<img src="https://i.ibb.co/VVRzRLF/1.jpg"; width="439" height="366" alt="YEUF" >
//Sing to me, Muse//
[[Of the girl turned Gorgon->M1]]i. There are days where you feel you are not a girl but the ocean(click:"ocean")+(t8n:"dissolve")[ - relentless, unfixed, and uncertain].
(click:"relentless, unfixed, and uncertain")+(t8n:"dissolve")[Most days, you wish to be the shore.]
(click:"shore")+(t8n:"dissolve")[You envy the devotion that land has. How steadfast and loving must a person be to plant their roots in one place and call it home.]
(click:"home")+(t8n:"dissolve")[You wouldn't know how that felt until [[she->M2]] came along.]A group of children would duel with twigs under the apricot trees every afternoon and I would watch them, dutiful as a worshipper to the altar.
[[Athena A1P2]]ii. It's a warm spring evening.
You keep the curtains drawn open to let the light in, drizzle honey over figs, and then a miracle happens.
(click:"a miracle happens")+(t8n:"dissolve")[Her fingers rapt gently against your door, and all is [[different->M3]].] v. Your dawns -
(click:"dawns")[//She braids your hair one morning in a field of violets, tutting gently over the strands that kept falling over your eyes.
"Greener than the Aegean sea." She'd told you with that lopsided grin you'd come to adore. You snorted, telling her to leave the poetry to Apollo. She shoved your shoulder and you snickered.
As her fingers placed petals between carefully crossed locks, you marveled at her hands. How those same hands had fought and ended wars, and how then, by some miracle you will never comprehend, they were there with you, gentle and radiant.
When she finished, she came around to crouch before you and cupped your cheeks. She turned your face side-to-side.
"Beautiful." She told you.
"I know." You said, as though she had just told you the sky was blue.
Her nose scrunched and she pinched yours. "I was referring to my work, silly girl."
But you just grinned, for you both knew she was lying.//]
And your dusks -
(click:"dusks")[//Some nights you found yourselves back at your table. Often, with a bottle of wine and poetry.
Once, you'd found yourselves lying on the floor - your head to her chest, her cheek to the crown of your head, and a book in her hands.
She complained over the larger-than-life metaphors sprinkled in the stanzas, slurring over men that loved too loud and fiery.
"Isn't that a good thing?" You looked up at her. "Would you prefer a quiet love instead? I imagine it'd be cold and dull."
She shook her head. "Just because it's quiet doesn't mean it's cold. A forest fire, a candlelight, a glowing coal - they all burn, do they not?"
And her words stirred something deep within you.
"That's true." You conceded, your voice hushed.
Silence fell over you.
Her fingers came up to run through your hair.
When she kissed you, it was anything but cold.//]
bled with her colours.
(click:"bled with her colours")+(t8n:"dissolve")[It was inevitable you'd fall for her.] (click:"inevitable")+(t8n:"dissolve")[And it was a shame you couldn't love her louder before it all [[washed away.->M6]]]You enter her life on a whim, choosing her home solely for the peony bushes surrounding it.
She opens the door and double takes at the sight of you. (click:"the sight of you")[You’ve had a good day so far and are merciful by donning your true form. You don’t regret it, charmed by her panicked yelp and the reddening of her cheeks.]
“My Goddess,” She bows her head, “Do come in.”
Something in the way she hums as she cuts fruit for you stirs something deep within you.
[[Athena A1P3]]I have read the books, and heard birdsong and poetry dripping off the tongues of bards like spilt starlight, but none of their lyrics could sway me.
And then she came along — light-footed, clumsy, and tenderhearted in her girlhood — and I have yet to find a word as gentle and warm as her name.
This pressing ache in my chest is a puzzling stranger(click:"was a puzzling strager"), yet I exhale and bend under the weight of desire anchored between her body and mine. My spine throbs, my ribs splinter. I should have known from the turn of her lips the first time I saw her, she would be my undoing.Aphrodite’s lips, petal-soft, blossomed in a knowing smile only sisters could possess.
“Do yourself a favour." She said, "Shed yourself of the armour and artifice, and for once, let yourself live as the mortals do.”
I scoffed. "Foolishly?"
She shook her head. "Defiantly."
//
"Just because it's quiet doesn't mean it's cold. A glowing coal, a candlelight, a forest fire - do they not burn all the same?"
A moment of silence passed between us. When the corners of her eyes crinkled in triumph, I sighed.
"And here I was thinking I was the wise one."
[[Athena A1P5]]But the Fates are cruel mistresses, and this was not in their design.vi. She's at a tribunal when Poseidon finds you, alone in the temple, as you wait for her.
(click:"Poseidon")+(t8n:"dissolve")[He tells you //'you are beautiful'// and by the prickle of your skin, you know it to be a threat.]
(click:"threat")+(t8n:"dissolve")[When he looks at you, he is not loving you; he is coaxing his cattle.](click:"cattle")+(t8n:"dissolve")[ As his hands cradle the back of your neck, (text-style: "shudder")[you shudder], limp and heavy-boned as a lamb to the slaughter.]
(click:"slaughter")+(t8n:"dissolve")[//Little girl,// his lips tell you as they graze over yours, //I promise to be tender.//]
(click:"I promise to be tender.")[(text-style:"shudder")[[[But you make no such claims.->M601]]]]She presses her forehead against mine, and I sway —
for even bruised peaches have sweet nectar, and monsters deserve to dance.So I inhaled deeply, as though I were tethered to the earth by her breaths alone —
for even Goddesses are frail beings, and wise women deserve to be foolish.viii. You're forced to leave your life behind, a monstress in the eyes of men.
You find a cave to dwell on your own, and while you feel lonely sometimes, you are never truly alone.
(click:"alone")+(t8n:"dissolve")[She visits. In dreams, in omens, and on miraculous nights, in the flesh.]
(click:"in the flesh")+(t8n:"dissolve")[You can no longer set your eyes on her, but you could recognize the sound of her footsteps from miles away.]
(click:"her")+(t8n:"dissolve")[When she comes, you close your eyes, wait for the scent of orange blossoms and the feel of her arms around you.]
(click:"close your eyes")+(t8n:"dissolve")[You hold each other, and let the cooling hymn of night wash over you].
(click:"hymn of night")+(t8n:"dissolve")[It's dark, and should a weary traveller stumble into this crook of the world you'd chipped out for yourselves, he'd see just the outlines of two girls and their tangled limbs.](click:"two girls")[ In a kinder world, that is all that you are.]
(click:"In a kinder world")+(t8n:"dissolve")[Somewhere, a dove unfurls its wings and takes flight.
Somewhere —
 You are (text-style: "strike")[a Gorgon with sharp fangs] just a girl with a soft throat,
 she is (text-style: "strike")[a Goddess with a sharp tongue] just a girl with a sweet voice,
 and you are (text-style: "strike")[all the makings of a tragedy] just fools who fell, like ripe fruit from the branch, for each other.
Somewhere, you are just human (click:"just human")[and you are allowed to love as loud as an unfettered howl].]As his hands cradle the back of your neck, (text-style: "shudder")[you shudder](click-replace:"shudder")[tense], limp and heavy-boned as a lamb to the slaughter(click-replace:"limp and heavy-boned as a lamb to the slaughter")[careful and carnivorous as a cat before the pounce].
(click:"the pounce")[When his fingers trail down your chest, you clutch his hand and utter a prayer.]
(click:"prayer")+(t8n:"dissolve")[//Let my nails be needles,//]
(click:"Let my nails be needles,")+(t8n:"dissolve")[//my throat a siren,//]
(click:"my throat a siren,")+(t8n:"dissolve")[//and my eyes twin daggers, unflinching in their strikes.//]
(click:"strikes")+(t8n:"dissolve")[You know how this goes. It's a tale as old as time.]
(click:"You know how this goes.")+(t8n:"dissolve")[[[So you steel your gaze->M602]] and let your fingers sink into his flesh.]I would take the rise and fall of her chest beneath my cheek and the pulse of her heart over all the other sounds in the world.
For just that one moment, I allowed myself to be a fool and closed my eyes, wishing for that evening to stretch into eternity. iii. She needs no introduction.
You've seen her face a hundred times in omens, in dreams, in temples(click:"in omens, in dreams, in temples")+(t8n:"dissolve")[, and now in the flesh].
(click:"flesh")+(t8n:"dissolve")[You can tell by the shine of her eyes and the high rise of her cheekbones that she is divinity,](click:"eyes")+(t8n:"dissolve")[ yet you're not quite sure what to make of her.]
(click:"what to make of her")+(t8n:"dissolve")[She smells of orange blossoms and cedarwood. She holds a spear at her side and has a garland of clumsily tied dandelions atop her head. Her presence seems larger than life, yet she stands only half an inch taller than you.]
(click:"only")+(t8n:"dissolve")[You didn't think Goddesses could look so human.]
(click:"look")+(t8n:"dissolve")[Her eyes sweep over you] (click:"over you")+(t8n:"dissolve")[//(You resist the urge to clench yours shut)//.]
(click:"shut")+(t8n:"dissolve")["Pardon the intrusion." The rasp of her voice brings a tingle up your spine. "I've walked too long and need a place to rest. Would you mind if I join you?"]
(click:"Would you mind if I join you?")+(t8n:"dissolve")[[[//How were you to say no?//->M4]]]iv. When she sits at your table, you bring her a loaf of bread, a bottle of wine, and a bashful apology for she is so much and you have so little.
(click:"you have so little")+(t8n:"dissolve")[She says she doesn't mind](click:"mind")+(t8n:"dissolve")[, but you slide over the honeyed figs for good measure and she smiles as though you've offered her ambrosia.]
(click:"smiles")+(t8n:"dissolve")[She makes herself comfortable, sighing as she stretches lightly and gestures toward the chair across from her.]
(click:"chair")+(t8n:"dissolve")[You sit](click:"You sit")+(t8n:"dissolve")[, and the two of you drink](click:"the two of you drink")+(t8n:"dissolve")[, lick honey from your fingertips](click:"fingertips")+(t8n:"dissolve")[, and she sinks into her seat. She tells you about the little girls she'd watched beneath the apricot trees this afternoon.]
(click:"the little girls")+(t8n:"dissolve")[ How they duelled, with bare feet and tangled hair, using twigs for swords and baskets for shields.]
(click:"bare feet and tangled hair")+(t8n:"dissolve")[ How her heart fluttered at the sight of them, unremittingly scrappy and unafraid.]
(click:"unafraid")+(t8n:"dissolve")[ How they laid their eyes on her and challenged her with the bravery of lions.]
(click:"bravery")+(t8n:"dissolve")[ How she obliged, pirouetting around their strikes, and found victory in the gentle //thwack!// of a twig against their foreheads or a light jab at their soft bellies.]
(click:"victory")+(t8n:"dissolve")[ How their laughter rang as they fell to the grass.]
(click:"laughter")+(t8n:"dissolve")[How they insisted on rewarding her and tied stems with their dirt-caked fingers, placing a yellow crown upon her head.]
(click:"dirt-caked fingers")+(t8n:"dissolve")[ How they clapped and sang for her,]
(click:"sang")+(t8n:"dissolve")[and how she loved them and their wildnerness more than anything in the world.]
(click:"she loved them")+(t8n:"dissolve")[She tells you how she'll aid them - swap their twigs for spears when they grow older, grant them wisdom and strength in all their endeavours, and show the world that little girls are the makings of legends too.]
(click:"makings of legends")+(t8n:"dissolve")[You feel a thrum in your bones at the affection laced in her voice.]
(click:"thrum")+(t8n:"dissolve")[Perhaps it's the wine, but you muster up the courage to ask, "And what of the little girls who grew up? The ones that wish to be wild again?"]
(click:"wish to be wild again")+(t8n:"dissolve")[She smiles. "They can rest assured they'll have my favour as well." She swishes her glass and something warm and bright flashes in her eyes. "Why do you ask, Medusa? Do you wish to follow me?"]
(click:"Do you wish to follow me?")+(t8n:"dissolve")[And as soon as the words flutter past her lips, there's not a doubt in your mind.] (click:"not a doubt")+(t8n:"dissolve")["To the ends of the Earth, Goddess."]
(click:"To the ends of the Earth, Goddess.")+(t8n:"dissolve")["Then it's settled." She raises her glass in a toast, "To legendary little girls and the wildest and wisest of women!"]
(click:"raises her glass")+(t8n:"dissolve")[You raise yours in return but before you allow them to click together, you ask, "And what of the boys?"]
(click:"the boys")+(t8n:"dissolve")[She scoffs, "What of them? They only cause strife."]
(click:"What of them?")+(t8n:"dissolve")[And perhaps it's the wine, the matter-of-factness with which she says it, or the way the space between her brows crease as she does, but sparkled laughter bubbles up your throat. "Yes, they're quite troublesome, aren't they? Better off without them, I'd say."]
(click:"sparkled laughter")+(t8n:"dissolve")[She snickers. "Now //that// deserves a toast."]
(click:"that deserves a toast")+(t8n:"dissolve")[So you let your glasses touch and grin, feeling as though you could slay giants. You spend the rest of that evening with her, giggly, winedrunk, and honeymouthed in the golden light.]
(click:"giggly, winedrunk, and honeymouthed")+(t8n:"dissolve")[You knew that fateful day that you would follow her until the soles of your feet were red and raw and peeling. Your footfalls would sound at her shadows [[the rest of your life.-> M5]]]vii. She found you as a seashell (click:"seashell")+(t8n:"dissolve")[//(for the waters receded, but the sound of him will forever crash within you)// ]and fell to her knees.
(click:"knees")+(t8n:"dissolve")[//"My sweet girl, I'm so sorry."// She cried, gathering you in her arms.]
(click:"sorry")+(t8n:"dissolve")[You buried your face in her neck and sobbed.]
(click:"sobbed")+(t8n:"dissolve")[You stayed that way awhile.]
(click:"awhile")+(t8n:"dissolve")[Until finally, you asked her. //"Did you hear me?"//]
(click:"hear")+(t8n:"dissolve")[She pulled back slightly. //"What?"//]
(click:"What?")+(t8n:"dissolve")[//"My prayer, Athena."//]
(click:"prayer")+(t8n:"dissolve")[Her body stiffened.]
(click:"stiffened")+(t8n:"dissolve")[You gathered the strength to offer a wobbly smile. "I'd like you to answer it."]
(click:"answer it")+(t8n:"dissolve")[//"It will come at a cost."//]
(click:"cost")+(t8n:"dissolve")["Please." You pressed your forehead against hers. "Do it for me. I wish to be wild once more. I wish to be untamable to men like him."]
(click:"wild")+(t8n:"dissolve")[And because she loved you, she did not hesitate.]
(click:"hesitate")+(t8n:"dissolve")[She closed her eyes, teary as they were, and took your face in her hands. A warm glow flooded your chest and flowed through your bloodstream.]
(click:"glow")+(t8n:"dissolve")[//Your nails turned to needles//]
(click:"needles")+(t8n:"dissolve")[//Your throat, a siren//]
(click:"siren")+(t8n:"dissolve")[//And your eyes, unflinching daggers//]
(click:"daggers")+(t8n:"dissolve")[Your head bent forward, your hair dragged down, and hissing seeped into your ears.]
(click:"hissing")+(t8n:"dissolve")[A crown of serpents was placed upon you, and you felt [[free->M8]].]When the lungs are flooded with water, the body coughs(click:"the body")+(t8n:"dissolve")[, strong and resilient].
(click:"strong and resilient")+(t8n:"dissolve")[So you fought.]
(click:"fought")+(t8n:"dissolve")[His hands reached out]
(click:"reached out")+(t8n:"dissolve")[You raised your fists]
(click:"raised")+(t8n:"dissolve")[He shushed your voice]
(click:"shushed")+(t8n:"dissolve")[A scream tore your throat]
(click:"scream")+(t8n:"dissolve")[You thrashed]
(click:"You thrashed")+(t8n:"dissolve")[and you thrashed]
(click:"and you thrashed")+(t8n:"dissolve")[and you thrashed.]
(click:"and you thrashed.")+(t8n:"dissolve")[Although the waves eventually crashed over you,]
(click:"crash")+(t8n:"dissolve")[You fought, and stayed afloat until you'd washed up on the [[shore->M7]].]