Jack the Overlander

Twenty

Queen Luxa and Gregor the Warrior were picked up by one of their own scouts just inside the Central Park entrance.

Four days after their arrival, Lapblood's report arrived from the Dead Land: the streams were refilling. Return all shipments of clean water. The gnawers were beginning to recover. Another report from the Fount foretold the improvements in the Great River which were soon to be seen in Regalia.

The Queen and the Warrior anxiously awaited the return of their companions. For Gregor, Ripred was irreplaceable. The rat was both a mentor and a father to him. Fate had forced an Overland kid into adulthood when he was twelve years old; Ripred had taken the slack that Gregor could not.

There was a period of nerve-wracking worry, where the possibility of their deaths was considered. What if they had encountered further hummingbirds on the return journey? What if they had met with some other, unknown danger which had sprung into existence since their first pass?

The fears were disappointed, however, as the party returned in full on the ninth day. A banquet was thrown after their safe arrival, and memorial was held for Mint and for Hornfels, the digger who had saved the Underland.

The Warrior and the Queen swapped their adventure with the party. Ripred claimed, with zero bunk, that he hadn't been concerned for a moment about their chances in the Overland. It was his safety that they should've been worried about. They reassured him that his confidence in their dependence was not misplaced.

Jack and Amber the Overlanders were returned to the Overland nearly three weeks after their timely fall. Concerns were raised, mostly by Gregor, over the length of their absence; would their friends and families not wonder after them? Amber consoled them that, no, no one usually knew where she was, anyway, and she'd be able to catch up quickly on her studies. Jack just said that it was no problem, as he didn't have any friends or family. Watching the pair of them talking and laughing at their final Underland breakfast, however, Gregor couldn't help but doubt this assertion.

Under Luxa's reign, with Gregor at her right hand and Ripred at her left, the Underland prospered. The fragile peace which followed the surrender of the gnawers had already grown into something resembling acceptance when Gregor returned at sixteen; as time passed, acceptance had turned to mutual respect and mutual respect to harmony.

Gregor and Luxa bore five halflander children of varying shades and colors. They inherited not only the mixed physical traits of their parents but also their exceptional talents and natural inclinations. All of them grew to be wise and selfless.

Though Gregor's parents never returned to the Underland, visits were made by Elizabeth the Overlander and the princess Boots. Ripred and Temp were to be found in the highest of spirits during their stays. Gregor himself did, on occasion, check in with the Overland, but as he advanced in years he found himself less and less tolerant of the sun and his visits grew shorter and fewer. Eventually he descended through the laundry room grate for the final time.

One day, many years after the quest to the plant, Gregor sat relaxing on the palace balcony overlooking Regalia.

"Ripred," he said. "Just how old do gnawers grow to be?"

The rat was stretched out on his side.

"In the past, they've never lived long enough for us to find out. Just one more thing we're pioneering here, Warrior," he said.

Gregor observed a couple of his grandchildren tumbling about the High Hall. They were being watched over by a pair of fliers, princesses of Queen Nike, lest they pitch over the side. His concerns for falling had long since ceased.

"Imagine you actually outliving me," Gregor snorted.

The rat raised his head and flicked his tail at the children lazily.

"Don't worry, grandpapa, your blood lives on. You and her Highness have left quite the legacy. I hear you're practically a myth in the outer regions these days."

Just as Gregor had never bonded, the rat had never mated again.

"I suppose so," Gregor said with a chuckle. "You know, you've developed something of a legacy yourself. I'm not sure the Underland will be able to handle itself without you around, Ripred."

Their bones had grown weaker over the decades. Neither he nor Ripred had fought in a battle in years.

"Oh, I'm sure it will. I'm sure it will." Ripred replied.

After that, they sat in contented silence.