"Make yourselves at home," Uncle Kellan said a little nervously.

You could feel him being a little uncomfortable with 2 long-lost family members now sitting on the sofa in his living room. The house was pretty big but it didn't really look lived in. Only the bare necessities were here without any plants or other decorations to be seen. The only thing that did stand out was a painting of a woman with a child, prominently displayed on a large empty wall. It looked almost symbolic of something.

Uncle Kellan came back from the kitchen with a few glasses and a big flask of water.

"So...," He began as he sat down on the other side of the small table. "It has been so long since I saw you. I was almost left speechless when I saw you Zephyria."

My sister and I looked at each other and smiled.

"That is certainly true. I believe it must have been 8 years now since you taught us how to hide our magical presence." Zephyria smiled as she thought back on those training days.

Meanwhile, I was distracted by the big painting. I couldn't help but try and remember how Uncle Kellan described his wife.

What was it again? It has been so long I can't remember how he described her. It could be his wife.

The people in the painting were on a 1 to 1 scale. The background was a nice abstractly painted village. The woman was an Ignisari as well and had beautiful shoulder-long silver hair with a headband just behind her hairline. She wore a long red dress with golden accents on it, which looked like they were sewn on.

In front of the woman was a little girl. She couldn't have been more than 5 or 6 years old. She looked really cute with the same silver hair as, what I think is, her mother. A full white frilly dress.

"Zeph?" Kellan called out. "Are you fascinated by the painting?" He asked with a hint of emotion in his voice.

"Well, It is beautifully painted," I said lightheartedly. Already had a feeling that would turn around very soon.

"Yeah, it really is beautiful. Sadly it has a little bit of a story to it." He said as he kept staring at the painting.

After a few seconds, he stood up and walked over to it, and pointed at the woman in the red dress.

"That is my wife. Her name was Freya."

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

My eyes widened a bit

Zephyria stood up and carefully started the question "You... said 'was'. Did something happen?"

"Years ago, even before I visited you, I was married to this woman." He said while still looking at the painting.

"For years we lived in StoneBridge. After I visited you guys, we decided we would like a child for ourselves and not much later Diana was born. She was such a cute girl..."

Kellan went silent for a moment as we could hear him holding back some tears. He calmed a bit but we could still hear a bit of sadness in his voice

"2 years after Diana was born, she fell ill with some Ignisarian sickness for which there is no cure. 1 year later she passed away."

Me and my sister gasp in surprise. We could sense from the mood she would probably not be with us anymore but the surprise was still there.

That fast after Diana was born? Poor child.

Looking down at the ground I felt for Kellan.

"I'm so sorry to hear that. How is Diana?" I asked, not knowing what would come next.

Kellan turned around. "About half a year later, she also fell ill with the same sickness. They told me it was hereditary and Freya had passed it on to Diana. 5 months later she also passed away. She was 4 years old."

As a few tears started falling from Kellan's eyes Zephyria walked up to him and gave him a hug.

"I'm so sorry."

Zephyria kept the hug going for a bit until Kellan let her go and tried to change the subject.

"So, uhm... Let's talk about something else, shall we? How are your parents doing?"

I looked at my sister, not knowing how to respond. If Kellan is living here alone and he lost his wife and child 7 and 6 years ago....

Shit. That means Freya got sick when his sister, our parents, died?

Kellan looked confused as we were both zoning out, thinking about a way to bring this as softly as possible.

"Uhm, are you guys ok?"

It felt like I had something stuck in my throat. My body tensed at the thought of having to tell him his sister died as well. Not to mention how. But I would probably keep that to myself.

After a few deep breaths, I found the courage to say something.

"Uhm, I don't really know how to say this. But... Mom and Dad both passed away 6 years ago"

As I finished I looked at Kellan right away and even was half out of my seat when he signaled to us to stay seated. He sat down himself and took a few deep breaths.

"I am not going to ask you how or why. I don't think I need to know this information. What I do want to ask you is this, were they good parents?"

We looked a bit surprised at the question and my sister started to answer.

"Yes, Yes they were. And we still think about them every day."

My sister and I kept looking at Kellan. Maybe he would collapse from stress or something. I have seen people break completely back on earth. Who knows what might happen?

Kellan took a sip of his water and looked back up with a calm face.

"Well, what is done is done. Life doesn't really seem to hand me any good hands, but at least you guys are still alive. And now that you are here I would gladly offer you my house as a place for you to stay. Your new home. What do you say."

Kellan spread his arms as he stood up. Kellan seems to be a guy who rather looks at positive things that he can hold on to, than going in a downward spiral.

"Yeah, we would gladly take you up on your offer. But it won't be for too long though."

With a surprised look, Kellan sat back down.

"What do you mean? Do you have someplace to go?"

I looked at Kellan and told him this would be a pretty long story.

"Well, let's start when we were 5 years old." I began.