Αρτεμις

You love him,  you do, and here’s the miracle: he loves you too. You are allowed to lick off the colour from his lips to listen to the hymns in his pulse to bask in the sunlight of his voice You are allowed  to have him. You love each other, you do, and here’s the tragedy: it’s not enough. You are allowed to watch the sun swallow him whole and burn him up to stain your fingers to the bone holding him together to count the constellations in his eyes as they blink out You are not allowed to save him.

“Perhaps the church can offer you. us guidance. It might not be divine, but It would be something. 

“Even if it can’t offer guidance, I find it offers comfort. It’s nice to know that you aren’t alone in difficult times.”

Uriel didn’t hold back the laughter that escaped from her at Freya’s comment. “I think I just might have to help you with that.” she smiled. Uriel let out a sigh as she thought about all the times this door had been slammed in her face before. “They think I’m a bother. They were polite at first when I came to them but now I’m just a nuisance to them. Still it isn’t going to stop me.”

“Men who think they’re too good for you are a nuisance in general,” Freya replied, casting the door one more dirty look before turning her back on it. “If they won’t take you, why not go to someone who has benefited from study at a university? I’m sure someone would be willing to tutor you.”

“I do not think that god detests us that much, Miss. Vadas.”

“Still, it’s better to be safe than sorry in that respect, Your Highness. I was considering even visiting the church.”

“If talk about him reached me, think about how Apollo will react when he hears it.” Artemis and Apollo were close. Very close. Despite the fact that they bump heads at times. And knowing Apollo, if he heard news about Orion, things would get worst. “I do not think of you as naive. I know you are committed to your vow. Things change, however. He is turning into your temptation and making you unbalanced.”

“Apollo will just have to deal with it. He’s had plenty of mortals that he’s favored and done much more with than I have done or ever will do with Orion. He has no grounds to act rashly,” she refuted stubbornly. “He should just be content that I’m happy. You should be content that I’m happy. I don’t confront you about your heroes. I’m sure that I can resist temptation just as I have done in the past. I have a strong will, Athena, you know that. Things do change, but this won’t.”

Phoebe gently put a hand on the girl’s back. “No, if I had do you think I would have let him do it?” She said gently, “Have you seen what you’re father did though? Have you looked up at the stars? The moon is dark tonight, you can see them well. I think you would be pleased.” She smiled gently, glancing up at the sky. “Just look.”

“I don’t know what anyone is or isn’t capable of anymore,” she replied, her body stiffening involuntarily at the touch before forcing herself to relax. She nodded. “I asked him to do that. I prayed to him for it, but...I would rather have him here with me.” She finally turned her eyes to the sky to look at the new constellation before letting out a bitter laugh. “I must be a horrible virgin goddess to let a man have so much power over me. What irony.” True, she’d kept her vow, but she’d still never intended to let her emotions get so far.

Phoebe knelt down beside her granddaughter but didn’t touch her. “My dear,” she said gently, “you are right, there is nothing to talk about. Why don’t you come with me? To wash up. You can’t say no, I already know it will happen.” It was a fib, she didn’t know but she thought it might persaude poor Artemis a little faster. 

“And did you know this would happen?” Her eyes never left the spot even as her grandmother knelt down to be level with her. “Did you know what Apollo would do?” She didn’t like being so suspicious of her family and second guessing everything they might say, but if she couldn’t trust Apollo, who could she trust?

“You presume too much. I am serious about my vows and I do not and did not intend to break them, no matter what my feelings for Orion might be. Apollo would just have to get over himself for my sake.” She’d foolishly believed that he and Orion might be able to settle their differences for her, but as it was, she’d been horribly wrong. Not that she’d admit that to the Fate, of course. “If you have no part in this, why are you here gloating?”

“Artemis, do you know why I swore on my oath and went against my wishes to start a family of my own? Because I didn’t want to cause a fight and a rift between my current family. I choose them and not my selfish needs. Do I regret that decision? No, I do not. Do I regret having my oath? No I do not.  Do I regret not being to have children of my own, a family to call my own, someone to actually call me mother, a baby that is mine to cherish and love unconditionally forever? Of course I have that regret. But I will never, never go back on my promise, no matter how much it hurts me to make that promise.”

Artemis shook her head at the question. She’d never thought to ask why the other virgin goddesses swore their oaths, she only accepted that they had and moved on with her life. “Birthing a child isn’t the only way to have a family of your own, you know. I have my nymphs. We are not blood, but we are very much a family. Some have been with me since they were very young. There are ways for you to keep your promise and have your family. Hell, even Athena has her pet projects in some of the heroes.”

“I don’t misread anything dear Artemis. I wouldn’t react as I have if this was not important.” the young goddess was frustrated at her questions but Athena did not care. She would not stop until she received the answers she wanted to hear. And from talking to Artemis so far, this seemed like a conversation that she barely had a chance to have with anyone it seemed. Apollo was not a likely option to talk about Orion and Leto, well Athena didn’t know much about the goddess and her relationship with Artemis. “Men have a funny way of changing a woman’s mind. Sometimes we have the choice to change and sometimes we do not. I know you are one to keep your promises but if I hear talk even in Olympus, then you should know something is up with this whole situation.”

“How important can he be? He’s just a mortal, demigod or not.” Even as the words fell from Artemis’ lips, she knew they felt wrong. He was more than just a mortal to her, and the fact that even Athena could see it should prove it to her, but Artemis was stubborn, and she hated being wrong. “I know the power of me, why do you think I vowed to be a virgin so early in my life? I’ve seen how they destroy women’s lives. I was conceived from Zeus’ infidelity. Do not think that I am so naive.”

“Because you would know this feeling of grief, wouldn’t you, Atropos?” she asked sarcastically. “You who just watches people’s lives play out from your pedestal in the underworld?” Her eyes narrowed at the Fate’s words as they only fed Artemis’ anger at her brother, and yet she was also just as desperate to try to find a way to absolve him of his guilt. She still couldn’t wrap her head around the fact that her other half would betray her like this.

Athena wasn’t a goddess to truly care how her actions effected others. As far as she was concerned, if there was something she needed to make sense of she made sure to go straight to the source. Since she did not care to deal with this Orion fellow, she decided to deal with Artemis instead. “Of course there is Artemis. If there wasn’t, I would not be here bringing up the subject with you.”

“Then you misread the situation,” Artemis snapped, though her frustration was more at herself than at the other goddess. It wasn’t Athena’s fault that Artemis didn’t know how to deal with these new emotions nor did she want to know how. “Just like you, I have made a vow of chastity. Just like you, I have no plans of breaking that vow. There is nothing for you to be concerned with. One man cannot and will not change that.”

Leto knew that nothing that had transpired had anything to do with her, but when your child is alone and full of sorrow every fiber in your being begs you to shoulder the burden so she does not have to. “Artemis.” There was tenderness in her voice as she tried to coax her daughter from looking down at the ground. Staring would not bring him back. Standing here would not bring her closer to him. His scent would only linger in the air for so long before it was carried away and scattered by a gentle breeze. If Artemis allowed it tears would form and she would taste the salt fresh on her lips. Leto knew that no matter how many times her daughter tried to fight off the tears they would eventually come. 

At the sound of her mother’s voice, Artemis didn’t move. It was only when Leto tried to tuck her hair behind her ear, that Artemis flinched away, resisting swatting her mother’s hand away as she moved. She wasn’t feeling especially familial at the moment given that her brother, her other half, was the one responsible for Orion’s fate and for her part in it. “You want me to speak? Fine, I shall speak then. I will demand to know where Apollo is, what’s being done about what he did. Or does that even matter, because Orion was just a demi-god? Is his life just inconsequential?”

Artemis’ gaze raised to the Fate, a look of anger and understanding broke her features. “You did this, didn’t you?” She stood and faced the goddess. “You cut his thread out of some kind of spite, didn’t you! I don’t know what he’s done to you or what I’ve done to you to cause this, but you didn’t have to do it like this!”

“She is very beautiful indeed especially considering she’s mortal.” Aphrodite hesitated for a moment before reluctantly handing over the baby. She knew Artemis loathed Adonis yet she did not think the goddess capable of hurting his daughter, but she still kept a watchful eye on her.

It didn’t escape Artemis that her presence put the other goddess on edge. In fact, it brought her some amusement. “Fear not,” she said as she took the child in her arms, “Just because I don’t think much of Adonis...or you from time to time...does not mean that I would hurt an innocent baby girl. There are better ways to take out certain frustrations.”

When Life Gives You Lemons... || Athena and Artemis [Greek Week]

Artemis had just been minding her business and enjoying her day when suddenly she heard Athena’s voice and the next thing she knew, her nymphs were being ordered away and she was being interrogated by the older goddess. She liked Athena, really she did. She and the other goddess usually got along well, but what she did not like was being questioned about things that not even she really knew the answer to.

Hestia kept a nice smile on her face as Artemis spoke. The other goddess had a point, but Hestia couldn’t help it because that is what she loved the most was the fire burning in a warm family household. “I do not regret in any vows that I have made, Artemis. My vow is the reason why I have treated all of you guys like my own. Not for being your aunt, but because you are my blood and through everything family will always, always come back to each other. But with that said, I always wanted a family of my own, children to call my own. But my duties as a goddess comes first before my own needs. And that I will stand by that.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Artemis frowned as she took her eyes from the family and looked at the other goddess fully. You say you don’t regret your vows, yet you wish for a family of your own. So you must regret your vows at least in some part.” Freya herself was struggling with questioning if making her own had been a wise choice, but she attributed that to her anger at her brother and her recent loss of Orion. It had been many years since his death to the mortal world, but to her, time seemed short. “I’m sure family does always come together, but sometimes it is hard,” was all she could say on that matter.