The Gift of the Lethe

The Sinking of Revalations

When Pallas swims out into the sitting area of her rooms, her father is perched on one of the chairs, his tails wrapped around a pole to keep him steady. She frowns at him in confusion. "How long have you been sitting there?"

Triton cracks a smile at her. "Perhaps ten minutes before I heard you stirring."

"And why did you come in before I was up?" She pauses. "Or let me ask a better question; how did you know I would be waking around this time?"

Her father snorts. "Pallas, you've woken up at the same time your entire life. It wasn't too much of a stretch to predict that you would still be doing it."

She considers for a moment. She'd never fully realized that she always got up at the same time, but she supposes it would make sense. She would have training, after all.

"Okay, that's fair."

Her father laughs again at that and inclines his head towards the chair beside him. Pallas takes the hint and perches on the chair, turning to face him. He smiles softly, nodding toward her hair.

"I don't believe I mentioned it before, but it looks nice."

Pallas fingers one of the curls that floats around her face and bites her lip. "It didn't feel right straight."

Triton shakes his head. "You don't have to explain it to me, Pallas. You're the same heart, the same soul, regardless of what you may physically look like now."

Pallas nods, twisting her hands together in her lap. "Thank you, Father."

"You don't need to thank me." He pauses. "As much as I would like to chat, I believe Athena arrived a short while ago. She's waiting for you."

Pallas straightens. "She is? Where?"

"The garden."

Pallas leans forward to kiss her father on the cheek and murmur a "Thank you" before she kicks away from the chair and makes her way toward the garden.

When she enters the familiar space, she finds the garden to be devoid of all but the coral sculptures, serene in the silence. She frowns and twists over one sculpture to approach the barrel wave. Pallas peaks into it and tension eases from her body at the sight of the raven hair spilling across the coral. She crawls into the curling wave to sit beside Athena, leaning her head on Athena's shoulder.

"Why are you hiding?"

"I'm not hiding."

Pallas snorts. "You only ever come in here when you're hiding, Thene. So what are you hiding from?"

"How do you know it's a what and not a whom?"

"Because if you were hiding from a person, then my father wouldn't have been able to tell me that you were in the garden. What's bothering you?"

Athena sighs. "You remember how there were some things I needed to take care of?"

"Yes."

"I went to visit my uncle, I wanted to ask him about the rebirth process and perhaps figure out how you remember everything. He directed me to Lethe and she told me some things that it seems didn't sink in until now."

Pallas shifts closer to Athena, pressing against her side. Athena shifts to wrap her arm around Pallas, letting her tuck in closer.

"What did Lethe tell you, Thene?"

Athena huffs out a sigh. "You still have your memories because she prevented the river water from having an effect on you."

"But that's not everything, is it? I don't think she would even do that without an incentive, and if that was all you were told it is highly unlikely that you would be upset about it."

Pallas catches sight of the corner of Athena's mouth turning down into a grimace. Her next words are quiet and bleak. "Lethe preserved your memories because the fates told her that you were never meant to have died. You only did because of my father's stupidity."

Pallas straightens at the edge to Athena's voice and pulls away, twisting to look her in the eye. "Thene, don't you dare let that wound start to fester. It's been an eon. He shouldn't have done it yes, but there's nothing you can do about it now." She moves to cup Athena's cheek as she stares into her gray eyes. "I'm here, Thene. I'm not going anywhere, okay?"

Athena laughs breathlessly. "I don't know how you can do it, how you can let go easily. You've had less time to deal with it than I, yet I am the one who can't forgive."

"Forgiveness needs not to be rushed, all it needs is to come in time."

Athena gives her a glowing smile. "Very wise of you to say."

Pallas grins back. "Why thank you, I learned from the very best."

Athena laughs again, but unlike before the sound actually contains joy, bright and pure. "Of course you did. I'm the goddess of wisdom after all."

Pallas snorts and mutters under her breath, "And the goddess of pride and ego, apparently."

Athena gapes at her. "Pallas!"

Pallas raises her hands, laughing. "All right, all right. I'm sorry."

Athena raises an eyebrow. "But are you, really?"

"Ummm, no?"

Athena gasps. "Rude!"

Pallas snipes back. "Did you want me to lie?"

Before Athena can respond, someone speaks from outside their coral shelter. "Pallas? Athena? Are you here?"

Pallas shifts towards the opening of the barrel opening and pokes her head out. Triton is floating in the center of the garden, looking around for them. With every heartbeat that passes, a worry becomes more and more prominent in his facial expression.

"Over here, Father."

He looks towards her and frowns.

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So, do you think Athena will let it go as easily as that? What do you think of their teasing? What's going to happen next? Tell me your thoughts!

Happy reading and I'll see you next chapter!

~ Goddess of Fate, signing out