111. ‘What Are the Moirai?’
‘What Are the Moirai?’
I asked this out of fear
and because I had never seen
Charon so serious.
Our friendship was made of
laughter and stories,
and to see him like this…
He reached across the table
and grasped my hand.
‘The Fates are dangerous,
Hekate. They answer to no one.
Promise me that you will never
talk to them again.’
His hand gripped mine hard
and I frowned at his words.
‘But what are they?’
‘They control the divine order.
Who lives, who dies.
They spin the threads
of all our lives.’
I was surprised by this,
‘Even the Gods?’
He nodded. ‘Even the Gods.
Even Ferryman Gods like me.’
Mentions of his divinity
always made him uncomfortable,
so he continued as though
he had not mentioned
his divine role at all.
‘They are above Gods,
men and monsters alike.
They sit next to Hades
in his palace so he can
keep a watchful eye on them.’
My frown deepened.
‘So because they answer to no one
they are dangerous?’
Charon shook his head.
‘They are more so
… unpredictable.’
Something about his words
made me draw my hand back.
It seemed to me
that anything unpredictable
was named dangerous
by Gods and men alike.
But the word ‘unpredictable’
seemed reserved
for women alone.
‘A woman they cannot control,
whether Goddess or mortal,
is a dangerous woman.’
My mother once told me this.
I was beginning to understand precisely
what she meant by those words.
But there was something else.
Something within Charon’s words.
If the Moirai were above Gods,
would they know every God
and mortal’s destiny
and what they were here for?