[Mysterious, Increase]

  Twenty nine days later I was still working on the very first koan I was given

  “Question: What is Buddha? Answer: Three pounds of flax.”

  I was also no closer to understanding its purpose. I was meditating eight hours a day and had never slept better in my life, burrowing into the futon each night with Frida and Nyxi. Brother Bing claimed I’d reached the lowest stage of jhana. I did settle quicker than I ever had before. But I still had ADHD even with the eight hour sessions, when I leave here and go back to at most an hour a day will the ADHD be as bad as it ever was.

  Nyx was very much changed, she was more honest with us and herself, which was great. But if I’m really honest, I missed the outrageous demon who’d tease me relentlessly about my less than ideal figure. Nyxi was still the cute and cuddly furball that she’s always been.

  Frida was still the same if a bit more ambitious, when this whole save my granddad quest is finished she wants to start a modeling agency. So that she can help mold, and protect the young models of the future.

  Draco had changed as well. I suppose talking and thinking about philosophy ten to twelve hours a day for close to thirty days will do that. He could always be a bit full of himself, but you’d also always catch him laughing at Groucho. Not anymore.

  The brothers and the sisters have convinced Groucho that he is the reincarnated Monkey King of legend. With that in mind they have also pointed out that a King does not act like a carny. The only thing I miss more than my full English breakfast is Groucho making inappropriate comments, or the offers to massage my breasts to make them grow. Thirty days ago I would have paid to see that happen. Be very very careful what you wish for. The legends that I’ve read of the monkey king were that he was chaos with a stick. The inhabitants of Always Sunny Monastery must have a different source of legends. They’ve changed my chaotic friend into a regal defender.

  Harry was perhaps the least changed of the group. At least in my eyes he was still the same Italian renaissance man, who couldn’t wait to get home to see his boyfriend Tigran. But he’d told me that the techniques he’s learned have been invaluable. He can’t wait to get home and show his business partner Maz his new skills.

  The morning just before we were to leave, Sister Wei came to the hut.

  “Jaq, the master would like to speak to you before you go.”

  “Thank you Sister Wei, I’ll go see him immediately, and thank you for being such a great friend. I’m really going to miss you.”

  “I’ll miss you too, Jaq. I’ll be thinking of you next week when our first group of travelers arrives. I never would have received approval if it hadn't been for your help.”

  “Nope, it was all your hard work, sister. I hope you meet lots of incredible people, but use a little caution as well, not all people are as lovely as your brothers and sisters.”

  “I will Jaq, I promise.”

  Then I walked over to Brother Chows hut.

  “Brother it’s Jaq, may I come in.”

  “Yes please come in and share a cup of tea with me for one last time.”

  I came in and sat across from the wizened monk. We sipped our tea before he began.

  “Jaq, I’m sorry that you didn’t get all that you’d hoped and worked for and for all those things you did get but did not desire. But as a traveler you know that every trip changes you in some way or another. Your friends have grown, but they still love and respect you and follow you. When I was your age, I was headed to the top of the tower for its supposed reward. For you that reward is your grandfather, for me it was something else entirely. The next floor beat me Jaq, and I retreated here and here I have remained. Before the end of your journey, you will be separated from your friends. To complete the journey you must push on alone. That’s all I know of your path beyond the monastery.”

  “Thank you brother, for letting us grow here, I may miss aspects of my friends but it is in their interest that they’ve grown out of them. So if I’m truly their friend instead of lamenting over what I perceive is a loss, I’ll exalt over their achievements. I started the search on my own, I made great friends, I feel stronger than when I started, I’ll be able to go on alone if I know my friends are safe. I believe the next time I venture into the tower, I’ll sneak in alone.”

  “I would advise against that for the next floor, bring the person you trust the most. One person alone wouldn’t be able to succeed, trust me on that. After that your guess is as good as mine, but I do believe you have to walk the final floor on your own.”

  “Brother, is the tower a test?”

  “No Jaq, I believe that the tower is a lesson, not a test. Think of all the things you’ve learned about yourself, your friends, and even your granddad. A life unexamined Jaq, isn’t worth living. I think the trip through the tower is your way to examine your life. Good luck on your journey and when you see Henry tell him I miss him.”

  I got up and bowed low, no more words were necessary, left his hut, collected my friends and portaled back to Tregaron.

  A more subdued group arrived back at Tregaron. The only person eager to rush off was Harry, who wanted to try out his new skills in his new studio. The rest of us broke apart slowly promising to see each other at dinner.

  I went immediately to warn Collins of our return, and the number for dinner. Then I sought out Frida and told her my plan. She agreed to help and spent the next few hours with me, training. I sat next to Maz and Aya at supper and I was thinking about what I had planned for the night. Maz kept up a patter of conversation about his ‘big ear’ invention that allowed him to understand what any animal is thinking or trying to express.

  He really is a mad scientist, while he wants to use the invention to further the study of zoology, he hasn’t even considered how the government, police, any authority at all could abuse that big ear to read a person's thoughts just as easily or more so than its use on an animal.

  “Maz, what happens when the government gets their hands on that invention.”

  Stolen story; please report.

  “Jaq, I hardly think that the government will care to know what a squirrel is thinking about when it buries a nut.”

  “I agree, but what politician wouldn’t want to read his adversaries mind, they just point your invention in their direction and now they know. Cops, spies, bosses, they'll all want your invention to do ‘good’ but it’ll get abused.”

  “Damn it, Jaq, I never thought of that, I was just starting to write a paper on the big ear. Now I won’t be able to publish the article I already wrote on what a squirrel does think about when burying a nut. It’s sex if you are wondering, in fact almost all the time they are thinking about sex.”

  “Couldn’t you write the paper and say that while observing you noticed that while burying nuts, squirrels become aroused.”

  “Not without looking like a giant pervert.”

  “I hadn’t considered that.”

  “That’s alright I never thought about reading a person’s thoughts, and you never thought of looking at a small mammal's sex organs. Good for us, I’m not evil and you're not a pervert.”

  Then Aya and I got to talking about spending thirty days in a monastery. I told her they’d given me a koan and that’s exactly when all my progress had stopped.

  “Jaq, you are a rationalist, I would expect that a koan wouldn’t be much use to a rationalist. It uses a completely different mindset. Of course the monk is right if you concentrate exclusively on a completely irrational koan it could throw a switch in your rationalist mind.”

  “I think it just exacerbated my ADHD, which I’d been at least a little successful in lessening at least at the outset.”

  “You’ll find that as you meditate and try techniques that a technique works very well when first used, but its effectiveness diminishes over time.”

  “Well that’s one good thing about having a busy life, I don’t have eight hours a day to sit and consider an illogical koan.”

  I got out of bed and grabbed the knapsack while still in my nightgown and hurried to the staging room, where I changed into my traveling clothes. A short while later Frida came in also in her nightgown. She looked lovely as always and quickly changed into clothes appropriate for a desert hike.

  “Did Nyxi wake up?”

  “Yep just like you thought she would, I told her that we’re going to the center of the maze to have sex.”

  “I wish we were.”

  “I wish you were too, but I thought you might be sneaking away. Instead of meditating for a month you should have taken the classes on openness and honesty, with me, Jaq.”

  “I’m sorry for the deception, Nyx, really. Master Chow told me to just bring Frida onto the next floor. I don’t know why, but he said he’d been there and that’s what I should do. I was hoping to be back before you woke up.”

  “So a lie is alright if you don’t get caught using it, I’ll remember that I don’t know why they didn’t teach me that at the monastery I know what the next floor is as well, three people can handle it just as well as two.”

  “Then we three will go.”

  “Like hell we deserve one last trip too, Jaq. We won’t get in the way or interfere. We brought extra food and water. Come on Jaq, one last jump for the group.”

  “Looks like the six of us take one last jump, I’ve been informed, the last floor I must do alone.”

  “Well let’s worry about that after we get back from this jump okay.” said Frida “Nyx will you please accept my apology for lying to you, I’m very sorry. I’ll do anything to make it up to you.”

  “Anything?”

  “Yes, anything.”

  “Okay, I forgive you. Now Jaq, how about you?”

  “I’m very sorry Nyx, please forgive me.”

  “And”

  “I’ll do anything to make it up to you.”

  “Anything?”

  “Yes, anything.”

  “I forgive you both, I’ll tell you what I want when we get back.”

  ‘Hit the Road Jack’ started to play we went out and made our last jump into the tower together.

  We stood before the wide open gates of the adobe city. We all walked through the gates down the long dusty road, the fountains at each crossroad were still dry and dusty. Soon we were in the main plaza. The plate, bowl and cup still sat by the fountain.

  I heard the nostalgic theme song. I set down my pack, I’d added two hundred quarters to the pack, you could feel the difference in weight. The plastic bag of quarters still sat on the machine. Frida took her place at the machine.

  “Okay everyone make sure you do not touch anyone, especially before I get to touch granddad.”

  I took up position on the other side of the plaza next to the side street that granddad would use, yelling for Frida to start.