“White Rose” Rum said, addressing his skeleton standing in zes corner. “This is Electroblade.” Rum slightly raised the little woman in his arms in gesture. “She’s a gnome. She will be your mana source; your mana battery. She should be quite handy-sized, something easy for you to carry around. However” Rum took a step towards his skeleton and made a serious face, “you need to be careful with her, and listen to her. You will be responsible for keeping her comfortable. Do you understand?”

The disguised skeleton stared at the gnome adventurer, zes skull leaning a little forward, as if fascinated by the new companion ze was getting.

“With her at your side–“ Rum continued, “–you just have to drain her a little, constantly, and you should have enough mana for a few spells – BUT ONLY a few! At least per day, no more than 3 spells to begin with. Okay?”

White Rose stepped forward, her veiled skull getting close, just a gnome’s arm length apart, from Electroblade’s face.

“Ze can’t speak?” the gnome asked wearily, her eyes mutually staring back at the skinny person in front of her, like she was meeting this strange creature, or wild beast, for the first time. And little does she know just how strange, Rum mentally commented, eyeing the first meeting of gnome and skeleton.

“Not a sound” he answered after a moment. Glancing over at the ginormous Mr. King bed next to them, the mage decided to step over and put the gnome in his arms down on bed’s edge. The skeleton followed half-way, taking 2 small, careful steps.

“It is a little unnerving how ze looks at me” Electroblade commented. “It’s not like I’m the first gnome ze ever sees or something? Because it almost feels like it.”

“Not at all” Rum shook his head. “Ze’s been with me around the city plenty. We’ve even gone to The Iron City together. I imagine ze’s just very curious about zes new companion. There’s never really been anyone else in zes life. Or, well, besides me, my brother I suppose, and the witch I just picked ze up from, before I brought you here to meet ze. However, us 3 have pretty much been all ze’s had. So you – you’re something new.”

The magical daughter of a human wizard, and the ex-adventurer of a lost gnomish land, spent near a minute staring at each other’s faces and glancing over each other’s bodies. Both equally intrigued by the other. Both cautious.

“Say, why don’t you try carrying Electroblade, White Rose?” Rum spoke from the side. Skeleton and gnome both turned their heads to the wizard. “We’ll have to figure out how this is going to work, anyways.” He splayed his hands, as if he’d spoken some inevitable fact.

The skeleton turned back to the gnome. Ze stepped over, carefully, bringing zes arms out like ze was about to embrace a bear, instead of the gnome half zes height.

“Eeeeh” Electroblade leaned back, looking at the arms coming for her with skepticism. Yet, she let it happen.

White Rose picked the gnome up by the shoulders, one arm squeezing in from either side. The gnome’s legs, her left metal bird leg and right metal-implanted flesh leg, both dangled in front of White Rose in an awkward face to face. “Eh” Electroblade let out, grimacing hard.

“Yeeeeaah, I don’t think that’s going to work White Rose. You’re squeezing Electroblade too hard, and now she can’t use her arm.”

Gently, White Rose lowered the gnome down, releasing zes grip. The gnome exhaled in relief. “Ouuufh, ze is STRONG! That was like being squeezed tight by 3 Bronzefists – all at once!”

“Yeah” Rum gave an acknowledging nod, “ze is quite strong. Never ask ze to punch you.” The gnome glanced over at Rum with a curiously raised eyebrow. The wizard ignored it. “White Rose” the man looked at his baby, “why don’t you try to support her with your arms” he performed a motion as if holding a real human baby, “instead of squeezing her” he gestured a squeezing motion while making a grimace of pain, and shaking his head. The skeleton looked back at the gnome, and put zes head to one side, as if thinking, evaluating, planning.

Ze did try, but it was an awkward attempt in which Electroblade slipped out of White Rose’s attempted embrace and fell to the floor. After that, Rum and Electroblade both did some guidance and directing, and eventually the skeleton managed to figure out how to lift the gnome by her legs and back, up and into a steady position. The gnome body supported against White Rose’s chest, or really zes bare hollow rib cage, though the details of this latter fact was something the mecha-gnome remained ignorant of.

“How are you feeling, Electroblade?”

The gnome had an expression of weirdness upon her. She was being carried somewhat like a baby, though with some additional directing Rum had gotten White Rose to support the gnome’s back up some more, making for a slightly more dignified position than that of a mom carrying a newborn.

“White Rose” the gnome looked up into the veiled skull, “you are bony. I think I’ve never quite felt the rib cage of someone holding me before. Not like this.” The gnome looked over at Rum. “Are you feeding this person? Is something wrong with ze?”

Rum formed the tiniest bits of sweat. Not enough to see, though his pausing was mildly suspicious. Should I maybe tell her? Will it even be possible to keep it a secret? The wizard, after a few seconds thought, decided to ignore the question. “I see a problem.” He looked at his skeleton and the gnome’s body. “Now you are free to use your arm, but White Rose can’t use zes. And, well, I can’t imagine it’ll be a good solution if ze had to put you down every time ze wanted to use zes arms. Or what do you think?” He met Electroblade’s eyes.

“Yeah” she answered, briefly surprised at him ignoring her question, “that could be a problem.”

“I think it would be best” he expanded his tangent, “if somehow, you could be with White Rose at all times, without ze having to actively carry you.” The wizard stroked his beard in thought.

The gnome, carried in bony hands and arms, raised an eyebrow. “Like you want me to sit on zes shoulders or something?”

Rum nodded, holding his beard. “That was a good thought. But, I think you might have a lot of issue getting through doors and such. And you would too easily fall over, I think. Hmm. Also your own arm would be so high up, you would hardly be able to use it for much.”

“I could maybe strap myself to White Rose, to avoid falling over?” She splayed her one hand in suggestion, and lightly shrugged her shoulders.

“Hmm” more beard stroking. “Straps you say? Mmm... leather straps. That’s what we use on draft animals to pull wagons, and to ride horses.” He thought loudly. “Maybe... maybe we could make you a harness?”

“A harness?” Electroblade’s eyebrow raised high again, her mouth opening; thoughts processing the idea.

Rum stepped over close, gesturing to her body and White Rose’s chest area. “If we could make a harness, for you and for White Rose, you should easily be able to fasten onto White Rose’s front. But you should also be easily able to unstrap yourself, if necessary. Then: if we made a belt for White Rose, on which you could fasten your crutch also, you’d have your arm free at all times. Further, you’d be in reaching height and the right angle for anything White Rose is facing. You should also be able to guide White Rose, point at things, help ze. Yes, yes” the wizard nodded, eyes widening with excitement, “I think that could work really well.” Rum stared into White Rose’s lower chest area, stroking his beard with a faint smile, like he was admiring the harness already there, envisioned in front of him.

As Rum kept staring, Electroblade looked at herself, at her own body, and to her left, at the bony chest of White Rose, against which she was being leaned. Suddenly, like a spark of inspiration, a glimmer formed in the gnome’s eyes, and she turned to Rum with an intensity of excitement. “That also means – I CAN USE MY SWORD!”

Rum met her eyes, and they both smiled. Good thing mommy gnome didn’t hear that statement, he thanked the world. “Then I take it, you’re in on the idea?” Rum didn’t wait for Electroblade to answer, instead he directed his eyes towards White Rose. “What about you, my young spawn. Will you be okay if we bound her to your front? Not for all the time, but whenever you go together.”

White Rose stared down at Electroblade in zes arms, to which Rum made a gesture. The skull looked in thoughts for a moment. After a while, ze came back up, and ze stared at zes wizard daddy instead. Him standing there in front of ze, expecting something of an answer. Zes skull tilted to the side. Eventually, the skeleton seemed to have figured something out. Skull straightening back up against, ze turned to the bed, went up to it and put Electroblade down carefully. Going to zes corner, ze picked up the portable blackboard and chalk, and started drawing.

“So” Electroblade began, as they waited, “White Rose is your child?” The gnome raised an eyebrow at him.

Rum touched his beard, giving it a single slow stroke. “You could say that.”

“Sorry for my curiosity, but...” Electroblade whispered conspiratorily in his direction, “a-dop-ted?”

Rum, to Electroblade’s surprise, shrugged. “You could say that.”

The gnome’s expression became one of total confusion as both her eyebrows acted to form one big question mark. But the wizard remained silent as White Rose finished drawing, turned to the duo, and took a few steps in their direction, before displaying the board.

“Start... now” Electroblade read. “Is that meant to be question, or a request?” The gnome looked over at Rum.

“I don’t know” he shrugged. “White Rose” he met eye-to-eyesocket with his skeleton, “are you trying to ask us what we want, or are you telling us what you want?”

Skull tilted to the side, thinking. Ze went back to zes corner, found the cloth, wiped the blackboard, drew again, and came back with a new text. “Telling” Electroblade read aloud as the board turned. The gnome smiled. Rum smiled too.

“If we can find anyone working this late” Rum put his hands on his hips, making a tired little yawn after a long day, “then why not?” After an equally tired pause, the wizard let his hands fall. He stepped over to his dependant. “Let’s go find ourselves a leatherworker!” He slammed his right hand onto White Rose’s bony left shoulder.

“Yes” Electroblade said from the back, “but first” the gnome gradually lost her smile. “I feel like I need to know the truth here. Something’s off about all of this...” Rum turned to the gnome. “About White Rose, about your relationship.”

An uneasiness crawled up Rum’s back, seizing his mood. Where is she heading with this? What does she want to know?

“There is something, isn’t there, mage. Something you’re not telling? Something important?”

Rum returned the stared of the gnome with a deadpan, mute expression.

“Why is your child – if that’s what ze is – why is ze so strong? Why does ze feel like nothing but bones? Why doesn’t ze say anything? And why is it really that ze needs my mana?”

The atmosphere in the room turned dead silent, and dead serious. Rum formed a little sweat as he stood there, mute, trying to figure out what to reply. But he wasn’t the only one sweating. So too was the gnome. After all, nobody were smiling here now. And Electroblade, helpless as she was on the bed without functional legs, had confronted somebody she’d only known for half a day at most. About an ominous secret, no less. And also, the one she was confronting, in her brief experience, he had shown himself to be a powerful wizard. She’d confronted him on his own home territory, too. In hindsight, she might not’ve thought about her own actions then and there very far. For if this man turned on her now, she would not be able to run away for help. While some people knew who she was with, nobody knew where she was, and nobody was expecting her immediate return. With this realization, Rum’s silence and growingly serious expression was rapidly becoming terrifying. Although of course for Rum, he would never contemplate harming the gnome. His mind was simply on a totally different question. Can she be trusted? Could this gnome be relied upon to keep our secret? Should I let her simply continue on, wondering about what she doesn’t know, forever? Could that work? Maybe I should dissolve our deal. Or just... tell her?

A minute passed for sure. Rum stared at the gnome, stroking his beard very, very slowly. Terrifyingly slowly though he did not intend it. Electroblade stared at the wizard, eyes darting over to White Rose intermittently. White Rose stared at both though ze was mostly just confused at what was going on.

“Well?” Electroblade was the first to break the silence. She swallowed, a sound unintentionally loud in the quietude of the still room.

Rum’s fingers stopped stroking. He let go of his beard, and eyes came to the floorboards for a second. “Fine.” After a brief moment of silent staring into the wood beneath them, he looked back up into the gnome’s eyes. “I will tell you about White Rose – if, and ONLY IF – you will swear that you can be trusted to keep a secret?”

Electroblade gave a bit of a nervous smile. “Depends upon the secret – but” she quickly added, “unless you are a serial killer or an agent of the dungeon lords, I’m pretty sure I can keep your secret.”

Rum sighed. “Thanks for your honesty, I think. Although that was pretty weak as far as pledges go. Hmmph...” The wizard looked deeply unsure, and again they initiated something of a staring contest. The mage tried scrutinizing the ex-adventurer with his eyes. After some intense staring all over the gnome, the mage put a hand to his tired face, closing his eyes, and rubbing his temples with 2 spread out fingers. “Okay, okay. I’ve trusted adventurers before, so I suppose I’ll trust you. Just” he let his face go and opened his eyes, “I’ve grown fond of White Rose. So please don’t make me regret trusting you.” He stepped over to his presumed child. A hand reached out to zes veil. It stopped at the mere touch of cloth. “What you’re about to see” he threw the gnome a glance back, “will shock you. For while White Rose is a person, like you and me. A person with a child’s mind; a child’s mind born from magic, zes body, though, has but one thing in common with ours.” With a motion, he pulled up White Rose’s veil, revealing – the skull. Hollow eye sockets, skinless bone, a see-through nose, the absence of a neck below the jawbone. Death, reanimated death, Rum thought he could hear Electroblade’s for-sure thoughts.

Electroblade sat still. Stunned silence. Her body, merely breathing. Her eyes wide. For a moment, glancing over at her, Rum wondered if the gnome had become catatonic with fear. Maybe reliving some dreadful moment from her adventurer days being chased by the undead. But, after a long – a very long – moment, her mouth opened a little. She swallowed, she gulped, and then she spoke in a small, careful voice. “You’re a necromancer?” Her eyes moved to meet his.

Rum, in somewhat of a surprise given the serious mood, rolled his eyes. “Necromancer? You too? Why do I have to be a necromancer just because I have an undead friend!? Same thing thought my little brother. The answer is NO. I’m NOT a necromancer.” He gestured at White Rose. “White Rose was already undead when I made ze sentient. I used a spell to undo the undead servitude. I freed zes mind. I gave it an avenue of growth; the possibility of becoming a person once more. You want to know who White Rose is? Ze’s my child. Obviously not by traditional means, I have no idea whose skeleton this belonged to. But – by soul, by spirit, by the makings of magic – ze is my child.” The Self-Proclaimed Wizard Daddy picked up the hand of his spawn, of his baby, and held it.

“But ze’s undead.” Electroblade protested. “How can ze be a child of anyone? Undead aren’t even people. They’re just reanimated corpses. How would magic make ze – it – into your child?”

Rum’s face grew furious. “And how are you a person? Hmm!? What makes you anything like me? Surely it’s not your skin, your kidney, your eyeball?” He gestured at her torso and face, and then gestured at White Rose. “Because that’s the only real difference that I see here. And in that case, are you less of a person because your left leg is nothing but metal? Are you less of a person because you have no left arm? NO! Of course not! Then is it the fact that you eat food, or breath air? Are these mundane animal things what makes you a person?” He stopped, and with an intensely red expression awaited the gnome’s reply.

She took her time, grimacing before delivering her answer. “No.” She added a shrug as Rum resumed his rant.

“Then WHAT IS IT? WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE, REALLY!? I don’t just believe, I KNOW that in White Rose, there is a yearning to become familiar with the world, a yearning to grow and become someone. Ze’s still young, learning the basics. But already, ze is starting to show the signs of autonomy, of initiative, of being zes own person. Did you not just witness what I witnessed? Would a constructed slavemind – the dead reanimated for servitude – would they ask for anything? Would they ever show a desire to input their self into the world, to own the future? No! But did you not just see with your own eyes White Rose, see my child, ask for something ze wanted? For us to speed up getting you harnesses?”

Electroblade thought for a moment. “Sure” she admitted, “but I don’t know if that’s much evidence to go by. I mean, if it – ze – is not your undead servant, what even is ze? I’ve never heard of a sentient skeleton. In fact, I’ve never heard of any kin like ze. Ze’s not a gnome, not a human, not a goblin, troll, or elemental. Not even a vampire. Ze’s nothing. That” she gestured, “is nothing.”

Rum shook his head and calmed down some. “The Boney Love Kin” he smiled, “that’s what ze is. It’s my spell, the one that awoke inside ze the person standing before you. Ze is a being of my magic, of The Boney Love spell, and as such, ze is of The Boney Love Kin. Of which ze is the first specimen. Maybe, there will be more?” Looking at White Rose’s exposed skull, he shrugged. “Maybe ze will forever be the only one of ze’s kind. But ze is not nothing.” He turned to Electroblade. “You just hadn’t heard of what ze is. And now that you have: you know like I do, that there is at least one of this kin. For the evidence is there” he cast a finger. “Take the job, be with ze, stay with ze, help guide ze as I have, and like I’ll continue to do, and you’ll discover not just that ze – a kin of sentient skeletons – exists. But also everything, every little detail, of what ze is, truly.” He paused to take a breath. “Electroblade, you are an adventurer. Now, behold!” With his whole arm, the wizard gestured to his magicspawn. “This is your adventure! And Electroblade, the only thing in the end that I ask of, is for you to be what you already are: an adventurer. So be, one: explore the unknown.”