"I bet that Byures would like you. He mentioned that he liked kids and he probably has a soft spot for brave ones like you too." The ride back to the Nieve homestead had been smooth and uneventful so far. Caleb was fine with that though. Considering everything that already happened, he was beginning to feel physically and emotionally tired. He was positive that his mana felt drained as well. Probably from practicing that single spell in the woods before. "Erm. . Do you think that your family will be alright with letting us rest once we get back?"

"Yeah!"

"Huh? You want to rest? [i]Now?[/i]" Edward had become a surprisingly reliable friend and mount in such a short period of time. This crossed the black-haired boy's mind as the Arrocmor began to shrink in the distance. Caleb would have loved to spend the day up there with some of his friends from the orphanage like Annette and Pierre. Sometimes they'd appear in his nightmares and daydreams. He hoped that they were well. "What about Rainbow and Flower? Shouldn't we look for them instead? They might be out there all alone and afraid. . We should look for them." 

"We will." Caleb flopped onto his friend's back with a yawn as if to exaggerate his own point. "After a little rest."

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They were back at the Nieve household in what felt like the blink of an eye. Caleb hadn't even noticed that he dozed off at first. That was before the giggling from Edward and Jake brought him back to reality. A heavy haze hung over his mind as his eyes slowly flickered opened. By now, the hippocampus had come to a stop in front of 182 Blossom Street. The quick realization that they would have to drop the news of Herrown's demise hit Caleb in the gut like a sucker punch. He could only groan as he sat up with the hope that Roger had already told the tale before they arrived. "We're here already?"

"We sure are! And you missed that Jake just told the [i]funniest[/i] joke! Oh, you have to tell it again, Jake!"

"Oh! Okay, okay, so. . It starts like this. ." Caleb's eyes were scanning over the horizon with Rainbow's safety on his mind, but he had to have faith that his friend and captain would come back. It would be foolish to leave where they are now anyway. Leaving now meant that Rainbow could show up while they were gone and just restart the process of looking for each other. Caleb didn't want to deal with that and he was tired, so he would just settle on telling Mary about her husband's demise (assuming Roger hadn't already spilled the details) instead. ". . You'd think that one of them would see it!" 

Caleb had completely blanked out from the joke though Edward certainly hadn't. Laughter seized the hippocampus as the black-haired boy finally slid off his back. He had managed to help Jake off as well before his friend was finally able to recover himself. "I love that joke! It's so funny! I'm going to tell it to Rainbow as soon as he finds us!"

"You should." A nervous smile was shot towards the hippocampus. "We're going to head inside and break the news to Jake's mom. You should head on around to the garden. I'll bring some food out and eat with you as soon as I have a free moment. Promise."

"Oh, okay." This seemed to deflate the hippocampus a little, but Edward raised his head still. "You promise?"

"Yeah, I promise."