Julia nodded and placed the tray of food down.

“Knowledge, yes. Though I am not seeking knowledge of the future, rather the knowledge of the earth, the skies, and the written word. There are tales of the gifts given to you by Athena whispered in the same breath as Apollo’s curse. I want you to teach me.”

Julia watched as Cassandra’s eyes rolled into the back of her head and she shook violently as a voice entirely unlike the one she had heard before spoke through her, “The oceans will turn and the walls of Troy will fall when Paris hears Helen’s call.” The prophet collapsed on the desk again, still twitching.

Julia rushed to her side and checked if she was still breathing. She took a bag of strong-smelling salts from the corner of the desk and placed it under Cassandra’s nose. She bolted up with a jerk a moment later. Her eyes still fluttered uncontrollably and her voice was shaky, but when she finally spoke it was with her real voice.

“If we are to know each other, you must know that Cassandra is not the name I know for myself, it was given to me by Apollo. You may call me Alice. Now, let us begin.”

From then on, Julia had lessons with Alice every day and learned more and more about the stars and how to read and about Alice herself. Julia learned her favorite foods, the philosophers she admired, and things Alice tried to hide. She was only a year older, but every prophecy seemed to age her, her once blonde hair turning metallic as more and more silver streaked through it. Constant doubt plagued her as well, lack of belief from all sides and even Julia was not immune. While she couldn’t believe the prophecies she told of the destruction of their shining Troy, she was determined to believe in Alice. And in turn, Alice believed in her.

“Tell me again how those stars were formed,” Julia asked when the sky was dark and the light of the moon was the only thing illuminating their faces. She had pointed to a constellation with three stars in the center forming a perfectly straight line.

Alice turned toward her, half her face still hidden in shadow, and smiled. It was a soft and joyous smile, meant only for the closest of souls.

“By now you know the story of Orion better than I do,” she said. “What would be the point in telling it again?”

“Because I have never heard it told better than when you do it.”

“Very well,” Alice sighed, but the smile did not leave her face until she reached Orion’s death. 

“When I die, will you beg the gods to immortalize me in the stars?” Julia asked her later.