Megan Sherman

Blue

3-06-02

Telemachus Decides

1 W

Ell before Dawn with her rose-red fingers rose Telemachus, son of Odysseus, sat in a state of wonder. Was his father Odysseus, son of Laertes, still among the living. Was it possible for the great warrior to have overshot the land of the dead into some unknown realm. Telemachus decided it had to be true, for was his father not one of the greatest kings, warriors, and fathers ever. He was a man akin to gods. Telemachus could not rest for his thoughts were entangled in a web of memories and stories of his great father. Telemachus wished to know his story, he wished for knowledge that Odysseus was not among the dead. He wished to hear his father tell him of his life, he did not wish to hear of his father from the blind-eye of a seer, nor from the theatrical mouth of a bard. Telemachus wanted to hear of his father's journey from the man whose seed created him, from the mouth of the great Odysseus.

Young Telemachus then knew the answer to his mortal wonder, he must travel and go on his own journey to find the story of the man he called father. He must heed Mentes advice. But what if Mentes is wrong? He asked himself. What if I die on this journey and then my chances of ever hearing from my father die with me? Telemachus tried to sleep for he knew that Dawn would soon wake him with her rose-red fingers and that he would need to make his decision the next morning, he hoped sleep would assist him in making a decision.

After much restless shifting Telemachus finally settled in and drifted off into sleep. Not long after Telemachus had drifted off, Athena gave him a vision of what would happen to his great father if he did not go in search of him. What Telemachus saw with his resting eyes was horrifying. Dove like and white, but evil and the same time, the clouds above the sea rose and became turbulent. As graceful dove soars in the sky the clouds swirled around Telemachus' vision of his father. His father appeared to him as a worm and the dove clouds were about to snatch him from the soft ground of life. Telemachus could see the doves more clearly now, they had faces, they were atrocious with large gray dead eyes and twisted and mangled faces. Their faces had been torn by many of the great Zeus' lightning bolts and they had been twisted from the years they spent over Posiedons raging waters. Odysseus, the tiny worm sat below them, helpless and exposed. The gods were angered by Telemachus , who in his vision had chosen to stay home instead of venturing out, figuring that Mentes was to aged to know what he was saying, the god's were angry that the son had not cared deeply enough for his noble father to venture out of his comfort at home. The angry god's had sent the Nim Bi, clouds with inner rage, to suffocate Odysseus in their massive white bodies and carry him off to a land so far away he could never return. The great Odysseus tried to fight back but the Nim Bi were of pure immortal power and could not be even bruised by Odysseus' mortal blows. Telemachus saw his father carried off and he would never see him or know of his splendor first hand.

Telemachus awoke shaking in fear and knew that his previous insecurities about venturing to the sea had now been turned into a solid stone state of determination. He felt determined to find news of his father, and the want to please the powerful, shifty gods. The gods who had sent him in the form of a vision, the proof that even a great warrior such as Odysseus couldn't bring them down when they weren't being heeded. Telemachus once again tried to settle down and sleep. Athena assisted him in rest, but only after she had made her wants clear. She had reinforced Telemachus' good intentions of searching for information on his father with fear, and now it was certain he'd find news. As Athena was making her way back to Mount Olympus she willed Telemachus to never speak of this vision, but to keep it to himself as motivation for whenever he felt like giving up.