The young woman led me to a small table. "Please, sit down. I was just going to have a drink of water before you knocked on my door. I will get you some, too," she said. The woman then began to bustle around the table and the fire, making me feel bad that I was not helping. In fact, I would not know how to help had she asked for it. "So, how old are you?" she asked, interrupting my thoughts.
"I'm fifteen years old." Well, I was. Even, though I was immortal, I had only been alive for fifteen years, a very short time.
"Oh to Zeus! To be fifteen! I wish that I was once more fifteen years old! The youth never realize how good they have until they have lost it." The woman thought for a minute. "Like me. I was so happy and carefree at your age, that I never took time to appreciate it. Now, look at me. I am old, a mother. I have many responsibilities." The woman sat down in a chair beside my own. She handed me a cup of water which I took of sip from.
"Excuse me, but I do not even know your name," I said suddenly when I had realized this sad fact.
"My name is Deanne. Oh to Zeus! I am awful! You know nothing about me! Let me tell you some things. Well, let's see. I have a young boy. You will see him in the morning. He really is a sweet child, but he had been misbehaving some since his father died three months ago." Deanne sniffled a little before she continued. "Really, I am not sure whether he really understands what happened, only that his father is no longer here." She again paused to wipe a tear from her cheek. "You see, I really am too young to be a widow. I miss my husband miserably. And even worse, if there is such a thing, my husband and I had moved here to be away from others. Now, I am by myself. Which, I suppose, is why I am so happy that you have come along. But I do feel bad for my son."
"I am sorry," I replied softly. What had Poseidon gotten me into, being the sole companion to a recently widowed woman?
"Oh to Zeus! Here I am, rambling away about MY troubles, when you are sitting here, an orphan with no home. And, you must be tired!" she gestured over to a cot that she had set up earlier. "There is your cot. Please, sleep well. Do not be troubled by what I have bothered you with or your own struggles. In sleep, please dream wonderful dreams. Sleep well." Deanne stood up and walked into an adjacent room where I could already hear snores emitting from.
I walked over to my cot and undressed slowly. Today, had been a very eventful day. Why had I had to be so curious? Why couldn't I have stayed inside? Now, Hades wanted me to be his wife, and Zeus would not start a war over me. This made me feel awful. He was my father, even if he did not act like it. And I was not worth a war. Zeus was selfish. Even my conception was selfish, and it hurt his wife, Queen Hera. I had always felt bad for her. Everyone on Olympus knew of her husband's infidelity.
When I had finally undressed and laid my head on the soft sack that would be my pillow sleep would not come. I replayed the day over and over in my mind. How foolish I had been to step outside of my mother's protection!
Eventually, sleep must have found me.
While asleep, I dreamt an awful nightmare. Hades had found me and made me his bride. The three fates, sat there mocking me and laughing at me. My entire existence consisted of being Queen of the Underworld. My punishment for being beautiful.
As I woke up in a sweat, I hoped desperately that I would never visit, let alone live in that awful place where Hades sat, waiting for me.