Eternal Souls Chapter Two Meeting of Hearts

"Please to meet you Marrianna," GHerc said. Then he introduced himself. She nodded but kept silent. "I hope this doesn't sound like too nosy a question, but whose daughter are you?", he asked. "My father was Thesalais." "Thesalais?" GHerc replied. "I don't think I've ever heard that name around Olympus before." "That is just it, don't you see?" I told you I don't belong here" she cried. "He was a simple farmer and my mother was Melina, a seamstress." "I was not meant to be an immortal, I am not of the gods and goddesses. I never even believed in them until today."

GHerc was not surprised at this pronouncement. The Olympians had left the mortals to fend for themselves in too many troubled times. Eventually they had fallen out of favor. Many people had stopped making offerings and parents had also stopped teaching their children about the gods. GHerc was just as puzzled as Marrianna as to how she had come to be here.

Thousands of questions were running through his head but she seemed to be crying even harder. This woman was a virtual stranger to him, but each tear stabbed his heart more deeply than the arrow that had caused his death. He knelt next to her upon the ground. He tentatively reached out, and when she didn't object, he began to comfortingly stroke her hair. Then GHerc gently cupped her face and kissed away a salty tear. Marrianna surprised him with her response. She wrapped her arms around his neck and placed her head trustingly against his chest.

GHerc felt the throb of desire begin in his loins. He tried to curb it as best as he could. It wasn't easy. She was vulnerable and it was simply against his nature to take advantage of her. Many things could be taken away from him but apparently his sense of decency was an inherent trait that would always remain a part of his being. GHerc placed a soft kiss against her forehead and contented himself with pulling her closer into his embrace. The loneliness he'd felt since his arrival began to ease.