#laïs

When Elpis’ father began searching for a husband for her, Thales worked tirelessly to save money for her dowry. Just before her father made his choice, Thales pleaded for Elpis’s hand–offering to pay the dowry himself. Though her family disapproved, their persistence and sincerity, coupled with the money, eventually swayed her father. Still, he disowned Elpis, taking the dowry for himself, "If she wishes to be foolish, she will bear the burden alone."

They built a modest home, Thales with his shoemaking, and Elpis with her weaving. When they were steady, they decided to try for a child. But before their daughter was born, Thales was sent to fight in the First Peloponnesian War. He never came home.

Elpis refused to marry again. When she was driven from her house, she found refuge with her old friend Korrina, a priestess of Artemis. Elpis kept Korrina’s household, and sold her weaving, while Korrina tended the temple.

Laïs grew up among priestesses of Artemis, where Elpis taught her to shoot a bow, and raised her to be independent, unafraid of knowledge or truth. She spoke openly about her brief but happy marriage and the rarity of such joy. She warned Laïs of the dangers faced by women, and of the dream she once shared with Thales–a world without masters or slaves, without war or domination. Moved by her mother’s ideals, Laïs swore never to marry, a vow that brought Elpis immeasurable relief.

Laïs didn't become a woman, at least in the way others expected. She did not bleed, nor did her body change in all the way others’ did. Elpis worried, but Korrina soothed her. “Artemis made you as you are,” she told Laïs. "A maiden of the goddess.”

When Laïs was seventeen, she returned home from her duties in the temple to hear a man’s voice inside–low, angry, insisting her mother was selfish, that she had turned her back on a better world. Elpis’s voice rose in defiance. Then came the struggle. The crash. Laïs slipped inside just in time to see her mother fall to his sword. The man turned toward her, and in the faint light, smiled. A bracelet slipped from his wrist to the floor. She picked it up and ran.

She went to Korrina and, shaking, Laïs told her everything. Filled with grief and anger, she swore to kill the man. Korrina explained to her that Elpis had been hounded by some dangerous and mysterious people for some time now. "If you stay,” Korrina said, “they will find you too.” If Laïs sought justice, she would need to grow stronger first. Korrina gave her drachmae, a bow and quiver, and passage off Lesbos.

Laïs left Lesbos behind. She lived by her bow, surviving from hunt to hunt, never staying long. Some took her for a mercenary, others for a wanderer. Along the way, she met a veteran who had fought beside her father; he gave her Thales’s old sword. It wasn't a soldiers' sword, but maybe it was all the worthier for it.

A year after leaving Mytilene, Laïs reached Athens. There she met Herodotus, who took her under his wing and coaxed her story out of her. In Athens, Laïs grew even more withdrawn–the birthplace of democracy offered little freedom. The brightest minds of the Greek World were said to convene at Perikles’s house, but all she saw were men, getting drunk on wine served by slaves, refusing to call her by her name.

Terys Lavellan

And the crown, it weighs heavy 'Til it's banging on my eyelids Retreating in covers and closing the curtains One thing's for certain, oh A year like this passes so strangely Somewhere between sorrow and bliss

Oh, who decides from where up high? I couldn't say "I need more time" Oh, grant that I can stay the night Or one more day inside this life

And

The stars, the moon, they have all been blown out You left me in the dark No dawn, no day, I'm always in this twilight In the shadow of your heart And in the dark, I can hear your heartbeat I tried to find the sound But then it stopped, and I was in the darkness So darkness I became

(...)

I took the stars from our eyes, and then I made a map And knew that somehow I could find my way back Then I heard your heart beating, you were in the darkness too So I stayed in the darkness with you

Fennas Lavellan

There beneath the willow tree I learned a lot about the way of things I learned that everything (the wind, the leaves) has breath inside They were pointing ever east To see the ever-turning aeon cease Their wills were ever bent on waiting with all their might

I know (I know) I know this There is beauty in the way of things

And

A girl wields a blade For justice and truth A girl will be paid A girl is a wolf

Little Wolf Little Wolf You're not nameless You're a Princess

Laïs of Lesbos

I'm always running from something I push it back, but it keeps on coming And being clever never got me very far Because it's all in my head "You're too sensitive," they said I said, "Okay, but let's discuss this at the hospital"

As it picks me up, puts me down Picks me up, puts me down Picks me up, it puts me down A hundred times a day Picks me up, puts me down Chews me up, spits me out It picks me up, puts me down

But I hear the music, I feel the beat And for a moment, when I'm dancing, I am free I hear the music, I feel the beat And for a moment, when I'm dancing I am free I am free

Is this how it is? Is this how it's always been? To exist in the face of suffering and death And somehow still keep singing?

And

I know we got some problems Yeah, I know we got some hangups I'm not trying to make excuses I'm just trying to put some meaning to the Struggles that we’re currently Going through with currency Going through with family It's finally like we're finally saying They own this town Maybe that's why we get no ground We could go, if we don't it's a pity 'cause I could tell you it'll change but it never does They own this town Maybe that's why we get knocked down We could leave in the morning and go all night Take a train to the coast, get a new life

(...) It's coming, the moment we waited for so long We have it, we're on it, we'll have it, I promise

Branwen of the Hidden Ones

I've never been one for goodbyes So, 'till I meet you there, I'm singing A traveling song to ease the ride And so you know, everywhere I roam I'll see you on the road, ooh-ooh Oh, I take it in vain All the plans and moves that we made Half a heart is aching to grow Soulmates aren't just lovers, you know? I know, I know Your eyes are the rain, just a soul that's changin' in shape I'll be laughin' all of the way Thinkin' 'bout the days, oh

And

I run in the night A shadow, I hunt I'll kill the dark with beacons Of light, of light