ii. athens - 432 BC
it's more than two and a half thousand years before he sees her again. he had thought about her for days until he heard that the princess rey had been taken by a wasting disease. he leaves egypt.
he's in greece now, and a successful senator. they're consecrating the parthenon - rebuilt after the persians attacked. he'd fought in the war, but unlike so many others, he made it back. he almost feels guilty - his inability to die and thus fear death brings him glory while those young men who are truly brave in the face of death fall at his side.
he tries not to think about it.
he finds that very simple to do when sees a pair of eyes he hasn't seen in millennia. "rey" he breathes. she's a part of the panathenaic procession, bringing a peplos to the cult statue of athena.
vaguely, he thinks that she should be the one being worshipped, but he quickly curbs his blasphemy and begs forgiveness of the gods. he doesn't want to anger them - they've brought her back to him and he doesn't think he could survive them taking her away again.
"immortals are made of stone," the gods had whispered to him when they placed him upon this earth, but he feels more like water when he watches her.
she's focused on her task, solemnly placing one foot in front of the other, clad in a white tunic that matches that of the other ergastines - the women who create the peplos for athena's cult statue - in the line.
he takes a breath after holding it for far too long. is he going crazy? he remembers her clearly, from the river. he knew she wasn't another immortal - he would have known. all the immortal siblings know each other intimately.
he's near the end of the procession - a celebrated warrior in a place of honor. he watches her walk the whole way, puzzling through the mystery of her existence in his mind.
when she meets his eyes without recognition, he forces his disappointment deep into his body.
still, he doesn't take his eyes off her form, even when her eyes glide easily past him.
after the ceremony, he follows the white of her tunic through the gray of the crowd. the people make way for her - an ergastine is to be respected.
he doesn't approach her - what would he say - and soon he loses her trail in the city.
at the festival that evening, he dances and drinks and feasts and before he knows it her face appears in front of his. her smile blesses his eyes and suddenly he feels like he's back in the river - drowning in her image. he can't breathe.
she holds out her hand. his eyes widen and his heart soars and he takes her hand.
the music swells as they dance around the square, and his head is spinning from the wine and the impossible girl in front of him.
"what's your name?" this time, he speaks first. he's hesitant, desperately hoping for a certain answer, and yet being utterly afraid to have confirmed what he already knows.
she beams back at him. "my name is rey, good sir."
he shouldn't be surprised - he knew it was her - but to hear that same name pass through those same lips still floors him.
like a prayer, he repeats it back to her. when she asks his name, he finds himself mutely staring at the way a few tendrils of hair have escaped her elaborate up do. when she repeats her question, he has to shake himself out of something like a trance, and he curses his gods for not lending him dignity along with immortality.
"poe." he finally manages to utter his response.
when she repeats it back to him, he nearly shudders with delight.
when the music fades and the dance is done, he nearly weeps for fear of losing her to the crowd again, but her slender form stays close to his. he thanks every god he's ever heard of in all his lifetimes for this blessing.
they talk for hours - he learns that she's returned the city only recently, since the ergastines are kept hidden away during the year.
he tells her that he's a soldier, that he lived in the country side. he doesn't mention his memories of her sun kissed skin and beaming smile that have haunted him all day.
the sun sets behind the acropolis, and night washes over the city. the flickering light of the torches throughout the festival illuminate her features, and he swears that she's glowing.
he's immortal, but when she tells him that the next day the ergastines must return to the hidden temple for the year, he is absolutely certain that he is being killed.
before he can stop himself, before propriety can stop him, he takes her by the shoulders and pleads, "can i see you again? just once. please."
a shy smile overtakes rey's delicate features. "meet me tomorrow at dawn. here."
when she walks towards him through the morning mist only hours later, her tunic swinging, he prays to everything and everyone that he will see her again. when she walks she gives him a shy kiss on the cheek that nearly stops his heart (a heart that hasn't stopped in ages).
weeks later, when he hears the news that the temple of the ergastines burned to the ground he curses everything he's ever known. he leaves athens.