The skeleton came to an awareness of itself, all of a sudden. It looked around, and saw a beautiful forest. It looked down at itself and saw strong, clean bones, lit by a fading amber light.
As the light faded, it heard a voice behind itself.
"Hello, my friend. Do you know me?"
The skeleton turned and beheld a human clad in furs, with a deep hood over his head. The hood had a bird's skull on it. The skeleton didn't know how it know, but it knew that the bird was a heron. The skeleton instinctively knew that the human before it was a friend, and should be listened to.
In response to the human's question, the skeleton answered, "I don't even know my name. Who am I? Where am I? How did I get here?"
The human chuckled. "You're smarter than most of the beings that I Awaken. I wonder if it has anything to do with your undead nature. Well, to answer your questions, you are my new friend Rattles. We're in a vast forest with many names. You're here because I chose to Awaken a skeleton I found wandering my forest. My name is Father Heron, and I am head of the circle of druids that oversees this place."
The skeleton tilted its head. "My name is Rattles?"
Father Heron nodded, leaning on his staff. "That's right."
"And we're friends."
"Yes."
The skeleton considered this. After a moment, it nodded. "I have another question."
Father Heron laughed. "Ask away."
"Am I a boy skeleton or a girl skeleton?"
The human laughed again, harder. "Does it matter?"
The skeleton shrugged, then looked down, thinking hard. After a moment, it looked back up at Father Heron and declared, "My name is Rattles, and I'm a boy."
Father Heron smiled, and his kind eyes touched Rattles on the inside. He looked down at his ribcage, curious as to where he could be feeling the warm feeling from.
Father Heron cleared his throat, and Rattles looked back up at him. "It's time to go." Father Heron said. "Your brothers and sisters are waiting for us."
Father Heron then turned and began walking away, leading Rattles through the woods. "Brothers and sisters?"
"Yes, members of my circle. They're not like you, but that's okay. They're family, and families are supposed to take care of each other."
Rattles followed in silence. He didn't really know what to make of that. To be fair, he didn't know much of anything at all, so he tried very hard to listen to everything Father Heron had to say. Father Heron continued, speaking as he led Rattles through the forest.
"You must always be kind to your brothers and sisters, even if they aren't kind to you. You must forgive them if they ask sincerely for forgiveness. You must help them when they need help unless they ask you not to. You must ask them for help when you need it, and you must not resent them if they cannot provide help."
Rattles spoke up. "That doesn't seem fair. Why must I be kind and giving and forgiving, even when they aren't?"
"Because you won't always be able to, even if you really want to. They must also forgive you for your mistakes if you ask for forgiveness sincerely."
Rattles thought about it. If it went both ways, it was probably fair. He asked another question. "What do you mean, my brothers and sisters aren't like me?"
Father Heron paused, causing Rattles to stop walking, too. He turned to Rattles, looking into his empty eye sockets with gentle strength. "I only mean that you don't and will never look the same. You're undead, and they're alive. That's all. It doesn't have to mean very much. Some of them will be a little scared at first, because anything different is a little bit scary. Please, remember that you are of no less worth, and that they are still your family. Please be kind to them, and also be kind to yourself."
Rattles pondered for a moment. He decided that he trusted Father Heron very much, and nodded. "Okay."
Smiling, Father Heron turned again back towards the woods, and lead Rattles a few paces further into the clearing where the rest of the circle was just finishing their rest.