Five Portraits (9 page)

“I didn't even know that I liked children,” Astrid said. “But I guess I do.”

About the time the children began to get bored with the show, they arrived in the present-day glade. “We made it!” Dysnomia said, evidently relieved as she departed. That made Astrid slightly nervous in retrospect. Had this excursion been riskier than it seemed?

“Now we have to get them to our camp,” Astrid said. “So they can meet the others. We'll need to feed them and make them a cozy place to stay the night.”

“I will transport us,” Fornax said.

“Wait,” Firenze said.

Astrid looked at him. “There's a problem? Someone needs to poop?”

“It's not that. Huddled together, we felt something. We're not lonely when we're together.”

“That's good,” Astrid said.

“It's more,” Squid said. “We can feel the rightness.”

“Well, we are trying to do what's right,” Astrid agreed.

“It's that coming here together is right,” Santo said.

“And we can tell if it goes wrong,” Win said.

“If we're together,” Myst said.

This was curious. “Are you saying that you have some kind of magic awareness when you're touching each other?” Astrid asked.

“Yes,” Firenze said. “And we don't want to be separated.”

“We're all from the future,” Santo said. “It's a bond.”

That was indeed the single thing they shared: they were all orphans from the virtual future. Astrid didn't know why that should give them any special awareness, but if the idea of it was a bond for them, it was to be encouraged. “I'm glad you are all getting along with each other. You didn't know each other before we collected you, did you?”

“No,” Win said. “We were windblown strangers.”

“But when we traveled through time, then we felt it,” Myst said.

“So are you saying it's wrong to go to our camp?” Astrid asked.

“Not exactly,” Squid said.

“But there's something we need to do first,” Firenze said.

“And what is that?”

“We don't know,” Santo said.

Astrid suppressed her frustration. She wanted to get along well with these children and already knew it would not be easy. Children were more complicated than she had anticipated. “Do you have a hint?”

“We—we need to be sure we can always get together,” Win said.

“Even if we're apart,” Myst said.

“But when we find good homes for you, you will no longer be together,” Astrid said.

“That's why we need a way,” Squid said.

This required some finessing. “Why don't you get together and orient on that way?” Astrid suggested.

“Okay,” Firenze said. It didn't seem to matter which one spoke; they seemed to have a common thought.

The children clustered together, forming a hand-holding circle.

“There are many,” Myst said.

“We'll get the closest one,” Squid said.

“That way,” Santo said, pointing.

“But that's all tangled thorns,” Win protested.

“I'll make a hole.” Santo pointed, and a hole appeared. It was a big one, a veritable tunnel through the brush. Astrid was impressed; that was one versatile talent.

The children walked through the tunnel, and Astrid and Fornax followed. “This is not what I thought it would be,” the Demoness murmured.

“Nor I,” Astrid agreed. “It seems dealing with children is a challenge. Maybe that's what Wenda meant: by the time we learn to take proper care of the children, we'll have a lot of mutual experience and be friends.”

“That seems reasonable.”

“Is it tying you up when you have other things to do? I can stay with the children.”

“Then it would not become a joint experience.”

“Oh, that's right,” Astrid agreed, chagrined. “I did not mean to be a burden to you.”

“Understand this about Demons,” Fornax said. “We can be in many places at the same time, and do many things at once. I am currently supervising Kandy's negotiation on the terms of the Demon Wager, and I am reviewing the upkeep of my palace in Galaxy Fornax, and fending off the amorous advances of Demon Nemesis, and doing countless other chores while being here with you. You are incapable of monopolizing my attention. When I seem to leave you, this is to allow you some respite, not because I need any myself.”

“I'm sorry. I keep forgetting that you are a Demon. I'm thinking of you as a friend.”

“Exactly. That is the point of our association. Already I feel less lonely because of the warmth of your attention.”

Astrid was becoming embarrassed, so she changed the subject. “Demon Nemesis?”

“He associates with Dark Matter, that the rest of us can't perceive directly. His local planet is a brown dwarf circling the sun far out, that others have had difficulty locating. He, perhaps alone, has no problem with my antimatter; it does not make him explode into energy, because the interaction is too slight.”

“Amorous advances?”

“Demons are not limited the way mortals are, but if he took mortal form he would be entirely typical of mortal males, being interested in only one thing. I have no patience for it.”

“My man Art is interested in that, but once his edge is off he has qualities I like, like his artistic ability. He truly does like to paint, and he is good at it.”

“It would require a century of amour squeezed into one second to take Nemesis's edge off, as you put it, and then the respite would be brief. More trouble than it is worth.”

Astrid had to laugh. “Because he is not limited in that manner either, I suspect. Art falls asleep after once. That is typical of mortal men.”

“Demons don't sleep. They merely simulate it as convenient.”

“You have my sympathy.”

“Oh, I would do it if I had reason. It's not as if I would have to pay more than token attention. But why bother?”

“Well, if you ever needed him for something.”

“I am a Demon. I need nothing. Except what I am getting from you: friendship.”

The tunnel debouched at what appeared to be a playground, with slides and swings and seesaws, sandboxes, and a little merry-go-round. There was also a raised stage, with benches before it.

“A playground!” Astrid said.

“It is more devious than it looks,” Fornax said darkly. “There is a fair amount of magic here.”

“This is the way the children can be together?” Astrid asked, perplexed. “Of course they can have fun here, but only when they come here. I don't see how this solves that.”

“You will,” Fornax assured her.

Chapter 5:
Playground

“Can we take a break?” Firenze asked. “Get to know the playground?”

“
May
we take a break,” Astrid said.

He looked at her. “You're not my mother, but sometimes you remind me of her.”

Astrid nodded. “And?”

“May
we take a break?”

“Yes. Then tell me what this is all about.”

The children pitched into play. The two younger girls, Win and Myst, shared the seesaw, whose central eyeball watched them closely. Squid enjoyed the slide. Santo punched little holes in the sand-in-a-box, without touching it physically. Firenze pumped himself up so high on a swing it looked as if he was in danger of flying away into the sky.

“Children have fun,” Fornax remarked. “It had not occurred to me before to observe it, but there is a certain pleasure in the viewing.”

“Maybe we should join them, to share the spirit.”

“And understand them better,” Fornax agreed.

The two of them went to the merry-go-round and mounted two of the little wooden horses. Music sounded, and the device started moving. The horses went up and down on their poles. “Wheee!” Astrid exclaimed. “I never saw one of these when I was young.”

“I was never young,” Fornax said.

After no more than a moment and a half the children came to join them. “I'll race you to the post!” Firenze challenged Santo. Of course the horses were fixed to their poles; they couldn't race each other.

“You're on,” Santo said. His horse put down its head and galloped faster, surging ahead.

“Oh, yeah?” Firenze's horse snorted steam and bore down, catching up.

Astrid stared, amazed. The horses remained on their poles, yet somehow they were racing.

“I believe I mentioned magic,” Fornax murmured.

“So you did,” Astrid agreed weakly.

Soon Astrid began to get dizzy, and had to get off her high horse. Then she jumped to the ground. Fornax joined her by the side of the merry-go-round.

“The children are right: this is fun.”

“I'm glad to see them happy. But what is the point of it? They were looking for a way to be together when they were apart.”

“We'll see.”

Fortunately the children's attention spans were short, and they soon tired of the circling and racing. Then the merry-go-round slowed and stopped, and they got off and rejoined the adults.

“This will do,” Firenze said.

“I'm glad you are enjoying it. But how does it enable you to be together when you're apart?”

“Well, it's magic. But there's a catch.”

“How is it magic?”

“We can take it with us, so we can use it whenever we want.”

Astrid gazed at the playground enclosure, which measured about a mundane acre. “How do you do this?”

“Like this,” Santo said.

The children ran to the edges of the park. They pushed against the picket fence surrounding it, and the fence folded down. Then they pushed again, and the edges folded inward. Where they came to a slide, swing, seesaw or whatever, that folded too, as if painted on the surface. They continued, until they met in the center, pushing five edges together to form a box. Then they folded the box, and it became smaller and smaller, until at last it was matchbox-size. Santo tucked it into his shirt pocket.

“Can you reverse it?” Astrid asked.

“Sure,” Firenze said. “We can just unfold it.”

“But if you are separated, only the one who unfolds it will have the park. That won't bring you together.”

“Matches!” Win said.

“I forgot,” Santo said. He pulled the matchbox out of his pocket, slid it open, and brought out matches. He passed them out to the others, and took one himself, which he put in another pocket. The others put theirs in their pockets, except Squid, who tucked hers into her painted hair. Astrid decided not to inquire how she could put a real object in fake hair.

“Matches are dangerous in the hands of children,” Astrid said. “They can set fires.”

“These are different,” Squid said. “They don't make fire.”

“They match people up with the box,” Win said.

“So we can all come to the park, wherever it is,” Myst said.

Astrid was unsure about this. “Can you demonstrate?”

“Sure,” Santo said. He walked away from them, turned, and struck his match against a rock. There was no flash of fire. Instead he appeared back by the matchbox.

But Astrid was unsatisfied. “I'm sure that playing here is fun, and you can get to the playground when you want to. But you can play anywhere. Why is it so important to have this particular park?”

“We don't know,” Firenze said. “Just that it is.”

“That's not sufficient. We need a better answer.”

The boy's face started to heat. He was about to go into fireworks mode.

Astrid touched her glasses warningly.

Firenze cooled. “Maybe we can find out.”

“It'll cost us,” Santo said.

“Oh, blip!” Firenze agreed. “It's not free.”

“I'm not comfortable with all this mystery,” Astrid said. “I think we had better find out what it costs, and why.”

“But we have to use it to find out,” Squid protested.

“You found the playground without using it,” Astrid said. “Now find out what it's for.”

The children bounced a glance somewhat haphazardly around. “Maybe we can,” Santo said.

They gathered together and linked hands. They concentrated. Then they fell apart, dismayed. “That's scary!” Win said.

Squid lost her composure, reverting to her octopus form. Little Myst started crying.

Astrid picked her up, and she did not fog out. This brief contact should be all right despite Astrid's intoxicating ambiance. “What scared you, dear?”

“Doom!” Santo said, shaken.

Astrid looked at Firenze. “Can you clarify that?”

“I
can
.
May
I?”

Astrid had to smile. “I'm glad you have that straight, now.
Can
is ability;
may
is permission. You may.”

“It's that this Xanth is doomed. Same as our own Xanth. That wipeout is coming toward us, and in fifty years will hit us, and we'll all die anyway.”

That probably made sense. War was destined to happen. “How does the playground relate to this?”

“It can show us how to save Xanth, maybe,” Firenze said. “If we ask it the right way.”

“A playground can save Xanth?”

“No,” Santo said. “It can just guide us so we can save Xanth.”

That was a technical distinction, but she could appreciate it. “How will it guide you? Does it have a voice?”

Little Myst laughed. “No voice.”

Astrid set her down, as she was evidently over her fright. “Then how?”

“If we do our circle in the playground, it will make it stronger, so we can get better guidance,” Firenze said.

“But if you can't get a direct answer, how will that help?”

“It's just a feeling,” Squid said. “Like hot/cold.”

“Like what?”

“A game,” Santo said. “Hide something, and when someone looks, say Warmer or Colder, guiding him, until he finds it.”

Astrid was missing the human childhood she had never had. “It guides you by making you feel warmer or cooler?”

“Not that, quite, but a feeling of right or wrong,” Firenze said. “So if we decide to take the right fork, and ask, and it's wrong, we'll know, and take the left fork.”

“Saving Xanth is a matter of taking the correct fork in the road?”

He shrugged. “Something like that. It's hard to explain.”

“But it did bring us to the park,” Santo reminded her. “Our circle, I mean. In the park, it will work better, and it needs to, because we can't ask which direction will save Xanth. At least we don't think so.”

“But there's a catch,” Squid said. “We can't just use the Playground.”

“Oops, I forgot!” Firenze said, hearing the capitalization. “That's a problem.”

“A problem?” Astrid asked.

“It's a Play Ground,” Win said.

“For Plays,” Myst said.

“But there's no sign of that,” Astrid protested. “You were using the swing, slide, seesaw—”

“We can do that,” Santo agreed. “But that's not its magic.”

“Well, you did fold it up. That's impressive magic.”

“Incidental,” Firenze said. “It wants to be used.”

“You did use it! You played in it.”

All of the children shook their heads. “Used for plays,” Santo said.

“I hate to seem opaque here,” Astrid said, frustrated. “But I am not making much sense of this. Are you saying that it is a play ground, I mean a Playground that insists on having plays?”

“Yes,” Squid said.

“And the better the play, the better it will perform for us,” Firenze said.

“I believe we need more information than we have at the moment,” Astrid said, not wishing to advertise her confusion. “So it's time for you to meet my friends on the pun restoration mission. As we were about to do before we visited the Playground.”

The children linked hands, consulting. Then Myst smiled sunnily. Which was interesting considering her misty nature. “Yes, it's time.”

“I will move us,” Fornax said. “Then leave you to your devices, for the time being.”

The scene shifted, and they were at the camp. Fornax was not apparent, though Astrid knew she was close by, observing. There were the other pretty women: Tiara, Kandy, Merge, and Metria.

“Oh, you got the children!” Tiara cried, delighted.

“Three cute girls and two dorky boys,” Metria said.

“Oh, yeah?” Firenze demanded, his brow darkening.

“She didn't mean it in a bad way,” Astrid said quickly. “She's a demoness.”

“Oh, that's why she's the ugly one,” Firenze said.

“Oh, yeah?” Metria demanded, her own brow darkening dangerously.

The three little girls laughed. “He's teasing,” Win said.

“Oh,” Metria said, deflating. “Then that's letter-perfect.”

“That's what?” Firenze asked.

“Complete, clear, clean, fresh, satisfactory—”

“All right?”

“Whatever,” Metria agreed crossly.

“Firenze, meet Metria, who sometimes has a vocabulary problem,” Astrid said.

“I'd never guess,” Firenze said as the girls tittered.

“Metria, meet Firenze,” Astrid continued. “Whose talent is that he has a fireworks temper.”

“I'd like to see that,” Metria said, interested.

“Not right now,” Astrid said. “We have other introductions to make. Folks, these are five orphan children rescued from fifty years in the future, in effect. We will be finding good homes for them. You've just met Firenze. This one is Santo, with a truly remarkable talent of making holes. This one is Squid, who is of alien persuasion.” Squid shifted briefly into octopus mode, and back. “This one is Win, with the wind always at her back, as you can see by her blown hair.” Win smiled uncertainly, trying ineffectively to brush her hair back out of her face. “And here is Myst, who can become a patch of mist.” Myst obliged with a brief demonstration.

Then Astrid introduced the women to the children, and followed with the men. “I know it's a lot to assimilate all at once, but we'll all get to know each other soon enough. First we need to find places for each of you children to stay while you're with us. Then—”

“No,” Santo said.

“We stay together,” Squid said.

“Listen brats,” Metria said. “We're taking care of you. You should be grateful.”

“Listen whats?” Firenze demanded.

“Scamps, monkeys, rascals, jerks, dorks—”

“Children!” Astrid said forcefully.

“Whatever,” Metria agreed. “Hey, wait! You're not part of this dialogue.”

“I'm trying to keep the peace,” Astrid said. “Let's keep the language polite.”

“Awww,” Firenze and Metria said almost together. Then they looked at each other, getting a faint glimmer of kindred spirits.

“Look, children, you don't have to be physically together all the time,” Astrid said. “You have your matches, and can be in touch at any time. Meanwhile, we are on a mission to eliminate the last of the anti-pun virus, so we're staying together, and you are together as long as you're part of our group. It will be easier if each one of you joins each one of us for the nonce, and—”

“Nonce?” Myst asked.

“For the moment, right now,” Astrid said. “Not permanently. “You need to acclimatize to our world, since—” She saw four-year-old Myst's confusion again, and clarified: “Get used to our world, since you'll be in it for some time. That's easier if you have individual guidance. So why don't you try joining us in this manner and see how it works?”

The children looked at each other, then linked hands. “Okay,” Win said.

“Very well. Shall we have women choose children, or children choose women?”

“Why women?” Firenze asked. “Why not men?”

“Because we're the ones who are supposed to be good with children. Men are awkward in such matters.”

The children nodded together, appreciating the point.

“Maybe alternate,” Santo said.

“Alternate,” Astrid agreed. “One of us will choose one of you, then one of you will choose one of us. Who's up first?”

“I'll take it,” Tiara said. “I want Win, because of her hair.”

“But my hair always blows in my face,” Win protested.

Tiara squatted down before her. “Look at my hair.” It started floating up from her head. “See? It's got no gravity. It floats. But I learned how to tie it down. I'll tie yours down too. Then you'll be pretty.”

“I tie mine down too,” Mitch said. “The two of us know about hair.”