It was a day later that he got word that the offending raiders were neatly wiped out. He gave his report that the heirloom was already found and returned. At the notice that the lead allied raider wanted his son to be looked at a few days later, Jack could only sigh. He guessed that it was time.
"I need to head out for a bit. Mainly to see to a possible new apprentice for McGreggor," he said. Jenna smiled and nodded. "And I modified the collars on the wolves. The moment anyone they don't know comes up to the door, I'll be alerted. I won't have a repeat of last time."
"Thank you, Jack," she smiled. He had pressed his hand carefully to her bruising cheek from time to time to keep the swelling down. It clearly helped, but it was going to take time to fade. He kissed her gently and left. He had his wind take him to the northern shores where the village was. It was mainly a port town that dealt with trade in fish. Musing to himself, he knew that this was likely where Kaitlin would live with Loo Chon. The small village looked primitive compared to most, but it was mainly from the rough storms it went through. It was easier to repair what was known to be repaired than constantly being built with new supplies. There were some new buildings, but it was slow to convert the town.
He found where the main raid leader dwelled. He was in luck. The man was home. He landed in front of the door and knocked. A large lady opened the door to greet him.
"Oy! Who be you?!" she blinked.
"A friend of the man in charge," Jack said with a slight nod.
"Murda, it's fine! Let him in! He's here to look at our lazy boy!" the man hollered. She gasped and let him in quickly. She seemed to waddle over to the main table to start putting out sweet biscuits, small cakes, and sugared milk. Of course, she grabbed a cake for herself, as she called for her son. The man was drinking a mug of ale and bade Jack to sit down. Jack nodded and took in the sights of the house. But, he did cringe a bit inwards. There was only one scent that dominated the house, and it was the smell of sugar. It truly made him wonder to no end. The man at the table kept fit by eating lean on the run. It was the only way he survived.
"Living well?" Jack mused.
"Too well to her," the man grunted.
"Horath! Yah son don't listen!" the woman shouted.
"Blently, get your sorry sack of skin-filled filth down here now!" the man thundered.
"But…Dad…!" the reply was.
"I warned you, boy!" Horath scowled. Jack rose up his hand, pulled out his staff, and blew on it slightly. The chilling breeze went right into the boy's room to chill it out completely and force him out into the warmer parts of the house. That had the man laughing hard. The boy that trudged over to them was portly, had more fat than muscle, and clearly liked living it easy. Jack wasn't even sure if the leather trousers and vest even fit the poor boy properly.
"You are Blently?" Jack asked.
"Yes. What's it to you?" he frowned.
"How old are you? Exactly?" Jack asked now with a raised brow.
"He's sixteen summers. What do you think?" Horath asked.
"Sixteen? I thought you said he was twenty-three summers!" Jack frowned.
"I know, I know. I wanted to get your attention," he shrugged.
"I see. Well…hmm. I doubt that he can hold a hammer much less a sword," Jack sighed. "Doubtful that he can stand up to the heat of the forge, too."
"I can do that!" the boy argued. "I can do all of that!"
"Well, your manners need a lot of work, too," Jack said coldly. "I am Jack. I am the one that caused your room to freeze over to get you out. I can do a lot worse than that, too. Anyways, I'm only wasting my time by looking at you. Until you start working harder on yourself, you will not be able to remotely do anything that is required of you. There is also no way that you can travel with your father, either. You want to prove me wrong? Do it. You have two months. Change your ways and prove yourself to me. As for now, I decline in taking him to Master McGreggor to be a blacksmith."
"Not even for a trial run?" Murda asked with a heavy frown.
"He needs to shed a good fifty pounds before I can even think of considering him. Half of the sweets you feed him need to go. Feed him more fish. Good meat. And clean vegetables. Fruits, too. Even grains. The occasional sweet is fine for a dessert. He also needs to work more to burn off what's on him. He has two months. He won't survive the heat of the forge, and he'd drop dead under all the lifting he would have to do. It's the only thing I can advise."
"I'll make sure of it," Horath nodded. Blently only gaped with complete shock. Then he seemed to pout at his father's glare. He always bragged that he'd work hard. Now he had no choice.
"I'll be back in two months. Good day, dear lady," Jack nodded to Murda and made his way out.
"Before yah go, take some of this!" she insisted and started to press several large cakes into his arms. "If mah boy needs to cut some of this out, yah may as well take some of this to keep them from wastin' away. Yah need to put some weight on yah, too, yah know!"
"Sorry…" Horath grinned. "She does have a point…"
"It's fine. I know who to give these to. I'll be back in two months," Jack chuckled and took the five heavy cakes with him in their proper packaging. Each cake was at least a foot around and five pounds in weight. Jack was surprised that he carried them out of the house in one piece before letting his wind take over. I can only carry so much! It was the look that Jenna gave him next at the sight of the cakes that had him grinning at her.
"What is all of this?!" she gasped. Then she staggered under the weight of two cakes. She was amazed at what he always seemed to bring back. "It's so heavy!"
"The boy I spoke with needs to shed some weight. His mother decided to keep these from spoiling. They are all cakes. Heavy cakes. I can only guess that this was what she fed the poor boy. So, you can spread these around the village, if you like. Or chill them and take them out when needed," he grinned. She tried one slice and almost couldn't finish the mouthful.
"This is so sweet! Oh! My poor mouth!" she winced. "How much sugar was added to these?!"
"No clue. But, from the amount of sugar I did smell in that house, I can only imagine."
"Can you take two of those cakes to give over to McGreggor and Dulfilo? They can give the pieces out to guests and enjoy for themselves," she suggested. "There is no possible way I could have them here for so long. I would rather disperse them."
"I can do that," he smiled. He pressed a kiss to her mouth and blinked at the sugary taste that assaulted him. "And, yes, you're right. Far too much sugar!"
"Is this better?" she asked and sipped a little broth from the stew she made. When he kissed her again, he smiled gently. "Do you need another taste?"
"I have cakes to deliver," he chuckled, but he found himself kissing her yet again.
"They won't spoil in the cold storage, will they?" she asked softly.
"They were traveling in my cold winds. They're chilled enough," he muttered and planted his mouth on hers to give in to the desires they both held for each other. Twenty minutes later, the smithy had a cake delivered. When he explained where it came from, McGreggor could only chuckle and shake his head. He had heard rumors that they liked their sweets up north. At the taste from one small slice, he almost coughed and found himself in a touch of shock.
"Maybe I can use a piece or two to fuel the forge," the Master mused. That had Jack laughing hard at the thought. "Seriously! There's enough sugar in this one piece to fuel even me for a month! And they were eating these like it was a mid-day snack? Hah! It's true, though. That boy wouldn't have lasted five minutes in front of the forge. You made a good call for two months."
"I can't finish this," Timothy winced. "I'm struggling!"
"Just bear it," Clifton muttered and managed to finish off his piece. "We can use this to force-feed any would-be thieves. Or make it a challenge to customers. If they can eat a piece, they can get a free repair. I could do that."
"As much as I know how vile that sounds, we can do that," McGreggor laughed. Jack laughed even more and calmed down enough to take the second cake to the jeweler shop. Much to his surprise, Master Dulfilo had a rather secretive sweet tooth. He claimed the cake for himself.
"If you find more, I'll take them all!" he vowed.
"There's two whole ones left in Jenna's cold storage. If they can't finish the one she cut into, I'm sure you can have it," Jack chuckled.
"This is far too rich for me!" Marla confessed. Dulfilo gladly took up her slice.
"McGreggor was thinking of using the cake for his forge. Clifton suggested to feed it to people as a challenge for free repairs," Jack grinned. "Or force-feed to possible thieves."
"That is a waste! I'll go talk to McGreggor and claim his cake with a form of honor!" Dulfilo said and stormed out of the shop. Marla and Jack laughed.
"What do you plan to do now, Uncle Jack?" she asked.
"Wait two months and see what happens. Also, the village the cakes come from is a fishing village. I will have to inform Loo Chon, but only after the boy is seen to. So, in two months, I'll check on the boy and see if there were any improvements to his physique," he shrugged. "All we can do."
"I'll see you tonight for dinner?"
"Of course. I'll check over the traps, too. Ah. I'll deliver some cake to Kaitlin, Loo Chon, and Jarlin. I'll see if they like it."
"No! Serve it up for dessert tonight so we can all see their faces," she grinned.
"I like that idea even better," he grinned back and left for the hut. Sure enough, a few hours later after supper, the cake was served. The ones that did try the cake didn't eat any until the others did. At the look of shock on their faces, the rest of them were laughing.
"Where did you get this?!" Kaitlin gasped. "I think my teeth are rattling from how sweet this is!"
"The only thing sweeter I had than this was a form of rice," Loo Chon grimaced. "I think this is as equal as it can be. Ugh!"
"And this was a basic food staple?" Jarlin grimaced.
"You didn't see the wife," Jack shuddered. That had Jenna's jaw drop. "I feel badly for her."
"Why?" Marla asked.
"I could take you, Jenna, and Kaitlin to put in front of her and not see any of you from behind," Jack said to give them a mental picture. That had them all gasping in tears of shock and laughter.
"Well, hopefully, she eats as well as her son," Clifton sighed.
"She seems to be a very pleasant woman. Don't get me wrong," Jack said. "It's just…the only smell I got in that house was sugar. Either they have stores of it, or she does far too much baking and not enough trade to get rid of it all. I have no clue, really."
"Well, maybe we can help her trade out what doesn't sell," Jenna said. "Our town doesn't get that many sweets. We could even help her improve her current recipes to not be as sweet. Jack, can you take me to meet her? I could show her how I bake in the home."
"I can do that. Tomorrow," he nodded.
"If you think so," Clifton said.
"Dear, you know I like to do what I can for others. I hardly do anything around here now. I think it will help," she smiled. "It will give me something to do."
"Actually, your face is still healing," Jack said. "When your face is healed, we will go. However, I will collect any recipes for you to work with."
"That can work," she nodded. He chuckled, and, after a moment of silence, dared everyone to eat another slice of cake. At their groans of disbelief, he could only grin softly with merriment.