As the sun pierced through Lu's blinds of her bedroom, Lu stirred awake. She was excited to be seeing her great grandma Stalida again, considering all that she had learned about her family so far.
Lu got dressed, grabbed her laptop, and her reordered, turning it on before she descended down the stairs. As she didn't know what new things she would be told by her folks.
"Good morning mom, dad." Lu walked into the kitchen and was welcomed with the smell freshly made croissants. Her mother had diced up some fruit and sat out some cream cheese to go along with the croissants.
"You seem to be feeling better." Lu's mother spoke.
"I am, much better."
"Lu, I would like to visit Stalida with you today if that is alright."
This surprised Lu, as it has been awhile since her father visited his grandma. That was all primarily due to the tension that ran through their blood. He didn't hate her per say, Lu knew he just hated what he was told over the years. All of his family's sufferings and problems occurred because of Stalida's adventures. All the death and heartache, was because of Stalida. That much Lu knew.
"That's fine with me. I'm sure great grandma would love to see you."
"We shall see about that."
Breakfast fell silent after that. They ate their cream cheese and fruit croissants in complete silence. After they finished, Lu waited around for thirty minutes for her father to finish his morning routine.
"Ready dear?" He asked her as he waited by the door.
"Yup," she quickly slipped on her pair of converse shoes and followed him out to the car.
"Did you remember to grab everything that you need?"
Lu doubled checked her bag, she had her recorder in her pants pocket and her laptop and its charger in her bag, she nodded, "Yup I am all set."
"Good."
Her father wasn't always good with small talk so the rest of the ride to the nursing home was silent.
Lu and her father walked up to the front desk, "Is Stalida ready for visitors?" Lu asked Piper.
"Let me give her a call real quick."
Lu could hear the sound of ringing as they waited for Stalida to pick up the phone, "Hello?" Lu heard her cracked and brittle voice come through.
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"Your son and great granddaughter is here to see you."
"Daniel?" Lu could pick up that her great grandma was shocked to hear her father's name.
"Yes, Daniel and Lu."
There was a paus on the line as they both waited to see if they were both welcome, "Go ahead and send them down."
Lu sighed in relief, "You can go." Piper said as she hung up the phone.
"Thank you." Lu grabbed her father's hand and practically dragged him down to Stalida's room.
~Knock~ ~Knock~ ~knock~
Lu gave three gentle knocks to Stalida's door as she took a final deep breath before Stalida's voice echoed through the door.
"Come in!"
Lu opened the door and allowed her father to walk in first. Lu saw Stalida's face light up with a smile, "Daniel, it's good to see you! Come sit!" She patted the right side of the bed.
He obeyed and sat down carefully on the edge of the bed beside his grandma, "How are you Stalida?"
"Still not calling me grandma after all these years?"
"Considering what you have done to our family, no I will not call you grandma."
"Dad..." Lu began to protest but he cut her off.
"Don't start with me Lu, I have my reasons."
"Then explain?" Lu asked as she sat on the other side of the bed.
He sighed deeply, "From what I have been told, Stalida had put our family through the ringer. Her brother Mavrik died trying to save her. Not to mention her parents died without ever knowing that she was okay."
Stalida looked away from Daniel and looked over at Lu instead, "You get it, don't you dear?"
Lu was hesitant but she nodded, "Yes, traveling to another universe, another plane of existence sounds like it would be fun to me." Lu could hear a her father's heavy sigh.
"It was, it was the best adventure a girl could ask for."
"How could you say it was the best adventure when you died from it, not just once but twice?" Her father asked.
"It gave me abilities I didn't even know I possessed. Like how to fight, how to manipulate, how to fend for myself when things got tough. With my birth family, I was left alone a lot, often getting beat up by other kids. I had no skills in defense, in that world I did."
"Besides the skills and abilities that the world gave me, a family that cared about me. Tut-Man welcomed me despite me being human at first, despite the clan's wishes to have me for dinner. After failure to realize that I couldn't cast the spell on myself, he found a way to bring me back. Once I achieved adulthood, he married me. Giving me five chaotic children. Duzz, Gryh, Vic, Xiagluld, and my only daughter Rosh. They are probably gone now, but I am sure they kept our family heritage alive. As for the rest of the clan, they were family. As family consists of more than just those bound by blood."
"I loved all of my goblin children as much as I did my human children. That, I had three of, Marry, Daniel, and Alex. Without going through the portal the first time and being forced out of it the second time, who knows if you would even be here Daniel."
What Lu's great grandma spoke was true. If none of this had happened who knew if her father let alone herself would be here. As Stalida, would have been basically dead at this point. The rifts gave her a second chance at life.
"I suppose you are right about that. I hadn't even thought about that aspect of it." Daniel spoke.
Stalida nodded in agreement, "I know I put my family through hardship. When I died the second time and came back as a young child, I had no one but my brother Novak. Thankfully he decided to raise me as his own as he was struggling to have children of his own. If he hadn't done that, who knew where I would have ended up."
"Besides, I never got to say goodbye to my own folks and I had to watch Mavrik get killed by the man I love. It all still haunts me to this day."
The room fell silent as no one knew how to respond to Stalida. After a few minutes passed Lu decided to ask her great grandma one burning question
"Nana, if you could go back through the rift, to that world would you go back?"