Chapter 2

Ceto luxuriously sways out of the water, the waves churning in whirlpools behind her as she wades towards the shore and her three sleeping daughters. Her hips roll as she sensually emerges clear of the salty deep where she makes her home. She was power in it's very essence, seductive and compelling but dangerous just to get close to. Her eyes, that burn as dark as tempests, evaluate her youngest daughters. None of them have her dark stormy beauty, the elder two have only a mockery of her storm soaked locks that hang long and heavy over her pale skin and cling to every curve and bone. The youngest she can barely believe is her own daughter, though she has resemblance to the Hesperides, another three daughters older than these three.

Beautiful she was, no doubt about that. She had a mortal beauty that some of the immortals preferred to the perfection of the immortal. It was a different kind of beauty. Not dark like her mothers. She barely looks the part of a sea-born girl at all; with her deep brown eyes instead of ones that match the Mediterranean that churned behind Ceto as she contemplated this mortal daughter of hers. Her beauty was in her hair, really. Ceto mused. The long tangled mane of golden and sunlight that curled around her face and shoulder's in a very appealing manner. It shadowed her face and made her dark eyes even dark so they looked compelling in their own aspect and highlighted the freckles on her face. She didn't have the perfect pale complexion as her immortal sisters, but was all the prettier for it. She drew the eye where they looked like any other seaside goddess or nymph. Especially in comparison to their dark beauty, she glowed like a star in the dark sky. She'd do well visiting Olympus.

Zeus would adore her, Ceto thought to herself with conniving intent. Then I won't have to find a mortal husband for her. He'll have to deal with her. And who wouldn't want to be consort to the new King of Kings. They are both children of Titans, aren't they?

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Medusa woke to her mother's deep voice rousing them with disapproving. Even her cold words sounded sensuous in her husky temptress's voice. When I was little I thought it such a wonderful sound. Now it leaves me cold and I don't want to open my eyes to see her dark splendor with those cold, dark eyes.

"You should have been awake when Eos showed her face," She prodded the still sleeping Euryale with her foot. I heard Eury snort and prodded her gently. Better I wake her than mother get's into a tizzy. "You need to make yourselves presentable to the royal court. This is no seaside picnic. Get up!"

Now her voice reverberated with the power of the sea and the three of us rushed to the cabin stifling nervous laughter and avoiding our mother's contemptuous gaze. I knew how'd she look without turning around. We never pleased her. She was a Titan; One of the Old Aristocracy, she always called herself. She used to whisper tales of the Golden Age to us when we were little. Stories of Cronus and Gaea's beautiful children and their dominance. She spoke of Zeus as the Usurper. The Betrayer. Patricide.

It wasn't until the nymphs can to us; tentative and shy but knowing that we were like them. Not mortal. Well, I'm the exception to that. However, raised with my sister's who have eternity before them, it's still to foreign a concept to me to act badly. When you have limited time on Gaea's sweet earth, consequences are short lived. Eternity tends to keep most immortals in-check. No one wants to be chained to a rock with a vulture eating your liver every day. Poor Prometheus.

"Alright, Medusa." Sthenno had her bossy voice on again. It was no use arguing, eventually she'd get her way. "Sit down. You first."

"Really? Don't you want to attack Euryale first?" I whined like a little girl. I know it wasn't the most flattering but I only had a few more hours to be the youngest sister. Once our trip begins, I have to be the adult young lady, Medusa daughter of The Old Man of the Sea, the Titan Phoryces. Kill me now.

The hours passes and we groomed ourselves until we were passable in polite company. My chiton was a lovely sea green with hints of blue in its dye. I thought it lovely when I first saw it; but now it looked like trap. No matter what the color. Sthenno wrapped my waist tight with a girdle of pure gold and bedecked my arms and ankles with the expensive metal too. When I told her it was too much, she gave me a Harpy look that almost made me swallow my tongue. Nothing I said was going to affect how I was to dress today.

Sthenno and Euryale were gorgeous in violet chitons when they were through primping and adjusting each other. I curled up in my favorite chair and watched their good natured bickering and pinching as they playfully dressed up for Court. This was their first time to Olympus as well. Though, surely not their last. This would be my only time. I knew that, but that's not what made me sad. As I watched them I had a vision of myself, gnarled and bent in age surrounded by my beautiful sisters that won't have changed from how they look right now.

"What's the long face, Meddy?" Euryale spun over and promptly sat in my lap.

"Ouff, you've been eating to many honey buns," I laughed as I tried to catch my breath.

"If you ruin her hair, I'll ruin your life." Sthenno sang from across the face as she adjusted the jewelry around her neck.

"Our sister desperately needs some time with Dionysus." Euryale whispered to me, "Maybe he could get her to relax once in a while."

"Plenty of wine tend to make her overactive meddling dissipate." I answered.

"Using big words doesn't mean I can't hear you." Sthenno murmured to her reflection. Which just made Euryale laugh her sea gull cry harder.

"I think we have to face the dragon, now." Euryale sighed.

"For the last time, I AM NOT…." Sthenno turned angrily and then stopped in midsentence before letting out a giggle, "Oh, you meant mother this time."

"What are we going to do with her?" Euryale laughed and leapt to her feet. I swear that sister of mine was in perpetual dance. The Muses are going to love her. Until they hear her sing. "She besmirches the wise reputation that we're starting to get, you know. I think we should disown her."

I couldn't help but laugh at my sister's antics as Sthenno narrowed her eyes and gave Eury her sharpest Harpy look yet. Euryale just danced closer and pecked her sister on the cheek before grabbing my hand and twirling me out the door into the brilliant sun.

Our mother stood ankle deep in the water, with her own gown slowly absorbing the water and making it cling to her long legs. She was looking out at the endless waves knowing that was where she belonged. You could tell from the look of peace momentarily on her face. Once she realized she was being watched, her cunning mask of seduction would grace her again. I grabbed my sister's hand tightly as she turned to evaluate the three of us.

"You took your time," She commented coldly as her stormy eyes inspected us as I've seen the butcher look at an animal being sold to him. "You've done well, though. So, I won't complain. IRIS!"

She invoked the sky with her last word and soon enough a thin rainbow shimmered in the bright noonday soon and slowly arched it's way towards our field. Iris herself skimmed ahead of the colors on light feet and landed before us with a whirl and a laugh.

"Well, Hey there!" She greeted us before bowing impudently to our Mother. If Iris didn't have the protection of Zeus, I don't know what would have happened to the impish immortal. Mother's eyes were dark as a wild storm though so if she continued, even Zeus's word might not protect her.

So I bade farewell to my mother and went to Iris before she could say another word.

"I'm Iris!" She chirped and brushed her fly away brown hair out of her face. She gave the three of us a big dimpled grin and her golden wings that spanned behind her fluttered in the breeze. I couldn't help but like her.

"I'm Medusa," I answered before my sisters could. Which is an oddity, because Euryale's always the one making friends with strangers while it takes longer for people to get to know me.

"Hold on a minute there, sister!" Iris looked at me with wide eyes that I couldn't tell if they were ocean eyes or sky. They were a pale blue green with hints of grey though. Pretty, I thought, though they didn't reflect her ancestry as most do. "You're mortal!"

I couldn't help the blush that I felt grow up my cheeks. "What's that one like? I hardly ever get to bring mortals to Olympus. Mostly just deliver messages and Hera always yells at me for dawdling. And Hermes usually takes all the mortal messages. Unless they're unimportant. Now, we'll have the whole way back to talk about it though!" She gave me that imp grin again and I couldn't help grinning back.

We talked as we climbed into a small cart and she laughed at me and gossiped and chattered the whole way. Her happy chatter and loud laughter, though nothing compared to Eury's, ate the time up until we were pulling into Olympus's gates.

I watched wide-eyed as the Seasons rolled back the clouds and the shinning marble palace of Olympus was exposed. In Helios' glow, the white marble and gold was nearly blinding to my mortal eyes. It was a place of organized lines, spacious courtyards and beautiful architecture. It left me breathless.

"It's something, ain't it." Iris laughed at my face as she steered into the main courtyard and jumped out. "Home sweet home."

My own little cabin with it's one room sprang to mind and made me laugh a little.

Euryale grabbed my hand and whispered in my ear, "I don't care what they say, our ocean and the mountains behind it are just as majestic as this created palace. Our's is just a bit more wild."

When she said it like that, the breath came more easily to my lungs and I could look around without the glazed expression on my face. Those tall parapets were nothing compared to the soaring cliffs that I have roamed since I could walk. I could live through this. With my sisters beside me, I could survive.