#junilypso

Juniper looked up at Calypso, still saying nothing. Calypso held back a scoff, or a sob, who could tell. Although her heart may not be strong, she was not stupid. She knew that combination of surprise, flattery, and pity. The pained furrow in her brow, the way her eyes darted across Calypso's face, as if searching for the answer written there. Well, Calypso knew. She knew what Juniper was trying to find the words to say.

“It's okay. You don’t have to say anything. I can do this.” Calypso clenched her fists and took a deep breath. “I understand, if you can’t come with me.” She could feel tears forming, and squeezed her eyes tight. “It was stupid of me to ask. We have had more than enough time together. It was just-” Another deep, shaky breath. It came out with a wheeze, and Calypso reached up to wipe her eyes. Then, she just left her hands there, pressed against her face. “I just…I don’t know…I was stupid. I don’t know why I thought it would be different this time.”

Two hands grabbed her wrists. Calypso opened her eyes as Juniper pulled her hands down from her face, her fingers wrapped around her arms like vines.

Juniper held Calypso’s stare for a moment. Her eyes were such a dark brown that they blended in with her pupils, but Juniper was standing so close that Calypso could see the tiny green veins that criss-crossed the whites of her eyes. “You know that this is the last thing I want to be saying right now.”

A bitter laugh came out before Calypso could stop it. “Right. If that were true you would not say it. Nobody wants to say it, but you’re all the same-"

“That’s not fair.” Juniper dropped Calypso’s hands and stepped back. “I'm not like the rest of them, and you know it. You don’t get to pretend I’m the one leaving you because it hurts less; you’re the one leaving this time-“

Calypso stepped forward. “That is not fair. I am not leaving, I am asking you to come with me!”

"I’m a tree! I may not be cursed, but I'm trapped, just like you were." Juniper looked down at her feet and kicked at an exposed root in the dirt. "I can barely leave the forest, let alone go galavanting with you around the world.”

Calypso jutted her chin forward, knowing she probably looked every bit as ridiculous as all those heroes who had made promises they could not keep. Still, she could not stop herself from saying, "So I will help you escape."

Juniper actually laughed. Calypso dropped the pose, a little offended. "What? You think I am not powerful enough? I am still a goddess, you know."

"I'm not laughing because you're a goddess; I'm laughing because I'm a dryad. There are millions out there in the world, why go through all the trouble for me? Do you have that few friends in this world?"

"I hardly think friends is the correct term."