Lore submission for the month of September
Avatar:: Nakor of Boreft
Part 1
When we left the healer’s house, me supporting Chloe, and Berenice led the way. Berenice led us to a part of Cyzicus I had never been to. The houses here were bigger and had more space between them. I carried Chloe as she had passed out from the pain, or fallen asleep from herbs the healer had given her. Berenice turned o me as she said: “Don’t judge me and please don’t tell Alexandros” Then she walked to the front door of the house we were standing in front of and opened it. It was a nice, spacious house. Much more so than the e house of her parents. Berenice directed me to a room upstairs that had a comfortable-looking bed in it. I placed Chloe in it and Berenice put the sheet over her and we left her there to rest. “Judge?” I asked her in the hallway. “For what?”.
Berenice looked at me with a sad look in her eyes. As we walked down the stairs, she told me that this was the one she lived in now. The house of Halkyone. Halkyone had made a lot of money in Sparta but had decided to come back to his hometown anyway. Berenice said she felt very lonely without Alexandros and with Chloe being away most of the time. Halkyone had offered her a comfortable life and company to keep her warm.
Hearing her tell her story hurt me to my core! Alexandros did not deserve this from his wife! Chloe did not deserve this from her mother! I did not know Berenice very well, but I had always known she felt a bit entitled to a more luxurious lifestyle. Betraying Alexandros however, I had not thought her capable of. I needed to take a walk. A walk to clear my head and decide what to do next. Not tell Alexandros as Berenice had asked. Or tell Alexandros and see him in pain for who knows how long. Or worse. He could come to Cyzicus and do who knows what.
Part 2
After my walk, I felt a bit better. My head was still a tangle of emotions, but now questions had also come up. Did Halkyone know Berenice’s husband, Alexandros, was alive? What did Chloe think of this? I decided to stay for a few more days and find out all that I can. Though I was very happy Berenice lived in this beautiful, well-taken care of, house. It is much better for her recovery than her grandparents’ house. That is not only much smaller but also colder and drafty. Like most houses here are. Halkyone’s house was made of thick walls of stone. Keeping the warmth in and the wind out.
When it became dinnertime, I went back to the house. The door was opened by Berenice herself and she let me to the living room where a man sat. She introduced us. It was Halkyone. Chloe was still sleeping she said. Halkyone looked at me. Then he said, “A friend of Berenice and Chloe is a friend of mine. You’re always welcome here Nakor”. I sat down and we started talking. Halkyone turned out to be a very friendly person and things were not as I had assumed them to be. Far from it!
Berenice had already written that Halkyone left for Sparta soon after Stelios had died. I did not think of it then, but it turned out that Halkyone and Stelios had not only been friends but also lovers. Stelios’ death had left him without any reason to stay in Cyzicus and he left for the big city of Sparta where, so he had heard, men living together were much more accepted. This turned out to be true and he had found both his fortune in the fish trade and in love. He met an upcoming artist there who turned out to be the love of his life, as well as the reason for his coming back to Cyzicus. When he told his lover’s name. My heart skipped a beat.
Part 3
Halkyone said his lover’s name was Daniel. I felt questions bubbling up, but decided to let Halkyone speak first. He told all about how he struggled when he just came to Sparta. Not knowing anyone in the big city that Sparta is, definitely compared to Cyzicus. Halkyone had first fallen in with a group that turned out to be troublemakers. What money they made during the day, got spent on drinks in the evening. When they’d had enough drink to become more courageous, they went looking for trouble.
Most evenings it was nothing more than singing loudly in the street and harassing the people that still walked them at this hour. Couples, men who went home from a visit. But then things changed.
One evening when the group had drunk enough in the local tavern, they went to the closest temple. It was a temple to Ares. God of courage, war bloodshed, and violence. There they behaved like animals life and the drink had turned them into. Knocking over statues, drinking and spilling all the wine they could find, and even punching the priests that were still in the temple unconscious.
It’s never wise to make a god angry and for sure Ares saw what happened and was very angry. A few days later, I saw a woman begging in the street. I was sure she had been a kind and beautiful woman long ago. Now, she looked like just an old woman. I remember her from what happened when I felt sorry for her and gave her some bread. I saw her stand up taller than before. Her old age faded before my very eyes. 2 doves flew to her and landed on her shoulders. She looked at me with eyes, I’ll never see eyes as bright as hers were then. The smiled faintly and said:” Thank you for this kind deed. He will not punish you now”. Halkyone looked at me with tearful eyes as he told this story.
“I honestly believe that the old woman was the goddess Aphrodite and she convinced Ares to spare my life.”He said.
Part 4
Halkyone needed a moment and a drink before he continued his story. “After my encounter with the old woman, who I still believe have been Aphrodite, I decided to better my life. That evening I went to the bar I knew they would be. I thought I owed them a warning. When I told them, they just laughed at me and called me a coward and a fool.”
He shivered at his next words: “The god Ares got his revenge on them two days later. 2 days later they were found at the south gate of Sparta. All of them were gutted by, bullmen judging from the wounds on their bodies. Normally those aren’t very aggressive and they tend to stay away from the city. There is no explanation for the men to go outside of the city in the middle of the night, nor for the bullmen to come so close to the city. But I do know they are one of Ares’ sacred animals!” Halkyone was visibly shaking when he told this.
When I saw the bodies of my former ‘friends’, I almost threw up. I could have been one of them too! I desperately needed a drink, so I went to an open bar. It was in the morning still, so not many were. When I found open one I walked inside and there he was. Standing there and looking at me, as though he had been expecting me. Daniel as I learned soon after. I must have looked like a panicked wreck from what I had just seen and realized. He offered me a drink, which I gladly accepted. He was very calm, with a soothing voice, and was impeccably dressed. A bit odd, but it just fit him. I thought he was the most wonderful and gentle man that I had ever seen. Tall, not too tanned, gorgeous brown eyes. I think I immediately fell in love with him.
Part 5
“That is how I met the love of my life, Daniel” Halkyone said. “For the next years, we lived together. Daniel was a successful painter, making paintings for those that could afford his work. Life was good for us. He painted almost all day and night. Many nights, I woke up alone in bed. When I went looking, I found Daniel awake and working on one of his paintings. In fact, every painting you see in my house here was made by Daniel. We also spoke of life and our wishes for the future often. Daniel really loved life and was a very passionate person.”
Halkyone looked more somber as he continued: “Daniel often told me there would be a time when e would be gone from my life. He never told me when or how and it seemed very strange of him to say that, but he made it very clear that he wanted me to move back to Cyzicus when that happened. He even painted this house, in this town. I could not believe it when I got back here and saw this house here. Exactly as he painted it! And he’s never been here! One morning I woke up and Daniel was gone. I went searching for him of course, but he was really gone. I decided to do as Daniel had always told me he wanted me to do when he was gone. I came back to Cyzicus. When I got here, I saw this house. Since I do not want a lot of fathers trying to get their daughters married to a well-off, older man. So when I heard Berenice ad al moved back here. Asking her, a childhood friend who knows I am attracted to men, to move in with me sounded like a good solution. I tell you all of this because Berenice told me you looked upset with her living here. I know she is a married woman and we sleep in separate bedrooms”