Jack’s potential Ordeal
okay so jenny and i had this whole long conversation about Jack's Ordeal:
and okay so we think it was Emma's idea that Bob Zimmermann also be a wizard (and a high-ranking Senior bc of course he is) and so we ran with that a little: Jack grew up knowing about wizardry and hoping he'd someday come across the Oath so he could be a wizard and a hockey player just like his dad
and one day he did, and he took it right away but didn't tell anyone bc he'd asked questions about Ordeals and wizardry and he wanted to wait and surprise his parents properly after his Ordeal was over
(at the time he was just excited about finally being able to take the Oath and be a wizard and make his dad proud) (it wasn't until years later the tiny voice in the back of his mind got louder and he started really wondering about what if he hadn't? what if he'd never gotten the chance to take the Oath, or what if he'd chosen not to? how disappointed in Jack would his dad have been?)
but being pre-ordeal's no reason not to start doing magic, so he looks through his Manual and manages to find some other wizards working on a project; he promptly runs off and gets involved in it, and they let him bc they need a power boost and he's eleven or whatever so that's perfect, but something goes wrong with the project and it becomes his Ordeal.
and by "something goes wrong" we obviously mean the Lone Power shows up and starts messing with one of the other wizards. She shuts down a little bit, bc the LP is targeting her and trying to get her to mess up and talking her into doubting herself and her abilities, and jack is still jack but he's just eleven, he doesn't know yet how easy it is to be talked into self-doubt so he just steps in and is like no, he's not right, and he ropes his power into the spell elsewhere so it doesn't need his attention much and just talks to her in the Speech so it has to be true, telling her she is a good wizard and she is capable of this and it is going to work and she can do it and in the end he's right and she does
and when the intervention succeeds, his manual tells him he's off Ordeal
and he's confused, because he feels like he barely did anything? and asks his dad about it later, and Bob just tells him that not all errantry is about casting spells.