Chapter 3: Last Night
"What do you think it will be like?" Pixel asked suddenly, pausing in the middle of his beverage-making spell.
"What will be like?" returned Score as he slumped in his hammock, suspended over a pool of short greenery.
"This place. Without her." Pixel finished the incantation and watched as a cool drink materialized into the pitcher.
"Oh." Score pushed off against the ground with his feet and swung gently for a short while. The breeze had the faint hint of cinnamon and celery and change. "Different, I guess" he said finally.
"We haven't really been apart since, well, since we met." Pixel shrugged and turned away from Score's hard gaze. "I mean, it's always been the three of us, triad reborn, whatever. But when she goes..." he trailed off, skipping over the glaring neon thoughts that lurked in both their minds. Score shifted and rocked under the gauze canopy of the garden.
It was a beautiful creation, this garden, that Pixel had wrought from the dry though fertile Dondar soil. Some of it was, of course, magically encouraged, but it was gorgeous. The boiling radiation had given way to a cool velvet night, complete with a pearly moon suspended low to the horizon. Score imagined Eden, and saw Adam and Eve sitting in lounge chairs similar to the one Pixel relaxed in, and watching the lavender sky with the same serenity he felt.
Helaine stalked in and draped herself across another chair for a second before helping herself to a chilled glass of juice. She didn't offer to share what she had spent the day doing. Pixel and Score had tried to stay out of her way. She didn't appear flustered or angry. Instead, a soft tranquillity inundated her movements, something that had been missing from Helaine for months.
"I've thought about it," she said suddenly. "I hadn't thought about it before but now I have." Artificial fireflies tweaked on as the sun faded, and a steady glow from a pulsating ball of light suspended above the table timidly emerged. "I'm bored." she said.
Pixel waited for the rest of the speech to continue, but there seemed to be no more. "So what forms of excitement do you necessarily plan to find?" He asked, a bit more sharply than he intended.
"I'm going to see Shanara. And from there, I'm going somewhere else. A rim world, maybe. I want to see people. I need a change." She looked up demurely.
Pixel looked intently into Helaine's tired eyes, and she stared back. It was genuine. The languid peace of Dondar tore at her more than the sword of any enemy. Pixel broke the gaze and looked over at Score, who had yet to say a word.
But there was no reaction from the hammock. "Score?" Helaine pushed the name out into the air tentatively.
Score rolled over. "Helaine, we can manage without you. If you want to leave, then do it already." The words were strung with sarcasm, but the sentiment was kindly. Helaine grinned for a half-second, forgetting her normal imperturbability, then sobered.
"The two of you are my best friends. Thank you for understanding."
"Oh, quit blubbering and eat." Score turned the tablecloth into a platter, heaped high with hot burgers.
Some things never change, thought Pixel as he reached for one.
Helaine pattered down the castle stairs quietly. She was back in her favorite breeches and tunic, and carried her sword, freshly polished, against her side. The quiver was on her back and her hair was tightly bound away from her eyes. She felt like she'd shed years.
She didn't want to wake the boys and bother them with goodbyes, so in the early morning hours she made her way through the castle and out to the courtyard, where it would be easier to create the Portal to Shanara's Castle. She had spoken to the witch the night before, and made plans for her arrival.
Helaine pushed open the door to the courtyard, and blinked in the hasty gray sunlight. Score was standing there.
"Don't let being with me every morning become a habit" she warned him solemnly. He laughed.
"I knew you would try to sneak out without saying anything." He handed her a small, wrapped package. "Pixel and I made it for you. We were feeling mushy, I guess." Helaine tucked it into her knapsack and grasped Score's hand warmly.
"Thank you Score, and thank Pixel as well. I'll be back soon, don't worry." To her surprise, Score grabbed her roughly in a short embrace.
"You'd better," he said roughly, before pushing her away. "Haven't you got a Portal to catch?" he asked in a lighter tone. Helaine laughed as the two summoned the gash between the two worlds.
"Bye," Helaine waved as she stepped towards the emptiness.
"Later," Score raised a hand as she disappeared into the void, which closed behind her.
She was gone.
*****
The Author considers speaking, and then decides against it. Nobody reads these endnotes, anyway...
Much love to everyone, Happy Daylight Savings
Aroo!
Chapter 1. Morning
Chapter 2. Changes
Chapter 3. Last Night
Chapter 4. White Monkey
Chapter 5. Searching
Chapter 6. Child
Chapter 7. One Candle
Chapter 8. Crow
Chapter 9. Dorian
Chapter 10. Ordin
Chapter 11. Votrins
Chapter 12. Gone
Chapter 13. Mother
Chapter 14. Mardren
Chapter 15. Scars
Chapter 16. Tears
Chapter 17. Mend
Chapter 18. Summons
Chapter 19. Council
