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Gyalisteri and Teucer were a young and happily married couple. Gyalisteri, being the mortal daughter of Hephaestus, would sometimes let off metal in the form of liquid in place of the usual salty water when a mortal sweats or cries. There was but one small problem in this marriage, and surprisingly, it wasn’t related to Gyalisteri’s divine heritage. Some years ago, when Teucer was just a young lad, he had been sent by his father, King Telamon of Salamis, to court the daughter of Zeus himself: Helen of Sparta. Now for courting you would have had to have agreed to a marriage contract with Helen; and by doing this Teucer now was legally bound to go fight for Helen if anything were to happen to her.
One fateful day, a messenger ran up at hill to Gyalisteri and Teucer’s grand palace. “Teucer, Teucer! War has broken out,” the messenger shouted, chest heaving from the climb.
Tired from the days work in the fields, Teucer irritatedly yelled back. “What is it, messenger boy?”
The messenger explained everything and how their king and commander in chief Agamemnon had sent out his men to collect all the men who has signed the marriage contract to Helen, As well as the reason war had broken out; Helen had been kidnapped by the prince of Troy: Paris…With the help of the goddess of love Aphrodite. Teucer wasn’t at all surprised that Paris would need help with a simple kidnapping, that boy couldn’t do anything by himself, could he?
Teucer groaned, “Paris stole Helen? As in Paris the pretty wife stealer,” He said exasperated, rubbing a a hand over his temples, as if the pure thought of that lazy ass gave him a headache.
“Yes!” The messenger confirmed, waving his hands wildly.
Teucer walked back up into his wife’s, Gyalisteri’s, room, his feet dragging heavily behind him.
“Gyalisteri, dearest! I have some…Unfortunate news,” He called out, like child fessing up to drawing on a wall.
“Hmm? What is it my dear,” Gyalisteri said looking concerned at her husband's tiresome state.
“There has been war declared, I am afraid I must leave you to go fight,” Teucer said shutting his eyes tightly waited with bated breath for Gyalisteri’s tears, but none came. “Gyalisteri? Are you okay my love,” Teucer questioned, desperately trying to make out his wife’s seemingly emotionless face.
She took a deep breath trying to calm her sorrow, but inside; something broke. “Yes, I am fine. When do you leave?” Gyalisteri said coolly, not in hate or anger, but in hopes of hiding her tears.
“Tomorrow.” Teucer replied quietly, trying to hide his own sorrow.
“I am sorry, I do not want to leave you, but you have to understand I have no choice, my brothers of war need me,” Teucer followed.
Gyalisteri sighed, her head hung, eyes downcast. “I understand, just…Promise me one more thing.”
“Of course, you know I’d do anything for you.” Teucer responded, wanting to know what his dearest could want.
Gyalisteri took a few short breathes her voice shaky. “Just promise, please don’t fall in love during the war, I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you, whether it be to another woman or to blade.”
Teucer’s heartbeat quickened “O-Of course my love I could never bare to think of leaving you,” he responded to quickly, not knowing why his dearest would have any reason to question his loyalty.
And with that Tuecer set off for war. Little did Gyalisteri know, that war would last ten years.
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After many lonesome years alone, Gyalisteri’s tears started to build up around her, with her godly heritage making itself known through her metal tears, but she would just shrug it off silently wondering why her tears were so heavy.
She wondered and wondered if her dear husband would finally come back to her safe and sound.
Then she heard a knock at the door presumably from a messenger as she did get a lot of mail from her friends and the Greek council, but she didn’t dare to get her hopes up.
She slowly opened the door and was greeted by the same messenger who had dared to take away her dear husband Tuecer.
“Hello…?” She said the shyness in her voice clear.
The messenger looked up at her out of breath and panting heavily from the hike up to her palace.
“I come with news of your husband.” He said with a profound sense of hope in his voice. Gyalisteri looked down at him completely missing the sound of hope in the messenger’s voice.
“Please don’t not tell me he has perished in the war. Please I beg it of you!” She cried, desperation in her voice.
The messenger looked at her and responded, “no no my lady he is on his way home now! Off with you, go get ready!” The messenger exclaimed excitedly, practically jumping.
Gyalisteri almost screamed with excitement for her husband's arrival home. Oh, how she missed her dear husband Teucer. After she had gotten ready, she heard Teucer’s footsteps and ran to the door.
“Teucer, Teucer your home my dear! Oh, how I have missed you,” She said practically throwing herself onto him showering him with kisses.
“Oh, how I have missed you to Gyalisteri, my beloved,” Teucer returned the kisses.
Gyalisteri pulled back for a moment studying his face. “Did you keep your promise?” She said tentatively, giving her husband a small smirk, more playful than accusatory.
“Yes of course my dear I could never even bear to have an affair…I’d rather die,” Teucer replied steadfastly.
Gyalisteri thanked him, giving another small peck on the cheek and went off to prepare a grand feast for the return of Teucer, king of Salamis.
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That night when Teucer went to fetch a pail of water from the river he caught a glimpse of something shiny, he figured it was a fish, so he set down the water pail and began to try to catch it with his nets, for dinner, his prized bow lying next to him.
“Ugh you stupid fish just get in the net already.” He grumbled to himself, his nose wrinkling in slight annoyance.
Suddenly a Naiad surfaced from the water. Tuecer thought it was the most beautiful woman he had ever laid his tired eyes upon.
“My gods you are the most beautiful creature I have ever seen,” He said blushing furiously.
The Naiad just chuckled, “how forward of you, my king,” She replied as if trying to get him to give chase to her.
“I am sorry I did not mean to offend-,”
He was cut off by the nymph
“No, no I do not mind, in fact I think I like it, and you can call me Leucoina,” she teased, drawing a finger against Teucer’s chest.
“My, my you’re just as muscled as the people say you are,” she followed.
“O-Of course, Leucoina,” He said the name rolling off his tongue like nectar on a hot summers day.
Without another word Leucoina slipped into the river. Lacking any thought of consequence, about his wife or his own mortality he dove into the river after her.
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Later that night Gyalisteri when had finished preparing the feast, went to find Teucer but to her surprise she could not find her husband anywhere, not in the bedroom nor the halls but nonetheless she kept looking. Eventually she found the river, it was a small embankment behind their castle.
“Teucer? Teucer? Where are you,” She called out only to be met with silence. Her eyes then laid on his bow, eyes welling up with silver tears like flood gates ready to open. “No please my Teucer you cannot leave me now,” She cried out not wanting to accept the cold truth that her dearest was gone.
Then her eyes laid on the nymph Leucoina. “You did this to him didn’t you,” She screamed, her grief for her husband all consuming.
The nymph cackled, cruel and heartless, and swam away, as Gyalisteri moved toward the riverbank. “He should’ve known better than to test a Naiad!”
Gyalisteri could do nothing but drag Teucer’s body ashore, her robes darkening from the water, but she couldn’t bear to move.
She cried over her dear Teucer’s dead body her tears mixed with the river water growing heavier and heavier till she could no longer move.
Now completely encased the metal prison of her own making, the river water combined with her metal tears flowing over the two lovers, and today you can still see Gyalisteri and Tuecer in Salamis, Greece. Still holding each other, but never to be together again in sprit.