The thought of how to descend Parnassos, had not crossed Eudoxia’s mind until the cold stark winds hit her face. All of her climbing gear was lost when the magnificent Pegasus buckled her into a tree. From that moment on, she was in the mortal realm, and even if she weren’t, she surely did not possess the skill to call Pegasus.

"Any ideas on how to get down there?" Eudoxia asked..

Her immortal daughter, albeit still naked from birth, did not even shiver. "If you jump, I could heal you!" she suggested.

"Jump? There is no way I’m doing that, Helene. I am not at all certain that you could heal me from being splattered all around Parnassos," Eudoxia huffed. "Can you walk without touching the ground like Arachnos?"

"Of course not. I have legs," the child seemed offended from the rejection of her solution.

He didn’t have legs? I mothered a child to a blue, legless, flying freak of nature. Gods help me. Eudoxia let out a defeated sigh and said: "Alright then. Arachnos cannot carry us, for if any mortal sees him... just no. Climb on my back, child. You will be my eyes and tell me if I’m about to step on a loose stone or a slippery surface."

So they began their travel down Parnassos, with Helene squealing directions and Eudoxia grumbling in return while trying her hardest not to fall to her death. It took them until evening to get above the Corycian Cave, where Eudoxia’s left foot got stuck between three boulders. She argued with her daughter for some time, and they attempted in vain to get the foot free, until Eudoxia heard a small crowd coming out of the cave. Eudoxia told Helene to hide immediately inside her cape, and so she did. Some people were playing merry melodies with their pipes, and the ones who were talking sounded like they had an extra cup or two of strong wine. Relying in their assumed drunken kindness the seer got their attention as loudly as she could: "Hey you! People. Up here. Could you help me? I’m stuck."

The music stopped and a slurring voice yelled: "Look e’rryone, Pan has blessed us with a guest. We sho-should get ’er down to celelebrate with us." The suggestion was met with cheer and the music continued as some began stumbling up the mountain.

The first three of them fell onto their buttocks before they could even reach the hem of Eudoxia’s tattered chiton, but it didn’t take long until they managed to pry her foot off with the clever use of one of the long pipes. The pipe, however, shattered in the process and someone cursed obnoxiously right in the direction of Eudoxia’s nostrils. She did not appreciate it. Helene couldn’t hide any longer and her appearance was met with the cult’s merriment as if she was a miracle brought onto them by Pan. The family was lifted above the crowd and celebrated until Eudoxia decided they’d had enough of this nonsense. She snatched confused Helene from the people dancing around her and carried her away into the nearby forest.

When the drunken songs could not be heard anymore, Eudoxia let the child walk.

"Where are we going?" Helene asked.

"To my home. The Temple of Apollo here in Delphi. I’m going to cut you some of my cloth so you have something to wear, we get my remaining money, and we will go... south. Yes, south sounds good." That was all the planning Eudoxia was capable of. While still in shock over what had transpired over the past couple of days and the major changes in her life, not to mention the fate of all humankind, she taught her daughter some basics of being a proper mortal, like how to behave and respect the elders. Together they spun the story of how Helene’s slave parents were infected by miasma, the dangerous fumes carried over by the seas. The parents withered away and left the poor orphan fend for herself. That is when the slave merchants snatched her. Eudoxia happened to walk past the slave markets on the way to the mountain, heard the little cries of a starving little girl, and decided to give her a better life.

It was night when they got to the temple. Eudoxia and Helene - and Arachnos on her shoulder - snuck into Eudoxia’s living quarters in the cellar. There she cut up a linen chiton for Helene, who twirled around happily while her mother was gathering her coins and packing.

"Eudoxia? Have you returned, dear?"

Eudoxia froze. "Phemonoe. I, uh, didn’t expect you’d be awake at this time of day" Eudoxia stuttered. Flashes of the false oracle’s lips on hers were suddenly very vivid in her memory.

"What is the matter, friend? You don’t look so well. And who is this lovely little child? You have to tell me everything that happened at the mountain! Did you find the cave?" Phem’s voice was as warm as always.

There was no way Eudoxia could tell her. What would she say when she’d find out that after flying up the mountain on the back of Pegasus, a djinni seduced her by disguising himself as Phemonoe, got her magically pregnant, and then she birthed an immortal child. Eudoxia swallowed some air. "Actually, it was nothing. You were right, my dream was just a strange, but normal dream, and you know, you know, how easy it is for an oracle to mix up the divine message with some- some ramblings that come to the mind."

"Ramblings?" Eudoxia could almost hear Phemonoe narrowing her eyes. "What about the child, who is she? Why is she marked?"

"She is a slave. I bought her on the way to the mountains, to help me with the misguided quest." Eudoxia closed her eyes. This was harder to her than all the trials she had gone through during her adventure on Parnassos. "Phemonoe, I am leaving. I no longer predict things the way I used to. A temple is no place for me. I’m just a... an ordinary blind old woman and I need to move on."

Phemonoe was quiet.

"I am forever grateful for all the kindness you’ve shown me and for... for saving me in the first place." Eudoxia’s eyes began to well up "I’m of no use to you. I need to leave. I have some savings with which I could buy a small apartment somewhere, maybe in Epidaurus. I hear it’s-" Phemonoe grabber Eudoxia’s hands which were still dirty from the climbing. The warmth from Phem’s palms waved through her body.

"If you need to go, then go tomorrow after you’ve rested. But know this, dearest of friends, you are always welcome here," the oracle squeezed her hands tighter "You never were, and never will be useless. Trust your instinct. You will always be dear to me." Two tears raced across Eudoxia’s cheeks as Phemonoe gave her forehead a light kiss before leaving the room.

Eudoxia wiped her tears away and turned to continue packing.

Helene tip-toed closer. "Why are you crying?" she whispered.

"I love that woman very much."

"Shouldn’t love make you happy?"

Eudoxia smiled faintly: "It does, somewhat. But my love is merely from Pothos, yearning for something that cannot happen. That kind of love, my child, is devastating and capable of destroying beings from the inside, even immortals."

Eudoxia gathered all her drachmas and one talent into a woolen bag, then laid down on her bed. "This is my last night here, now the circle closes. What a wonderful time it has been. Come child, let us sleep the worries away and come tomorrow morning, we set for Epidaurus." Helene curled down next to Eudoxia and scrunched her face. A hearty laughter escaped from Eudoxia, and for a while, the mother and daughter were just curled up facing each other, making funny faces and laughing. Then the much needed rest caught up to them and they both fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

Next Chapter: Home Left Behind