One of the first things the clan noticed about Grumpy was that he did not trust Diligent or the cousins. After what they had let happen to him, he wasn't taking any chances. He would not listen to or acknowledge them or Diligent unless he absolutely had to. They could be standing right in front of him, trying to talk with him, and he simply wouldn't respond. It didn't help that he still couldn't speak, too traumatized from what had happened with Emil. So he spent the entire next day sitting in a corner and saying and doing nothing but watching them.

After he'd gone to bed early, Honesty grabbed Friendly and Belligerent. "You two run over to the Stonerungs. We need Empathy."

"She's thirteen," Diligent argued.

"She's also the only one he might talk to besides me and Rationality," Honesty said. "So you two go get her and bring her home. She's gonna be a part of this clan business. She's getting to that age anyhow."

So they retrieved Empathy and brought her home. Honesty explained what was happening and what was expected of her during the business then sent her to bed to think on things. When she came out the next morning, she saw that the door to Grumpy's bedroom was open a crack. She skipped over and knocked.

"Grumpy?"

He opened the door, his expression changing to shock as he saw her. He threw his hands up and gestured at her before pointing at the floor. Empathy thought about this.

"Why am I here?" she asked.

Grumpy nodded.

"Because Grandmama said so. And we always listen to her. Are you gonna have breakfast?"

Grumpy shrugged and toyed with the door. Empathy continued to gaze at him until he relented and followed her into the kitchen. Everybody stopped eating and stared for several seconds. It had taken the efforts of both Honesty and Rationality for an hour to get him out of his room the day before. Honesty smirked as the rest of the family had to concede that she was right about Empathy bringing Grumpy out of his shell. This was only proven more and more as the day wore on.

Empathy was a bright little thing, so happy and chatty, and now that she was allowed to talk to him, she did not stop peppering Grumpy with questions. He took to answering with his magic in images to help her. She wasn't as well-versed in sign as Rationality was, but Dopey only visited every so often, so he didn't mind. The rest of the family let him be, but they watched, curious yet wary. Diligent sat in the corner and took in everything as his oldest grandchild chattered away with Grumpy.

Despite the fact that she was soon wearing everybody else out, Grumpy wasn't bothered by her talking. Laila had been the most talkative out of all his girls, so he'd had practice. It came in handy as Empathy didn't leave his side all day. By suppertime, the family was absolutely astounded at how unbothered Grumpy was by Empathy's constant questions.

"Empathy!" Honesty finally exclaimed.

Empathy stopped. "Yes, Grandmama?"

"Why don't you save a few questions for after supper?"

The girl blushed. "Oh. Sorry."

Grumpy snickered, reaching out to tug her braid gently. She giggled and batted at him.

"Guess you don't mind."

Grumpy shook his head and waved vaguely.

Empathy grinned. "Can I at least ask if supper's ready, Grandmama?"

"Just about," Constancy called.

"Good. I'm hungry," Empathy said, then she sat down beside Grumpy and watched the room with him. The others chatted around them, but Grumpy's eyes were on the fire. A sudden sharp rapping on the window made them all jump. Diligent hopped up and hurried to the window, pushing it open slightly to see what was hitting it. Something lunged forward and slipped inside then took off, croaking.

"Damn bird!" Belligerent spat.

Grumpy whistled, and the raven immediately fluttered over and dropped a letter into his lap. He petted the bird then picked up the letter and opened it. He scanned the message then folded it and tucked it into his pocket. Empathy couldn't help but ask.

"You have a bird pet?"

Grumpy shook his head and gestured vaguely, rolling his eyes. The raven croaked and settled beside him. Grumpy scoffed. Empathy leaned close.

"Can I pet it?"

Grumpy shrugged then poked the bird. It opened one eye then clicked its beak and fluttered over to settle beside Empathy. Empathy petted its head, her eyes sparkling.

"Is it a boy?"

Grumpy shook his head.

"Does she have a name?"

Grumpy glanced over and shook his head again.

"Can I give her one?"

Grumpy squinted at her then poked the bird again. The raven croaked and dipped its head then settled it under its wing. So he shrugged and nodded at her. She stared at it thoughtfully.

"I'll need to think. Is that okay?"

Grumpy nodded and looked back at the fire, but he reached over to smooth his fingers across the raven's back a few times. Soon after, supper was ready, and Grumpy got a plate then settled in the corner again. He liked having a wall at his back. Too many suspicious eyes for him to be comfortable otherwise. Empathy skipped over with her plate and sat down beside him again.

"Who was the letter from?" Rationality asked, adjusting his spectacles.

Grumpy shrugged and continued eating.

"Is it from Doc?"

Grumpy shook his head. Then he clicked his tongue and rolled his eyes up to the ceiling to think. It wasn't a bad idea to send the raven after them. A bit of spellwork would help with his plans of getting them back sooner. But he'd do it tomorrow. The poor bird was cold and tired, so he nodded to himself then resumed eating.

After supper, some of the cousins wanted to play some music, so they headed to another room in the house. It was cozy and full of musical instruments. Grumpy automatically sat at the piano bench, the pedal seat sinking a little. He knew then it was a whistling piano. Sneezy had made the one at the house for him when he'd expressed interest in learning an instrument. Clearly the whole family enjoyed music.

The cousins struck up a tune and began to play, and the rest of the family danced. When Empathy asked him to dance with her, he said no to her for the first time and shooed her away. She went off to dance with Clumsy, laughing the whole time. Honesty and Rationality sidled over.

"I hope she's not bothering you," Rationality said. "She can be a bit much."

Grumpy waved his hand dismissively then settled it back on the keys and idly mimicked playing the tune the cousins were. Honesty's eyes flashed with interest and she leaned forward.

"Can you play?"

Grumpy nodded.

"It ain't a normal piano."

Grumpy made a face and nodded again, rolling his eyes.

Honesty reached over and pressed down several keys, making a loud screech go though the room. The music stopped and everybody turned to look at Honesty and Grumpy.

"Well then, play away," Honesty said. "You pick something."

Grumpy turned to the piano with burning cheeks, cursing his honesty. But there was no getting out of it now. He played through a scale to check the tuning then jumped into the first tune his brothers had taught him, resigned to just get it over with. After several measures, somebody else joined in on a fiddle and the room burst to life with music again. Grumpy focused on playing, but it wasn't as hard as he'd feared. It helped that he wasn't the only one playing now.

For an hour, he played with them, and they had such a fun time trying to stump him with complicated ditties, but Grumpy knew them all. When they gave in to his skill, laughing with each other, he started a rather complicated piece he'd composed himself. It was only as the last whistling notes faded that he realized how quiet it was. He turned around to see everybody gazing at him, a mix of curiosity and disbelief on their faces.

"Well, guess you can play," Honesty said smugly.

Grumpy turned scarlet just like Bashful then stood up and flashed to his room. He couldn't handle any more that night. Peering around the bedroom, he selected Bashful's bed and crawled into it, wrapping himself in the blankets. It was a bit cold in the room, but he didn't feel like making a fire. He fell asleep, wishing his brothers were there.

In the music room, the entire family was absolutely buzzing with conversation.

"I've never heard anybody play quite like that," Charming said to Rationality.

"He's certainly full of surprises," Rationality replied. "I don't think even Determination played that well."

"He was good," Diligent argued.

"But Grumpy is better," Honesty said. "Determination didn't practice as much toward the end."

Diligent said nothing, but he turned away to look at the piano again.

"Great-Uncle Determination could play the whistlin' piano?" Empathy asked.

The room went very quiet, and Diligent gestured for Empathy to come over. Determination was rarely discussed openly in the family because Diligent didn't like it. But as always, Empathy could get away with asking about his dead brother. She padded over and sat in his lap. He stroked her hair, gazing at her tenderly.

"You're growing up, Em," he said sadly.

"I know, Uncle Diligent," Empathy said solemnly. "Tell me more about Uncle Determination."

Diligent thought for a few moments. "He could be quite the rascal."

"How so?"

"Oh, Determination was a very kind man, don't get me wrong. But he was as stubborn as the day is long. Once he'd set his mind on somethin', it was real hard to change it. You had to have pretty good evidence to do it."

Empathy gazed at her grandfather thoughtfully. "You're the same way, you know."

"Am I now?" Diligent asked.

"Yes. You still don't like Grumpy. I can tell, so don't you lie about it."

Diligent flushed a little. "What do you see in him anyhow, little sparrow?"

"I see somebody who wants very much to belong somewhere," Empathy said after a few moments. "And I like him, and so does Dopey, and Doc and them, too. Dopey ain't ever wrong about folks, Uncle. You told me yourself. So I don't see why he can't belong here with us. I think he's been searching for an awful long time. He's so tired and scared."

"Scared?" Belligerent scoffed. "He sure don't act like it."

"And how do you act when you're scared?" Empathy retorted, turning to face her uncle. She hadn't backed down from Belligerent in years, and she certainly wasn't daunted now. "Like nothin's wrong, right? But he's awful skittish, and he always sits in the corner where he can see everybody. He's been left here alone with us, and he don't know any of us. He misses Doc and them and most of you ain't even tryin' to help him get settled. You're too busy at bein' mad at him. What did he do that makes you so mad, Uncle?"

Diligent exhaled heavily. "I believe he stole and sold the treasures Determination made for his sons."

Honesty sat up straight, pressing her lips together as Empathy thought about this. "But why would he do that and then stay with them for so long?"

"That, I don't know," Diligent admitted. "I can't figure him out, Em. I think Mama was right. We do need your help with this one."

"I'm glad to help. And since it's why I'm here," she turned to Honesty and turned dead serious. "Don't you ever do that to him again, Grandmama. I don't think you meant it, but it really bothered him."

"Do what?" Honesty asked.

"He don't like attention, I think," Empathy replied. "He acts like he thinks attention is awful bad, anyhow. When he realized we were all staring… he was awful scared then too. Like, more than scared. I think…" she paused then resumed speaking. "I think he expected us to laugh at him."

"After a performance like that?" Ingenuity asked, pushing up her glasses as she peered at her oldest daughter. "Absurd. Right Papa?"

"What might be absurd to us is likely not for him," Rationality replied. "What do we know about him exactly?"

That stumped them all. All except Empathy.

"Well, he was an orphan and raised on the streets by a really awful lady, but he wouldn't talk much about that. He told me a lot about what he gets up to with Doc and them, and he told me he's real friendly with the queen. He thinks a lot of Doc and them, too. Really thinks they hang the moon. He don't like talkin' about himself much, I think. That's why I told you he was skittish."

Silence. The entire family sank into thought at Empathy's observations. It answered a few questions but raised a dozen others.

"Wish Sleepy would've told us his story," Clumsy sighed.

"Grumpy didn't want him to," Belligerent pointed out. "Sleepy kept looking at Grumpy to see if he wanted him to talk."

"I think we'll get to hear a little more when they're back with that human," Honesty said. "Now it's late. Empathy, better get to bed. And thank you for helpin' with this clan business."

Empathy nodded, and everybody got up and headed for bed. Everybody except for Diligent. He sat up for awhile longer, staring into the fire and pondering what Empathy had told them about Grumpy. When he got up to go to bed, he still hadn't made up his mind. There was just something about Grumpy that set him on edge, but for the life of him, he couldn't quite tell what it was.