#mazes.

𝒜 𝓉𝒽𝓇𝑒𝒶𝒹 𝒾𝓈 𝒷𝑒𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓁𝒾𝓃𝓀𝑒𝒹 𝓉𝑜 @riotingvines

Maybe she should have been more careful of the words she used when she spoke of her deal with Theseus. 

When she had said “take me away with you”, she had meant it literally. For him to take with her on his ship. Nothing more, nothing less. On the other hand, it seems that when Theseus heard “take me away with you”, he had interpreted it as her suggesting something more romantic between the both of them. 

How does one break it to another that you are not interested in spending your life with someone? Especially when it is with someone who you just met? 

She hears about wanting to start a family with her. How his parents are going to fall in love with her as soon as they see her, just like how he saw her the first time. That their children are going to grow up well and adjusted in the castle he plans to have for the whole family. A life of comfort, safety and happiness guaranteed for her as soon as they reach his hometown. 

For someone who was interested in spending his life with her, he certainly did not take into consideration the feelings and the thoughts of the person he wanted to be in all of this planning of his. 

She tried to get a word in but it was only met with Theseus cutting her off and adding on layers after layers of their imagined marriage together. If she does squeeze a sentence in his rambles, he would brush it off and say that it is just the nerves of meeting his parents that is making her think of the worst when everything is going to be great, he promise. Just when she thought she had left behind a difficult man to live with, it looks like she is now going to be dealing with another one. It seems that it is predetermined as her fate to deal with difficult men throughout her life. Oh joy.  

Enough is enough. If he was not going to hear what she has to say, then she will just have to show him. She always did better with her actions than her words. 

Hiking up the bottom of her chiton, she takes in a deep breath before she jumps overboard into the deep sea, leaving behind a speechless Theseus at what she had done. She resurfaces to the top after a few moments, pushing her hair out of her face as she locks eyes with Theseus. He looks at her stunned, probably thinking to himself what was it that he had said or done that made her do something so bold. If he had wanted to retrieve her, he was too late. In the time he remained standing there looking at her, the ship was far ahead of where she was in order to turn back for her. 

She waits until the ship is completely out of her sight before she takes in her surroundings, trying to figure out where she could possibly be. To make matters worse, there seems to be no nearby island around here as well.

Maybe she should have ensured that there was a place for her to go before she had jumped into the waters. She would just have to swim, for as long as she could with the energy she still has left, choosing a random direction before she begins swimming under the night sky. 

She lost track of how long she swam. She knows that it must be long enough for her to see the break of dawn in the horizon, crawling up the huge rocks that rests on the shores of the island she has found before sitting on the largest one and trying to regain her breath. She squeezes the water out from her dress, having half the mind of stripping herself out of it before considering that there may be other inhabitants on the island. She does not think that they would appreciate a naked woman on their land.  

“You have been very disappointing to me throughout my whole life but it would be nice right now for one of you gods out there to give a little assistance right now.”

Great, she has started talking to herself and it has only been five minutes since she has been here. 

“I need a break.” 

She really does. Especially as she turns to look back at the waters, she could see a woman slowly emerging out of the waters, sighing as she slaps her hand to her face. And of course the woman has to be ridiculously beautiful and dry despite coming from the waters. Wouldn’t be a true god otherwise if there is no unrealistic beauty, right? 

“For the love of Astrals, tell me that you are at least able to offer me a shelter. If not, I am not interested in any proposition you may have for me, thanks.” 

Their family was destined for greatness, her father would say. How could they not when they had the legacy of the almighty Zeus from his side and of Helios from her mother’s? Looking at her father, she could very well see how he was the son of Zeus. It is unfortunate, though, that her father had inherited the less than desirable traits from Zeus. Maybe she was asking for a little too much. After all: Zeus was never known for his intelligence, was he? Nor was he any decent to begin with. The way she sees it, the universe had to make do with what they can salvage to create a man far more dignified and refined. To that, she thinks that the universe was hoping for a little too much as the end result is utterly disappointing. 

For starters, they could have given her father more wits than her grandfather ever possessed. Anybody in their right minds would know better than to play a gamble with the gods. You would think being the son of Zeus, her father would be aware of the power the brothers of Zeus wields. How he has everything to lose challenging or testing a god while a god has everything to gain from anyone who dares defy them. Clearly, her father thought that being the son of Zeus would have been enough to overcome whatever consequence when he made that deal with Poseidon: make him the king of Crete by sending a bull from the depths of the sea and in return, it is promised that the bull would be sacrificed to the sea god. 

Her father did not twice to go back on his word with Poseidon as soon as the creature emerges on the shore, keeping the bull and sending a different one instead as a sacrifice once he was crowned king. The punishment of her father’s actions were immediate once Poseidon realises he was taken for a fool. Before she knew it, there was a raging bull running loose on their land, refusing to be tamed by anyone as it went on its rampage with the wranglers following closely to bring it into its pen. Watching a wild animal kicking and ramming its head into those who dare approach it was still an easy sight for her to digest, even with the occasional bruising and blood she sees the wranglers suffer from their attempts of caging the animal in. 

What was difficult for her, however, was to witness how her mother fell into a deep, insatiable lust for the bull. Whatever concoctions or rituals that were done in hopes of releasing her mother from the spell she was in proved pointless. Ariadne knew her mother was too far gone to be rescued when it reached to the unthinkable: an architect being brought in to design something that would allow her mother to have intercourse with the bull. It is not an image she would like to imagine her mother in but she has to admit that she was impressed by the mechanics of the contraception once it was done and even more at the fact that it actually works when she sees the loopy smile her mother would wear everytime she would peddle back from the pen.

She knows the lust was caused by Poseidon but sometimes, she wonders if there would come a point either way in the future that her mother would have resorted to extreme lengths such as this one in order to grant herself the pleasure she has been seeking but was never fulfilled despite having the status most women would have dreamed for. It must bruise her father’s pride a little to know that even an animal can make his wife feel more pleasure and joy than he ever could. 

So she finds it a perfect insult to the injury when her mother became pregnant by the bull and would later on give birth to a son. A son with a human body and a bull’s head, who would later be well known by the name Minotaur. Her father may have called him an atrocity but to the rest of the family, he was Asterion, the newest son in the family and her half-brother. 

“I do not think the people here like me very much.” 

Well, the better question would be, is there ever a time where the people in the castle ever approved or liked anyone? Not counting the times they are sucking up to her father and nodding to his every word in hopes of rising the ranks and getting better living conditions, of course. However, she hears the clear resignation in her brother’s voice and knows that this was one of those times where it would be better for her to be serious than to be a jokester. 

“People will love you. People will hate you. And none of it will have anything to do with you.”

“Do you not dislike me in the slightest bit?”

“I have no reason to.”

“But I am different.”

“Certainly. It is not every day that you see a boy with an animal’s head and a human’s body. Though, that is still not enough reason for me to find faults with you. The people who do mess with you for being different, they are fools. Cowards. For they are afraid to accept that there is still more about the world that they do not know of or understand, they resort to violence and vulgarities to deal with their insecurities instead of seeing it as opportunities to better understand and connect with the world.” 

“Are you not ashamed of me?” 

She lets out a snort at that, something she was sure that her etiquette teacher would be lecturing her about for being so unladylike. She could not help it. She thinks it is cute that he would think that she would be ashamed of him when their father exists. 

“No. If anyone brings shame to the family, it would be father above anyone else. You are going to have to do a lot, and I do mean a lot, to have me be embarrassed by you. Father has set a high standard for his incompetency. I assure you, you or anyone else would not be dethroning him anytime soon for that.”

She turns her head to see a smile on Asterion’s face. Or at least, what she thinks is a smile. It is rather hard to tell what expressions Asterion has, what with his animal head. 

“Thank you.”

“If anyone dares to lay a hand on you or treats you roughly, do let me know. You may have the head of a bull but I am the one who possesses the strength and the stubborness of a bull. It is advisable that people do not mess with you.”

“Give me some land to grow flowers.” She gives it some thought before she adds on. “As far from here as possible and where nobody else knows. A place with full exposure to the sun.” She knows it was a little silly to ask for land when as far as she was concerned, everybody here did whatever they wished. So she was sure that if she decided to go to some vacant spot of land and claim it her own, nobody would bat an eye at her about that. 

Especially, with her connection to him and in general, their love for him. 

But it only felt right to ask nonetheless, the formality in her that comes with being royalty never truly left her despite her departure from the castle. She has gathered all the things she would need over time. Now all she needs is the land.

It took about a week until she was told that he found just the place for her. She gives a nod as her thanks and grabs her sack, before she stops by the door, looking over her shoulder. 

“I hope you know that you are not welcomed to the garden.” 

He may have gotten her the land and it may be under his name but it is her land now. Her escape and her safe haven. 

And now, she will add pride and joy to what the garden means to her.

Dusting off the dirt on her hands on her dress without much care, she admires her proudest work of them all after the months she had spent: the asters. They were in full bloom and growing exactly like she had hoped for them to, gently running her fingers across the pale purple petals as she quietly spoke. 

“Such a pretty one you are. You are as pretty as I last remembered you to be. Nobody back home could ever make me change my mind about your beauty. You looked nothing like what people knew of and you were thought to be a monster, but I knew your kind and tender soul the best and I loved you so dearly.”

Time may pass but she does not think it will get any easier to live through the days where she knew she was ultimately the cause of her brother’s death. Not being able to say a proper goodbye to him and reminding him in his final moments that none of the things that happened was ever his fault and to forgive her for being selfish.

“You may no longer be with me but I hope that I can at least remember you, have a part of you with me like this.”  

After numerous attempts have failed and she was on the verge of losing hope that she will ever be able to leave Crete for good, the perfect opportunity came to her as she witnesses the ships filled with the tributes to be given to Asterion. The opportunity came in the form of a man named Theseus. She has seen far more tributes than she would have liked over the years but she knew as she watched him disembark from the ship with many like him, she knew that he was different. There is strength and resilience to him that would make him the perfect candidate to win the maze. Along with being the perfect gate away for her to leave this hell finally, adjusting the veil over her head as she runs back to the castle before she gets discovered. 

It is a mix of timing, luck and patience that had allowed the thread to be in Theseus’s hands. He had been unsure in the beginning, suspicious of her true motives of helping him when she managed to get the both of them away from the eyes of others after the opening ceremony. She does not blame him: it is not everyday that you hear the princess wanting to assist someone from the clutches of death as set by the king. 

“Why are you helping me?”

“Take me with you. Promise to take me with you on your ship and your success is guaranteed by this thread. That is the only thing I ask in return.” 

He had promised her that he will do as she asks and she knows that he is capable of getting out of the maze in one piece taking his wits and his strength into account. However, that does not stop her nonetheless from worrying about the things that could go wrong, pacing back and forth on the shores as she waits for him. There is only so much she could have done on her end. The rest was up to Theseus. 

Her worries proved to be nothing when he came running to her, grabbing her hand and running alongside the others he had freed from the king’s cruel game as they board Theseus’s ship. Chaos was everywhere around them as she sees people frantically putting up the sails and pulling out the anchor to depart on their ship while in the distance, she could see the soldiers trying to salvage whatever that is left of their ships while awaiting orders from the panicking king on what to do.

It was not easy for her to make the decision of leaving. Not because the act of leaving was difficult but rather knowing what it would take for her to be able to leave: for Asterion to be slain. It is with a heavy heart to know that a family member has to suffer in order for her to be free but she likes to believe that with Asterion death’s, he would be free from the pain of his current existence and move on to a different life where he could truly be happy. He would no longer have to suffer under their father’s hands now that he is put to rest.

As the ship drifts off further and further away from Crete, she sees the kingdom that her father desperately wished to uphold was slowly crumbling down into nothing. She is not sad to see her home falling apart, regardless of the memories that were made and shared in those walls. She is not ashamed to know that she has crushed the dreams and the hard work her father has put to become a king and to hold his reign. She takes pride rather in knowing that with just the simple action of hers, she has ruined her father’s life in a night. 

She did tell him to mark her words, after all. 

“You caused quite the ruckus today, your highness.”

“If you lived in the castle, you would know that everyday, it seems that I am making a ruckus of some sort each day. It cannot be helped that people give me reason to do as such. I see news have travelled fast for it to reach to you.”

“What happens in the kingdom, never truly stays in the kingdom.” 

“That is because the court ladies never know when to stay silent.” 

“Just like how you never know when to stop getting yourself involved in things. It is both a strength and an undoing of yours, I would say.”

Touche. 

It is because that she knows that he is right that she lets out a huff, the laughter she hears beside her reminds her how she always seems to feel like a child whenever she talked with him. Maybe it came with the nature of his job or something he always had in him but Daidalos has the uncanny ability to analyse anything and be objective of it, to speak of both the good and the bad and not an ounce of bias in his words. She feels like an open book with him. She has found herself saying things she would normally kept to herself to him. Her resentment towards her father, how she misses the person her mother used to be. She wonders if the reason as to why is because it has been awhile since she has truly connected to someone. 

When you are royalty, it is hard to form a bond with someone when there are reminders of the disparity between the both of you at any moment. As such, people find it easier to avoid being around you that to make themselves upset when they witness or hear the great differences in the lives they live as compared to yours. If she had the choice, she would give up the crown and the riches to live a life of normalcy. It does not matter to her if she has to work long hours to earn enough to feed herself in a day or to live in a home smaller than the one she has grew up in for her whole life. Having a life outside of the castle is better than feeling like a prisoner in a big, empty and hollow home despite its grandiose. 

“I was mad and he needed to know that I was mad as he is the source of my anger.” 

She had walked into the throne room earlier in the day, disregarding the pleads from the advisors as she bursts into the room, a pail of water in her hands as she tosses it to her father. The gasps of the occupants in the room echoes into the hallways. Her father stands from his throne, ready to say a word when she interrupts him and keeps him silent for the entirety of her rant. In that moment, he should know that he was royally screwed. 

“How dare you? We have lost a family member and you think that the best way of grieving, to remember him, would be to engage in a war? Do you think this would be what Androgregos would have wanted? Because if you think that is so, then you clearly do not know your own children very well. He may have passed away in their land but the people are innocent and should not to be blamed for what had happened. You know that but you wish to push on with the invasion either way. For you refuse to accept that it is because of your greed, because of your selfishness, that the family is in the mess that we are in. The labyrinth that you asked Daidalos to create? The very maze that you wish to place Asterion in because you are ashamed to look into the living reminder of your mistakes? You will regret that you commanded Daidalos to do as such. You will regret treating Asterion the way you do. Mark my words. I will make sure of it.” 

A few hours has passed since then and while she has calmed down significantly, she is still resolute with what she plans to do. 

She walks up to the entrance of the maze, staring up at its sheer size. To think that something of this magnitude could be built in the span of a few months, to think that her brother would now have to live a life of solitude in here...

“Diadalos?” 

“Yes?”

“How much left of the maze is to be completed?”

“I would say since everything is going to plan and if it continues to do so, it would be completed in the next three days.” 

“Do you know the way out of the maze?” 

“My word, your highness. While I have walked through the maze in its sections throughout the process, I have not walked the maze in its entirety so I do not know the way out of it myself nor do I plan to step foot into the maze.”

“Then you shall be my witness.”

“What do you mean, your highness?” 

She turns to look back at him, her voice steady and firm as she says: 

“I will overcome this maze. I will memorise and know this maze better than anyone else.”

“Surely you are not suggesting...”