Author's Note: The following intermission can be skipped if you wish; I just wanted to go into background detail concerning the Reddison family. Enjoy, if you like.

"Gather around, kids and kiddies," said Thaddeus, settling into his chair like a he wasn't on a diet and was preparing to consume a ten-course meal. "We're gonna tell you the tale of how Jasper met Josephine."

Curious about Jasper's past, somewhat sad over his demise, Sora was all ears. "So, Josephine was Rufaus' mother, right?"

"Yep! 'Course, Josephine was how her name transliterates into -"

"Twenty years ago, fresh out of graduation," began Septimus, "Jasper went to a foreign country to participate in a fellowship. We thought it would aid him when he applied to graduate school."

"And show him the consequences of not landing a good career," said their mother. "A good career, as you know, requires a Masters or Ph.D in certain -"

"Excuse us, ma'am … what's your name?" asked Sora. Curiosity about Jasper Reddison extended to his mother. Rude question, he knew, but he had to ask.

"Noxanna Samueli."

Samueli? What happened to Reddison? "But … um, your -"

"I retook my maiden name when I divorced," said Noxanna shortly.

"Oh."

"Since his college academic record was … unspectacular, we figured a fellowship and some years of experience abroad should compensate for it," continued Septimus. "There, he met a local girl named Josephine. They got close."

"They got married," spat Noxanna.

"Right." Septimus coughed awkwardly, to show his disapproval. "There was a horrid scandal, when the truth came out. What were they thinking?"

About true love and starting a family? Kairi mentally suggested.

"Her family disowned her," approved Noxanna. "What a pity. She was supposedly a well-off, well-educated girl. Somewhat pretty, I suppose. She even had a fiancé!"

"I can't believe Jasper would … wow," breathed Sora. "I bet that other guy was heartbroken!"

"Not really. He haven't met her," clarified Noxanna.

"What?"

"It was an arranged marriage," elaborated Septimus, "as was the custom in that land."

"Arranged? Ew." Sora found the idea of arranged marriages distasteful.

"I'd say." Riku thought the same.

"That's just wrong." Kairi found the idea even more distasteful, being a girl herself.

"You shouldn't be prejudiced towards other cultures," Septimus reprimanded, glaring a vulture's glare on the three kids. "What seems distasteful to us is proper to them."

"I don't know. Like, wasn't there a campaign in that country against forced marriages and mistreatment against … uh, I misspoke. I'm sorry Mother," Thaddeus countered, or tried to counter, were not for Noxanna's withering glare. "Well, he was many times her age and … I heard he was very … not nice."

"When the fiancé's family tried to have him killed," said Noxanna, "we phoned him and urged him to do the right thing: leave her and leave the country."

"Leave her?" Sora exclaimed. "Why?"

He never got an answer, for Septimus continued, "Did he? No! He said he loved her and that he would put her above everyone else." He shook his head in disapproval and concluded, "They left the country together and got married in some godforsaken quickie chapel."

"Then the bottom came out!" interjected Thaddeus. "He called us and said he wasn't going to apply to grad school, that he was doing something else instead. Some newspaper syndicate picked up an idea he had for a strip and … woo." He closed his eyes. "We had such a row over it. It was insane, wasn't it mother?"

"After that, he hardly kept in contact with us for fifteen years," snorted Noxanna. And no wonder, thought Sora.

Thaddeus stretched in his seat. "Man, Jasper was so immature! He forsook his family and he forsook his future, for the sake of some girl. Can't believe he abandoned his plan to go to grad school."

His family's plans for him, realized Sora. Noxanna seemed to be the domineering type.

"He was supposed to something better," said Noxanna. "Not some … starving artist."

So now they knew. So now they knew why Rufaus' families didn't like him too much. Sora used to think Rufaus was being overdramatic and whiny when he complained about his grandmother. Not anymore.