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“Ody, why do you keep pushing me away?” Calypso whined as she clung to his arm, her head resting on his shoulder. He was trying to leave. After dinner, he only had a few hours before Calypso would pull him to bed. He wanted to spend it alone.
“I want to take a walk, clear my head a little.” For all the trouble his mouth has gotten him into over the years, he has finally learned how to control his words in the constant presence of a goddess. His words were the difference between him going to bed with just mental scars or new, physical ones as well.
Calypso pouted as though to show off her plump lips. They never held any allure to Odysseus. No matter how much she wanted it, he couldn’t find a single trait about her he wanted. “And you don’t want me with you?” she asked, as though the answer would ever be that he wanted to be by her side.
“I want to be alone,” he muttered, trying hard not to yank his arm from her own. She had showcased her raw, godly strength on several occasions, and he had long learned to never assume he could be stronger than her.
Calypso sighed, letting his arm slip from her hold. “Fine, but I don’t want you near the water, or running off too deep. I will find you no matter what, but I would prefer you stay safe.” He nodded. He had mostly given up on trying to kill himself, and as much as Calypso feared, he had yet to actually find anything dangerous in the woods. Calypso smiled at his obedience and leaned in to kiss him on the cheek. “Have fun my love, I will plan a great night for you.”
“I will see you,” he replied before walking off.
He did as she asked and stayed near the edges of the woods. He wanted to see the water, and Calypso’s request was better left answered. He stood at the edge, watching as the waves came and went, and wished he could go with them. He wanted to go home. He hated being stuck on an island with a lovesick goddess who believed he had grown to love her solely because he was broken.
He could count three instances in which he had fallen in love in life, and he was happy that Calypso wasn’t part of that list.
He became unhappy with the amount of ocean he could see from this point, and looked at the tree he was slightly leaning on. He pulled back from it and began to climb, settling in the branches before finding himself smiling at the new amount of ocean he could see at his newfound height. When was the last time he had even climbed a tree? Likely before he was crowned king.
“We’re on top of the world!” Polites shouted, his arms outstretched and almost hitting Odysseus. If Eurylochus were here, he would have said that they weren’t even in the tallest tree, but Odysseus liked Polites’ optimism. It had been the first time in a while that they had been alone. Odysseus was beginning to remember why it had been.
Polites leaned against Odysseus, rambling on about all the things he had done since they last saw each other, while Odysseus was trying to get his heart to stop beating so fast. He knew what he was feeling was wrong, but Polites was just so sweet. The way Polites would look at him and smile at him and simply be Polites, it was enough to hook Odysseus in, enough he almost didn’t want to escape from.
That was the last time he had climbed a tree. They were getting too old to be playing around like that, but Odysseus had a hard time saying no to Polites, back then especially when Polites made his head spin. His heart tugged a little as he remembered his dead friend, but he wanted to dwell on the memories. There wasn’t only Polites’ death, there was the life they had lived by each other’s sides as well. It had been so long since he allowed himself to remember Polites before his death, and now, he had as much time as needed to think about him. He could allow himself time to think about his first love.
Odysseus smiled at the memory. It had been a difficult one to deal with for a very long time, but with Penelope’s help he had learned that he didn’t need to shun the part of him that loved men. Of course, Penelope would always be his most loved, but he knew better than to deny himself now. He didn’t have enough joys to deny himself anymore.
Polites looked over at him and smiled, ridding Odysseus of any chance to calm his rapidly beating heart. “Let’s do this again someday. I love spending time with you alone, and up here, it feels like we’re hidden from the world.” Were Polites a woman, this would be the moment Odysseus leaned in and kissed him, promising to take him as a bride when they became old enough. Yet that was not something their genders allowed, and he wasn’t sure if Polites was as tainted as him.
Odysseus often wondered if there was something more to those words, and then chastised himself for doing so. There was no point anymore. They never climbed trees together again, and would never have the chance. Perhaps there was something in the endless kindness, or the closeness Polites had with Odysseus that he didn’t have with Eurylochus despite the way they all grew up together, and Odysseus would never get to know. He wouldn’t want to know anymore, he had Penelope, and would never get to have Polites even if their feelings had been shared.
There had been many instances beyond their time in trees that had Odysseus wondering if there was more to what they had. Despite how he didn’t want to get lost in what ifs, there was always what was.
Every time Odysseus glanced back, Polites was staring at him. Odysseus tried not to look back too often, for he didn’t want Polites to see the way his cheeks flushed red. As far as he knew, this strange attraction he felt for Polites was dirty and cruel, not something someone sweet and almost innocent as Polites should be pulled into.
“You are my greatest friend, you know,” Polites answered as Odysseus swung a sword at a dummy. Athena had high hopes for him, and perhaps doing his training with a pretty boy around wasn’t the wisest choice.
“You are my greatest friend as well,” he replied, voice low. His mind was everywhere but where it needed to be at the moment.
“Not Eurylochus?” Polites asked curiously.
Odysseus looked over to where Eurylochus and Ctemine were. They were smiling and laughing together, ignoring the two others in favour of each other. “He is a good friend, but with how obsessed he is with my sister lately, I do not think I could call him my greatest.”
Polites glanced over at the lovebirds himself. "Do you think they will get married?" he asked.
Polites was far more observant than most gave him credit for. That was why he kept his open arms mindset, he was always seeing everything, and that meant every little place to find joy and kindness. Years later, when the two announced their engagement, Polites was the first one to sat he called it.
Odysseus grimaced. "I don't want to think about my sister getting married." He wanted her to stay his little sister for longer, he wasn't ready for her to be someone's wife. "Besides, I'm older. I should get married first."
Polites stood up and joined his side. He leaned forward, arms behind his back. "Is there somebody you wish to marry?"
Had Odysseus been able to go back, and just see what could have happened, he would want to know what would have happened if he answered truthfully. At the end of the day, he would always want Penelope, but he would be lying if he said that he hadn't wondered what could have been before.
"No," he answered, trying not to look Polites in the eye. "Ithaca's women don't interest me." He hadn't even known women interested him at the time.
Polites hummed and stared at him for a moment before speaking. "I don't think I'll ever get married, it's too difficult for me."
Odysseus tilted his head. "You're ruling it out this early?" he asked. He kind of liked the idea, the both of them being eternal bachelors. As a king, it wouldn't be possible for him, but it was a nice dream.
"Yeah," he answered. He was smiling, but his voice was solemn. "I just don't think it will work with my future. I don't plan to let a woman woo me any time soon anyways." Polites' grin became wider. "But if I'm not married, it just means I have more time for you.”
That was the closest there ever was to a love confession between the two, the closest they could ever get. Odysseus had wondered if it could have gone further, if he were just less shamed for his feelings.
He brushed the thought out of his head with a sigh. He had once loved Polites, and that was enough. He had gotten to experience a soft, curious love that helped him as a young boy. It was a love he would never share with Calypso, and he was glad of that.
“Ody? Where are you? I put new sheets on our bed,” Calypso called from below. Odysseus grumbled and wondered if he could get away with hiding for much longer before sighing. He couldn’t deny her, she would just make it his problem in the end.
“I’m up here,” he called back, causing Calypso to look up.
Calypso gasped. “What are you doing up there? You could get hurt!” She reached up her arms, urging Odysseus to climb into them. “I will make sure you don’t get hurt, worry not.”
Odysseus sighed and jumped into her arms. Despite how minor of a goddess she was, she was still far taller than mortal women, making it easy to catch him. Polites had tried to catch him once, and they both ended up on the ground in pain. As Calypso placed him down and guided him back to her bed, he knew she would never be someone he loved.
-
“Oh Ody, I love that your hair is growing. You look so handsome when you let me braid it,” Calypso cooed as she placed a flower into the braid she was making. He liked his hair, as his wife had, but Calypso always knew how to ruin the things he liked.
“Your hair is very pretty,” Odysseus had told Penelope on one of their first meetings. This was what he was waiting for, a woman who made his heart beat faster, who made him want to spend his life with her. The moment he laid eyes on Penelope, he felt complete, and he only wanted more.
She looked at him with a tilted head, but there was still a small smile on her face. “Thank you?” she responded. With how skilled he typically was at words, Penelope made him struggle. Still, her response was enough.
“Yes, you’re welcome,” he answered. He stood there in front of her. How does one get a wife? He should have thought this through before he went up and complimented her, but he just wanted her to know.
She untitled her head and laughed. “I think your hair is very pretty as well,” she complimented back.
His face flushed red and his hand went up to touch the tips of his hair. “I, thank you. I have been growing it out.” It had mostly been because he was stressed and busy and didn’t have time to get it cut, but it was certainly going to be a choice from now on.
Penelope had loved his hair since then, and took many opportunities to touch and play with it. There was an instance where she had braided a small braid into his hair, and he had kept it for as long as he could. It felt special back then, like she was sharing her love with him in a different way than the hundreds of ways she already had. Calypso braiding his hair felt far different. He truly felt like her doll, one of the ones he made for Telemachus, so eager to be a father he wanted to be prepared no matter what gender he ended up as. He wonders if he had ever played with it despite his gender. “You like it when I braid your hair, don’t you?” she asked, her voice dangerously soft. It was often this way when there was only one correct answer, when a dismissal could lead to her showing how immortal goddesses trained their husbands.
“I do,” he answered, with no interest in his voice. One of the greatest things about Calypso was how her loneliness kept her unaware of tone shifts. She seemed to only understand her own, as though gods were separated from mortals in that aspect as well.
He remembers his ‘I do’s with Penelope, and how he guided her back to their marriage bed for the first time after that night. He showed her the bed he had carved himself. “It’s embedded into the tree, to show how unmovable our love is.”
Penelope looked like was about to cry from joy. She had been rather proud of the makeup she had on that day, so she attempted to stop herself from crying by lightly poking fun at the act. “You could uproot it.” There was a smile on her face and an amazement in her voice, which just made Odysseus chuckle at the words.
“But I won’t. The day I uproot our bed is the day I grow to hate you, and how could I ever hate you?” He would rather die than ever uproot the tree, destroy their love.
Penelope chuckled. “Well, we’re married now, you have time to learn about everything undesirable about me.” The idea of learning even more about her, becoming so entwined in her life, made him giddy. He loved her so much, and he took her to bed right then and there.
Calypso giggled from behind him, breaking him out of his memory. “I know you do. I know you are mortal, and that you feel so inclined by mortal morals, but we have time to wait now, I can teach you that becoming like a god and ditching them is much better.” Odysseus grimaced silently. He had seen how little the gods cared about anything, and he did not want to join them.
“I do not wish to become like a god,” he muttered. He had seen far too much of gods, and he would rather be able to grow old with Penelope.
“Sometimes I do wonder how you started courting my cousin and ended courting me,” Penelope stated one day as she did her weaving. “Most men could not look past her beauty, so how did you?” Penelope had never been shy about her looks, even compared to her cousin’s. Still, there was an ever growing curiosity about everything with her, so questions like these were bound to be asked at some point.
“Looks shall fade one day, I much prefer an intelligent mind,” Odysseus answered. Not to say his wife wasn’t beautiful, she was, but her mind was somehow even greater than her beauty.
“You don’t think I can age gracefully?” Penelope teased. For all his skill with words, Penelope was always the first to unravel them. He spent so many years trying to hide every facet of himself behind lies and charm, Odysseus couldn’t help but swoon at someone who saw through every one.
“That is not what I said,” Odysseus answered accusationally, although there was a smile on his face. “I simply know that one day you will be considered less beautiful by others, but a mind only gets better with age.”
Penelope hummed in response, closing her eyes for a few moments before opening them and speaking again. “You say by others, does that mean you plan to find me just as beautiful? And what if you are wrong?”
Odysseus kneeled before her and kissed her hand. “I do not believe it is possible to be wrong when it comes to your beauty, but I shall love you anyway. No matter what, I shall always love you more than the world.”
Calypso pouted behind him. “Our children will be half god, and you shall see that it is much better when we raise them.”
It was a good thing she had never taken with child over the years she had hurt him, he did not want to know how she would force their family to act.
As hands threaded through his hair, he remembered Penelope’s pregnancy, or rather pregnancies. Years of love had grown into something so many times, and yet they failed to create full life time after time again.
“Am I doing something wrong?” Penelope had muttered, tears streaming down her face after the doctor told them the fetus was dead. He held her tight, mourning the child they didn’t get to meet. It had happened five times before this, and yet it never stopped hurting.
“You did everything perfectly,” he answered her. “The fates know what they are doing, we will create a family together one day.” He would defy the gods if that’s what it took to get one.
Penelope had come into his life soon after his interest in Polites faded, and he had thought she had fixed him. She was the smartest woman he had ever met, and had she asked for him to steal Olympus from the gods he would have done so for her, so if all she asked for was a family, he wanted to give one to her. The fates would relent to their trying eventually.
“Once you are ready to accept ditching your wife, we can wed, and I will give you as many children as you want. I know you miss Telemachus, so we can name our first son after him, and if you truly miss your wife that much, I am willing to name our first daughter Penelope,” Calypso explained, finishing the braid she was making.
He never wanted to have a family with her. Penelope was his family, Telemachus was his family, and he only had room in his heart for them. After all the pain he had been through, they were what he had worked so hard to live for.
Penelope held their child in her arms. After eight years of attempt, they finally had a child to call their own. “His name will be Telemachus,” she had spoken as soon as she saw him.
“Any name spoken by you is one the gods themselves will sing,” Odysseus replied, gazing down at the bundle of joy. They had a son, living and breathing and in their arms. He wouldn’t let anyone take him away from this.
“We can be a family, the three of us together,” Penelope spoke, a smile on her face. “Nothing can get between us anymore.”
He wished his wife’s words were true, but he spent the last twenty years mourning the fact they weren’t. So soon after they had gotten what they wished for, their family had been torn apart by the war. He had opened his heart again, fell in love with the woman he knew he wanted to spend his life with, and created a family, and a kingdom with her. He felt love so strong he wanted to create, rather than just destroy as men were raised to do. He had created life, and memories, and love, and he had to throw it all away just to be stuck on an island with a goddess who he hated.
The love he held for Penelope was one that urged growth and creation, one that consumed you entirely. Calypso’s love only knew how to destroy, and he would destroy her by not loving her.
Calypso stood from behind him, pulling him up. “Why don’t we walk by the shore?” she asked, although she had already decided there was no other answer. “I’ll hold your hand so you don’t run off again and try to drown.”
Odysseus nodded, hating the feeling of his hair braided. He wished he had a way to cut it off, but Calypso didn’t allow him near sharp objects anymore. He just reminded himself this Penelope loved him with long hair, and allowed himself to be pulled along by Calypso. She would never have proper domesticity from him. She would never have the love that came from creating a life together, and overcoming pain to get what you both want. Calypso only ever knew what she wanted.
-
“Mmm, I’m sorry I’m feeling so tired today, but I would just like to cuddle. I’ll make it up to you tomorrow,” Calypso hummed as she held him tightly. He was given a night of rest from the worst of her affections. It wasn’t much, but it was so rare that he silently celebrated.
“You don’t have to, I will be fine.” He didn’t even want to think about what she would do to ‘apologise’ for not forcing herself on him for a night. A true apology would be never touching him again and allowing him to go home.
Calypso whined. “But I want to make it up to you, I love you after all.” This wasn’t love. This was far from love. “Does your wife not apologise? This is why you should forget her, and marry me. I apologise.” Calypso quite certainly didn’t apologise.
“Penelope has never upset me,” he answered defensively before tensing. He shouldn't have argued that point.
He awaited Calypso's response, as she had gone quiet. He hoped that since she was too tired for sex, she was also too tired for punishing him. It would still happen, just at a later date. Eventually, she did speak. “But does that still not show that I am better?” she asked. “Your relationship with her would simply fall apart if you argued with her. Yet here I am, knowing how to make it all up to you.”
He knew Calypso was wrong, but he had overstepped so much this night. “I don’t understand you at times.” He tried to keep his voice soft, in hopes that it would come out as confusion rather than an insult.
Calypso hummed again, not upset at his answer. “It’s okay Ody. We have an eternity to get to know each other. One day you will learn that love is pain.”
Odysseus knew love was pain far too well. He had lost Polites before his eyes, and had been yearning to get back to Penelope for twenty years at this point. He missed, and yearned, and wanted, and turmoiled for love that he no longer had by his side. Memories fell into his head again. He had done all that for love that was by his side as well.
He had never planned to fall in love after Penelope, hadn’t wanted to either. It made no sense for him to fall in love when he had the perfect woman in front of him, and he had long been ‘fixed’ of his attraction to men. Then the war came, and he was being faced with more issues than he ever expected to.
“If you fall in love, I will not blame you,” Penelope spoke against his chest as the day for him to leave came closer and closer.
“I doubt I will be beside many women during the war, and certainly none that are half as amazing as you,” Odysseus answered. Penelope was all he needed, and he didn’t plan for the year or so apart to change that.
Penelope sighed. “I will change my wording. I want you to fall in love while you are off at war.”
Odysseus looked at her in shock and confusion. “You want me to take a mistress while I am off at war?” He wasn’t sure how to respond. He didn’t want another woman, but he didn’t want to say no to Penelope either.
“No. I should state everything at once, shouldn’t I?” she asked. Odysseus nodded. He would hear his wife out. “I want you to fall in love with a man while at war,” she stated as though that was a regular ask for one's husband.
“If it were a woman, I would at least think about it, but I cannot fall in love with a man,” Odysseus argued. “You fixed me, I no longer wish to have a man as a woman would.”
Penelope frowned at him. “I did not fix you, there was nothing to be fixed. This is why I want you to fall in love with a man while you are gone, so you can accept that your love for man is as much a part of you as your love for woman.”
He did not believe her. There was nothing to accept. Still, he loved Penelope more than life, and if she asked him to do something… “I’ll try,” he answered, delighting in the small smile that graced her lips. “Anything else I must know?”
“I would prefer you didn’t do anything more than fall in love, but if you get attached enough, bring him home to me and I will decide if I am willing to share,” she answered quickly. She had clearly thought about this extensively. How long had this thought been in her mind?
“I doubt I will get attached enough to bring someone home, and even if I did, I doubt you would choose to share when faced with the option.” He knew Penelope well, and she would say no.
Penelope chuckled. “Perhaps, but if you want to, the option is there.” Her face turned softer in the dark, barely visible. “I want to help you here, so thank you for letting me.”
He didn’t believe he could be helped, but when Penelope was so believing that he could be, he couldn’t say no to her. “Thank you for believing in me,” he whispered.
“See Ody, you’re smiling. I know fighting me is easy, but you will accept me and my love one day,” Calypso cooed. He had to try not to immediately wipe the smile off his face. He would never smile at Calypso’s actions, smiles were for people you cared for and loved. Every action he did was for love that existed or once existed. He knew what it was like to fight the love he had.
He hadn’t meant to fulfill Penelope’s wish. He truly did believe himself to be cured of whatever made him attracted to men, but then Diomedes entered his life. The younger man was ruthless in battle, but had a softness for Odysseus that took far too long to pin down as attraction.
“You stare, Odysseus,” Diomedes stated as they rested in their tent.
“You do the same,” he argued. He had caught Diomedes' eyes on him more times than he could count, and he swore that one day he would simply slit his throat while he slept and Odysseus would never wake up again. Diomedes creeped him out.
Diomedes chuckled at his words. “Yes, I do.” Diomedes believed he had no reason to fear Odysseus. “But I have my reasons for staring, and you speak of your wife enough that you don’t have the same reason.”
Odysseus narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean by having reasons, and what does Penelope have against me having the same?” His relationship with Diomedes had never been easy, but perhaps had he not asked that question, it wouldn’t have changed.
Diomedes leaned back and had an odd smile on his face. “Many would say I have a woman’s heart.” The wording had confused Odysseus at first, as Diomedes was far from womanly, but he added onto his words quickly. “While men my age are typically interested in bedding ladies and finding a wife, I would much rather bed someone of the other half of the population.” Diomedes leaned on his arms. “Preferably, I would bed you.”
“Why have you gone so quiet?” Calypso asked. “If I’m not able to bed you, I would at least like to talk to you a little.” He hated it when Calypso whined. He hated everything she did, but whining like she wasn’t getting more than she deserved infuriated him.
“I have a lot on my mind,” he answered. It hadn’t been too long since he faced the fact he did indeed like men, and that was something he couldn’t change or fix, but it had been a while since he faced why exactly he had come to accept being attracted to men.
Ever since Diomedes stated that, he paid a lot more attention to him. He was far from the first man in this war to love men like they should women, everyone knew of Achilles and Patroclus’ bond, but it was different when Odysseus had stuffed down opinions he shared with Diomedes for years.
It was obvious now that he knew. The agreements, the praise, the touch that lasted just a little too long. It was never that much too long, just enough to make Odysseus incredibly aware of it. It was as though Diomedes knew there was something beneath his exterior. He didn’t like being figured out.
There was a lot he didn’t like about this situation. For the first time in years, he felt the budding of attraction grow. He never planned to fall in love with anyone but Penelope, and much less a man. Whether he wanted to or not, he had done what she asked, and he would be left with the consequences over the long war.
“You can tell me anything, you know,” Calypso stated, running her hand over his back.
“You can tell me anything, you know,” Diomedes stated, far too close to him. He always had a habit of pressing his bedroll up as close as he could get it to Odysseus’, maybe a way to mimic sharing a bed.
“What made you think we are close?” Odysseus asked. The shared feelings between them that went unspoken from Odysseus’ side made it feel difficult to talk with the younger king. He wished he did only love women.
Diomedes laughed. “We are by each other’s sides more often than not, aren’t we? I would like to think we are close.” He was right, they spent far too much time together.
“That means nothing,” Odysseus argued. He just wanted to sleep.
“But it could mean something,” Diomedes whispered. Odysseus stared at him, narrowing his eyes and urging him to speak again. “I see the way you look at me, and it doesn’t have to stay just looks. I get what it’s like to be expected to marry, but you can chase what you want as well. I don’t mind being a secret, I’ve kept enough of my own.”
He had confessed to Odysseus before, but this time it was different. It was a chance to actually take it. Odysseus thought about how to respond. He knew the only option he wanted to take was rejection, but there was so much he had to say.
“I did not marry because I was expected to,” he stated, making Diomedes frown. “And I don’t plan to cheat on my wife just because I have fallen in love again.” There was something so strange about admitting he was in love with another man out loud. It was freeing, but it also hurt.
Diomedes tilted his head. “I must ask you to repeat yourself. Are you attracted to men or women?” He didn’t blame him for being confused, Odysseus had been confused by his own nature as well.
“I believe I can love both. Aphrodite has blessed me with a heart that loves like both a woman and a man.” He wouldn’t quite call it a blessing, but he had no true reason to be mad at Aphrodite.
Diomedes laughed bitterly. “Found such an interesting man, but of course it had to be one that loved his wife more than his own temptations.” He didn’t seem to take it too badly. “Well, if that changes, I am right here.”
There was still love between them, but it was never spoken of again. It was that love that made Odysseus realise that love made you learn about yourself, and that it wasn’t easy.
“I think you are wrong about love being pain,” he dared to speak. It was dangerous, but he was tired, and memories made him idiotic.
Calypso cocked her head. “And why would you say that?” she urged. This should be where he backtracks, and says it was no big deal, but he has known far too much of love, far more than Calypso does.
“Because I know what love is.” Calypso looked at him, eyes curious and on the brink of dangerous. “Love is soft and curious, making you want to discover and hide at the same time. It’s creation and memories, it makes you want more and more until you get enough, but it will never be enough. It makes you learn, forces you to, about yourself. It isn’t easy, but it is not pain.” Love was so many things, and it could be painful, but that is not what love should be.
Calypso hesitated for a moment before softly smiling. “Is that what you feel for me?” she asked, her voice giddy. Odysseus looked away, and he could hear her smile fade. She sighed. “I should know that you are a slow learner by now.”
The night was silent from then on, and Odysseus was left to wonder why Calypso never punished him for his words.
-
“Is this really how things are going to end? You get a chance to leave and you decide I am not worth it, that all my attempts to make you love me will just wither away into history!?” Calypso screamed, tears streaming down her face. Odysseus was trying to get the few belongings he had onto the raft he made, but it was difficult with a goddess crying at you.
“I’m sorry,” he lied. “But I must return to my wife and son, they have been waiting for me for twenty years, and I miss them so dearly.” He could imagine Penelope so clearly in his mind, and while she would certainly be older, she would have only become more beautiful. He had very little idea of what Telemachus would look like at this age, but he hoped that he took after his mother. He could almost imagine them next to each other.
Calypso sniffled as she stood in the sand, frowning at him. “And what of me? Will you miss me when you are gone? We have spent seven years together, surely that means something to you.” It meant he was escaping his tormentor.
“I will not miss you,” he said truthfully. Lying was what he knew well, for once in seven years, he was allowed to be truthful. “I will be joyful as I leave. I will not miss you, and I do not love you.”
Tears streamed down her face far quicker now. “You are a cruel man, Odysseus,” she claimed. “I just wanted to love you, I did love you, and yet you never loved me back. Do you want me to stay alone forever, suffering more than ever knowing what I wanted was ripped from my hands?” Her voice was pained, yet Odysseus did not care.
“I do,” he answered. “If it were up to me, you would suffer mortal consequences and be in pain eternally, but for you are a goddess, I know against everything in my heart you will be happy one day, and you will get what you wish. I just hope that what I have told you will make you inflict less pain on the next person who crosses your path.”
Calypso sobbed and stomped like a child having a tantrum. “I hate you! Why! Why can I not be the one you love, the one you wish to stay with and have no bad happen!?”
Odysseus placed the last of his items on the raft, standing on it and turning to face Calypso. “You are not Polites, my first love, nor Penelope, my greatest love, nor Diomedes, my regretful love. You are not someone I love at all. You are my most hated person, and should your immortality ever be stripped from you, I hope you rot in Tartarus for how you have pained me.”
Odysseus pushed off from the shore, Calypso’s sobs fading behind him. For all the love he has experienced in life, he has experienced so much hate as well.