Summary: What Helaine saw the first time she asked for guidance from the soul on Zarathan. Fluffy, plotless, you get the idea.

Yup, just a little fluffy speculation about what Helaine saw during her consultation on Zarathan. Page 88 of Nightmares, in case you're wondering. This has absolutely nothing to do with my other Diadem story, I just really felt like writing a handful of plot-less paragraphs. I wrote the couple sentences preceding my bit in italics, and they are entirely Mr. Peel's, as is just about everything in the story.

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Helaine nodded and together they focused on the spell. Since it was Helaine's dreams they needed to access, she said the word aloud - Heane - while Score simply thought it. He could feel the magic flowing, but saw absolutely nothing. Apparently though, Helaine could see perfectly. She went pale...

A sharp jolt echoed in the back of her skull and suddenly time slowed to such a rate she felt that years came between the beats of her heart. She was still standing in front of Score, face frozen in puzzled interest, but now she not only looked at him, she saw him.

Emotion fluttered down her spine, and crawled into her stomach, where it settled. As she watched, her soul disentangled itself from the trappings of her human form and lingered in front of the Earth boy ethereally, as though contemplating the fate of the world. It turned and spoke to Helaine on a level that coursed through her deeper even than the mind-speak she used with the boys. The words were stripped of their singular meanings and flowed together into emotions and actions, winding and twisting about her insides.

Be gentle they told her, in whispers numerous and halcyon he has much hurt, but far more love should you accept it

Helaine could hardly think. Love him? The concept of not hating him had only recently entered her mind. Despite this, she opened her thoughts to the possibility for a brief moment, even measured in the supine seconds of her "guidance from the soul". Instantly rolling images scanned across her vision, pictures of Score laughing, of his broad smile. She saw his eyes swell with compassion and felt his arms wrap around her, the comforting embrace of forever.

It was too much. Helaine focused on the real Score, still standing precisely as she left him, yet altogether so different that she could hardly recognize him. She couldn't tell him what she'd seen. Not now. She screwed up her mind in an attempt to erase the botched consultation,

...and then shook her head.

"That's not it," she said firmly.