Seeds: Volume Two (31 page)

     “Persephone, how can I help you if you will not tell me what is wrong?” he asked. “Let me use my magic to keep you safe from these nightmares.”

     “You can really do that?”

     “And more.” He smiled faintly. She paused, wondering. She contemplated Morpheus's words. Would it be wise to block out these nightmares if they carried portent?

     “Think about it?” he asked, seeing the indecision in her features. He knew this had to be handled delicately, so he maneuvered around her whims, placating her. He could simply weave his magic without telling her. “For now, let us just forget supper. There are plenty of things we could do...” He raised his eyebrow, a clear implication of just what he had in mind. He could be a lech at times, but she found it hard to hate him for it.

     “You are right. There are plenty of things to do. We could watch the Judges, or go to Tartarus... or you could take me to your library for a lesson. Of course, there is always going out for a ride, on your chariot or the horses...” She batted her eyelids at him. “Nice things like that.”

     “Do not play 'nice' with me,” he shot back. “I have seen what you can do.”

     “Then be a dear and humor me, will you?”

     “Yes... my dear,” he replied dryly, but not without humor.

Chapter XXXVII

o0o

     “I have had enough of this!” Aphrodite cried out with a dramatic wail. “The people of Cyprus are starving! My temples are filled with my worshipers, and they are dying! People have turned away from me, thinking that I care nothing for them! But I cannot command the earth!” She threw up her slender arms, aquamarine-studded gold bands glinting in the sunlight as she did so.

     “My oracle predicts disaster, and her prophecies are always about Demeter and her daughter,” Apollo said. “She is unable to prophesy anything else. The only way to resolve this is to return Kora to her mother. Simple as that. Even Hades must bow down to your order, Father, for you are High King of the Gods, and your brothers and sisters agreed on that, did they not?” he asked, his voice firm and reasonable as he spoke, though no one knew that the normally self-collected god was hiding his anxiety.

     “Athens has a limited food supply, and it is being threatened by Sparta. They claim they want to share, but they just want to steal it for themselves!” Athene's eyes flashed angrily as she regarded her warmongering brother.

     “Zeus, this really is getting old. I thought that my Kingdom would be safe from her wrath. Alas!” Poseidon shook his head. At first, the coastal villages had been able to support themselves, but after a couple of weeks, even they started to feel the wrath of the scorned goddess. Demeter's fury had wormed its way under the ground that the waves crashed upon, first killing off the seaweed and other plant life on the shore before extending further. People had to go out further and further to fish, and the fish had also started dying, coming up with huge clusters of pungent and festering seaweed. This dead ocean debris washed up on the shores, and the starving and desperate people would take what they could off the dead aquatic creatures even if it was rotting. “She is angry with you, and she sure let us all know it!”

     Hephaistos remained silent. Perhaps because he had spoken in Demeter's favor, the harvest in Lemnos had been decent enough to last its occupants through the winter. However, to make it on the meager stores, they couldn't trade or sell it to anyone else. An insidiously clever move on Demeter's part to make sure nobody circumvented her will. He wasn't about to let Ares know, otherwise his older and often abusive brother would doubtlessly try to wrest food from Hephaistos's people.

     “Zeus, you cannot sit around any longer and wait for Demeter to get over her anger. She is determined to see this through the end,” Hera commented snappishly.

     “Hermes just told me a bit of news that I think you would all be interested in,”

     “Do tell.”

     “The people of Eleusis have built a grand temple to Demeter. Their harvest has been blessed, and their people are secure and happy. Her magic is there. She is out to spite me, we all know that, but perhaps listening to pleas from any of you might soften her heart.”

     “It is worth a try,” Dionysus stated. The harvest had been dismal, and his worshipers were not only out of wine, they were also out of food. The wild Maenads had tried fermenting beverages from preserved fruit or vegetables, but the results had been barely satisfactory. The nymphs were feeling the pinch of Demeter's choke-hold of Hellas's life-energy. The myriad minor deities of Hellas no longer found enjoyment in Nature. Rivers and forests alike dried up, leaving the mortals in more dire straits than before. Demeter certainly was thorough in her wrath.

     “Then we will need someone who she is not angry with. Someone she will welcome and actually listen to,” Hera said. This of course excluded Zeus from the list of candidates to make contact with her, and nobody needed to mention this.

     “I will do it,” Athene said. Demeter had been gracious enough to leave Athens with a minimal harvest, leaving just enough to feed the city's residents. In her anger, Demeter thankfully showed a bit of reason. She would be sure to thank her aunt for this blessing before going on with her plea.

     “If anyone can do it, she can,” Hephaistos stated, fully confident in his sister's abilities. Yes, Athene was aloof and could come across as blunt or even bitchy at times, but there was no denying her sharp mind. Diplomacy had always been a forte of hers, and her arguments could be persuasive, indeed. Zeus nodded. He wisely saw that a woman's touch might serve better in this situation.

     “I doubt that any of us could disagree with Hephaistos,” Hera said. Athene was one of the few stepchildren she actually liked. Athene's mother had been Zeus' lover before Hera, and the Queen of the Gods could hardly begrudge her for something that happened before her marriage. Athene was smart and disdained men, and Hera enjoyed her company and her subtle – and often not so subtle – put-downs of the men of their clan. Athene's occasional sarcasm livened up occasions. She looked towards her stepdaughter.

     “The situation down on Hellas is critical. Doubtless you know of the importance of your words,” Hera said. Athene nodded solemnly.

     “So I will not waste my time on useless chatter. Go now with my blessing, with
our
blessing.”

o0o

     Eleusis was a stark contrast to the other cities in Hellas. Though it was a bit small, it was still a good-sized city, and even though the fields were now harvested, Athene could see that they were healthy and the soil dark and rich. The few people she saw outside working all looked content. She crossed a bridge that ran over a stream, seeing how clean and fresh the water looked.

     The gates to the city were open, guards standing at alert yet looking happy and relaxed. After a mere few questions, they let her pass. Her guise as a middle-aged woman was serving her well. She was clad in a plain brown chiton and matching cowl, and with no large bags or other obvious marks of traveling, she passed easily as a citizen. As she lifted her head, she felt it. There was no denying Demeter's presence here. Outside among the fields, she could feel the goddess' power sustaining the land. But now, the goddess was
here,
somewhere in Eleusis, probably in disguise.

     Athene had plenty of experience fitting in with the mortals, and was inconspicuous as she wandered through the marketplace. One thing she had noticed about Eleusis was that it was warm. It was late autumn, yet the weather was pleasantly cool and mild. People went about in sandals or bare feet, and nobody was wearing anything heavier than a light cloak or cowl. Here and there, along the paths and in front of the buildings, plants were growing from the dirt and from between bricks or slabs in buildings or paved walkways.

     It wasn't hard to find Demeter's temple. Many cities in Hellas had similar points they used in city planning, such as location of temples, wells, and the like. When one understood the criteria, it became easier for a stranger to find his way through a city.

     The temple before her was indeed grand. The marble was like nothing she had ever seen before, with a particular color in its background and veins that was entirely unique to the regions around the city. Several different marbles had been used, but the most prominent one was beautiful pale green with veins of gold. The people treated the temple with reverence, keeping the grounds around it maintained and swept, the lush moat of grass surrounding the building clear proof of the temple's blessing. The sun shone on the marble, bringing vibrancy to the verdant marble that was reminiscent of the thick grass.

     There appeared to be nobody guarding the temple, nor were there any priests to come out and shoo her away when she approached the gap in the grass. There was some quiet singing and chanting coming from within the temple, but they seemed to be from solitary worshipers rather than a group ritual. The place gave her a feeling of serenity, and she gazed around calmly. As she entered the main chamber, she was awed by the sight before her. A statue of Demeter, twice the size of its real-life counterpart, dominated the room. It was carved from white marble and stood atop a matching dais. In her right hand, she held a large sheaf of wheat wrought of gold and brass. In her other hand was a sickle made of silver.

     A couple of women were kneeling before it, praying quietly. A girl in her mid-teens approached her, garbed in an immaculate green and white chiton. She was a fairly attractive young woman with dark eyes and hair, and she smiled at Athene welcomingly.

     “Have you come to pray before the statue, or would you like to meditate in the garden?” she asked.

     “Whatever gives me more privacy,” Athene responded neutrally.

     “Come with me.”

     The priestess looked a bit thin, as if she had gone hungry lately. This caused her to stand out in contrast to the well-fed people of Eleusis. Was she fasting? It seemed odd that a priestess of Demeter might fast.

     The inner courtyard was more verdant than she had expected. It seemed that anything and everything that bloomed or grew during this time of the year was all here, fully – and lushly – represented. Though there was a clear-cut path that led from one end of the yard to the other, there were plenty of little nooks and crannies where one could sit and meditate. A natural spring bubbled from the ground, creating several small streams that crisscrossed the garden. There was a bench here and there, nearly hidden out of sight by the shrubbery. Athene saw a couple of people sitting in the nooks created by the careful planting and configuration of bushes and trees, and could not help but marvel at this place.

     To Athene's surprise, there was a tree heavy with ripe olives.

     “May I?” she asked, gesturing towards a low-hanging branch. The priestess nodded, so Athene plucked an olive. It was just the perfect level of ripeness, juicy with the right combination of slight sweetness and salt with the distinct flavor that only olives had. Like Skouros, she enjoyed fresh olives right off the branch.

     How could this be? The time to harvest olives had been over a month ago. Any olives left on the trees would have been overripe at this point. Seeing the surprise on the visitor's face, the priestess smiled.

     “Demeter's blessing allows us to enjoy the fruits of our work longer. Feel free to eat anything you see here, we only ask that you do not take anything from the temple. This is for the worshipers to enjoy here.”

     Athene could not help but think of the marginal harvest in Athens. The olives there had been nowhere near as delicious as this. She reached out to take a few more olives as the priestess watched, and the girl did not object when Athene placed the seeds in her pocket.

     “What is your name?” the priestess asked.

     “Aegea.” Athene responded smoothly. Every time she took a disguise, she always created an identity beforehand. Most of the time, she didn't need it, but any smart person knew that it was important to be prepared. “And you?”

     “Kalia.”

     “Well, thank you for showing me here. I would like to be alone now.”

     “Certainly.” Kalia inclined her head in a slight bow before cheerfully wandering off, checking on the others in the garden. Athene glanced at the tree again. What had the Eleusinians done to gain the Harvest Goddess' favor? She remembered the dearth she saw in Sparta and Olympia, where the people who were still alive barely had any strength to bury their dead.

     Near the tree was a small clearing, and she sat down in the grass. It was soft and springy – even more so than some beds. She wondered if people ever fell asleep here, especially after eating the delicious food. The place certainly was picturesque, and she could feel the rich abundance of life-energy here, though unlike Demeter, she lacked the Gift to manipulate it.

     She let out a slow exhale.

    
Demeter, I need to talk to you
. Athene said, concentrating on the message and sending it out, knowing that her aunt would sense her presence, wherever she was. She couldn't pinpoint Demeter's exact location within Eleusis or the lands that surrounded it, but the older goddess was definitely here, no doubt of it.

     There was a ripple in the air around her, as if the life-energy around here was pulsing with the beat of a human heart.

     “I knew that the other gods would come sniffing around here, eventually,” the voice of the Harvest Goddess whispered from around her, as if coming from the plants and grass themselves.

     “You would not expect us to not come to you as soon as we learned of your location? This place is beautiful and the people are so happy.”

     “Naturally. But why have you, of all people, come to me? I have ensured that your city had a harvest ample enough for its needs.”

     “Please do not think that I am ungrateful for it, aunt. But so many others suffer needlessly. They are not even aware of our conflict. They pray and plead to you, but you ignore them.”

     “They prayed to me only when the other gods failed to give them what they needed.”

     “Hm.” Athene couldn't argue about that. She usually didn't find herself outsmarted in conversation, but Demeter had done so with a simple truth. A logical argument came quickly to her mind.

     “If there is one thing that can be said, it is now the gods and mortals alike are fully aware of your Gift and what a lack of it can do. You made your point. Can anyone deny your power now?”

     “Yet that alone cannot bring back my daughter.”