A Hall of Mirrors

A Glaring Observation

Kath was in awe of the Village in the Valley. She was amazed at the items they sold, at the contraptions they use in their everyday lives to make their work a little bit easier without the need for powers. The mortals fascinated Kath so much that she found herself getting swept up into conversation after conversation with any one of them. All of the mortals she encountered were hospitable and nice, not even blinking at the fact that a certain popular Olympian seemed to follow her every move.

Really. She didn't know if she should be annoyed that people flocked to Apollo like worker bees to a queen bee. Their lunch was quite peaceful, though, paired with awesome food that spoke to my soul and Kath found that Apollo can be a nice friend to have. If he wasn’t so damn recognizable, that is. A single smile sent ladies into a frenzy that caused quite a commotion in one of the colorful plazas they visited and a section of the roaming street guards had to step in. The blond-haired, blue-eyed, conceited sun god was unapologetic as he was escorted away from the fountain where he had undoubtedly let himself be cornered while Kath stood waiting for him under the shade of a flower shop's awning.

“Are you with Lord Apollo?”

Kath whirled to face an aging lady, her pink dress and white apron highlighting her tanned skin (a trait most villagers shared, she observed). Her back had curved from the years under her belt but the woman’s grip was surprisingly strong as she took Kath’s hand and thrust into them a bouquet of white and blue hyacinths. The woman smiled widely at her, the lines becoming more beautiful when her face was lit up like that.

“Please give these to him,” the woman murmured. “To make him happy.”

She eyed the flowers with a bit of skepticism. “Apollo likes flowers?”

“Apollo likes those flowers, yes,” a smooth voice interjected from behind her. Apollo stepped between me and the old woman, his smile warm and blinding and most of all, Kath noted, genuine.

This was a smile reserved for only a few, she realized, and Kath understood why that was. Only a glimpse of it—it wasn’t even directed at her—made her pulse quicken and her whole world stop spinning. Apollo glowed from within. The white light emanating from him that was not merely a manifestation of his godly powers but it was the happiness he felt reflected back at the person who had caused it.

Kath made herself look away for a brief moment, peeking at the profile of the old woman and for a brief moment, youth flickered on her weathered face. She was beautiful, her cheeks round and plump, her eyes round with dark lashes. Even her hair which was silver briefly turned a lovely shade of deep brown that looked almost like burgundy.

“Thank you for the hyacinths, Leona,” the brightly shining god murmured, kissing the back of the woman’s hand. “They are as lovely as you are.”

“I am humbled, Lord Apollo,” the woman practically beamed back.

Apollo straightened, his smile turning soft as he glanced at me, and then at the baskets full of different varieties of blooms. “What flower is sacred to you, Kath?”

“Roses,” Kath mumbled after a stunned pause, still lightheaded from the magnificence that was Apollo’s rare, kind form. But if a flower would be sacred to her, it would be the one she had come into the world in. “I’d like roses to be sacred to me.”

He arched a brow. “Aren’t roses already sacred to your mother?”

She shrugged. “Is there a rule that flowers only need be sacred to one goddess? If there is so, then it’s a stupid rule and I say to hell with it.”

Apollo smirked and reached deep in his pocket, pulling out a handful of golden coins. He winked at Leona as he dumped the coins in her apron’s pocket, much to the vehement protests of the old woman. Kath watched in quiet amusement as Apollo’s ears suddenly fell deaf to the woman’s complaints of his payment. He merely took another bouquet of white roses—how did he know they were her favorites?—and kissed the old woman’s cheek before he tugged on Kath’s hand to exit the shop.

He led Kath to a street full of shops that catered to the musical. Instruments and art supplies lined the windows of shops and there were the few odd notes of a person trying one out. Apollo handed her the roses as they walked, the beautiful and melancholic tones of a woman singing as a partner played the violin almost convincing Kath that the gesture was romantic in nature.

She hid the blush she couldn’t control as she smelled the roses, chiding herself for being so assuming and naive. He probably gave her the flowers because he was simply being nice, to her and the old woman. He grossly overpaid with the hyacinths and perhaps just wanted to even it out a little.

“This is my favorite part of the Valley,” Apollo said, tossing her a carefree grin over his shoulder. “A small piece to celebrate everything that is beautiful in life. Most of the people here are artists by trade, talented individuals some of which I sponsor their studies. Would you like to visit the School of Art and Music?”

There was a school? Kath could hardly believe it. Aphrodite once told her of buildings made by mortals that taught anything a person could possibly want. The gods sponsored at least one, aiding the facilities so learning would be free for all. Kath had asked if there was a school that could teach her to make dresses as pretty as the ones she’d always been given. Aphrodite said there was such a school that taught such a thing and Kath had been obsessed for a solid decade. She made Aphrodite beg Zeus to let her see it, just once so she could have a taste of the experience. In the end, Zeus did not approve and it left Kath heartbroken.

But now? Excitement jolted through her being as she realized that she could freely go to that school now without needing Zeus or Aphrodite’s permission. She’d explore this one that Apollo obviously sponsored first, however, and perhaps try to convince him to stay for half a class or something.

“I’d like that,” Kath said.

Apollo waved her over. She jogged a bit until she was matching the god for every stride of his. He wasn’t fast by any means—he was only casually strolling. But Apollo was a whole lot taller than she was and that made catching up with him necessary. He seemed to notice though, and Kath noticed that he began to walk even slower.

“Do you sing?”

Kath blinked up at him.

Apollo arched a questioning brow.

“Do I sing?” Kath dumbly echoed.

“Yes,” Apollo said simply.

She couldn’t help but laugh. “What makes you think I could sing?” Kath had never tried once in all her life. She was too scared and self-conscious and constantly surrounded by people to even try. Mostly, she wasn’t even sure if she knew any song. But Apollo was adamant to know.

“Come on, this is a basic knowledge you should know about yourself,” Apollo prodded her side with his finger making her ticklish, surprising the young goddess. “See? You don’t even know where your tickle spots are!”

Kath rolled her eyes but shrieked when she saw his finger threatening to touch her in that same spot again. “Stop! I don’t know, okay? I’ve never tried.’

“Never?”

“Never,” she confirmed.

Apollo frowned. “We should remedy that. Come with me.”

Without thinking, Apollo reached for her free hand, the one that didn’t hold the bouquet of roses, and pulled her along the stone sidewalk. Kath ignored the fluttering in her heart and her stomach at that warm contact of skin on skin and instead focused on not making a fool of herself and trip as they weaved across the street and onto a road. After another few seconds of walking, Kath was sure of where he intended to take her.

It was a park, just beside the tall, white stone building that had the words SCHOOL OF ART AND MUSIC emblazoned just below the cathedral-like dome atop it. At the park, there was a gathering of people around a voluptuous lady with a young, oval-shaped face, an hourglass figure, and willowy limbs that made her every movement graceful. She sat on a small bench, her audience sprawled out before her on the grass or standing by the edges and Kath wondered what made them look so… enthralled. But as they got closer, she understood why.

The lady had the most musical voice Kath had ever heard. She was singing a soft tune, a ballad if Kath wanted to bet, capturing everyone that was blessed enough to be able to hear her voice.

Her dark eyes instantly locked on the two approaching gods and stood, briefly halting her performance to bow. The moment she stopped, her audience’s heads whipped to us in annoyance at distracting her, but their murderous expressions soon vanished when she began talking.

“What a lovely surprise seeing you here, Apollo,” the lady said, her voice like a lullaby in Kath’s ears. “And you brought over the new young goddess. Hello, Kath.”

“Hello,” she half-shouted back self-consciously. They were at the very edge of her audience and she wasn’t sure if she’d hear Kath talking with a normal volume from so far away.

Apollo smirked as the lady bridged over to where they were standing. Kath, still not used to the unusual way gods traveled, would have fallen over to her ass again if it weren’t for the steadying hand Apollo placed on the small of her back.

“Kath, this is the Muse of Music, Euterpe. Euterpe, Kath doesn’t know if she can sing.”

The lady—Euterpe—smiled at the sun god. “And you brought her to me instead of finding out yourself?”

He shrugged, removing his hand from Kath’s back and shoving it in his jeans pocket. Euterpe looked the god up and down one last time before she focused her dark, feline eyes at Kath, who was blinking at the way Apollo retracted that hand.

“Everyone can sing, Kath,” Euterpe began. “It’s just a matter of whether you’re singing in the right tune, which is a problem for some people. How about I sing a simple song a couple of times and you try to copy how I did it?”

Kath nodded and her breath was once again stolen away by Euterpe’s voice. Thankfully, it was a nursery song that Aphrodite used to sing to her as a child. She loved that song because it was the only song that made Aphrodite stay by her bedside during the nights when she’d wake from a terrible dream of lotuses swallowing frogs whole. Her nightmares never made sense but Aphrodite would sing that song over and over until she fell asleep once more.

When Euterpe was done singing the song twice, Kath tried her hand at it. She was mindful of the notes; the way they ebbed and grew at certain lines or how she’d have to plan where she’d breathe in between singing so she wouldn’t be gasping for breath. She opened her mouth as wide as Euterpe did when she sang the vowels and took care with some of the words that tripped her like ‘wutherwitherwoods’ and ‘babbling brook bridges’, the latter one of which being the easiest. After a final vibrating thing she noticed Euterpe did in her throat to end the song, she realized that they were staring at her.

She looked warily at Apollo and Euterpe who were motionless and expressionless. Gods, was she that awful of a singer? Heat rose up to her cheeks as Apollo recovered.

“I think I got my answer,” he muttered to Euterpe. 

The goddess beamed at me and bridged over back to the bench where she had previously sat and begun singing again to her audience. It was odd though, some of them still stared at her and were only reluctantly turning to Euterpe.

“Was it that bad?”

Apollo gawked at her. “You really don’t know?” He shook his head as if he couldn’t believe her. 

Kath frowned. “Will you just tell me? Obviously, I don’t know.”

The god shook his blond head again and tugged on her hand (again), this time towards the steps to the wide-open doors of the school.

“Nah, Kathy-boo. If I’ll be the one to tell you, there is a ninety percent chance that you won’t take my word for it.” His sky blue eyes glittered when he smirked at her. “I’m going to find someone else whose judgment you won’t question.”