Sara hugged her grandkids as they ran up to her and Ribbon. Sara examined her two grandchildren before settling on the one she didn’t know standing in the distance. The dog seemed to gravitate towards all of them equally, so she probably arrived here with this boy. And this boy knew Rainbow somehow, so the three of them had arrived together. But where was Rainbow and, assuming any of them made it, where were the others?

“Young man,” Sara started to ask Caleb, “do you-“

Before she could finish her sentence though, Roger interrupted. “I have tea and cookies! Come to the backyard, we can share these with Edward.”

“Thanks, Roger!” Caleb responded, grateful for the reprieve from likely having to explain what had happened more than was necessary. He went with the kids and dog to the yard; Sara arched an eyebrow at Roger, who subtly mouthed “ask later” to the old woman.

Edward, who had been relaxing fairly contentedly, perked up when he saw Caleb and the others coming. “Hey guys!” Everyone sat fairly close together; the three kid’s backs were resting on Edward, with Ribbon laying down in front of the children. There was a picnic blanket set up with the promised tea and cookies.

“Hello, Edward,” Roger said as he arrived before sitting down and turning his attention to Sara, who remained standing up. “oh, this is Edward, and that’s Caleb. They came here from...where were you from, exactly?”

An easier question than the one Sara was going to ask, at least. “Oh, I’m from Eagletown, in the Southern-”

“The Southern Kingdom!” Roger exclaimed, “that takes me back. I haven’t been there in over 400 years.”

Edward seemed pretty unfazed by the news, but Caleb had a look of bewilderment on his face. “Four hundred years?!”

Roger stroked his invisible beard, thinking about it a little more before speaking. “Hmm, yeah, 413 if you want to be precise. I was a doctor for the King’s Knights. Did you want to hear the story?”

“Yes!” Edward squealed. Caleb simply nodded as he sat down. Jake didn’t say anything. Having heard the story before, he was watching over his sister, who in turn was paying more attention to Ribbon than to Roger.

The skeleton began his story. “Alright, so in 1268, I had just finished my studies at Thorn City University. Being 24 and restless, I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do. My parents wanted me to get a prestigious job working for the University or the Roses, but that sounded so [i]boring[/i] to me. I wanted to do something exciting!”

“And you did, right?” Edward excitedly asked.

“Oh, it was more than I had ever bargained for,” Roger responded, “but yes. I came upon a poster one day - one of the areas near the Southern Kingdom was offering sign-up bonuses for doctors who would serve with the King’s Knights. Going across the Big Ocean to some faraway land sounded good. My parents even agreed - they wanted me to come back as some big war hero. The voyage there was pretty uneventful. When I arrived, they put me to work immediately. War was brewing with the gnolls and we had to be ready.  And sure enough, they invaded the Eastern Walls a week after I arrived. It was bloody, awful fighting - war always is - and my friends were falling left and right. I rushed around, man to man, trying to save as many people as I could. It wasn’t enough though - our position got overran and I was killed.”

“Oh, no!” Edward exclaimed, “how did you make it back here?”

“Well, it wasn’t easy. Next thing I knew, I was surrounded by a bunch of gnolls! They apparently turned me into what I am now so I could heal their injured comrades. It was not pleasant, but I did so for a few weeks before I was able to escape. It was a miracle, but I eventually made it to the Bleak Ocean, where a friendly hippocampus took me all the way back home.”

Edward beamed at the mention of a fellow hippocampus doing a good deed, but Caleb just had a question. “Back to Northgate?”

“No, they would’ve killed me on sight,” Roger responded. Noticing the frown on Caleb’s face, he added “maybe it’s different now, but back then the Southern Kingdom wasn’t a friendly place for undead. Gnolls were necromancers, humans were not. I went back to Thorn City, where I’ve been ever since.”

“I guess that’s fair,” Caleb said. 

“I’m glad everything worked out!” Edward then added. “Thanks for the story!”

Roger glanced at the house for a moment - nope, Mary had not arrived yet - before deciding to share more information. At the very least, it would keep Caleb from worrying too much. “Ah, yes, well it did, in the end, at least. When I got back, my parents were less than pleased. They wanted me to be a war hero, not some skeleton they had to hide from their dragon-lover human friends. So they disowned me, right then and there, and I never saw them again.” At this point, Jake was paying attention. Roger had never shared that part of the story with him before.

“I’m sorry, Uncle Roger,” Jake finally spoke up, “that must’ve been hard.”

“Oh, only at first,” was the skeleton’s cheerful reply, “but I made other friends who became a family to me. The world is such a big place and the negativity can be overwhelming, but focusing on the good in life and surrounding yourself with good people is what makes life worth living. I truly believe-”

This time though, Roger was interrupted by a female voice. “Kids? Mom? Uncle? I’m home!”

“Mom!” Jake and Skyla ran for the back door where Mary was waiting for them, home from her job at the library. Caleb just stayed sitting down for a moment longer, mentally preparing himself for what would happen next.