Brothers, Pt I

(Author's note: again, this is more of a prelude to the actual story I have in mind, which struck me like a bolt of lightning today. It just so happened to segue beautifully from a story idea I've had for ages, so I'm combining the two into the following...)

Once upon a time, there were three beautiful maidens with hair of shining gold. To say they were immortal would be stretching it a bit (in spite of their divine parentage) but they certainly weren’t quite mortal, either. The three sisters loved one another very much, and the eldest, Meddie, although by nature somewhat shy, was fiercely protective of the younger two, who were twins called Sthenie and Eurie.

The maidens, having been left to their own devices by their parents (god-monsters not generally being well-equipped to nurture), had entered in to service at the temple of a wise but temperamental goddess. The goddess was a sworn virgin, and she expected as much of her temple-maidens. This was not as great a burden on the girls as you might have thought- in large part because there were no men around to tempt them.

At least, no mortal men.

It just so happened that the temple was located not so far from a particularly lovely beach, and when the sisters had no other duties they enjoyed spending time there, walking the sands and splashing in the surf. On this particular afternoon, Meddie was alone, and so perhaps that is why events unfolded as they did.

“You’re Keto’s child, aren’t you?”

The voice was deep, beautiful, and absolutely resonated with power. It could only belong to a god. When Meddie turned she was surprised to see not the large and terrible form suggested by his voice, but a slim, handsome man just barely out of youth, with hair as golden as her own and even more tangled by the salt-spray. He gave her a charming smile, and her heart squeezed in her chest. She fell in love with him right then, and who can blame her? It is not every day the Earth Shaker gives his favor, especially to the daughter of a monster.

Even so, Meddie was a fairly sensible girl (oldest sisters often are) and she knew better than to fraternize with the higher gods. That way lays only heartache, and often destruction. She gave him a polite nod and tried to take her leave, but he would have none of it.

“Where are you going, daughter of Keto? Surely you can make time for your mother’s friend?”

“I have to go now,” she insisted. “I have duties at the temple.”

“But you’ll return?” he pleaded. “I will see you again?”

“I don’t know,” she said, trying to ignore the way her blood was surging towards him, strong and inevitable as the tide.

“I’ll see you again,” he drawled, but she turned and fled before he could say any more.

***

He did see her again, for in spite of all her best intentions she returned to the shore the next day, in the company of her sisters. He saw her, but she did not see him, for he did not appear while they were about. A full week passed without her seeing him, and Meddie began to grow ill with longing. She hated herself for the weakness, but could not help it, and when the moon shone full in her window that night, she slipped down to the sea, certain he would appear if she was alone.

When she reached the sand she found it glowing silver against the stark black and white of the surf- beautiful, but empty. She sunk to her knees, feeling more foolish than she had in many years.

“Why so sorrowful, golden one?”

She jerked her head up and there he was, still dripping with ocean water.

“Surely not for me? Why, just the other day you had no time for a salty sailor. Does your heart wax and wane with the moon, then? Is it now full of love for me?” She could not answer him, but her eyes never left his. She watched in silence as they grew dark as a storm-tossed sea, and he knelt beside her.

“You will come no further, will you? I must bridge this last span myself.” So saying, he leaned in and pressed his lips to hers. And in that moment, Meddie lost herself completely.

***

Meddie’s handsome god was sometimes called ‘the Tamer’, which implies that he knew a thing or two about coaxing shy wild things to do his bidding. Thus it was, as the months passed, he managed to become Meddie’s lover, and in the beginning they were very careful of where and when they had their trysts. Sthenie and Eurie were not blind to their sister’s sudden blossoming into joy however, and when they confronted her on it she confessed all to them. They thrilled at the forbidden romance, and volunteered their services as diversions, should Meddie need them. At first she was reluctant to involve them, but the Earth Shaker was delighted by their devotion, and took full advantage of their enthusiastic youthful wiles.

As one might have suspected, things could not continue this way forever. One day, perhaps six months into her relationship with her handsome god, Meddie and her sisters were bathing in the temple when their goddess appeared. She took one look at Meddie’s naked form, and rage clouded her pale grey eyes.

“What. Is. That.” She demanded, pointed at Meddie’s abdomen. The girls looked down, surprised. They could see nothing out of the ordinary- perhaps her belly was a little more rounded than usual, but surely that was nothing to upset the goddess!

Oh, but surely it was. For the goddess, while herself a virgin, was not unfamiliar with the ways of the world, and she knew full well what the swelling of a womb looked like, even a womb so recently filled as this one.

When she realized what Meddie had been up to, and that her sisters had been aiding her, her anger was what one might expect from a goddess of war. She demanded to know the father- but none of them would tell her.

“This is what I get for taking on the children of monsters!” she shrieked. “I was taken in by your fair forms and seeming innocence, but this is how you repay me? With whorish betrayal? Well never again shall you trick another deity as you have me!” So saying, she flung a curse at the twins, causing their bodies to become snake-like, their teeth to become fangs, and horns to curl down from their smooth temples. From their backs sprang forth wings, and the girls wept in terror.

“Stop!” yelled Meddie, throwing herself between the angry goddess and her targets. “Leave them be! Their only crime was their love for me! If you must punish someone, let it be me!”

“Oh you will be punished,” snarled the goddess, “but I shall not be as lenient towards you as I have to them! For all that I have given them shapes more befitting their treacherous natures, I have let them keep their immortality. You, however- I vow you will die butchered like the monster you are! In the meantime, never again shall you use your face or your hair to seduce a living creature. You shall be terror and death to all who approach you: in life, and after! See if your paramour wants you now!”

With that she once again hurled a curse. Meddie’s hair began to rise with the breeze- then began to dance on its own. She heard hissing, and suddenly realized that her golden hair had become a nest of snakes. She shrieked in terror, but still did not call out for her beloved. Her two sisters, their own fates forgotten, rushed to surround her with their arms and wings. The three girls huddled down against the now raging wind, clinging to one another as anchors against the storm.

Silence descended with the suddenness of a thunder-clap. When Meddie raised her eyes she saw that they were alone on a strange and foreign shore. In the distance she saw caves, and gently she coaxed her still sobbing sisters towards them. They might be monsters in form as well as lineage now, but she had no intention of letting them come to further harm. They would collect themselves in the safety of the caves, and then they would plan.