Wondrous

My morning started with a low rumble growl of something far in the distant, close to my mother’s house. I parily woke from the noise once I realized its familiar tones. There were a few people I knew of who would ride those flying chariots in the sky, but only one came close to the house. I kept my eyes closed to continue sleeping, just in case I wasn’t needed for anything. Hours went by. I woke from the sound of someone knocking on the frame of the doorway.

“Wake up, sweetie,” my mother said. I opened one eye to see her. She had a basket of vegetables tucked under her arm.

“What time is it?” I said, barely moving my lips.

“It’s time to help me cook. Asteria is here.” The news of the goddess of stars brought a surge of energy out of me. I sat up and swung my legs over the bed. “Get dressed,” she said with a slight head nod. That nod meant to wear something nicer than what I wore daily.

“Yes, mother.”

The moment my mother walked out of my line of view, I rushed to brush my hair while slipping on my house slippers. I tied it in a bun and then neatly fastened it with a golden woven ribbon. After that, I threw on a black dress to mimic Asteria’s starlight dress. The dress she wore when my mother saw her twenty years ago had the night sky within it. My dress didn’t have that ethereal detail. All it had were stars stitched all around it. The hem came down near the top of my feet. The upper part of the dress had no sleeves and came over both of my shoulders.

I walked out of my room, announcing my exit. My mother called my name from the kitchen. Asteria stood in the hallway at the doorway of the kitchen, arms crossed and looking my way. She wore a dress similar to mine. It was white, sleeveless, and had a dark pink palla that matched her vibrant pink eyes. I walked to her like an excited girl trying to hold her excitement back. Her smile broke the restraints holding me back. I lunged into her arms, somewhat collided with her, but the impact wasn’t hard. She softened it by leaning back as she caught me.

“Forgive me! I didn’t mean to do that,” I said.

“It’s okay, Nemi,” she said. “Did you miss me?”

“Yes,” I said with some tears.

“I missed you, too, my dear,” she said and kissed me on the cheek. “I plan on staying for a time.”

“Really?!”

“Yes,” my mother said. “Now come help me cook, girl. She’s hungry.”

“What are we making?”

“One of my favorites,” Asteria said, walking behind me into the kitchen. The two extra cooks in the room bowed to Asteria. They were cutting mushrooms on a counter at the far end. My mother directed me to join them, but I had a different role. My job was to pluck out the chickpeas from a sackcloth and put them in a bowl.

“Ius fungorum et pisorum? (Mushroom and pea soup?)

“Mhmm! Get to plucking. We’re all going to have this,” my mother said.

We all went to work, cooking up our lovely Asteria’s favorite Roman meal. It was a labor of love. I made sure all of our peas didn’t have any sort of rot or blemish on them. The harvest gave fruit to near-perfect quantities. There were a handful of bad ones. I took a bite of a few just to make sure they tasted right. Nothing out of the ordinary, just the earthy taste.

I set them in a pot to steam. Asteria stood by me as I watched them cook. She levitated one steamy pea into her mouth through the will of one finger. Her eyes rolled in the back of her head. She slowly chewed it, savoring it all.

“So good,” Asteria says behind a subtle yet comically moan. “Continue on, my cooks. I shall be right back in but a moment.” She stepped out and headed right to the garden. The sky thundered as she soared faster than an arrow into the vast sky.

“I wonder where she’s off to?” My mother said. Asteria’s thunderous cracks came from the direction of the northwest. The only place over there is Greece. She wouldn’t have flown if it were something close by on the island.

“Maybe she forgot something?” I said.

“Forgot something? She just came back.”

“Well, if she wanted us to know, then she should have said something.” My mother halfway rolled her eyes, yet gently nodded her head to the side in agreement.

Asteria came back as I was placing the bowls on the table. She carried a hefty bag of coins over her shoulder. I knew they were offerings for her. People who worshipped her donated her money to her for a chance to see or tend to their wishes. A portion of her tribute was given to my mother and me, including food. She flew into my mother’s room and came out without the bag.

“How much was in there?” I said.

“Too much for me,” she said, taking a seat at the table. “I’ll have to calculate the wealth among you all.”

“That shows you’ve been gone a long time. Is everything okay on Mount Olympus?”

“Same old political crap,” she said once she let out a long-winded sigh. “Rome has gotten so powerful. They seem not to need us for many services.”

“What would you do if they don’t need you?”

“Say it is a job well done,” she said, reassuring my worry with a smile.

“Will you leave?”

“No, Nemi. Just like your mother, I won’t abandon you.”

Her words soothed my anxiety about a world without our beloved Dii Consentes. Rome became a great Empire through the centuries of its existence. Their success was in part due to the assistance of the gods’ influence, might, and scientific advances. Even my own birth was something gifted by Asteria’s genius mind.

During our meal, Asteria brought up overhearing a local wrestling match in Maxa. It was a city in Greece, located near our island, on the island of Delos. Everyone glanced at me the second she mentioned it. They knew I loved watching it. It wasn’t a secret. I would ask my mother constantly to see the men wrestle. My mother thought it was because of the brawny men duking it out. Asteria took my mother’s side, but she understood I had an aspiring competitive nature. Growing up, I would fight with he boys because the girls were too wimpy to deal with my unnatural strength. Additionally, I was a bit taller than the average girl, and my body was more muscular all around.

Asteria took my mother and me to watch the wrestlers. The spectators took it upon themselves to set up a private viewing area to accommodate us at Asteria’s request. They provided us with fresh fruit to snack on and enough wine to drown ourselves in. I couldn’t say no to being treated like a god. Unlike the matches I usually watched, these fights had women in them. They stayed separated for the most part. During transitioning, the contestants would playfully ask to spar. No one dared to take on their words, yet the thought of it sounded thrilling. It would be the first mixed match I’ve seen. If they were going to tease the idea, maybe I should be the one to accept it.

“I wanna go in,” I said.

“Do you know how to wrestle?” My mother said.

“Uh,” I said and glanced at Asteria. The side of her eyes stared quietly at me. Truth be told, I knew nothing of the fundamentals. All of my knowledge was locked into two basic observations. One, grappling. Two, pinning. “No, I don’t,” I said.

“Go,” Asteria said.

“What?”

“Go.” She pointed to the wrestling circle and tried to nudge me out of my seat. “See what it’s like.”

“Okay!” I jumped out of my seat, then she suddenly held me back by holding my wrist.

“Hold back. There is no shame in losing.”

“I understand.”

I ran into the crowd, shouting at anyone to let me try to fight one of the men. One of the event organizers pulled me to the side to ask if I was serious. The boys around me loved the idea and were eager to let it happen. The organizer sent me off to the strip down to my undergarments, where the women were. I came out to a hungry crowd. They were ecstatic to see me take on this average yet mildly athletic guy. He wasn’t big. His size was bigger than mine, but I had a better tone.

“Gods, I didn’t know women could look so,” he said, thinking of something to say.

“Divine?” I said,

“Yes…”

“You should see my godmother, Asteria.”

The second I looked away to see her and talk about how muscular she looks, he tackled me to the ground. I lost the first round in the blink of an eye. The first impact kicked the air out of me. Some of the guys thought I was done for good. They were already looking for someone else to replace me.

“No, no, no. I’m not done!” I said. They cheered like madmen. A random guy helped me up to my feet and lightly pushed me back to the center of the circle.

“Should I tell you when I’m going to move?” My opponent said, getting into a ready stance.

“Do not mock me. You struck when I wasn’t looking, asshole.”

“Asshole?” He said, chuckling. “You made yourself wide open, dumbass.” I rolled my eyes and then glanced at Asteria to see if she had a bad reaction to that embarrassing moment. He tried the same tactic again. Instead of another easy plow, he realized he struck an immovable tree.

“Thought you had me, huh?” I stepped back so fast that he fumbled on the ground. He got up before I could figure out my next move. I never held a man or thrashed a man like him before. His brief grip around me gave pleasant chills in my stomach.

“What was that?”

“What was what?” I could see it in his eyes that he was trying to get a read on me. He circled me like a lion stalking its prey. The confidence wasn’t there anymore. We were both unsure of what to do.

“Are you going to do something?”

“Um, sure!” I went for his legs. He stepped away and jumped on my back. The weight of his body didn’t put me to the ground. I stood up while he was still on. “Wow! You weigh like a baby!” The crowd loved the show of strength. I walked around the circle to make sure every eye saw me.

“Come on,” he said, trying to choke me with his arms. “Get serious.”

He got off and got back in a ready stance. As I was about to do the same, I heard an overwhelming number of people screaming far behind him. No one around us reacted. They were still focused on us. The yelling got louder and closer. A wave of bodies flew in the air as a massive catoblepas came storming my way. I shave the man away just in time to grab the catolepas by the upper patrooding tusks. It drove me into the crowd behind me. I swung its head into the ground, forcing it to tumble on its side. It tried to fight to get up. I kept it down long enough for Asteria to easily take it over. She stood with one foot on its neck, pinning it down as if it were a footstool.

“I got this,” Asteria said. “If there’s one, then there is more around.”

“What should we do?” I said.

“Pacify them. These beasts are wild creatures.” She drove her foot down its neck, killing it instantly. “Go, Nemetoria! Find them!”

I ran around, looking for a possible herd outbreak of those beasts, and spotted three. Two were chasing after people, while the third was trying to crush a man. I shoulder bashed it off of him. It careened into a tree, knocking it over, almost uprooting it. The beast immediately came after me. I grabbed its tusks to control it as it pushed me along the ground. Then it suddenly whipped its long neck back, launching me behind it. It charged after more people. I grabbed it by the tail just in time to stop it from trampling a little girl, and suplexed it backward. The landing shot dirt in the air when it smashed into the ground.

“Are you done?” I said. I somehow knocked it unconscious. Its tongue fell out of its mouth. I gave it a little kick to make sure it was fully done, then ran to find the other two. The last were already wrangled up when I found them. A crowd of people was standing around them. “Stay away from it! It’s too dangerous to be close,” I said.

“They’re safe, Nemetoria,” Asteria said, hovering behind me, suspending the beast I knocked out in the air without touching it. “I told you to pacify them.”

“I did.”

“I meant,” she said and tossed the last on top of the other ones, “kill them. These are wild beasts.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know you meant that.” My voice whimpered. I thought I had done something terribly wrong. Her neutral judgmental gaze dissolved into a gentle smile.

“It’s fine,” she said, patting me on the shoulder. “You did well, my dear.” She hugged me close to her body, pressing the back of my head to make my chin rest over her shoulder.

“Did anyone get hurt?” I said once she let me go.

“Not sure.”

“Where did those things come from?”

“Don’t know. But I intend to find it,” she said, then whispered in my ear, telling me to return home before the locals overwhelm me with questions of who I was. Other than her and my mother, only a few knew of my god like powers: my two maids, my best friend Ponia, and trusted friends of Asteria.

Asteria went off to investigate the whole island for answers. I got dressed and sailed back home with my mother. The minor traumatic event left me worried and anxious for answers. I never checked whether there were any victims or injured people. Those beasts were not known to live around here. They came from the African continent. It would be physically impossible for them to be here. Someone would have stopped them long before they came anywhere near Greece. The whole situation stuck. It kept me up at night like a dog barking in the distance all through the night.

I took a walk on the beach in hopes it could clear my head or tire me out so that I would fall asleep. Minutes became an hour. I wouldn’t stop figuring out how those beats got there. Then out of nowhere, like a breeze in the wind, Asteria snuck up on me without making a noise.

“I heard you walk out. I got worried when you didn’t return,” Asteria said calmly, matching the volume of the soft crashing waves, momentarily submerging my toes in the cold water.

“I can’t stop thinking about what happened today,” I said roughly at the same tone as hers. “It was so random and out of place.”

“Yes… It was.”

“Did you find anything?”

“No, but I have a suspicion.”

“What are you thinking?” She gazed out into the ocean, soothing her index finger on her lips.

“I’ll need to go to Rome. I remember a similar event happening there.”

“You’re leaving again?”

“Unfortualy,” she said, soothing my back. “I leave tomorrow.” The news of another departure saddened me. I could feel my face scrunched up. I rubbed it so it wouldn’t look sad. “Nemi…”

“You just came back.”

“I know, my child. But I must go and find some answers.” I didn’t know what to say. She came back just to leave for another undetermined number of days. “Come,” she said, holding out her arm for me to take. “Let’s go back to bed.”

“Uh,” I said as something brilliant popped in my head. “Take me with you.” Her eyes glowed a bit brighter when she opened her eyelids further. “Please. I want to take part in your investigation.”

“Nemi… this is some serious stuff. Things could get dark.”

“I can handle it.” She sighed, smiling and shaking her head. “Asteria,” I said and jumped close in front of her. “I can.” She stared down at me with her head slightly upward. The glow dimmed back to its normal brightness.

“You’ll have to convince your mother.”

“I’ll do it!”