Ganymede

Anthropou

“My cranium…” Ganymede sat up and palmed his forehead.

“Yes, young man you must lay down. The left amount of venom will make you sick. Lay down” Ganymede went back to resting again.

A man was sitting next to Ganymede who changed the wet cloth from his forehead punctually. “So, art thou the human ruler of medicines?” The man was deeply confused by what Ganymede was trying to convey. “No, they call me doctor here…” The doctor removed the cloth from his forehead and checked the temperature. “Hmm, your fever is better now. You were bitten by quite a poisonous snake. Perhaps your good deeds have pleased the great gods.”

“Talk about pleasing gods doctor. They are pathetic creatures I tell thee. No mercy at all!” “Fear the lord! Hoard the horses on your mouth. If gods were to get offended…. calamity will strike! Did you not see young man the wrath of the gods this afternoon? It looked like the entire sky was going to swallow earth up!!”

Ganymede felt apologetic for making the humans scared.

From Olympus the Graces monitored the movements of Ganymede "Was the decision justified Aglaia?" asked the second grace to the first. "Any god or goddess getting in between mother Hera and father Zeus shall suffer." said Aglaia. "You have been partial Aglaia." said the second Grace. "And how is that? I had to punish mother in front of all Olympus, Euphrosyne. All Olympus!" "That is not what Euphrosyne meant Aglaia, thou comprehend that. Thou intervened with the choices of father Zeus as well. That is rational." said the third Grace. "I cannot bare the suffering of mother Hera. Acknowledge my misery Thalia." said Aglaia to the third Grace. "Then we can do nothing but suffer consequence for partially with due time Aglaia." said Euphrosyne. "Indeed. Ganymede shall suffer on our rationality but it must not spare us either." Thalia and Euphrosyne stood behind Aglaia. “The entirety of Olympus will remember. The day Ganymede was lost from the heavens.” Said Thalia.

“Where do you come from young man?” asked the doctor. “That, is a very good question doctor……” Ganymede panicked. He could not come up with any name since he did not know many. “perhaps, overseas?” Ganymede pushed his luck. “Convincing! Your thesaurus is quite rich and different.” Ganymede took a deep breath. In the heat of the moment Ganymede put his hand on his waist to discover that his elixir was not there anymore.

“Uh…doctor? Hadst, thou discovered a glass vial fastened around my waist?” Ganymede broke a cold sweat. “AH! That shiny golden thing. Quite interesting liquid, that it contained. Some medicinal which I had never ever seen in my entire lifespan! But I did not have your allowance over it.” Ganymede fidgeted while listening closely to what the doctor had to say. “When you were brought here, the vial had cracked. So, I had given it to my daughter, to restore the liquid into somewhat a stronger container.” “And where is your daughter at this instance?” “Towards the back of my home. She must be preparing medicines there. Ask her for your liquid. Also…” the doctor hesitated a little “Can I take a sample of your liquid…for research purpose?” Ganymede thought hard. “Only two drops will do.” the insisted consistently “I agree. Although no more the amount thou auctioned for at this moment. I shall consider it as the price for thy services offered to me.” Doctor’s face lit up.

Ganymede followed the directions given by the doctor to the back of his home.

He saw a cattle ranch, which had been furnished into a pharmacy and laboratory. A burner burnt on the right edge of the room. The window hole was covered by a discolored cloth, stained with iodine and citrus acid. In the middle a small garden of herbs was cultivated. And a small pool of clean water existed on the left. Near the wall Ganymede faced, was a shelf full of vials of different shapes containing variety of liquids. There near the shelf, sat a maiden concentrated on her worktable messed up with a grinder and bits of all sorts of leaves, extracting eucalyptus leaves.

 “I…” “I have your vial.” “May I have it back fair maiden?” “Yes. Walk here.” Ganymede walked to the young lady. “Do not try to lie because there is no way you will get away with that.” Ganymede was confused and nervous. “What is the meaning of thy muse?” the young lady pulled her head up, burning her gaze into Ganymede’s eyes “You are not human are you?” Ganymede broke into a cold sweat “What are thy assumptions based on?” “Your vial.”

Ganymede was making several plans in his head with included mild violence. “I do not comprehend.” “the place you were discovered, a few steps behind that spot, the crops were green. In the middle of a ready-to-harvest wheat. Only one patch of the crops. Your vial was fallen there.” Ganymede was frozen. He did not know what to tell her anymore. However, he shot his shot “And how does that prove my inhumane nature?” “You survived!” The lady stood up in excitement of being close to rare discovery “You survived a poisonous snake. It had killed several villagers.” “Do you not understand the definition of strong men? What is there to be so surprised about?” “I am not going to buy your lies. If there is anything that can make me believe you are human, I will not accept that either.” “Treacherous! A patch of wheat and snake! The base of your assumptions is incompatible!  Such a rockhead woman you are.” “THEN EXPLAIN WHAT THIS CONCOCTION IS!” Ganymede fell silent ‘If only I had my powers, I would have easily got past this woman. Humans are curious indeed! I should have known it was a life-threatening warning that Gaia had given me. This woman will eat me up alive!’ he thought to himself.

“Uh...” Ganymede thought hard. “It is a…” he looked around “Medicine! To kill diseases in crops and make them younger!” The young lady looked at Ganymede blankly. He thought she was not convinced enough. “Well certainly I sail overseas to this …town? What is this place called?” “Oh, um… it is Delphi.” Ganymede succeeded in distracting her.

They talked a little. Ganymede mostly lied. “Your eyes are beautiful. What is your name?” “Ga-” Ganymede bit his tongue. “Galen.” “Strange. You say you come from overseas and have a Greek name.” “My father has a long history from Greece. This kingdom is very dear to him. I suppose maybe he liked the people here.” Ganymede took a deep breath, suppressing an unpleasant memory.

 “The name suits you. Galen- meaning Healer, calm. You sure are a healer.” “What is thy name fair maiden?” “Alexandra.” “Wise name to give to the daughter of a pioneer in medicines. But I find thou father name a little obnoxious. Why is he named doctor?” Alexandra giggled. She found the confusion rather amusing and decided she will let it be.

Between the sounds of the giggles a glass vial from the shelf fell down and broke. The sound startled Alexandra and she gripped Ganymede’s arm. “A rodent perhaps…” called out Alexandra in doubt. She realized she was holding Ganymede tightly. Flustered, she let go of the grip slowly “You are quite muscular…” Alexandra felt awkward for speaking that out loud. “Yes, I wrestled with elephants back at my cast- home.” Alexandra was impressed.

“You are very Handsome, Galen. Do you not have a wife?” “This beauty has sufferings attached to it.” Ganymede did not say anymore. “I will listen to it all.” Said Alexandra.

“Abellone.”