Chapter 4
Chapter
Four
CASSANDRA
She hadn’t been nearly alarmed enough when I’d told her Perseus had been set to sneak in and kill her. Instead, she walked with me up the mountainside to the village where I was welcomed as if this had truly been my home all along and I just didn’t know it yet.
I had some sewing skills, so I was set up beside the seamstress. They were an isolated bunch of humans mostly, but Medusa’s two sisters had a similar form to her and went on expeditions to nearby islands to trade, along with the oldest of their offspring.
It felt…surreal. I spent a day in the village. I slept in a real, proper bed. I chose fabric to replace my clothing. I told eager-eared villagers some mostly true tales about adventures. I ate well-aged goat cheese and drank wine with a full body and citrus notes.
Medusa did not return.
Halfway through my second day on the island, I turned to the village’s primary tailor, who was already working on my first set of robes, rocking in her chair as her needle dipped and wove in a quick, consistent pattern. “Why doesn’t Medusa have a home here, too?” I asked her.
“Oh.” She smiled at me like I was a child. “She’s different. She likes to be out there, ready to look after us. Says it’s her calling.”
“Who called her to it?”
There was a flicker the merest hint of a secret across the woman’s face.
“Why, she chose it.” She shook her head, smiling.
“No one makes Medusa do a thing she doesn’t want.
” I thought of her shock when I’d asked her to stay and eat with me.
“I know it’s a lot to get used to,” she began, and gave me another version of the talk I’d had a dozen times already.
You’ll get used to it. You’re welcome here.
I listened with half an ear. I’d seen the villagers incorporating her sisters and their children in their daily lives.
I’d even seen a man I presumed to be the father of one of those half-human children stroke the snake-like hair as it hissed.
And the parents around, they’d had that shared parent-smile.
The oh bless the poor little child, the poor tired parent sort of smile.
Gorgons were just part of life here.
But I wanted a specific Gorgon’s company. And, really, wasn’t it appropriate for me to pay my respects at the temple?