Mogtober 2022!

12: The Trials

Jupiter Amantius North was terrified.

Jupiter Amantius North was always terrified.

But Jupiter Amantius North was brave.

Little, quiet Jupiter had always stood out with his shockingly ginger hair, and he was always the one who was picked on. Maybe it was because he didn't fight back, but no matter the reason or the scenario, Jupiter was always bullied. Even straight in front of his teachers' noses, everyone got away with it. 

Until his bid day, when tiny, insignificant Jupiter was personally congratulated by the town mayor on his bid from the prestigious Wundrous Society. His patron, who it turned out was a witness, just like him (although he had never told her, nor had he ever told anybody. Not even his parents) could see everything he could. She was a shortish woman with jet-black hair, broad shoulders and a rounded nose, but Jupiter didn't see that. He only saw her personality. The glow of kindness that radiated from her all the time.

Little Jupiter was taken under the woman's wing, but the trials were torture. Not just one, but all of them.

His first trial, which turned out to be the chase trial (the trials aren't the same ones that Morrigan did, apart from the show trial. Some here are different, some are the same but in a different order.) was awful. His patron could not find a steed, so in the end, he stole someone's horse while they weren't looking. His patron didn't see him stealing it, so he lied smoothly and told her that the Wunsoc official had let him borrow it in sympathy. Jupiter left it in Courage Square with a note on it.

Trial number two was much, much worse, though. The Fright Trial. Jupiter was the reason that it was called the nervous breakdown trial. His first fright was an angry mob bearing down on him, just like people used to do at his school, but worse. These people had guns! Swords, too! Jupiter made it away from them just as a sword made a hole in his shirt and a bullet clipped his head, drawing blood. All Jupiter remembered of it was pain, blood and screaming. His own screaming. When he finally made it to his second fright, he had all but fallen unconscious. He kept on going, though, his courage triumphing over his terror and pain. 

Jupiter's injuries, though awful, had actually helped him, because the Elders had sent him an apology letter, which invited him to the Elders' secret dinner to make up for the scar that would always be above his left ear from the bullet. But who would notice little, scared Jupiter at the elders' dinner anyway? He politely turned down the invitation, much to his patron's outrage.

Jupiter's second last trial, the treasure hunt trial was actually quite fun, but still very nerve racking. Nerve racking, but easy for Jupiter, because he could see where Wunsoc officials had hidden the little invitations to the next task. 

And to make the very, very worst of it, Jupiter's patron had finally revealed her true identity only moments before the start of the show trial. Odelle Cygne was the name she went by, but her surname would soon turn to be Crow when she married a republican. Not only that, but Odelle was with child. And Odelle, the only person who had ever made Jupiter feel valued, was deserting him. She would do one last thing for him, though. She would present him to the elders when it became his turn to show off his knack, then she would be gone forever.

Jupiter was terrified. Terrified when his name went straight to first place on the leaderboard. Terrified that Wunsoc would betray him like Odelle did.

Now, years later, in the kitchen of the Crow family, when Jupiter's eyes met his candidate's for the first time, he knew who she was and who her mother was, and he was terrified that he might betray Morrigan, because the girl was just like him. An outcast, scared for every turn round the corner.

Jupiter Amantius North was terrified.

Jupiter Amantius North was always terrified.

But Jupiter Amantius North was not terrified for himself.

Not anymore.