded slowly and silently waited for the phantom’s instructions.

“What do you see in this letter?” Asked Rose and held the envelope in front of him.

The big young man grunted. After seemingly looking at it for some time, he stepped back. “There’s a powerful spell that seems to… protect it? I think I have seen it before… But where…”

“Why, didn’t you say that you can see ‘stamps’ on magic stuff like that?” Remarked Sil. “You always say that everyone has a different pattern of magic. Groups of people and institutions also have some kind of conventional pattern to cover up their members’ identity.”

Carle grunted again. Sil started to get on his nerves. But she was right. “It’s a complicated one, so trying to draw it with my fingers in the air like usual won’t do. But I think I’ve seen it before…” He spaced out a little until something came up in his mind. “Hey, dove, why are you asking me? A postman is not supposed to peek on the letters they are supposed to deliver!”

“Aak!” The phantom jumped up and hid themselve under the table. Then they just wailed repeatedly: “Don’t hurt me! I was just curious because it feels… different.”

“Hah, gotcha! You wanna know what’s inside it! You sneaky little thing!”

En just watched them from his side of the table, trying to ignore the commotion his school friend caused, to no avail. He noticed that he already put some letters in the wrong boxes. Giving in, he slowly put aside the remaining things he needed to sort and glanced at Sil.

She just glanced back. They both know what it means. “Problem solving time.”

But En shook his head. He can’t talk right now.

Which is just an excuse, Sil figured. He was just getting lazy at talking again, especially after the three of them got to the seminar of the Human Observer Silvia D’Syl. Carle just called her Silvia D’Silly afterwards because he could not see the blackboard which contained the writings and pictures that was needed to understand her lecture. En, though, was highly impressed by her knowledge and ability to share it.

So she decided to roll her eyes. Voicing out her disapproval.

En responded with pressed lips. And pleading eyes.

Sil only squinted her eyes now. A big no. En has to talk.

But he only answered by scratching his head. What should he say?

His childhood friend looked at the envelope. The address. Doesn’t Rose know the recipient?

“Carle, you know Giddle, right?” En then finally spoke out. His loyal classmate has already scolded the post-phantom for some minutes now. Distracting him with a question would at least give the whimpering phantom a break.

He grunted as a response. “His boss, Sombre the barkeeper, yes. But Giddle? I barely know.” He looked through the room, and stopped at En. “Don’t you or Sil know him? I think he was sometime at the same school with you, before you came to Ivanstya.”

“Giddle is a nickname almost every boy gets in our hometown, rarely a real name like it is in this case,” Sil answered shortly. “That might make things a little harder.”

En hesitated, but decided to speak after all. “Hnnnn I know him a bit. We played together before I came to your town. But that has been a while, I don’t know if he remembers me.” He looked down and scratched his head. No matter how hard he tries to get comfortable around his best friends, he still gets nervous when they look at him attentively. It feels good to be paid attention to, but the fear that the attention leaves him and never comes again always makes him nervous. “I still recognize him when we visited the bar the other day, but he was busy so I didn’t approach him.”

“Before you came to my hometown?” Sil blinked repeatedly. “Friend, that was 16 years ago!”

En shrugged. He has a good memory. Too good, that he first thought people deliberately forget things. But only recently he found out that most people cannot remember things as well as him.

“Well, there is only one way out then: The Backdoor!” Exclaimed Carle. “I will arrange with Sombre that Giddle has to open the letter in front of us. Hahahah!”

Sil is not impressed by the idea. “You snake! What if it is not something we are supposed to know?”

Carle lifted his hand, about to point his finger somewhere. “We put the blame on the – ouch! Sil, that was not necessary! Okay, I shut up!” He rubbed the hand Sil shot some fire sparks at. Not too hot to burn his hand, but still hot enough to deliver a stinging sensation.

The quietest of the three sighed. “If we do The Backdoor, then we got to be backdoor-ish.”

“And how do we want to do that?” Carle asked him. En always likes to talk in circles, so he thinks.

“Well, just give it to Giddle. You know his boss, so keep in touch with him, but don’t make it too obvious that you want to know something. If it’s something important, Giddle won’t be able to keep it a secret. Maybe he won’t talk about it, but he might behave differently. And his boss would notice.”

Now Sil glared at En. “You snake! Both of you are snakes!”

“See, Sil, those who never got touched by the fire, won’t understand. Carle and I have gone through it too many times. That’s why I have always said that you’re too clean.”

She scoffed. “You only make excuses to rationalize your immorality!”

En chuckled bitterly. “Like moral even exists in the first place!”

“But that got me thinking guys,” interrupted Carle. He does not want the both of them get into that fight again. They both would end up hurting each other and not talk for days. “I think I get it.” He then said after some pause. “If it’s something big, we would know about it anyway! As long as we deliver it.” He then seemingly locked eyes with Rose. The phantom should know when Carle focuses his vision magic on them. “Dove, I will deliver it! When should I go?!”

Rose just wailed. “Um, tomorrow noon.” They managed to wrung out from the boxes under the table they accidentally trapped themselves in out of panic. “Tomorrow noon should be fine. It is too late for post now.”

“Alright, tomorrow! And we will stay for a while longer in this area so that we can observe what is going on. No being snakey! You happy now, good girl?! We are not being snakes!”

“Today is the day,” Maurene has been restless throughout the morning. “I hope that we get accepted.” He bit his lips though, knowing full well that he himself does not have a good chance. The teachers were never impressed by his affinity of magic, and The Magic School of Ivanstya only accepts those with outstanding potential. In short, it is a school only for children highly gifted in magic.

“Hm, let’s just see,” Marquez knows how much his best friend likes to study magic, but it actually only goes as far as that. Maurene isn’t one you would expect trying out magic tricks. He is more who likes to share tips to his friends and let them execute his magic theories. The magic school he dreamt of going to might be actually torture for him in reality.

The education of the Magic School of Ivanstya relies heavily on on-the-field experiences. That is why only children with extraordinary affinities are selected. The teachers want to be as efficient as possible in the classes.

Marquez got the intel from Uncle Nomi. He has been hesitant in sharing that information to Maurene. Firstly, he does not want to break his heart – let the school do it for him. Secondly, it does not sit well to spread around such intel in general – he does not want to hurt Uncle Nomi’s trust.

“I don’t know,” mumbled Marquez again while doing the finishing touches of his craft.

“Hm, yeah… Let’s just see.” Maurene has not even started anything today. He just sat on the bench and fidgetted with his tools. But then he sat up. “I’ll go to Red. I need some distraction.” 

“Okay.”

“What’s up, Maurene? Can’t concentrate?” Red knows that Maurene often struggles to sit still and focus on his work. He has gotten better at it over time, but the red phantom notices that today he is too restless to keep himself focused.

Maurene only nodded. “I’m so nervous about the letters.” He took a seat near Red. “I don’t know, Marquez seems to know something he doesn’t want me to know. Now I don’t know if I should wish to be accepted or not.” 

“Why don’t you just ask him?” 

“I think it’s some dirty secret from one of his relatives. He doesn’t like to talk about those.” The young boy scanned the table near him for something to fidget with. He then took a stick and spun it around.

Red has not much to do today, so he decided to stand up from his working station and prepare his student some tea. “Well, you can maybe make him talk about it, without him realizing he shares a state secret. I think you got the skills for it.” 

Maurene frowns. “The skills, yea. The will, no. I might be called the Master Manipulator, or Skilled Tongue, but I would never use those skills against a friend.” 

“Why though? Why do you treat your friends differently than strangers?”

“It’s not about friends or no,” the student explains,  “it’s about trust. I wouldn’t manipulate someone whose trust I value. I value my friendship with Marquez, so I don’t want to manipulate him. I don’t want to turn his trust towards me against himself. That would be… cruel…”

Red has strong affinity with fire, so he could prepare the tea rather quickly. He handed a big cup of it to Maurene. “Talking from your own experience?”

The boy pressed his lips together. “Kind of,” he blew on the tea. It was still a little bit too hot for him. “I was arrogant about my charm and skills, thought I could handle everyone.” He sighed. “Guess what, I got backstabbed by someone I wouldn’t even thought of as a threat. The rat used me to get the bar keeper’s trust and stole his stuff. And who got blamed? Me.” 

“Ah, I think I’ve heard of that. Was that the thing with Somber?” 

Maurene only nodded. “His assistant beat me up. ‘Never should’ve trusted a rat like you,’ he said, without even listening to me. Well, the guy never liked me in the first place.” The tea got cool enough for him to take a short sip. “To be honest, I didn’t like him either. So that’s fair, I guess.” 

Red chuckled. “Ah, that’s why. Somber and Giddle warned me about you when they knew I took you as a mentee. Their story makes sense, but I sensed that some information was missing.” 

“Yea, the rat was really… Ratty. I often had the urge to just beat him up, but… Well, it won’t solve any problems. Sometimes I thought about how I could make him pay. I like Somber, and I want us to be friends again. I like the people in his bar, they were always so friendly. The rat took it all away.”

“Or not.”

“Hm, or not. It’s my fear and confusion that hinders me to go there. But how could I ever convince them that it wasn’t me? The rat made a really good job in framing me.”

Red got an idea. But he decided to keep it for himself. Maybe it’s a good surprise for this gloomy boy. “Well, you never told me about what really happened. I don’t know how I could help you if you don’t tell me the whole story.” Sometimes you just have to use someone’s weapon against themselves. For their own good. 

And so, Maurene told Red everything about the friend who had backstabbed him. He finally got a distraction from the school’s announcement. 

“Well, that just means that you got too much on your mind. Don’t you think you keep to much to yourself? Even I didn’t know the whole story about him before, and I think I would have never known if I didn’t decide to take a break right when you started telling it to Red.” Marquez tried to distract his friend. As expected from all of them, he got rejected from his dream school. 

Maurene tried to defend himself. “But how, I can’t go around blabbering about people to everyone. And you certainly don’t want me to complain all the time about people, do you?” 

The friend shrugged his shoulder. “You don’t have to tell anything to anyone. What I wanted to say is that you have to get things out of your system. Maybe write everything down, and then burn the paper, or I don’t know. And you don’t have to worry about me getting tired of you. I will listen if you need someone to talk thinks through.” He patted Maurene’s shoulder. “A Master Manipulator needs a clear mind to be successful. So don’t put too much stress on yourself, okay?” 

The boy nodded. He felt tears fill up his eyes. But no, he does not want to show them. Maurene waited until they subsided and thanked Marquez. Though, there is one thing he needs help with. “Can you help me look for other magic schools or other alternatives? I have been into so much stress, I forgot to apply to any other school.” 

Marquez is not surprised. “Of course, I still have some free time before the term starts. Let’s get yourself somewhere better than The Magic School of Ivanstya.”  

“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.”

“I am very sorry Green, but I can’t accept a new student right now,” Violet said, trying to be as polite as they could. It is hard not to hurt other people’s feelings, especially Green’s. “There is this student I want to focus on. She’s got potential, but I need to dedicate some extra time until she can finally grow on her own.”

Phantoms do not have pupils, but you can still read their emotions from their eyes. Green’s eyes flickered. “I didn’t know you accept students on your own.” 

“Well, it is more that I got accepted as a teacher.” Violet shrugged. “I rejected her at first, but she knows how to taunt people. Crazy human would then attempt magic in front of my hut, just to get on my nerves.”

“Is she also stubborn? Jacob is sometimes very frustrating to teach: He comes to complain about his failures, but then forgets to report any good progress. I figured that I have to come visit him occasionally so that I really know where he stands now.”

“Hm,” Violet took their time to think. “Well, she is persistent; never giving up on what she wants and cherishes – which sometimes leads her to act stubbornly. She would not burn a tree – for example – saying ‘that the poor tree didn’t deserve it’. Or that one time where she kept failing to cast a certain spell and wouldn’t sleep attempting to get it right. I told her to move to another, simpler one, but in the end she would always go back to the difficult one.”

Green looked blank trying to imagine it. But suddenly they sat up. “She somehow sounds familiar, I think Jacob had a neighbor or something who was crazy persistent, but she moved away some time ago. What was her name?” 

The other phantom sighed and plucked at their sleeves. “I don’t know.” They shook their head when they perceived Green’s stare. “Some call her Anya, some Monique, some Gilda. When you ask her what her real name is, she would just say ‘they all are!’ And she always takes her time if she introduces herself to people. ‘Some call me Anya, some Moni or Monique, some Gilly or Gilda, but you can call me An from Anya.’ would she then say. I decided to just call her Nona : No Name.”

“Huh,” Green tilted their head. “Maybe that’s not Jacob’s old neighbor, I wouldn’t imagine her to be that crazy. And she doesn’t mind you calling her Nona?”

Violet chuckled. “Not at all. ‘A name is just a part of us, we shouldn’t identify ourselves with what others identify us with. So I don’t care what name you call me with, as long as we are friendly to each other and I know who you are referring to.’”

“That is a unique human you have there. I don’t often encounter a human who is that detached to their names.” 

“Me neither. But she is a good student. Her persistence leads to more good than bad, although it sometimes takes a toll on her. -Say, does your human also have this ‘feeling’ thing?”

The green phantom scratched their head. “Hm, what do you mean by that?” 

“Nona sometimes refuses to do something on some days, saying ‘I have a feeling that today is not a good day for it’, for example. Then a sudden thunderstorm comes some hours later. I also had some people who wanted me to take them as a student, and she warned me that she had a feeling that ‘those would only have your knowledge for their own gain’. I took my time to think about the matter and some days later it turned out that those people were pirates who got stranded and tried to get away from the law.

I asked her what those ‘feelings’ are, as they seem psychic, but aren’t magical. She also couldn’t explain it. She told me that female humans usually have this ‘feeling’ thing,  but that doesn’t exclude male humans from having it too. And not every female human has it.”

“Huh, that’s crazy.” Green took their time to think about something similar to his student. “I think Jacob has it too, but not as crazy as Nona. He sometimes says ‘I have a bad feeling about this’ and refuses to do anything. Then he would say ‘see, I was right, if I did it, it would be a mess now’. So I think she was right that it’s not exclusive to female humans. Maybe it is only for humans who are stubborn…”

But the magic phantom shook their head. “I don’t think so, as a magic teacher I have encountered a lot of stubborn students. I rarely hear them talking about ‘bad feelings’.”

“Maybe they just don’t talk about it while Jacob and Nona are open about what they think?”

“That can be, yes. I don’t know, I don’t really pay attention to humans. They are more often a pain than good company. But your Jacob sounds interesting, to say the least, I might take a look at him and his magical affinity after I’m done with Nona. -which might take a while. But I’m not sure I would be happy to handle his lack of communication. Nona would report back to me every day no matter what happened.”

Green nodded in approval. “I think something like that can be learned. I will train him to build a habit like your student and regularly report his progress in the meantime. He’ll be a good candidate for you to assess and teach.” 

Violet stretched out his hand. “Deal.” And they shook hands to seal it. “By the way, wasn’t this Jacob originally Blue’s apprentice? I think I have heard about him before you came to me today.”

“Yes, but he caught the Blue Cold so I took him. He has talent with plants, which is fortunate. How about Nona?”

“She wanted to learn with Blue, but fell ill and Yellow took her. It went well but I think Yellow expected a little bit more from her than what she wanted to achieve. Nona is a good student though; I see how she applies what she learned from Yellow when learning with me. If I am not mistaken, she also went to Rose and Red for a little while, but they couldn’t teach her much.” 

The guest phantom nodded slowly. “Very diligent, as if she has nothing better to do than bother phantoms all around Iluskia.” 

The host shrugged. “She has her own means of income. People ask her to teach them things, and she has a wide skill-set. It is easy for her to get some money every now and then to get by. And I think she likes to live like that; doing different kinds of things for people. When I asked her what her dream is, she would always say ‘I want to learn everything I can!’ Funny human, but fun to talk to.”

“Very interesting indeed.” Green rose from their seat. “The moon is coming out, which means I have to get back.” They took their hat. “Thank you very much for receiving me, Violet, and your willingness to take a look at my student. If the wind allows, maybe we can trade our pupils. I would like to get acquainted to Nona.” 

Violet bowed a little. “Always glad to have a friend come over. I will tell you when I am done teaching her. Your student sounds a little bit annoying though, I don’t know if I could handle him.” The phantom grinned to hint that they didn’t mean it all seriously. “Anyways, send my regards to Blue and tell them that I would like to visit, when the blue snow and Iluskian wind allows.” 

Green nodded. “Good-bye, Violet.”

“Good-bye, Green.”

“It was Jacob again,” reported Green when they welcomed Blue to their small hut. “Said the seedlings failed him again. I told him that he could save up a lot of money if he took his time instead of buying random bags of seeds.” They sigh. The little phantom does not like it if their advice gets ignored.

“Humans are so weird.” They continued. “It’s like they use their weaknesses to their own advantage: If they don’t feel like it, they will beg for help and act so pitiful you can’t help but help them. But once you give them just a tiny bit of reassurance, or something else they deeply needed, they’ll scurry off acting like they own the world.” Green accidentally spilled the tea they wanted to serve Blue.

Blue was always one quick to act. They grabbed some towels and helped their host clean up the temporary mess. “I think he’s just stubborn,” they remarked after making sure that Green had nothing else to say. “I mean – he has always been kind to us, even if he didn’t need help. -Or he’s just too preoccupied with this dream tree. People are not really that pleasant if they’re obsessed with something.”

“You’re right. He has always been a good student; constantly searching for rooms of improvement and striving for perfection. You’ve seen his flower field, haven’t you? Without his diligence, he won’t be able to make such a big business only selling flowers.”

Blue nodded. “And he has talent, yes. Maybe that’s the very reason why he now shifts his focus on trees: He might feel like he can’t improve anything about flower-growing anymore. Well, you know better about plants.”

With the spilled tea and all the following mess cleaned up, Green served the cake. “Being talented can make you dumb, right.” A loud clicking noise came out when Green cut their cake with too much force. They put the cutlery aside and sighed. “The thing is, Blue, before you transition to trees, you should at least have an idea about bushes. Or spider plants. Trees should be the last goal, not the second goal. But no! Almighty Jacob knows so much after he now has a steady means of income from flower-growing and -harvesting.” Without even realizing it, Green grabbed into the cake and bit into it. “Hmmmmmpff!”

“Hm, yea. Humans are weird in that regard. Always rushing when it comes to knowledge. I think only the wisest know not to hurry.” Blue sipped their tea. “Don’t be mad at Jacob, just be honest with him, and he’ll realize that he’s being dumb.”

“Honest at what? I always tell him everything!”

“That you’re tired of repeating the same thing over and over again and that he shouldn’t see you if he doesn’t have anything new to report other than that his new random bags of seeds failed him again. I’m sure he doesn’t know you freak out so much because of his dumbness.” Blue does not know the man as well as Green, but Jacob has visited them several times in the past for borrowing some books in their library. The place where the snow is blue is not a friendly place for humans though, and Jacob couldn’t visit them since the day he got the “blue cold” for visiting the place too often. But the little phantom likes him. He might be a bit quirky, but Blue knows that he is a good person.

Green, on the other hand, almost meets the man everyday. He first came to the phantom with little coin to his name and offered to help in the fields for some money. Green always wanted to help people, so they accepted, and also made sure Jacob has a means to survive by himself. They first taught him how to grow vegetables, then flowers. The man learned fast, and in a matter of months he already had the king request his harvest for big feasts. Now he focuses on flowers which people might process into perfumes, food, or simply arrange as decoration.

“Now he wants to grow fruits and spices, but you know the soil of this place. It’s almost impossible to grow something aside from oranges and apples. He wants bananas and mangos! And cinnamon!” Green squished their cake. Now there’s another mess.

“What about berries?”

“Well, he said they’re boring and not as profitable.”

“Then he has to infuse the seeds with magic?”

Green gulped down their tea. “That could be an alternative. Or infuse the soil with magic. Or the water. Or building a greenhouse with magic. -But he can’t do magic!!”

“Ah… No one to teach him?”

“Exactly. Magic is a weird thing for humans. They might have a strong affinity for magic, but they need a teacher in order to learn it effectively.”

Blue scratched their head. The closest magic school is about two days away where Green and Jacob live, so signing him up would be bad for his business unless he can entrust it to someone else. But that would not be a good idea if you were still short on people you can trust.

“What about Violet? Violet should be able to help him.” Although Blue finds them arrogant, Violet is very good with magic and spends most of their time doing and teaching magic for humans.

“Why are we trying to solve someone else’s problem!” Green almost screamed in frustration. “Why can’t I stop helping humans!”

“Well, as for me,” Blue sipped their tea, “I find humans fascinating, so I always wonder how someone would be, if they reached their full potential. Besides, Jacob is your friend, of course you want to help him. And I think you just like watching things grow in general. That is why you like your field so much, isn’t it?”

Green sighed. “You’re right. We could maybe summon Violet. But I don’t know if Jacob wants to learn magic at all.”

Blue shrugged. “Just ask him.”

That afternoon, the two little phantoms decided to come over to Jacob the Flower Grower to tell him about their idea with Violet.

“Well, that is a very generous offer, you both,” Jacob then said after they tried their best to be as persuasive as possible, “I can consider it. But before that, I want to show you something.”

He took Blue and Green to a small house in their garden. There were rows of small palettes, pots. “Green, I am very sorry that I was not being specific enough. Some seeds did grow into seedlings; what I meant by ‘failed’ was that only at most 5 of them turn out to be like this.” He brought them closer to the pots. There were indeed sprouts in them.

“I also found a method to pick out the good seeds quickly; that way I can recycle the bad ones to something else. Some even want to buy it for spices or something.” He turned to Green. For him, the phantom is just the size of a big dog. “Magic lessons would definitely help me out. I am sure that knowing magic can be of much benefit to me.”

“Huh, so you’re not that dumb!” Pouted Green. “Alright, that’s good. I thought you were just blindly throwing the seeds to the field and complained why you haven’t got a tree. But this is good progress, better than I expected from you.” Green showed some sign of relief. It is true that they have not paid much attention to their pupil for the past few months.

The man just laughed. “I did try that at first, and some even started to grow. But then I was being dumb and forgot that I planted some seeds in the first place. And sometimes I give the sprouts too much water or something. So, I am still dumb to a certain degree.” Jacob then turned to the blue phantom. “Blue, I think you need to lend me some more books about plants. Trial-and-error is getting exhausting.”

Blue also lit up. They always get happy when someone acknowledges their book collection. “Of course, I’ll bring them the next time I come to visit.”

Because the time has come for Blue to go back home. It is about time they went back to the place where the snow is blue and take care of the blue tree that stands in the middle of it. A visit to Green always gives  them a new perspective, a new insight. It does good to go out and see the world of a friend. It does better to experience it with them.