159. Eurus Was Waiting
Eurus Was Waiting
High on the mountaintop
she sat, playing a flute,
a whistling song
that the wind danced to.
When she saw us climbing
toward her, she stopped.
She reached down to help Styx
and smiled at Zelus in Pallas’s arms
‘A new little one,’ she breathed.
‘He is beautiful.’
Zelus, his eyes blown open,
grasped Eurus’s finger
as she caressed his soft cheek.
Amber-eyed like his father,
and green-haired like his mother,
he was already alert to the world.
‘Where do you wish to go?’
Eurus asked us.
None of us spoke for some time.
In the end it was Perses who answered,
‘Oceanus’s palace.’
I looked at him,
his mouth was set
in a grim line.
‘We should go to my father’s home,’
I told him, my voice soft
but determined.
‘No,’ Perses disagreed.
‘We must warn Oceanus.’
I considered Metis,
her role in all this.
Her promise to us.
‘Give Metis time to speak to Zeus,’
I said, and Styx and Leto agreed.
‘If you tell Oceanus now,
he will react poorly
and it is Metis who will pay
the ultimate price for this.’
Perses did not answer,
and with a jolt, I realized
he believed Metis
should be punished
for her actions here.
But he did not say it.
Looking at my face,
he softened and acquiesced.
‘We will give her time.
But once we hear from her,
we must do what is right
by our own kind.
The older Titans must know
of the storm coming toward us all.’