A Thousand Ships

Chapter Two

The sun shined on the sea, making it glimmer like a shining sapphire. I stared out my window, watching the great ship from Troy plow its way through our waters. It wasn't the fear of this plot not working. I had prayed to Aphrodite several times and had arranged myself to look its very best. I was wearing my ivory colored chiton with the shimmering silvery-pewter border and bright rose sash, and my hair was arranged in golden ringlets flowing down to my back, with my gold diadem with sapphires crowning it all.

I wasn't even sure why I was afraid. I just was. Maybe this would all end in tragedy, maybe the Greeks would lose. Maybe Menelaus would die. What if Troy won and I was confined to those wretched walls of Illium for the rest of my life, to spend the rest of my life play-acting at loving a Trojan prince?

I quickly banished these thoughts from my mind and watched as the great ship beached. Menelaus had invited the Trojan prince Paris to Sparta for a feast, as a sign of goodwill. It was said that Paris had a keen eye for beauty, and, if so, he would easily fall for me. Me, who just might be considered the most beautiful mortal woman in the history of rocky Greece.

But beauty was so subjective.

And beauty only mattered if the one who had the beauty knew how to work it to her advantage.

The air next to me rippled, and there stood a tall woman, too beautiful to describe, too beautiful to be mortal. A scent of apple blossoms whispered across the room, and divine radiance circled around her shimmering body. I squinted from the brightness of the glow.

"Aphrodite?" I asked, somewhat timidly. Why was the goddess here? And at this time?

"Hello, Helen." Aphrodite greeted me warmly. "It's been a while since I've talked to you."

The only time I ever remembered seeing the love goddess and talking to her was in my early childhood, and I remembered nothing of those conversations. "Hello Aphrodite," I said.

"So I heard you're going to Troy soon," the goddess said casually, eyes dancing. "Running off with Prince Paris, actually."

"Yes," I answered, mustering up all of the boldness and pride that I used with mortals. I didn't want the goddess to think me meek.

Aphrodite laughed. It was rich and golden, as everyone who has heard the goddess laughing describes it as. "Putting your talents to work, I see. You always were a crafty one, Helen. I'm not sure what you're planning, but all I know is that play-acting at loving does not work for very long."

"So you're saying this plot will fail?"

"No," she answered cryptically. "But soon it will be harder to choose a side. Helen, your destiny lies with the gods. It has lain with the gods since the beginning of time. The very second you decided, a very pivotal thing was happening among three Olympian goddesses.

You may think that this is all a very clever scheme of wonderfully brilliant mortals. But we are all part of an even grander scheme set up by the Fates. You may think you're in control, but you are not. Destiny will fall where it will."

"What do you mean, Ambologêra*?"

The goddess sighed. "I suppose it's too complicated for mortals to grasp, or that they want to hang onto that foolishly stubborn conviction that they have one ounce of control over life. Don't dwell on it too much, Helen. I just came to warn you beforehand of the dangers that await."

"What dangers?"

Aphrodite rolled her golden eyes and said in a sarcastic tone of voice, "Oh, not much. Just ten years of violent bloodshed. A thousand ships gone to waste.

"A thousand ships..." she mused. "All for one woman..."

The air around her rippled again, and she disappeared into the air with a dry laugh.

What?

I sighed. Obviously, I wasn't sure what to make of it all. First, I was the thin thread holding together a consipiracy, and I did not need a goddess, my patron goddess especially, whispering ominous warnings and cryptic messages about my destiny.

"Helen?" Menelaus asked in a loud boom that he usually reserved for council meetings, not parties. "Will you come here, please?"

I took in a deep breath and adjusted my dress. It's starting, I thought.

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*Ambologêra- from anaballô and gêras "delaying old age," as a surname of Aphrodite, who had a statue at Sparta under this name.