“I think you are patronizing me,” Daedalus said. “But I suppose I could try.”
They made sets of Chinese checkers, checkers, chess, and Go. The games, with their carved boards and hand-blown, bespoke pieces, were art objects. They called their game company Daedalus & Marks Games. The games were a great success, and they sold every single board they created.
“I have missed making games,” Emily said.
“Have you made them before?” Dr. Daedalus asked.
“Yes, with my brothers when I was a girl. They are not the sort of games you would understand.”
“Tell me about one.”
“One of the games was about a child who was lost at sea.”
“It is hard to imagine that on a board,” Dr. Daedalus conceded.
Emily pointed to the grid of Daedalus’s Go board. “Imagine that this board is a world, and each of the places where the grids meet is a subdivision of that world. And imagine that each of these Go pieces represents a person.”
“What are your hands in this metaphor?” Daedalus asked.
“My right hand is the lost child. And my left hand is God.”
Daedalus reached across the table, but she could not touch Emily in the way she wanted to. “I love you,” Daedalus said. “It is hard for me to say, because sometimes it doesn’t seem like it is enough.”
On Christmas morning, Daedalus and LQ presented Emily with a special board game that they had made. The board looked like a road, and the glass pieces were small covered wagons. There was also a polyhedral die and a deck of cards. On the side of the board, Daedalus had carved their son’s name, Ludo Quintus. “It is also the title of the game,” Daedalus said.
Emily asked how Ludo Quintus was played.
“It’s easy, Mama,” LQ said. “You can be a farmer, a merchant, or a banker. And you have to try to get from Massachusetts to California. But on the cards, there are many obstacles.”
“Why is it called Ludo Quintus?” Emily asked.
“Because that is my name!” LQ said. “And because Mother says Ludo means ‘game’ in Latin.”
Daedalus had been responsible for the naming of their child, and strange as it may seem, Emily had never put much thought into the meaning of Ludo Quintus. “What does Quintus mean?” Emily was reasonably certain she already knew.
“Fifth,” Daedalus said, after a beat. “Fifth game.”
PIONEERCHAT
You are now in a private chat with daedalus84.
emilybmarxx: Is it you?
daedalus84: Yes, it’s your beloved wife, Dr. Edna Daedalus.
emilybmarxx: Cut the crap. Samson, is it you? Be honest, for once in your life.
daedalus84: ……Yes.
emilybmarxx: How did you find me?
daedalus84: Find you? I built this place for you. Pioneers is a period extension of Mapleworld. I made it look like Oregon Trail because I knew you would like it.
emilybmarxx: You were trying to trap me?
daedalus84: No, it wasn’t like that. After Marx’s death, I wanted to make things that reminded me of the old days, of you. I hoped you might join Pioneers, but I didn’t know if you ever would. And when I figured out that you were Emily B. Marks, I had to be your friend. You seemed so lonely. Living by yourself at the far reaches of Friendship.
emilybmarxx: Be that as it may, these identities are supposed to be private. I didn’t sign up with an identifying email address either, but you must already know that. Did you use my IP address?
daedalus84: Yes.
emilybmarxx: I told you to leave me alone. Can’t you respect any of my wishes?
daedalus84: I was worried about you.
emilybmarxx: You tricked me.
daedalus84: How did I trick you?
emilybmarxx: You invaded my privacy. You pretended you were a stranger.
daedalus84: I didn’t. I was myself. Except for the name and some of the details, I was exactly myself. And you were yourself. And I think you’ve known for a long time. Maybe you didn’t want to admit it.
emilybmarxx: You know I’m going to have to leave Friendship now. You know that, right?
daedalus84: Marx’s death didn’t just happen to you. He was my friend. He was my partner. It was our company. These things happened to both of us.
emilybmarxx: ……
daedalus84: I miss you, Sadie. I want to be in your life…A mistake I have made in the past. There is no purity to bearing pain alone.
emilybmarxx has left the chat.
* * *
—
Emily walked through the familiar landscape of Friendship. What was once beautiful and comforting now seemed like a brazen sham.
She mounted Pixel and rode down the hill to Alabaster’s house.
Alabaster answered their door and invited Emily inside. She confessed to her friend that she thought she would have to leave Friendship soon. “Edna is not who she claims to be,” Emily explained.
“Are any of us?” Alabaster asked.
“But it turns out she is someone I knew from before, and this spoils the game for me.”
Alabaster nodded. “What I think you should consider,” Alabaster said, “is the rarity of finding a playmate in either this world or the other world.”
Emily looked at Alabaster, at their lilac eyes and their lilac hair. “Sam?”
“Who’s Sam?” Alabaster said.
“Are you Sam as well?”
Alabaster lowered themself to their knees. “Sadie.”
The figure of Emily disappeared from Alabaster’s house.
A text box appeared on the screen:
Emily has left Friendship.
BOY REACHES END
Some days or months or years later, Emily logged back on to check on LQ. He had aged three years during her absence, and he was now a sturdy boy of eleven.
“Mama, where have you been?” LQ demanded. “Mother and I have been worried about you.”
“Would you like to go for a swim?” Emily asked.
Emily and LQ swam out their usual two screens. LQ asked if he could keep swimming, and Emily thought about it for a moment. “Why not? You’re much bigger now.”
They swam until they reached the end of the ocean.
“It is so peaceful here at the end,” LQ said.
“It is peaceful,” Emily agreed.
“Mama,” LQ said. “I’m worried. I don’t think I have enough hearts to get back.”
“Don’t worry, my love. You aren’t real, so you can’t die.”
LOCAL MERCHANT’S WILL READ
During the great blizzard of ’08, while searching for Daedalus, Emily had come across a ranch in Undiscovered Friendship. The ranch’s ice-coated sign read breaker of horses and a smaller sign below that, grooming, shodding, horse taming, and other services of an equestrian nature. no horse too difficult. She had been occupied at the time with a more urgent mystery, and so she had not stopped.
Months later, even after she had ceased communication with Daedalus, the sign remained in her thoughts. The name suggested a place she had known when she was young, or perhaps, a dream she had once had. On or about her last day in Friendship, she decided it was time to see what lay beyond those gates. Even if it was a sign that signified nothing, the least she could do was get Pixel shod before she left Friendship for good.
When she zoomed out to the larger map, she found the location of Breaker of Horses was unmarked, and it took much unscientific backtracking and circling along anfractuous roads to find the place again. By the time she and Pixel finally passed under the gates, the sun was setting.