Act 7: Extended Family

	Uncle Henry, as he asked Rue to call him, had begun to sob as 
soon as he realized who she really was, hugging her so tightly, Rue 
thought her ribs might break. After asking one of the other employees to 
look after the store until closing, he invited the four of them up to his 
apartment upstairs with the promise of explaining things more completely.

	Stepping inside the apartment, Rue was mildly disappointed to 
discover that Uncle Henry lived alone. When she asked where her parents 
were, he informed her that, as Fakir had suspected, they had moved to 
another place shortly after Gisela’s kidnapping, unable to bear living 
there without their daughter. Karl Hoffmann still co-owned the jewelry 
store, however, and worked there every weekday. Since it was Saturday, it 
was his day off, which explained his absence.

	“I’ll take you to their place tomorrow,” Uncle Henry promised. 
“It’s not far, but it’s getting late.” With a nod of his head toward the 
window, he indicated the sky, which had deepened to a dark blue, dotted 
by the silver of the stars. “In fact, how about some dinner? I‘m not much 
of a cook, but I can manage.”

	Rue’s stomach was too nervous to eat, but the others accepted his 
kind offer of a meal. After Uncle Henry left for the kitchen to start 
dinner, the four of them sat down, Rue and Mytho taking the loveseat 
while Ahiru and Fakir shared the couch.

	“Well, he seems really nice,” Ahiru said, smiling at Rue.

	“Yes, he does,” Rue agreed, sighing. “I just wish we hadn’t told 
so many half-truths. I know it was better to let Mr. Hoffman -- I mean, 
Uncle Henry -- come to the conclusion I was Gisela himself, but it feels 
like we’ve tricked him.”

	Beside her, Mytho patted her knee. “You didn’t do anything wrong, 
Rue,” he assured her. “If anyone’s to blame, it’s me. I just couldn’t 
think of anything else to do, so I spoke without thinking of the 
consequences.”

	“As did I,” admitted Fakir. “It seemed a good idea at the time to 
tell him we were drama students, but…” He shrugged. “Well, maybe once 
they hear the whole story, they‘ll understand. You *are* Gisela, after 
all. I‘d think they would forgive you almost anything as long as they had 
you back.”

	“I hope so…”

	Standing up, Rue walked over to a wall covered in framed black-
and-white photographs -- pictures of her new family. She recognized her 
mother and father from the picture in the paper, as well as Uncle Henry, 
of course, but the rest of the smiling faces in the photos were a mystery 
to her. Her eyes naturally drifted to the largest of the bunch.

	It appeared to be a portrait of the entire extended family. An 
elderly couple, who Rue assumed were her grandparents, sat front and 
center, while their children, sons- and daughters-in-law, and 
grandchildren gathered around them. Locating her parents, Rue noticed a 
young boy standing in front of her mother, and her father was holding a 
little blonde girl in his arms.

	My brother and sister? she wondered, staring at the two children.

	“Ah, I see you've spotted the pictures.” Uncle Henry had returned 
to the living room and came up behind Rue, chuckling. “As you can see, 
you have quite the large family. I never married, of course, but you have 
one other uncle and two aunts who all had families. Your parents also 
went on to have two more children after your disappearance -- a boy and a 
girl,” he said, answering Rue’s unasked question.

	“What are their names?” Rue asked, still staring at the images of 
her newfound siblings. There was definitely a family resemblance, 
although her little sister had their father’s fair coloring instead of 
the dark hair and eyes Rue and her brother inherited from their mother.

	“Josef and Anneliese. Josef just turned thirteen, and little 
Anneliese is seven, so they’re a little older now than when that portrait 
was taken.” Uncle Henry pointed out a more recent picture, showing the 
two siblings standing in front of a large Christmas tree. “They’re good 
kids. Been a great comfort to your folks since…well, you know.”

	“Do they know about me? I mean, about what happened to me?”

	Uncle Henry nodded, a sad look in his eyes. “Karl and Eva never 
really got over your kidnapping. They’ve tried to move on, and in some 
ways, they’ve succeeded, but it’s been hard. The whole family visits the 
grave marker they put up in your memory once every month. In fact, today 
was the day of their scheduled visit for this month, another reason I 
think it is best to wait until tomorrow to tell them you are alive. They
‘re always a bit drained after those visits.”

	“Oh.”

	Her uncle spent the next few minutes introducing her to the rest 
of the family, pointing out aunts, uncles, and her many cousins, until 
the faint smell of burning chicken began to fill the air. Uncle Henry ran 
to the kitchen to check it out, coming out a short time later to set the 
table.

	“Come, sit,” he called out to the others. “It’ll only be a few 
more moments.”

	With some reluctance, Rue, Mytho, Fakir, and Ahiru took a seat at 
the dining table, and Uncle Henry returned, as promised, a couple of 
minutes later with a platter of burnt fried chicken and a tossed salad. 

	“Sorry,” he apologized as set the food on the table. “I warned 
you I wasn’t much of a cook, but I think it should still be edible if you 
take off the skin.”

	“It’s fine, Mr. Hoffmann,” Mytho assured him, diplomatic as 
usual. “I always liked my chicken a little on the burnt side.”

	Uncle Henry chuckled. “Thank you, young man,” he said. “Oh, that 
reminds me. I don’t believe we’ve all been properly introduced. May I 
have your names?”

	“I’m Ahiru, and this is Fakir,” Ahiru said brightly as Fakir 
stabbed one of the burnt pieces of chicken with his fork and stared at it 
as if trying to decide if it was really safe to eat or not. “We’re 
friends of R-- I mean, Gisela and Mytho.”

	“Mytho? That’s quite an unusual name.”

	“It’s kind of a nickname,” Mytho explained. “My full name is 
Siegfried von Hohenheim.”

	Uncle Henry raised an eyebrow. “Von Hohenheim? Isn’t that your 
name as well, Gisela? Is he your adopted brother, or a cousin, perhaps?”

	Slightly blushing, Rue brought her left hand to cover Mytho’s 
beside her so that her uncle could better see the golden wedding band she 
wore. “Actually, Mytho is my husband,” she confessed, not wanting to have 
any more lies between them.

	“Y-Your husband?” he stuttered, obviously shocked by the 
revelation.

	“We’ve been married for almost a year.”

	“I see.” After letting the news sink in, Uncle Henry smiled. 
“Well, I suppose Eva and Karl weren’t all that much older than you two 
when they got married. Who am I to judge, as long as you are happy?”

	“We are happy,” Rue said, squeezing her husband’s hand. “Very 
happy.”

	“I’m glad to hear that, Gisela. After everything you must have 
gone through, you deserve a little happiness.”

	After that, dinner was mostly uneventful. Rue did her best to try 
to keep the subject on her new family, still not quite sure how she would 
explain her part of the story. Like most of Kinkan, Uncle Henry had no 
idea that for most of the last twenty years, the entire town had been 
under the control of Drosselmeyer’s story, so she knew it would take some 
major explaining on her part to convince her family it was the truth. 
However, at least they still seemed to believe that she’d been kidnapped 
by crows; if they were willing to accept that, Rue hoped the rest of the 
story wouldn’t seem so fantastical. 

	Once dinner was over, Fakir and Ahiru excused themselves, 
thanking Uncle Henry for the dinner as they prepared to leave. Rue and 
Mytho had planned to go with them, but Uncle Henry insisted that they 
spend the night so that they could go to his brother’s house first thing 
in the morning. Since Fakir’s tiny cottage only had one bedroom and it 
would have been impossible to sneak Mytho into the girls’ dormitory where 
Ahiru lived on campus, they accepted the offer.

	“Do you want us to meet you back here in the morning before you 
go to your parents’ house?” Ahiru asked as she hugged Rue good-bye. Her 
voice was barely above a whisper so that Uncle Henry wouldn’t hear. “It 
might be easier to convince them of the truth if Fakir and I are there to 
confirm your story.”

	Rue briefly considered it, but shook her head. Though Ahiru and 
Fakir were dear friends and had been a huge help in finding her parents, 
she felt the reunion should be a private family affair, at least at 
first. If things went well, they could always come next time. “Thanks, 
but I think I’ll be okay as long as I have Mytho by my side.”

	“Are you sure?” When Rue nodded, Ahiru gave her another hug. 
“Okay, then good luck tomorrow. I hope everything goes well for you and 
your new family.”

	“Thank you, Ahiru, for everything. If it wasn’t for you and 
Fakir…”

	Ahiru smiled. “No need to thank us. That’s what friends are for.”


DISCLAIMER: "Princess Tutu" doesn't belong to me. 

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Any comments or criticisms can be sent to me at 
ElysionDream@aol.com.