Author's note: the Sumerian story I mention in this chapter comes from the Epic of Gilgamesh, particularly "Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the Netherworld"

OOO

As I mentioned, Priam unusually decided to make his children study. It was a peculiar choice: a king had scribes, interpreters and ambassadors and didn't need to read or speak foreign languages. But Priam believed that his children would have to face a difficult future: they had to be prepared for everything.

Teaching to the king's children was a privilege but, like every privilege, it came with responsibilities and worries.

The king's children didn't just have to be good at what they did, they needed to excel. They needed to set an example for the city, to inspire admiration. If the child failed, it was a failure for the whole royal family, too. It was a huge burden for a kid. The most confident ones, like Hector, didn't mind the pressure and fulfilled their role. But some others, who didn't like to be in the public eye, struggled with anxiousness and frustration.

And then there was Cassandra, my only girl pupil.

When she was about a month, Laxani told me that she had been blessed by the Lord Apollo. A snake had licked her ear while she was sleeping in the temple. She and her twin brother Helenus had been born on the summer solstice, Apollo and Artemis' feast.

It was most unusual for a girl to learn how to read, but Priam decided otherwise.

"I wish to send to you my daughter together with her twin brother" he told me one day. "She is meant to become Apollo's priestess one day. She should learn some foreign languages, some healing... the things a priestess might need"

"Will she feel comfortable enough with me and Helenus? I suppose she has never been alone with two males before" I asked.

"Hmph" he snorted with contempt "You should rather worry about her brother not being comfortable. My daughter is as brash as the next boy, while he can barely speak". Sometimes I think she was meant to be the boy"

I didn't miss the fact that he had called Cassandra "my daughter" and Helenus "her brother" instead of "my son". I wasn't surprised that they didn't behave like the other children, since they had been claimed by the gods.

My concern about Cassandra's well-being proved to be unfounded. She was curious, a quick learner and outspoken. She also had a kind and generous personality, although a little quick-tempered, especially when Helenus was around. She was frustrated with his reserve and tried to make him talk, while he disliked her extroversion and did his best to show it. They spent most of the time arguing and I lost count of the times I had to reprimand them.

Cassandra was also quite impatient. When I told her some story, she would keep asking me "and then? and what happened next?". She always wanted to know what the future held.

At the age of sixteen, when she was consecrated to Apollo, Cassandra was a brilliant and beautiful young lady. Many Trojans would have killed to marry her. She sometimes had strange dreams and epilepsy crises, but this was normal for a servant of Apollo.

She soon became a well-respected priestess until something mysterious and dramatic happened to her.

One evening, one of the king's servants told me that Laxani requested my presence at Apollo's temple, immediately.

"It's about princess Cassandra... she is very ill" the servant told me.

I reached Apollo's temple as quickly as I could. Laxani was pacing and waiting for me, looking extremely worried.

"What happened, my friend? How's she?" I asked.

"Last night, she had a terrible crisis. I have never seen such a violent crisis in my life. She survived but... I cannot wake her. She doesn't talk. She hasn't eaten or drunk since yesterday. She hasn't slept. If I touch her, she pushes me away. I tried to hold her hands and look"

He showed me his hands and I could see that they were scraped. Traces of her nails were still visible.

"She doesn't even open her eyes and lies in her bed trembling and sobbing. Hector came... he tried to talk to her but to no use. Then I called you"

As we reached Cassandra's bedroom, I could hear her voice sobbing and screaming and I felt even more worried for her.

She looked awful. She was horribly pale and had black shadows under her eyes. Her usually tidy hair were messy and rebellious and she wouldn't stay still. Laxani left the room silently and I sat next to her on the bed. I didn't know how to approach her, so I tried to call her first:

"Cassandra? Can you hear me?"

She said nothing and moved even more frantically than before.

"Sweetheart, it's me, Aesacus. Would you open your eyes for me?"

She kept her eyes shut, moaning.

"I will touch your hand now"

Tentatively I put my hand on her one. I expected that she would reject me, instead she grasped my hand tightly.

"That's good, Cassandra. Now look at me, please. Open your eyes"

At first she didn't comply and just clutched my hand.

"You are safe now, the crisis is gone. There's nothing you have to fear. Look at me, sweetheart"

Finally she opened her eyes. Her gaze was unfocused and absolutely terrified.

"Very good my dear. I trust that you can hear me now"

I didn't know if she could, actually. She kept looking at the ceiling with wide eyes, not even turning her head to me.

"You haven't slept in more than a day, Cassandra. You should try and sleep..."

She shuddered again, sobbing. Why was she like this? Maybe she had dreamed about something that scared her and didn't want to fall asleep again.

"Now, dear. I will stay right here and wake you up if your sleep gets troubled, I promise. You really need to rest"

Cassandra lay motionless for a while, still gazing at the ceiling.

"Should I tell you a story?" I asked softly.

I started telling the old Sumerian tale of the goddess who wanted to carve a throne out of a willow tree.

After some time, her eyes closed and her grip on my hand loosened. I watched her sleeping for a while, then I dozed off as well.

I was suddenly awakened when she clutched my hand again. Her eyes were still closed, but she was moaning miserably.

"Cassandra, Cassandra, wake up!" I said, gently shaking her.

She sat up on the bed with a cry and looked at me.

"Aesacus" she murmured hoarsely.

"Yes, my dear. I can see that you're feeling much better now"

I stood and fetched her some fresh water from a jar. I was about to lighten up the room with a firebrand when I heard her sobbing.

I sat next to her and held her in my arms. I had never seen her crying before, not even when she was a child.

After some time, the sobs stopped and she went quiet again. She looked perturbed and hurt, though, and didn't want to tell me what had happened to her. She begged me not to ask more. From that moment on, she kept having frequent and violent crises. She kept visiting me and her family on a regular basis, but her mind always seemed to be elsewhere. She turned taciturn and listless and many people even started questioning her sanity. I didn't think that she was crazy but for some time I was very worried for her. After some months, however, she seemed to have reached some kind of balance.

I never spoke about that night again. I didn't wish to upset her with that memory.

I would discover the truth only many years later. But now it's not the right time to tell that story.