Colorado had been a nice break from everything immortal and the only people she ran into there were human and unknowing of a world like hers. Briseis liked that. It brought her comfort to be among them. She lay in her hotel room at night and could hear cars on the street outside, and in the afternoons she ate lunch in crowded restaurants while not working. Still after all these years Briseis was scared to be alone, but having so many people nearby was enough most days.
But some days she let her imagination run riot, wondering who or what was waiting in every shadow. Sometimes there were things that set her off onto these tangents of worry: like her friend back home telling her they needed to talk.
So she forced herself not to chew her nails down on the flight home while she considered what might be on Helen's mind. She hoped it wasn't bad, but... well, so often with all of them it was something bad.
She unlocked the door and immediately saw Helen sitting on the couch looking like a vibrating pile of nerves. Gods, Briseis thought, </i> let it be that she's got a terrible haircut, or she wants to borrow money for pilot lessons or... something that's going to not give me a heart attack.</i>
"You look calm and collected," Briseis said, letting her bag slip off her shoulder and coming over to run a comforting hand across Helen's brow.
It seemed strange that she'd been so against this woman for so long. Having her so nearby had made them friends, had made it clear to Briseis what kind of a woman Helen was: strong, brave, clever, haunted. Once Briseis couldn't even stand the thought of Helen near her friend Patroclus, and now Briseis was almost sure that Helen was her closest and dearest friend.