Edward was pulling around the cart, having fun with the kids and Rainbow. The rablin wasn’t sure how he ended up in the cart, but he was enjoying it all the same. It reminded him of the Captain; he had told the rablin that in the past, he would give rides to the neighborhood children on holidays. Even Kayden was having some fun, despite her mind being on her father. It is explained that John Sr. would hire a horse to give rides to the neighborhood children on special occasions.

Roger was walking next to Edward, observing him and adjusting the reins on the cart as needed. The skeleton doctor noticed that the hippocampus’s hooves were a little worn and remembered something an old friend had given him. He stopped and talked to the equine:

“Edward, I should go inside, I have something to give you. Caleb, could you come with me?”

Caleb agreed, so the skeleton and boy went inside the house. The pair ended up in the doctor’s office. It was an elegant space, decorated with classy wooden shelves similar to a library. Those shelves were perhaps [i]more[/i] full than a library’s would be though: various books occupied every nook and cranny of space there, and then some. Even more texts were in various boxes scattered around the room. Towards the windows was a desk with papers and books stacked on it; near that was a bed where John Jr. was laying, with Sara sitting at a chair beside her son while Hazel brewed something for the man at a nearby table.

Caleb was saddened to see John Jr. in such a weakened state; emaciated and diminished, lacking some of the energy he normally does. The child ran towards the man. “Are you okay?” Caleb asked. John Jr. wasn’t sure if it was confidence or bravado, but he answered the child’s question. “Yeah, don’t worry about me. I’ve fought through worse. I’ll get through this.”

Meanwhile, Roger grabbed something - four horseshoes and a sheet of paper - and walked to his desk to start writing something. Once he finishes, Roger walked over to Caleb and gave him the items and explained what they were for. “These horseshoes were given to me by the hippocampus that brought me back to Thorn all those years ago. Edmund was grown then, but wore these when he was little. He gave them to me as a sign of our friendship and they mean a lot to me, but you all have done so much for us and Eddy could use them more. Take them and these instructions; apparently it’s really easy to bond these to his feet. Then he’ll be able to walk much more comfortably.”

“Thanks Roger,” Caleb said before turning back to John. “Are you sure you’ll be okay?”

“Yeah, go on, Caleb,” the man responded, “get those to your friend.”

Caleb started to leave, but apparently John Jr. had changed his mind. “Caleb, wait.”

“Yeah?”

“Before you go, I’d like to give you something,” he said, reaching for his sword that was resting on the bed, “I’d like you to have this. I know we don’t always see things eye to eye, but you’ve done a lot for our family, and I want to thank you for it. Take this, I’m sure it will help you.” Saying this, John handed the sword to the youth.

“...thank you.” Caleb responded simply. 

“No problem,” the man said with his signature grin, “give Edward my best. And Lydia too, when you see her.”

Caleb weakly smiled and nodded, then left the room. Sara smiled, asking her son if he needed anything else from her.

“No thanks Mom,” he replied.

“I should start preparing, then,” she said as she got up and walked towards the door.

“Love you mom,” Junior said before Sara was about to leave.

“Love you too, son” the elderly woman responded before closing the office door behind her.

Whatever Hazel was thinking about what she had heard versus what transpired yesterday, the skeleton doctor decided it didn’t matter. Before she could say anything, he asked her “Hazel, were you able to do what I asked about yesterday?”

-----

“Wow! These are great, thanks!” Edward told Caleb, who had just finished casting the spell a minute before. The hippocampus had been testing his new horseshoes by pulling everyone around the yard again

“No problem!” Caleb responded. The spell had been easy to cast thanks to Roger’s instructions, which had been written in beautiful and impeccable penmanship. Apparently these horseshoes were magical, crafted specifically for hippocampuses who spent lots of time on land like Edward had been doing lately. If he needed to transform, these horseshoes would stay with his horse form and return when he became a horse once more. These would greatly help him avoid incidents like what had happened in the forest and increase his stamina considerably.

“How is the cart?” Caleb asked.

-“It’s fun!” Edward responds. “I can’t wait to go save...” he hesitated, seeing Caleb’s face becoming alarmed, “...everyone from the green dragon! Come on Rainbow, pretend to breathe fire!”

Rainbow did not look amused at the moment, but obliged, remembering Sara’s request of him. “Roar” he declared with some hesitance, raising his little arms up and creating little hooks with his hands, “I’m a dragon!”

Caleb snorted at the sight of his rablin friend’s poor acting as Sara walked up to him, glancing at Junior’s sword in his possession before looking at her grandchildren.

“Kids, come here please. I have something to tell you,” she said.