foxglove jamjar's magical adventure chapter two
The Morning Hues, January 9th, 2026
dear reader,
chapter two: in which the inciting incident initiates
foxglove jamjar found herself following itch deeper through the ticket. she noticed that the trees seemed to crowd less the further in she walked. while she had tried to make small talk with itch, it had seemed mostly uninterested responding in mostly grunts. though fj had heard it mutter under its breath once, about that stupid cat owing it double favors for the trouble.
she emerged from the bush into a small clearing. well, it wasn’t quite a clearing as much as it was a a large tree that had spread out its roots and driven off anything that had wanted to grow near it. in front of the tree sat a glowing cat. the white light emitted by it was nearly blinding.
“could ya turn it down a lil’, the reader?” said itch, shielding his eyes with his little paw.
the reader shook its fur strength languidly as a cat is apt to do. though, fj had never seen a cat turn down its glow before. upon closer inspection, fj could see that the reader, aside from its strange glow, was a fairly average short haired but fluffy cat, with whiskers that were perhaps too long for its face.
“isss that purrfect for you?” the reader said, rolling languidly along the ground.
“i suppose,” itch said, “ look, i brought you your human, now i’m gonna be on my way before i come to understand what mischief you’re makin’. but, ya owe me twice for this little favor”
fj watched as itch disappeared into the bush, before saying, “you know, it would have been nice for you to just wait for me.”
“well,” the reader huffed, “it would have been nice if you hadn’t taken so long to get here foxglove. i figured something must have gone awry when i noticed you’d blown up too big.”
“i did not blow up, i simply grew!” fj insisted, “how do you know my name anyway? and why did you bring me out to this forest?”
“i thought all elves loved the woods,” the reader grinned.
“we both know, i’m not an elf. fairly useless in elfing, “ fj motioned to her rounded ears, “ just disappointing my parents all the way around.”
“it sure might seem that way,” the reader said, taking a seat and examining its claws. it produced an emery board and began to file her.
“what?” foxglove glowered.
“i’m your inciting incident,” the reader said without glancing up from its work.
“exciting incident?” fj asked.
“no, inciting incident. you know, the moment of awakening for the story’s hero?” the reader spared her a glance.
“the hero’s awakening?” foxglove repeated back slowly. as if tasting it on her tongue.
“you had been waiting for a sign to start, right?” the reader said.
“start what? i was just hoping to—”
“hoping to put on a little show? get a little fame? all beginnings of a good hero. a great rags to riches moment?” the reader laughed, flashing all of its kitten teeth.
“well, i just want to get discovered. it’s my purpose.” fj toed the ground shyly.
“that’s not your purpose,” the reader scoffed, “you have a slightly more important role to play”
“what is that?” fj asked, her ears peeking up at the word “important”.
“a very important lesson on discernment. unfortunately, this is a speed run and you’ll have to understand your power now rather than later, this time.”
“this time, what does that mean?” fj frowned, “have we met before?”
the reader just stared at fj, its white voids seemingly wanting to pull her in and devour her, “no, of course not. i’m just the reader. now about your powers.”
“my powers?” fj said jerkingly as if she were being pulled from a trance. she was surprised to see that she had begun to move closer to the cat though she hadn’t remembered deciding to move.
“yes,” the reader cleared its throat and pulled from the hammer space behind it, and a simple glue bound journal, “foxglove esther jamjar, 22, prefers fj. it has been decided by your ancestor council that you are to face the trial of merveilleux. you are asked to tame the four miracles and contract her wills with your own. once you have bonded will and soul with all four you will be grant—“
“what do you mean will and soul?” fj interrupted.
“you will be granted the ability to create miracles,” the reader finished, she turned a level gaze onto foxglove, “ah, even i don’t know what that means. you’ll have to ask the tongue what that means. it is the one that wrote the rules. she really should be the one to explain to her.”
“but—“
“hush,” the reader said with annoyance, “your chattering and ignorance is getting on my nerves.”
the reader used its paw to gesture towards a path that was formed between two trees, “head that way, and stay on the path. it will take you to your first trial. should you complete it the tongue will explain everything”
fj wanted to clarify who or what the tongue was but the look on the reader’s face warned that it was not wise, and so she turned and headed down the path.
the path was narrow and the clustering of trees shaded it from the midday solid. fj had been accustomed to walking in the forest in low lighting with her elven family. she tried not to think about it, but the farther into the walk the more the shadows between the trees seemed to come alive. showing fj visions of her past.
her parents finding her abandoned, sacrificed to the forest spirits that she called on for power in battle. a barbaric and illegal practice within the commonwealth of hix, having been outlawed two hundred years ago.
her first steps which were much later than her elven siblings. that time when she got caught in her brother’s trap during night training because her night vision hadn’t developed yet. when she found out from her parents that she was a human, not an elf. that night she had destroyed her parents house in a fit of rage and left. how could she possibly stay when she would never be as good as her siblings.
luckily, she had graduated from common and was able to register as a street performer. she had tried out for several troupes and finally scored a place in the marvels of hix. a small traveling troupe that mostly did clowning and poetic readings. she excelled at it, and was able to afford a little flat right in the center of high city overlooking the meridian river bank. the same street she would perform on with her troupe at night. however, her head got too big for her shoulders and she began to conspire to take over the troupe.
this was the mistake that had landed her living on the bank instead of above it. after the troupe leader had gotten wind of fj’s plan she immediately severed her connection. it had only taken one witness, and soon fj’s firing had spread like wildfire amongst the other theatre guilds. thus, she found herself a beggar fool on the bank.
foxglove glared at the visions of these memories amongst the shadows and turned her focus forward on the trail. the light coming from the treeline before her obscured what waited on the other end. on the other side of the light, fj found herself in a large cavern with four stone pillars around a platform in the center. the platform was surrounded by water separating it from the large pillars. on the pillars were inscriptions, though when fj looked at the lettering directly she found herself feeling woozy.
so, fj focused her eyes on the figure in the center of the platform. it was well lit from above, a hole in the cavern’s ceiling created a spotlight effect on the black cloaked man. he was tall and wire thin, and almost 2d dimensional in shape like a drawing on a page. he took a little more shape as fj came to stand beside him. though the top half of his face was obscured, the man had a roman nose and dewy pale skin. his lips were very pink and more plump than one would expect on such a thin man. she was luscious and tempting.
“i am the tongue,” he said, his lips forming the shape of the letters punctually.
“thank god,” fj breathed a sigh of relief. she hadn’t realized she’d been holding the tension in her shoulders until she felt her sag in that moment, “the reader mentioned that you would be waiting for me here.”
“who?” the tongue asked, turning his head to face foxglove.
she felt a shiver run up her spine as her instinct told her to run. she couldn’t see the tongue’s sharp gaze; she felt the weight of its aura. fj swallowed the flood of saliva that rushed into her mouth, as the unease continued to wash over her. her hands covering her mouth as the nausea consumed her.
after another moment, the tongue turned its gaze away and fj felt the tension leave their body.
the tongue took a step forward, and swept his arm toward the pillars. his exaggeratedly long sleeves billowing, “this is the chamber of meillereux. here is where three of the miracles were formed. this is where your first miracle will be performed. you are asked to translate the four pillars into any spoken language.”
“i only speak one language though,” fj said meekly, her eyes tracing the pillars from top to bottom.
“i expect the trial should be easy for you,” the tongue said, pulling a rather large hour glass from within his large sleeves, “ the timer is set for three hours. it begins now.”
the tongue placed the hourglass on the ground. a blue light ring rippled from the hour glass and across the cavern. when it reached the edge of the platform it created a light bright to the pillars, before continuing out the top of the light hole.
fj felt exhausted just looking at the pillars. how did i even get here? she thought. she had just wanted to switch things up a little by following the reader into the portal, though she hadn’t expected that she would end up in a strange trial to become a hero. it is true that fj had dreams of grandeur especially since she had found herself sleeping on the street. she knew that opportunities such as this, the chance to gain extraordinary power and purpose, happened upon those with poor fortunes. fj, however, realized just then that she hadn’t expected something like that to happen to her. so, when the cat had called to her, she just had to follow regardless of the consequence. now that she was sitting in that consequence, staring at the mysterious pillars for her. she realized that such opportunities are never as easy as she sound in stories.
as fj examined the pillars she realized that the words were of no language common in hix or the usa. despite fj only speaking common, and three or four words in elvish (picked up her parent’s native tongue hearing her parents and grandparents gossiping over the kitchen table), fj understood that this put her at a major disadvantage when it came to translating the images.
see you tomorrow
hues