Confession

"Helios," Endymion said. The towering shrine of Elysion stood before him, a brilliant beacon in a lake of silvery watery. A single path rose above the lake and led to Helios' shrine; it was lined with brilliant red roses.

Helios was cutting a bouquet rather disinterestedly along the path when the prince interrupted him; he looked up, his face surprised and awkward. He hesitated before responding. "Yes, my liege?"

"You can...keep a secret, right?" he said nervously. His deep blue eyes seemed somehow clouded and troubled; although held himself as princely as always, there was a stiffness to his posture.

"Of course, my liege," Helios said, smiling gently. "I am ever loyal to you."

"To me...or to the kingdom of Earth?"

"To you," Helios said without reflection. "Always. What is it that troubles you?"

"There's...a woman," he said at last. Helios' felt his heart sinking at these words. "Her name is Beryl."

Helios smiled weakly. "Oh? And what is this Miss Beryl like?"

Endymion continued to walk down the path toward the shrine; Helios followed after him. The thorns of the roses he had cut pricked him painfully, despite the cloth he had carefully wrapped around the stems. "She has beautiful red hair," he said, "and her eyes look like Garnets."

"Well," Helios said with a smirk, "This comes to me as quite as surprise, given your hatred of the color red."

Endymion grinned and gave Helios a playful shove toward the shrine's stairs. "Come on, Helios, this is serious!"

Helios chuckled. "I apologize, my liege. So...how did you meet this lady?"

"Well, it's a funny thing," he said, sitting down on the steps to the shrine. "I was in the western gardens, when she just sort of walked out of the hedge maze. We talked for little while, and suddenly she said she was being called--then she walked into the hedge maze and she was gone. But the really funny thing is, I asked my seneschal if a girl had been let into the palace named Beryl--and he didn't know of anyone."

"Maybe she wandered in from somewhere," Helios replied. "The gardens are huge. She could have come from town."

"Maybe," he said. "But that's not what I really wanted to talk about. Helios...assuming I see her again...what should I do? What do I say? I'm afraid...perhaps she will not like me."

Helios looked off into the distance, over the lake and towards the verdant forests of Elysion. "You must talk to her, until you know her intimately; and when you are the dearest of friends, you must tell her that her presence livens every dull part of you, and that you wish to know every feeling and thought that passes through her. And If those words reach her," he continued, "Then simply tell her that if she loves you, you will be hers."

Endymion paused, looking at his friend appreciatively. "You always give me such good advice, Helios," he said. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

Helios smiled sadly. "Nor I, you, my liege," he replied.