The Oracle
***
Endymion stared at the floor before him as he listened to Helios berate him.
"You fool man...she woke while you were sitting there, going google-eyed over her. Do you know what could have happened to you if you had been found? Making all that noise as if it were nothing. What were you thinking?"
"I..." Endymion faltered. "I couldn't help it, Helios. She was so lovely...I lost my senses."
Helios looked around self-consciously. If Queen Beryl were to hear Endymion say that, she would go wild with jealousy. It was no secret that Beryl had her eyes on Endymion, lusting after him and wanting him to marry her and rule alongside her in her universal kingdom. She had at least enough tact not to let that out loud, but she was definitely after him.
"You most certainly did," he said, lowering his voice.
"I absolutely...fell in love at first sight," said Endymion, smiling a bit weirdly. Helios wondered if it was the idea in his head or the glass of wine he had downed in a mixture of elation and misery. "I have never seen a woman who looks like that before." His face saddened. "I couldn't kill her, Helios."
"I understand," Helios said, reclining against the sofa. "What are you going to do now? You promised Beryl that you'd kill that Moon Princess. She's still alive."
"I wish there were some way that I could bring her here...in secret," Endymion said, sighing gently. "Some way that Beryl wouldn't be able to find out."
Helios opened his mouth, getting ready to say that Endymion shouldn't indulge in wishful thinking when he had to think of a way to abate Beryl's anger. Then he remembered the Moon King's dilemma – he'd heard about it from one of his oracle friends on the moon – and an idea sparked in his mind, making his sunset-colored eyes light up. "Perhaps there is a way to do that, Endymion," he said, smiling devilishly.
*****
"Please tell me you're not really going to do this."
King Hyperion turned to his wife and nodded. "What makes you say that?"
"Hyperion..." Queen Serenity fiddled with the lace collar of her dress. "I still say you should wait. Serenity is very beautiful. She will eventually catch the fancy of someone. Just wait."
"How long shall I wait, Serenity?" Hyperion said, turning fully around to face his wife head-on. "Until I'm old and gray? Until Serenity is too old to bear children? I shouldn't. I'm going to resolve this, once and for all."
"But...an oracle?" Queen Serenity raised an eyebrow. "Isn't that a bit extreme?"
Hyperion sighed. He had made the decision to go see the Delphic oracle about his youngest daughter's fate in marriage. Serenity had stayed in bed all day yesterday, and Hyperion just knew that it was because of jealousy for her sisters and sadness because of her own loneliness. He couldn't bear to see his youngest and favorite daughter – his pride and joy – continue on this way. So he had resolved to see the oracle in order to determine how long Serenity would be mateless.
"I don't think so," Hyperion said, turning away from his wife again and affixing his cape to the rear of his traveling uniform. "I can't bear to see Serenity like this anymore. Can you?"
"Of course not. I love Serenity just as much as you do."
"So then you agree that I should see this oracle to ensure her happiness for the future, right?"
Queen Serenity sighed heavily. "Do as you wish."
*****
The oracle's temple was not a very busy place that day. The moon's kingdom was so prosperous that few felt a biting need to go talk to an oracle; also, it was also a workday, which was precisely why King Hyperion decided to travel that day. He didn't want any of his subjects recognizing him and inquiring as to his problem.
The oracle, of couse, already knew. He would not be a true oracle if he did not. The man was rumored to have great knowledge and wisdom. Despite that, Apollo the oracle was an exceptionally handsome young man. He was tall and his skin was bronzed by the sun. His muscles rippled most enticingly, and he had a strong appearance about him. Apollo was greatly loved in his community at Delphi, perhaps loved a little too much. He was a bit of a playboy and was rumored to have had several trysts with the people of the community, maidens and men alike.
Apollo smiled at the king, his strong jaw filled with gleaming white teeth. "King Hyperion. I've been expecting you."
Hyperion forgot to not be surprised, and his eyes widened in shock.
"Come in my inner room. I know that you don't want to be recognized," Apollo said, leading the king into the inner room of the temple. The older man hesitantly followed the oracle. He'd never been to see Apollo himself – he'd sent servants to inquire of him, but this matter was too personal to send anyone else. He'd desired to come himself. However, he was a little uneasy with the extremely powerful man.
"Now, you have a problem, your grace, that you wish me to help you with," Apollo stated, still smiling. The smile seemed derisive, but Hyperion brushed that thought away. "Tell me more about this problem."
"You have seen my daughter, Serenity, have you not?" asked Hyperion.
"Of course," said Apollo. His smile became warmer, and Hyperion was suddenly even more uneasy around the oracle, should he come into contact with his youngest daughter with his casanova ways. "She is exceptionally beautiful, your highness. I trust she is not the one giving you problems?"
The bastard knows, Hyperion thought. He's an oracle for the gods' freaking sakes. "Not intentionally. She's exceptionally beautiful, but that is the problem. Her beauty wins her only passing looks and lusts from men. No one loves her, and no one wants to marry her. She is seventeen now, and I fear that she may become a spinster." Hyperion sighed. "She's also not very happy. Her sister just got married, you know, and her other sister is already married as well. It doesn't sit well with her that she's already seventeen and not even courting as her sisters were at the age.
"So what should I do about finding her a marriage mate? Or is she doomed to singularity?"
The oracle sat silently for a moment, rubbing his clean-shaven chin. "Hmmm," he said, forcing himself to keep a straight face despite the smile that struggled to pop up. "I have a solution, your highness, from the highest decree of the gods. They sent me a vision about this very thing. However, you are not going to like it."
"Anything is better than my daughter living alone her entire life."
"You must perform this task exactly as I say. Otherwise the gods' eternal punishment shall be laid upon you and your family."
"I swear upon my life and the prosperity of my kingdom that I will do exactly as the gods say!"
Oh boy, Apollo thought, he's really in for it now. "You will dress your daughter in her deepest mourning robes, all ornately black and hung with no jewels. Her hair will be tied in that of a mourning woman's style. Your entire household shall be dressed for mourning."
"Why are we mourning?"
"You will take Princess Serenity to the summit of a rocky hill, where you shall sit her. In that place a terrible...serpent-god...lives. Yes, a winged serpent-god. This serpent-god is even more powerful than the gods themselves, and he desires a wife. Serenity has been selected to become his wife. You will leave your daughter alone on the summit of the hill which I shall give you directions to, and she will become the winged serpent's bride."
King Hyperion's eyes widened. "No! I can't do that!"
"But you must, King Hyperion. You have sworn your life on it. Not only have you sworn your own life, but you have also sworn the prosperity of your kingdom. The gods will be all too happy to hold you to that promise."
Apollo sounded gleeful himself, and the king felt as if he wanted to beat the man's head in with a truncheon. But indeed, the beautiful man was right. If he went back on his word now, some of the baser gods would take sadistic pleasure in ruining his life and his kingdom. He sighed heavily, and replied, "I will do as the gods say. Give me one week. By the evening exactly one week from now, my daughter will be ready to become the bride of the winged serpent-god."
Apollo could not help having a little smile spring to his face from the man's apparent misery, and was only glad that the king was turned away from him, hands in face. He wasn't cruel or unjust, and he didn't want to see his king suffer. But he knew something that the king did not, and he couldn't help wondering what the king's reaction would be if he knew what the oracle was hiding from him.
"Thank you, Apollo," the king said, bowing slightly to the oracle. "I will do the bidding of the gods."
Helios, Apollo thought to himself as the king left his inner chamber, I no longer owe you anything.
*****
"Daddy! Daddy, you're back!"
Hyperion struggled to smile when he saw his daughter running towards him, but the sheer sight of the blindingly lovely young woman made him want to weep. She threw her arms around her father and hugged him tightly, and a tear did slip down his face. To never be able to hold his dear daughter in his arms again...
He'd risk the universe for his precious daughter. But even if he did, he still might lose her. As he'd sworn on the prosperity of his kingdom, Serenity was one of the heirs, and if he didn't do what the gods said, they might take her from him anyway.
"Daddy? Are you...crying?" Serenity's face fell fast. "What's the matter? Where did you go?"
"Serenity, please contact your sisters and tell them to get here as quickly as possible. There's something very important that I must tell you all, and I only want to tell it once."
***
"Oh, Hyperion, you foolish man!" Queen Serenity threw her hands in the air, then brought them back over her face. "I warned you not to go!"
"No, don't say that, mother," Princess Serenity said, laying a hand on her grieving mother's arm. "This is the gods' will. They would have found some way to communicate it to Daddy anyway."
"But he swore!" said Diana. "Why did he swear he would do it?" She was shaking with anger and sadness, and her eyes were wet with unshed tears.
"The gods would have punished him anyway for not doing their bidding," Serenity reasoned.
"There is nothing we can do about this," said Trivia. She folded her arms. "The gods had already decreed that Serenity would be the wife of the serpent-god and would go to him. Whether or not Daddy had chosen this week to go to the oracle's temple, they still would have their decree, and may have given it to Daddy in a dream or so."
"We have no choice but to do as they say," Diana said, dejected. "But why Serenity? Why the youngest? Why didn't the gods pick me, or Trivia?"
"Your spirit is admirable, my sister," Serenity said, with a bright smile on her face. "But you're already married, and so is Trivia. The only logical choice left was me. Don't worry. I'll be all right, as far as this goes." She smiled at each of her sisters, her mother, and finally her father, trying to keep the watery, unstable smile upon her countenance so as not to alert her family as to how frightened she really was. "Let us do this quickly."
***
The climb to the summit of the hill a week later was a loud and mournful one. The procession of people was long and reached far out – the subjects of Hyperion's kingdom lamented over the fate their young Moon Princess was subjected to, weeping and wailing that such a beautiful young princess should go through such a terrible experience.
However, Serenity's own family took their grief in dignified silence. Even Diana, who was outraged at the notion, took her anger in silence, tears running down her cheeks as she solemnly followed her family to the top of the hill. Trivia, who was always better at expressing her feelings, was sobbing softly into her husband's chest. Orcas was patting her on the back, whispering gently into her ear. Queen Serenity was crying softly, and King Hyperion was stony-faced, shocked out of any kind of concrete expression.
The one who should have been the most bereaved was the calmest and most rational person on the whole trek. Princess Serenity was dressed from head to toe in black; she even wore a black veil over her face as she was carried up the hill on a short, light pagoda. Trying to keep a good countenance for her family so as not to worry them, Serenity had smiles and reassurances for all those present with their family.
"It is a good thing, sisters," she said to Trivia and Diana, smiling. "My end will come and I will attract no more jealousy from anyone. I can lay in peace and no one will be troubled with my existence."
Diana and Trivia exchanged glances, both feeling the same way – guilty. Jealousy for their younger sister was something they hadn't been strangers to.
When the procession was almost up the hill, King Hyperion stopped and faced the crowds following the family. "Loyal subjects," he said, his voice as stony as his expression, "I request that you allow my family and I to take the summit alone."
A collective affirmative murmur arose from the crowd, and they began to retreat a little ways down the hill. Somnus and Orcas, Serenity's sisters' husbands, nodded at each other. Each gave their wife a reassuring squeeze, then continued down the hill with the crowds of people.
Serenity watched the interchange sadly. I wish I had someone to care for me like that,, she thought. Instead, I get the horrble winged serpent-god!
The two carrying Serenity's pagoda set it down on the very top and bowed to the royal family, then proceeded down the hill.
Immediately after their departure, Queen Serenity collapsed upon her daughter, sobbing and squeezing her tight. "Serenity!" she yelled. "I am sorry! It is all my fault! The punishment for my greed is causing your suffering!"
"Mother!" Diana said, rushing to her mother and prying her from Serenity's body. "Come to your senses! You don't know what you're saying. None of this is your fault! You didn't have anything to do with it."
Queen Serenity looked dubious, but she kept quiet. She did, however, keep her tearful face focused on Serenity.
"Goodbye, mother," Serenity said. Her smile became a bit weaker – all her insides were screaming at her to lose it, to cut the façade, to burst into a fit of tears and worry as everyone else. But she could not. She had to be strong for her family, so they wouldn't take back their promise and bring travesty upon their land.
Trivia went to her younger sister and hugged her tightly, crying softly. Serenity clutched her to her chest and stroked the aqua mane that grew down Trivia's back. "Don't cry now, Trivia," she said. "Don't cry for me now. Cry only because I happened to come looking like this, so as to arise everyone's jealousy! I'm sorry only for that."
Diana frowned as Serenity said that. "Fool girl," she said. "Don't be sorry for your beauty! You have a special gift...a special beauty." She, too, leaned over Serenity, hugging her as she cried.
"Goodbye, dear sisters."
King Hyperion was the last to bid his farewells to his daughter. He crouched in front of her, staring her straight in her crystal blue eyes. Suddenly, he clasped her closer, a loud sob escaping his mouth.
"I'm sorry – Serenity," he choked. "I never meant – for this to happen. I just wanted you to – to be happy..."
"Daddy," Serenity said softly, "it's not your fault."
"I feel like it is," King Hyperion said. He gently kissed his youngest daughter on her forehead, then hugged her once more.
"Goodbye, Daddy," Serenity said. The king could hold back tears no longer. As he stood among the rest of his family, they were running fown his regal cheeks towards his sharply pointed chin.
The family assembled themselves, took one last look at the youngest member of their family, then began down the hill, all shedding tears for the loss of Serenity.
It was only then that Serenity could comfort herself in her own tears.