Extraordinarily Pleased

Prologue: News

A large pinecone cut through the humid summer air, sailing in a perfect spiral, and ricocheted off a thick tree trunk before finally landing in a bush.

"Nice," Farkle muttered, more to himself than his siblings beside him, and clenched his fist in victory. He started after the pinecone, before a sharp smack on his shoulder stopped him. He whipped around to confront its source. "OW, Fel-"

"Can we focus, please?" She raised an eyebrow at him, tilting her head up slightly to meet his eyeline. Off Felicia's opposite shoulder, Fergus couldn't help but briefly smirk in amusement, looking away quickly as to not be noticed.

"Focus on what? I thought we'd, you know, already come to a conclusion." He rotated his prized throwing shoulder that his sister dared injure, and quickened his pace to keep up with them.

"A conclusion, yeah. But... what are we going to do about that conclusion..." Though Felicia's choice of words suggested a question, she trailed off, making even her question seem uncertain.

The "short" walk the siblings had gone off on earlier that morning had turned into a much longer outing than they had anticipated. Their parents had seemed a bit out of it anyway, so it wasn't hard slipping out of the house; hopefully they wouldn't get too harsh a chastising for being out so long and not helping with the day's chores. How useful the three would've been, however, was debatable anyway, with everything that had been on their minds the last few weeks.

Their parents - well, their father mainly - had told them about the ogre tradition of "Leaving Day" several years ago, on the eve of their thirteenth birthday. In telling them about the tradition, he told them, in so many words, about his own Leaving Day. Sensing their ambivalence, their mother added that she'd even had her own "Leaving Day" of sorts, at around the same age, without even being aware of the tradition. Shrek emphasized that it would be completely their choice, and that it would even be their decision whether or not to take part in it at all. And Fiona offered the suggestion that they could even do it together - that is, if they wanted to do it, of course.

Aside from that, no one had really brought it up in the four and a half years since that evening - not Shrek, certainly not Fiona, and not the triplets. Because they themselves didn't want to leave.

Well... hadn't wanted to leave.

It's not like they didn't want to be there anymore. Rather, everything that wasn't "there" - their home, Far Far Away, or evening Duloc - was where they did want to be. Even if they didn't know where that was exactly. They had always marveled at the stories Uncle Puss had regaled them with, both about his own adventures as well as those he embarked on with their parents, much to the chagrin of the ogres. Even Uncle Artie couldn't help but reminisce about the things he'd done and seen out there.

Their parents, however, made it quite clear that they were finally done with their unintentionally adventurous life. As their father put it, often enough that they could quote it verbatim, he and Fiona "had far enough drama 'n intrigue fer a lifetime." And while that may have been true, it was only true for their lifetimes. There were three others that neither of them could speak for.

The siblings passed under the fallen moss-covered dead tree that hung over the well-worn path - the boys needing to duck slightly even under the taller end - signaling they were in the last stretch before reaching home.

Felicia halted, in the long shadow just past the fallen trunk. "We just gotta tell them."

Her brothers stopped, a couple steps ahead of her, and turned to face her. Sensing Farkle mustering an obligatory contradiction, she continued. "Look - Mom would know something was up if we tried to keep something from them– her. And Dad... would just want to know, without us hiding anything."