"Alright, class," Ms. Hoffman told her first grade class as she finished writing on the board, "Today we are going to start working on family trees. You all will make a family tree and prepare a little speech about what you learned that way, on family day this Saturday, we can display them in our classroom."

She was completely unsurprised to see three little hands shoot up, "Yes. You three may work together. But, you will have to do the parts of your family that you don't share separately. Ok?"

Toby, Mary, and Jim cheered and scrambled closer together to get started.

"Who all should we put on it?" Mary began, "How would we even display it?"

"I don't know," Jim admitted, listing out their parents and Aunt Nono, "I would love to put our 'extended' family but..."

"It's not like we can use pictures of them all," Toby nodded.

Mary leaned over to look at Jim's list, "Maybe...We could draw them? Or...humanish thems?"

Toby wrinkled his nose, "Nome of us are really good at that, Mary."

"Do you got a better idea?"

LLB

Lenora looked up from the papers she was grading. Her daughter had been quiet for a while. She crept up the stares and peaked into her bedroom.

"Mary? Is everything alright?"

The little girl sat, cross legged on the floor, a piece of paper and a photo album in front of her.

"Mary?"

"Do you remember your parents?" She didn't look up.

Lenora sidled over and sat alongside her daughter. She looked down at the photo album and paper.

"Not much," she admitted, "It was a very long time ago. I was only a few decades old."

Mary traced a picture of herself and her first parents before looking up at her mother, "Do you remember their names?"

"Yes. Antonia and Elijah. It's where Eli got his name."

"I never knew their names," Mary looked back at the book, "I remember that Daddy liked to laugh really loud and was tall. Mommy would sing...Almost as often as you do. But in Japanese. I can't remember the words..."

Lenora silently lifted the six-year-old into her lap.

"I wish I had someone like Nana. Someone who actually knew them. Didn't they have friends?"

Lenora sighed, "They did. They were at the funeral. They asked how you were doing."

"I don't remember much. I remember Toby staying with me but nobody talked to me. Why?" She glared down into the photo album.

"I don't know why, Baby girl," Lenora stroked her hair and kissed her forehead, "But I can tell you what I know."

"You knew then?" Mary lit up.

"I didn't know them," Lenora admitted, "But I do know some things about them. Your mummy's name was Lydia and your Daddy's name was Kano. They met at summer camp when they were in high school." (1)

Mary nuzzled closer, "I don't want to forget them."

"You won't," Lenora insisted, "Not entirely. Your Papa and I still remember our parents. And that was hundreds of years ago."

Mary nodded and closed her photo album. She then grabbed her paper and wrote 'Kano and Lydia Wang' on her list of family members.

"Mama? Will you help me draw some of the pictures? Toby and Jim got the rest."

Lenora looked at the list and the trolls it included, "Oh boy...Well, let's see what we can do."

LLB

Jim watched up at the ancient painting in the museum. It was as if he was waiting for it to move.

"What are you looking at, Young Atlas?" Walt sat beside his son.

Jim pointed up at the woman, "Her. She was your mummy. Right?"

Walt looked up and sighed, "Yes...In a way."

"Do you remember her?"

"No. I...I was still a whelp when she disappeared. And the stories I have heard are not flattering."

He leaned over to look at his son's paper. He chuckled.

"You have Poppa Vendal on your list?"

"Yeah," Jim instantly perked, "Uncle Kanjigar and Draal, too! Mary's doing Uncle Blinky and Uncle Arrrgh, and Toby gets Aunt Dwella and Aunt Nono. We're going to say they're your brothers and sister. Esept Uncle Kanjigar and Draal. They're related to Mummy and Uncle Lucky."

Walt laughed outright, "And how will you depict them all? Hm?"

"We're drawing them," Jim herald his head high, "That's why we split them all up. So no one person would have to figure it all out."

"That's quite clever of you, Young Atlas."

"It was Mary's idea."

Walt smiled softly and took his son's hand, "Well, we best get you home so you can get to work on it. And I assume you have to know the family's story as well?"

"Part of it," Jim looked over his shoulder at the painting once more, "Da? What was her name?"

Walt stopped and turned. The painting seamed to look strait into his soul. The gentle smile and calm hold on his infant self a stark contrast to what he knew and had heard from Gunmar and Bular.

With a heavy heart, he turned back to his son, "Jim. Remember this and remember it well. Morgana was not good. She was an evil enchantress."

"But...in the painting-"

"I don't know who painted it. Perhaps it was once true. But it is not now," he knelt in front of Jim, "She is dangerous. If you ever meet someone claiming to be her, no mater who they are or what they look like, I want you to run. Run away from them and find your mother and I or one of your aunts and uncles. Understood?"(2)

Jim looked from his father to the painting. He nodded slowly. Walt sighed and they set off. Jim cast one last look over his shoulder. Wondering.

LLB

Toby bounced on his toes as he stood by the large family tree he and his cousins had made. They were taking turns explaining and showing off to the other families. They had even convinced Draal to come in a glamour mask!

"That's quite the family tree you have there," Shauna Johnson laughed, one arm around her son's shoulders.

"That's cause it's not just my family tree," Toby explained, "It's also my sister's and my Cousin, Jim's. Only this part is mine."

"Toby and Mary are adopted, Mama," Seamus tilted his head back to look at her, "That means they have two families."

"Ah! Like how Steve has two dad's now that his mom married coach?"

"Yeah!"

"Me and Mary aren't the only ones who are adopted," Toby pointed to the family tree, "Our Papa, Onkel Walt, and Tanta Nono Are all adopted, too."

"Well, it sounds like it runs in the family," Darcy's father joked as he and his wife approached.

"Yep!" Toby puffed out his chest, "Someday, I'm gonna adopt, too! It's a lot faster then waiting for a baby to grow in a Mama's tummy." (3)

"Toby! Toby!" Mary sprinted in, dragging Eli behind her, "Mama said Tanta Maranda said Eli gets to come over!"

Toby cheered and ran to meet them. Jim shook his head and took his cousin's place. It was his turn anyway."

1) Since 'Mary' is and English name I wanted her parents to have one English name and one Japanese name. Originally it was going to be her dad who had an English name but then I discovered Kano, meaning 'water god' or 'of the sea' and knew that that was the perfect name for the father of a mermaid. Perhaps he was a merman.

2) While writing this I realized everyone is still evil. Bular, Morgana, Dic. Hell, Angor is still DEAD! It was really weird to think that Bular and Bagdwella haven't even started writing to eachother yet! I started laughing.

3) *Ugly laughing* I wish! I want to adopt some day but it is a long, slow, expensive proses...