The Moon Goddess' Chosen

449 In Search of a Friend

Colours… simple things that are perceived by the eyes. A by-product of creation that turned out so fascinating. The gods surely had no reason to find meaning in colours and yet they did.

Blue… Aqua… Azure… The colour of the sky… the rarest colour of the moon.

This was the one. The colour she chose to create her beautiful lotuses. The same colour that rarely graced her beautiful palace.

The goddess cherished the time when her palace glowed a bright blue. It was a beautiful colour and that came with it a feeling of peace like no other.

Every time she set her eyes on her lotuses, she would finally be calm.

The earth and heavens had nothing to ask from her. The screaming voices of her vanquished titan brethren would cease their incessant cries in the back of her mind.

She was truly at peace here. She didn’t have to do anything but keep the moon going through its cycles. If she didn’t get it moving right, she would be visited by a few gods that wanted her to do her job the most.

The less attention she attracted from the gods, the better for her, lest she risks getting sliced up into pieces like one of her fallen titan brothers.

Bringing her nose to the incandescent blue petal of one of her moon lotuses, the treacherous thoughts settled at the back of her mind. She could rest in these lotuses for eternity if she was allowed to… but she had work to do.

.....

The moon was responsible for tidal waves and every once in a while, she got a request from the god of the sea. He claimed to want to bring down a few humans that had desecrated one of his shrines.

The woman didn’t really care what his reasons were. Humans had short lives anyway. If she could wipe out a few of them to have the god of the sea get off her back, that was nothing but a small task.

Selene stood from her garden and started the walk back into the Moon Palace. On her way out of the garden, her eyes fell upon the graceful shoulders of the goddess of the hunt.

Artemis was looking as regal as she always did. With a bow casually slung over her shoulders and a quiver full of arrows, the huntress was brimming with happiness. Selene smiled in return, “Welcome to the Moon Palace, Goddess Artemis.”

“No need to be so formal, Selene. We are friends, aren’t we?” the goddess replied. Selene wondered what it was that brought the goddess to the moon palace often but couldn’t find that reason and asking the goddess could only antagonise her.

And it was always better not to antagonise the goddess, “Very well, Artemis. It’s a pleasure to see you once again. With your busy schedule, I’m honoured you even come here at all.”

The goddess of the hunt smiled warmly, “I would rather be here than on Olympus.”

“What about with your sisters?”

“Don’t get me wrong. I like being in the company of my sisters but they respect me a little too much. I gave them immortality and a life of servitude to me. That alone makes them afraid to speak to me normally.

They always want to look their best in front of me. You, on the other hand, don’t even change one bit in my presence,” the woman said to her.

“Perhaps I don’t change because you haven’t blessed me with immortality just yet,” Selene replied with a smug smile.

“I’m appalled. That’s not all I’m good for Selene. Now, what are we doing today?” the goddess asked her with a giggle.

“I would have liked to continue tending to my garden like I usually do when I want to relax, but Lord Poseidon asked me to sink a few pirate ships in the Pacific at around this time,” the moon goddess replied, starting the walk to her palace.

“Seriously… again? How many times is my uncle going to keep making you run errands for him?” Artemis groaned, following the moon goddess’s lead.

“I would rather he didn’t involve me in anything else once all is said and done, honestly,” the moon goddess replied, “Tea?”

“Yes, please. I wouldn’t refuse tea from the best herbalist I know that will allow me to decide what sugar I take,” the huntress replied.

“I hope you don’t let your brother hear you say that,” Selene chuckled.

“Oh, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind. The man has enough time to perfect his looks and work on poems to sway the ladies. Speaking of which, has he ever made a move on you?”

“The god of poetry, archery, truth and prophecy… making a move on the goddess of the moon…”

“No, the god of the sun making a move on the goddess of the moon. I’m sure he would find that quite poetic, don’t you think,” Artemis swooned.

“I spend a long time running from the sun. It would be another incident of Daphne all over again. With him in the sun chariot and I in the Moon palace, it simply will never happen,” the woman sighed.

“Yeah, that might be true, but what about during an eclipse…” this caused Selene’s heart to skip a beat. It was true that for a moment every few decades, there was a time when the sun chariot would fly right over the moon palace, bathing it in its golden radiance and during that time, the god of the sun would pay Selene a visit, but the god of the sun had never once made a move on her.

“Are you recommending your brother all of a sudden?” the woman asked the huntress, narrowing her eyes at her.

“No, never… I wouldn’t wish anyone to suffer my brother’s antics. I was merely trying to pry out your love interest amongst the Olympians is all,” the huntress replied cheerfully.

“Hmm, I’ve never thought of the Olympians as love interests if I’m being honest with you.”

Artemis must have noticed her awkwardness when they spoke of the Olympians, “We aren’t all bad, you know.”

“I know that, Lady Artemis.”

“Then why are you being so formal with me?” she snapped, “You know what… I might have been wrong about all this. You’re just as afraid as my hunters are. And here I thought you would make a decent friend. What do you think of me, really?”

Selene had tried her best to keep from stepping on any land mines, but it was almost impossible with Artemis. She could sniff her stiffness like it was a gift.

It was almost impossible to speak to one of the Olympians without ticking them off in some way except for a few: Free spirits that didn’t really care.

How was Selene supposed to act normal around the goddess of the hunt though? Artemis was among the twelve most powerful beings in the Universe at the moment.

“Go on, tell me,” the goddess of the hunt yelled at her.

The fear Selene held for the Olympians began to resurface. She had one of them in her palace practically yelling at her. How long did she have before this goddess felt she was better off dead or worse, locked up in Tartarus like her shredded relative?

“Artemis… I-I’m not your enemy,” a statement Selene resorted to often, “And I’m not a battle goddess either. It’s only natural that I would be afraid of the beings that killed my brethren.”

“Oh? Given the chance, would you bring those brethren back?” Artemis argued.

“No, life wasn’t much better back then either. I prefer the life I have now, but… I’m still a titan. Nothing can change that. I’m bound to fear the beings that ended my brothers… they were powerful too, you know.”

“I wasn’t among the gods that brought down your brethren. I am the daughter of one of them… You know what… Forget it. I’m leaving…”

“Wait…”

‘What are you doing, Selene?’ the moon goddess mentally screamed when she watched the window of her freedom closing. She hadn’t even thought twice before calling the huntress back. ‘What are you thinking?’

The hunter stopped walking but didn’t turn back. Selene got a moment to breathe and gather her thoughts. This wasn’t the first time they were fighting but it was the first time it felt like Artemis wasn’t coming back.

Selene loved her life of solitude since it allowed her refuge from her dark past. The gods rarely had ‘friends’ and something within her still yearned for the companionship of a friend. This was her conclusion for why she’d stopped the huntress from leaving.

“Artemis… Why do you keep coming here? It confuses me. You’re the goddess of the hunt. One of the Lord of the Skies’ favourites. You’re surrounded by people that adore you… You have no reason to come to this empty place.”

This might have been the most sincere thing Artemis had ever heard the moon goddess saying. While Selene was always sincere, this was different from the rest. She said this without filtering her words to avoid ticking off the goddess. She was speaking what was on her mind for once.

The huntress turned back, “I come here because I’m in search of… a friend. A place where I don’t have to be Lady Artemis, goddess of the hunt. Somewhere I can just be me and have someone that knows me for who I am.

I’m not saying I’m not the goddess of the hunt because I am and I like that part of my life, but…” the huntress clenched her fist in frustration. Her explanation had stopped making sense even to herself long before she’d started talking.

Selene, however, knew what this woman was talking about. The gods lacked the companionship of someone that they could let their guard around. It was something almost impossible to find and when they did, they didn’t let go of that person. It didn’t matter if that person was a friend or a lover or a creature.

Lord Dionysus had found his fair lady Ariadne stranded on an island. While she was human and the god was one of the Great Twelve Olympians, the two of them were what the other needed. Lord Dionysus might have just been the one of the Great Twelve that Selene respected the most.

“I think I understand what you mean, Artemis,” the titan sighed, “Please do visit again.”

Selene flashed the huntress a genuine smile that reached her eyes.

The frustrated and guarded exterior of the goddess of the hunt shattered. Tears pricked her eyes and she fought to hide them from the goddess of the moon but when the moon goddess didn’t judge, she just let them flow. There was no shame in showing a little weakness around the kind titan, “Yeah, I’ll come again.”