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‘You look pretty.’
Ariadne woke up when she heard the soft voice. ‘Phaedra? Is that you? Why aren’t you asleep…’ she quieted down when she saw a girl of about eight years old sitting at the edge of her bed. She was almost see-through. ‘Oh, hello.’
‘Hello. You look pretty.’
‘Thanks. So do you.’
The girl looked at herself. She shrugged. ‘I think you are prettier.’
‘That doesn’t mean you can’t be beautiful too. May I know what you are doing here in my room? It is already quite late.’
‘I just became like this,’ she softly said, ‘And I wanted to know what the palace looked like. I could see it from my house.’ She looked around for a moment. ‘I think it looks very nice.’
‘Yes, it sure does look nice.’
‘You fit here.’
Ariadne sighed. ‘I am not sure. You know, I always wondered what it was like on the outside of the palace. I have never seen it.’
‘Not?’ The girl looked surprised. ‘Like, never ever?’
‘Only a few glances from the windows.’ Ariadne smiled and looked at the ceiling. ‘I want to know what the sea looks like.’
‘The sea is so beautiful!’ The girl clapped her hands together. ‘I wish I could show it to you.’ She quickly glanced around the room again.
Ariadne sat up straight. ‘If you really want to see what it looks like, I can show you the palace,’ Ariadne offered. ‘I am currently the lady of the house, so I know where everything is. My father… eh… doesn’t really have a queen, at the moment.’
The girl nodded, understanding. She had heard the rumors about queen Pasiphae. She thought for a second. ‘I wonder what it would be like to be the boss of a household.’ She sighed. ‘I’ll see it now, when you show me!’
‘Are you really going to leave the island now?’
Ariadne looked up. It was the middle of the night, but it didn’t matter that Cora was here now. She wouldn’t be able to sleep anyway.
The ghost sat down on the bed next to her. Ariadne looked at her. ‘Yes. I have instructed him on what to do.’ Her facial expression got soft. ‘He has my clue and my fathers’ sword. He should have no trouble…’ she swallowed at the idea. ‘No trouble with Him. Then we’ll set sail, to Athens, and I'll be away from here.’
Cora gave a firm nod. ‘I think that will be good. Crete has a dark shadow over it. All the ghosts here are so sad. A lot of them died because…’ the girl swallowed. ‘Him,’ she whispered, before continuing: ‘I think it is better if you leave.’ She looked at the bed.
Ariadne gave her a sad smile. ‘I wish I could hug you goodbye.’
Cora smiled and put her arms around Ariadne. ‘I can hug you, though.’
‘Thanks, Cora.’
‘I liked being your friend, but I think you should be happy.’
Ariadne smiled. ‘Thanks. I think I love Theseus.’
‘He has your heart.’
Ariadne began to laugh, now. ‘Well, I am not sure about that.’
‘Still, you should get away if you can!’ Cora breathed in. ‘I’ll be fine.’
‘Take good care of yourself, Cora. I pray Hermes will find you soon.’
‘Ariadne?’
She pushed her bridal vail aside. ‘Cora!’
‘You look even more beautiful than before!’
‘Cora, how did you get here, so far away from Crete?’ Ariadne laughed. ‘Come. I can put flowers into your hair.’
Cora giggled. ‘I am a ghost, silly, you know that…’
‘No, look.’ Ariadne picked up a few flowers that grew beneath the tree. The forest was filled with light that day, so that the flowers seemed to glow. ‘Sit still.’
She began braiding the flowers into Cora’ hair, to her amazement. ‘I didn’t know you could do that!’
‘I couldn’t until now.’
Cora looked at her vail. ‘Is it because you got married?’
Ariadne snickered. ‘Sort off, yes.’
‘But, I heard Theseus didn’t marry you after all…’
Ariadne stopped moving for a second. ‘Well, no. That you heard about that...’
‘It was all the people on Crete spoke about for some time,’ Cora told her before shaking her head. ‘Anyway, who is it? Who has your heart now?’
Ariadne sighed. ‘It’s Dionysus.’
Cora jerked her head around, which made a flower Ariadne had put in fall out again. ‘The god?’
‘Yes.’
‘Why? I mean… good.’
‘Because he loves me, Cora. I have his heart, to put it in your words, and he has mine.’
Cora turned back. ‘You didn’t say that with the other guy.’
‘I think, deep inside I knew Theseus didn’t see me that way.’ No matter how much she loved her husband, it still stung a little.
Cora thought for a few seconds. ‘No-one ever told me you should be in love to marry,’ she said. ‘My mother said only love for your children mattered. I don’t think I could have loved someone like you love people.’
She felt Ariadne stop braiding for a second. ‘Well… it doesn’t happen often, when people are just told who they should marry. That’s why… I am happy I wasn’t. I still chose to go with Theseus, no matter what else happened.’
It was quiet for a moment. ‘I am happy I wasn’t told who I should marry either,’ Cora decided. She looked at the braid, which Ariadne hung over her shoulder. ‘Oh! It’s so beautiful!’ she cheered.
‘Yes, it turned out well,’ Ariadne agreed, a little taken aback by the girls words.
‘Cora?’
‘Ariadne!’ The girls mouth fell open. ‘Why are you here, in the Underworld?’
Ariadne slowly shook her head. ‘Well... All humans die some day.’
‘But you were married to a god!’
‘But I wasn’t immortal. Maybe… maybe if I had asked…’ Ariadne tried to stay calm, but it proved to be difficult. After a few seconds, the tears were streaming down her face. ‘Cora, I…’
The girl reached up and wiped a few tears away. ‘Don’t cry,’ she said. ‘It isn’t so bad here. The ghosts are friendly and Hades is a good king!’
‘I am sure you are right,’ Ariadne said, while trying not to cry. ‘I am sure you are.’
Cora looked around. ‘I… I can braid flowers into your hair,’ she offered. ‘Like you did for me that day.’
‘That was the last time I saw you on earth.’
‘Yes. After that, Hermes found me and led me down below. It was the first day away from Crete.’
‘How was that?’
‘It wasn’t so bad,’ she muttered, while she made Ariadne sit down and she gathered a few affodils, ‘As I said, it is peaceful here. You can stay with me.’
‘Yes,’ Ariadne said flatly.
After a few minutes of silence, Cora pulled Ariadnes’ hair a little too hard. ‘Ouch!’ Ariadne swallowed. ‘What is it that you are thinking off?’
‘Do you miss Dionysus?’
‘Yes,’ Ariadne quietly agreed, ‘I miss him.’
‘You didn’t miss the palace, when you left.’
‘No, I didn’t. I didn’t love that place. My heart wasn’t there.’
‘But it was with Dionysus?’
‘Yes.’
Cora nodded. ‘I glad you did find the person who had your heart,’ she said.
‘Where do you think your heart was?’ Ariadne asked.
She felt the girls’ hand tremble. ‘I don’t think it was anywhere, or anyone had it.’
‘Of course it was somewhere…’ While she said it, Ariadne figured the girl might be right. ‘Oh, Cora, I am so…’
‘It’s okay,’ she whispered, ‘It is strange when you first die, and you probably miss…’ She fell quiet, while she bound a flower into her hair.
‘Wait! Wait a moment.’
‘I something wrong?’
Ariadne kissed her husband. ‘I need to say goodbye to someone. Will that hurt? If it will, you must say it now, then I will come…’
‘No… no, it’s okay.’ Dionysus pushed some strands of hair out of her face. ‘You can say goodbye.’
Ariadne took a deep breath. She looked around. ‘Cora? Where are you?’
The girl appeared close to them. ‘Sorry, I hid when the surface fell,’ she told them.
Ariadne chuckled. ‘It’s okay now, I believe,’ she told Cora, with a look on her husband.
Cora nodded. ‘You’ll be going home now.’
‘Is it really home?’
‘It’s where your heart is.’
Ariadne hid her face behind a hand to hide a blush. Dionysus softly pushed it away. ‘That’s cute.’ She smiled.
Cora giggled. ‘You should go with him. I am happy here, I am with my friends.’
‘Those girls you met that are your age?’
‘Yes. But I’ve got one more thing to say.’ She took a deep breath. ‘You know, I have been thinking about where my own heart was, or is.’ She shrugged. ‘I don’t think it’s Crete, but I do know it was somewhere.’
‘Will you tell me, when you find out?’ Ariadne plucked an affodil and slid it into Cora’ hair.
‘But I can’t!’
‘In a dream,’ Ariadne explained. ‘You’ll know how to do it.’
Cora slowly nodded, a little more certain of herself. ‘Okay.’
Ariadne looked around the flowery meadow. She could feel the girl was here. ‘Cora?’
‘Ariadne!’ She came skipping towards her. She had colourful flowers in her hair. ‘Look…’
‘It’s gorgeous…’
‘I know! And I feel really gorgeous, too!’ She sighed a happy sigh. ‘I know now where my heart was. It was with you, but not the way you and your husband share it. Like you were my big sister.’
‘Was I a good big sister?’
Cora nodded. ‘Yes. Because you braided flowers into my hair, and showed me around the castle, and cared for me in the Underworld.’
‘How is it there?’
‘It is okay. We got many more friends.’ She began to blush. ‘And there is a boy I like.’
‘Do you want to give him your heart?’
Cora nodded. ‘Yes.’
‘Be careful.’
Cora snickered. ‘Yes.’ Her expression got more serious. ‘Will this be the last time I ever see you?’
Ariadne thought about it for a second. ‘Not if you visit me more.’
‘I will visit. I will visit very often.’
‘Then I’ll leave something on the altar for you sometimes.’
‘I like strawberries.’
‘Then it’ll be strawberries.’ Ariadne stroked her hair. ‘Sorry, you are probably too old for that.’
‘No.’ Cora laid a hand on Ariadne’s. ‘Never from you.’
Ariadne smiled. ‘I’ll see you again, Cora. Goodbye.’
‘Goodbye.’