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Ariadne let her hands glide over her skin. ‘It feels the same.’
‘Well, it is mostly the same,’ Dionysus answered.
She snickered. ‘But not entirely.’
‘You’ll get used to it. Immortality, I mean. There will be a bit of a crisis when you pass one-hundred, but as soon as you hit two-hundred, that’ll be over.’
‘Those are numbers I can’t phantom yet.’ Ariadne sighed. ‘I guess I really have to stay with you now.’
She didn’t expect to be met with silence. Dionysus looked uncomfortable. ‘About that… I…’
‘What is it?’ She placed her hand on his cheek, so that he had to look her in the eyes.
He sighed, a deep, pained sigh. ‘You can really go where-ever you want to, now. You… Sicily, right?’
Ariadne blinked. ‘You mean... you’re letting me go?’
He cringed. ‘If you want to put it that way...’
‘You’re the one who made me immortal. By all means, you could ask me to stay and I’d have to do it.’
‘But I shouldn’t ask that of you.’
She looked down. ‘No.’ She cupped his face in her hands. ‘I... think I’ll be taking the offer. I think that’s... the wisest thing to do, right now.’ She could see it hurt him. She might have done that a lot, the last years. That didn’t make it less true. ‘I’ll be going away, for some time. Think about all that happened. About… this.’ She pointed at herself.
‘I understand-’
‘You don’t have to.’ She wiped a tear away. ‘I can’t promise you I’ll return. But I hope I will.’ She gave him a kiss on the lips. ‘Best of luck, Dionysus. I feel like now I understand you, and you understand me.’
He pulled her closer. It might not have been a good idea to hug her, but he didn’t want to let the chance pass by either. ‘Goodbye.’
She didn’t want to let go of him. But sometimes, you didn’t have a choice. ‘Best of luck, Dionysus,’ she repeated, before she left.
-
‘Where’s Ariadne?’
Dionysus looked around when his sister walked into the clearing. ‘Ariadne left.’
‘She… what?’
‘Ariadne left. I told her she could go where-ever she wanted now, and she took the chance.’
Artemis mouth fell open. ‘What? She...’ The goddess closed her eyes. ‘I can’t say I blame her.’
Dionysus turned away. ‘Of course we can’t blame her.’
She sat down next to her brother. ‘What made you do it?’
‘Hm?’
‘What made you think this was the right choice?’
He slowly shrugged. ‘Over the last years, we talked a lot, even more so when she decided to stay with me for some time. She learned why we gods do some things that seem ridiculous to humans, and I realised why it seems so ridiculous to them. So, it felt like the only way to show her I really heard what she told me, was to…’
Artemis began to nod. ‘I… yes.’ she sighed. ‘Is she coming back?’
‘She said she couldn’t promise, but that she hoped so.’
‘...oh.’
‘Yeah.’
Artemis put an arm around her brothers’ shoulders as he began to sob. ‘You know, I… think she understands you did it because you love her.’
‘I did. And I do.’
‘I know. You made it quite clear.’
Through everything, he snickered.
‘At least she knows that.’
He nodded. ‘Yes.’ It didn’t make the tears stop.
Artemis sighed. ‘It’s okay. Just cry, for now.’
‘That’s what I always say to people.’
‘Clearly you need someone to tell you, for once.’
He did cry. Artemis tried to comfort him the best she could, but her eyes wandered to the starry sky, where she could see Corona Borealis shimmering. I hope Ariadne does come back, she thought to herself. I quite liked her company.