I hadn't realized I had closed my eyes until opening them and taking in the familiar greenery of my grandparents' backyard. Everything looks the same, sounds the same, even smells like the regular woodsy scent I'm used to. It's all so typical and ordinary. I almost wouldn't believe the extraordinary adventure I just went on if it wasn't for the reminder next to me.

"Looks like it worked out," Brent says, surveying the area before studying himself. "But make sure you have all your limbs and stuff in the right place just in case."

As I let go of Dhisnaek, I glance over at my grandparents' trailer where I frown in thought.

"Wonder how long we've been gone?" I question aloud.

"Well, we know time works differently there compared to here," Brent replies. "Because a few days passed there before I stumbled across the hole. So, I'm going guess maybe a few hours, give or take. Still kinda feels like the same day."

I squint up at the sky. "Yeah. Ugh, now I'm gonna get jetlag or whatever from hopping universes."

"So teleport-lag? Or tele-lag?" He grins impishly.

While we tease each other, Dhisnaek finally speaks up, staring around in awe as if he'd never seen a forest before.

"This is amazing," He breathes.

I smile at him, taking in a refreshing breath myself. "Yeah, home sweet home. Welcome to Cauldron."

Slowly, a smile makes a way onto his face as he studies the area in greater detail.

"How are you feeling?" Brent asks, a bit of concerned on his face.

Though it appeared during our transfer that he was in a bit of pain, Dhisnaek seems as light as a feather now.

"It's indescribable what I feel."

"Do you need to rest?" Brent asks, sounding like some sort of concerned nurse or something (he's just thoughtful like that, though). "We could stop by our grandparents' house for a little." Before he can even finish his sentence, I'm already protesting.

"Oh no, not a good idea. Let's, maybe, keep this hush-hush from grandma and grandpa for now. I mean, are you tryin' to give them a heart attack? We should head home and clean up- it's been too long since I've had indoor plumbing and that is a sin in and of itself."

"Whatever," He rolls his eyes at me, already starting off back toward home.

I'm close behind him when Dhisnaek calls out causing us to pause.

He now looks a little worn and worried, fiddling with the ends of his beard.

"Will your father be home when we arrive?"

I can already tell this is going to be the start of some serious reassurance until the fated moment comes. Going back over to him, I pull him along.

"No, he's probably out doing stuff. My mom's at work too so it'll just be us."

Noticeably reassured by this, he follows us as we head off our grandparents' property back to our house- we take the back roads as to avoid heading into town and being seen with some strange older guy dressed in dated clothes (just help keeps rumors from flying).

It's not until we arrive in our neighborhood do I feel relieved my dad won't be home. Though I feel like I haven't seen either of my parents in ages, I'm still a bit conflicted on how I should feel about everything I learned in Edalirwen and Pyranaleath'tai, especially concerning my dad. I want to talk to him but I know it's not going to be easy, so some time to think is much needed.

As we walk through our neighborhood to our homely blue house, Dhisnaek stares in awe at the sights- it's almost like taking a toddler out to explore the world.

"A lot to take in?" Brent asks him as walking up the sidewalk to the house.

"Aye," He says, studying our house. "It's going to be quite jarring adjusting here, but if you could adapt to our way of living for a short time then I believe I can as well."

"I mean, dad must've eventually," I say as I fish out the hidden keys and unlock the door to let us in.

Then again, my dad not wanting to drive and his immense dislike of anything processed does make a lot more sense now.

As we enter, first things first: food. Brent and I raid the pantry as if we've been stranded out at sea for two weeks. I offer some food to Dhisnaek, but he turns it down, instead continuing to nervously fiddle his beard and inspect our house. While Brent cooks some smiley face fries and toaster waffles (cause, yeah, we have class here), I head into the family room with my apple where I find Dhisnaek staring at our wall of family pictures. He never takes his eyes off the pictures even as I stand beside him and look them over with him.

For the most part, these pictures are old news to me, even our fancy little picture frame that periodically shows different pictures in a slide show. Taking the time to look over them, I actually appreciate some of them more. Like this one Christmas picture where we all look so put together, but it doesn't show how we overslept that morning because our house had lost power overnight- which also meant all our food was spoiled by the morning- and we had to scramble to get to the photo session in time. Great memories honestly.

"You were right," He finally says with a slight chuckle, his gaze focused on my parents' wedding photo. "Your brother does resemble him greatly...I see my resemble in him as well."

God, I'm clinging onto these final days of someone telling me I'm right, I know the days are numbered when it'll be gone.

"Yeah," I shrug. "You guys look a lot alike. And as you can see, I look nothing like either of my parents so I'm going with the they-found-me-on-the-stoop story."

"You resemble your mother a bit, I can see it. But your features remind me of Aelita in a way."

"Huh."

I cock my head. I guess maybe that's how I tie into this family- I must vaguely take after my dead grandmother.

After we finish eating and Dhisnaek finishes exploring our house, we all take turns using the shower and changing. Dhisnaek is slightly taller than my dad though and isn't really looking to change his clothes so he wears what he came in.

I kinda feel like calling Nora up and explaining everything that just happened, but I know she'll put me in the loony bin. She won't understand why I'm so happy to hear from her because, in her mind, we saw each other yesterday (seems Brent's predictions about us only being gone a few hours was on the nose). Maybe one day when I'm in another country, I'll spill everything to her.

For the rest of the afternoon, the three of us hang out in the family room, with Dhisnaek asking us some questions for a bit before Brent and I decide to try and calm his nerves by watching Labyrinth, but I think we mostly confuse him with our sing-along and line-by-line reciting of it (we would have shown him dad's favorite, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, but the songs aren't as many and fun to sing along to). It's all pretty enjoyable until I hear the jiggling at the front door, signaling someone's about to enter. My heart just about leaps into my chest as I practically give myself whiplash twisting around and over the couch to see who it is.

"It's only mom," Brent says nonchalantly, munching on some popcorn. "I heard the car door."

"Like that makes it better," I hiss, still panicked.

Honestly, it would have been better if my dad came home first rather than my mom because I seriously haven't thought about how I'm going to explain having a grown ass man in the house. Dhisnaek notices my panic and attempts to step in.

"Should I introduce myself to her?" He asks, glancing at the entryway as the door opens.

Before I can answer, I hear my mom call out as she usually does.

"Anyone home?"

"Nope," Brent calls back like we usually do when she asks.

Thankfully, she doesn't enter the family room, instead heading straight into the kitchen from the sound of it.

"How are we going to explain this?" Brent asks me, still looking rather relaxed for the situation.

I know if I think about it too hard, my brain is going to explode from such a foreign function, and so I do what I am notorious for: acting.

"Okay, you guys stay here for a sec," I tell them as I exit and head into the kitchen.

Bracing myself before entering, I exhale then stroll in like nothing out of the ordinary has occurred.

"Hey, mom."

"Hey."

She's busy peering over some mail on the counter, not noticing me wringing my fingers. I decide to jump the gun here.

"You like hypotheticals, right?"

She doesn't even pause as she flips through the mail and responds-

"Oh, boy, it's never good when you start with that..."

"Just hear me out. So," I lean against the table. "Say you happen to accidentally come across this portal thing that takes you to a whole new world or dimension or whatnot, and you go on this awesome adventure, but you start learning some surprising stuff about things you thought you knew but apparently didn't...hypothetically of course."

I notice she's stopped sifting through the mail, although she doesn't look up at me. I can see the mention of the words "portal" and "dimension" triggered something for her and so I continue.

"Anywho, on this adventure, you also meet this chill dude who kinda has a connection to you- a blood connection that no one knew about-"

"Joan, what are you saying?"

She cuts me off, finally looking at me with uneasy eyes and a flushed face. If that doesn't give me answers then I don't know what will- seems everyone was right.

At last, I cut to the chase.

"I kinda got teleported to Edalirwen where I met some people who said they knew you and dad and all this 'stuff' came up that I never heard about. Plus, I went to the other side called Pyranaleath'tai and met dad's dad, so like my granddad, and I brought him home with us, so he's here and...yeah."

I think if she didn't know what I was talking about with Edalirwen and everything, she'd have the mental institution on speed dial right now, but I can tell she's genuinely trying to digest all of this.

Setting aside the mail, she leans against the counter, rubs her eyes, and lets out the most exhausted sigh I ever heard her release. After a moment of silence, she speaks.

"I don't know what to say to all of that," She shakes her head with her eyes still covered.

"I guess my only question is why?"

That gets her to lower her hand and stare at me quizzically.

"Why what?"

"Why lie and not tell us? I mean, okay, it does sound kinda crazy, but I dunno, a little heads up wouldn't hurt."

She shakes her head again. "It wasn't meant to be a lie. Plus, I never thought it would come up again. How did you even get there?"

"A portal in grandma and grandpa's backyard."

"I thought that thing was gone for good," She mutters to herself.

"I met these people called Elle and Olivos and they-"

She brightens. "Elle and Olivos? Was Coxen there as well?"

"No, he comes by to visit I think, but he wasn't around when I was there. I also met Sephora- she's part of the reason I'm home now."

"Look at Sephora, still being a lifesaver," She smiles to herself.

Before I can ask another question, Brent appears in the entryway.

"Hey, mom. I'm just checking to see if you've medicated Joan yet, or has she been beating around the bush?"

Her eyes widen. "You went as well?"

"Not voluntarily, but yeah."

She has to take a seat for this. As she does, Brent comes and joins us, giving her a concerned look before slowly speaking.

"There's someone waiting to be introduced- I think you'll like him."

Glancing between us, she blinks.

"You actually brought someone home? Why would you-"

"Just hold on, mom, you need to meet him first," I tell her.

Brent hops up to go and get Dhisnaek. When he returns, I watch as my mom stares at him as he stands somewhat nervously at the threshold of the kitchen. Brent urges him along further into the room like a parent trying to introduce their socially awkward child while my mom continues 

to stare in amazement.

"This is Dhisnaek, " Brent says to her before addressing Dhisnaek. "And this is our mom."

"I am honored to meet you," He says genuinely.

I think we've put my mom in overload with all this. Finally, she recovers and simply responds-

"Hi."

Dhisnaek doesn't seem to know what to say either, so a brief awkward silence follows before I interject.

"So, yeah, like I said, he's dad's dad, but he didn't know that dad existed so..."

There's so much to tell, but I don't want to overwhelm her any more than she already is.

"And your father doesn't know he exists," My mom replies, the gears in her brain still turning.

"And I hope to remedy some of the possible troubles I've caused by that," Dhisnaek says, apologetically, keep his eyes lowered.

Blinking, mom takes a breath before responding again.

"Well, he's going to be as surprised as I am," She looks at us now. "Where is your father, by the way?"

We both exchange a look then shrug at her.

"Out curing cancer?" I throw out. "I dunno."

"Doing stuff around town, I think," Brent answers more affirmatively.

She sighs and rubs her face again, shaking her head to herself.

"I will say, I am pleased to see he has such a good eye, as he picked a beautiful woman to marry," Dhisnaek tentatively says with a slight smile, trying to lighten the mood.

It works. My mom can't help but smile and blush at that.

"And I'll say this, Aelita was right about one thing, Xalale looks a lot like you."

His interest skyrockets at that.

"You knew Aelita?"

Right away, I can tell my mom regrets bring this up because her smile is sinking faster than the Titanic. I don't know what went on between my parents and dad's mom, Aelita, but I'm gathering that it wasn't good, and from the way Dhisnaek carries on about her I can tell that's not going to be a fun connector to bring up.

Brent's even better at predicting natural disasters than me, so he quickly jumps in to return to a more light-hearted mood.

"I think we should make something special for dinner. You know, since Dhisnaek is here."

"I second that idea," I quickly add.

My mom, clearly relieved at not having to dig up old dirt, nods as she gets up.

"I think that's a good idea." She looks at Dhisnaek and smirks. "You look a lot like Xalale, but are you as picky as he is?"

Laughing at that, Dhisnaek shakes his head. "Nay, I've been raised to eat whatever is set before me."

So mom starts looking through the pantry and cabinets to see what she can make. Brent, being the golden child he is, offers to help, while she shoos me out with Dhisnaek, who although offered to help, is our guest and therefore my mom won't let him. To waste some time, I take him into the backyard where he watches me play on the trampoline for a bit, being a showoff.

"This is a far cry from the terrain of Pyranaleath'tai and where I grew up," He says as I settle down, basking in the sun. "But I enjoy it."

"Yeah, it's pretty nice out here- most of the time anyway, sometimes winter sucks but other than that, it's all cool."

"Now that is something which I can say I've not missed about the mountains," He chuckles.

As he sits on the edge of the trampoline, I lay on my back, arms stretched up in the air, staring up at the unobscured blue skies, while the only sound that passes between us is the soft whistling of a warm breeze and the chirping of birds.

It's been a while- even before being dragged into that portal- that I've been able to relax like this, just lying on the trampoline and smile up at the sky with my eyes closed like a moron. Fun fact, I used to believe I could practice photosynthesis on myself like this (what an odd nugget I was...am).

I'm about to say something to Dhisnaek, but I'm interrupted by the squeaking sound of the sliding glass door being opened. Keep my eyes closed, I continue to lift my arms as if reaching for the sun.

"Joan?"

I sit up and snap my eyes open so fast I give myself vertigo. Twisting around, I look past Dhisnaek at the one person I'm most relieved yet unprepared to face: my dad.