•IO•

Part 2 - Resilience

Hera had walked Io a couple of hours North from her fathers river, she was familiar with the land but also very lost. They passed a grand temple dedicated to the goddess, after she picked up her gifts from the priestesses she beckoned for a servant, a servant by the name of Argus. Moments after a faint shaking of the ground startled Io, was she being sent to her death, had Hera summoned a monster to consume her, was she about to be plunged into the river Styx, Io was nervous. As the shaking intensified and drew close Io lowered her head in acceptance of what was to come, the horror stories she'd heard before were about to become reality. As the ground steadied Io opened her eyes and was confronted with a pair of rather large feet on the ground in front of her. They were a rough pair of feet, riddled with callouses and sprouting wiry black hair from wherever it could grow, a strong smell of almost sweet sweat drifted into Ios' nostrils. She shook with fear.

'Argus Panoptes, son of Arestor and Mycene, my dear and faithful servant, I entrust you with my newly gifted heifer from Zeus. You may never take an eye off her and must care for her until I give you further instruction. If you break this promise, you shall feel my wrath' Hera instructed, taking on the role of an evil stepmother quite well, her soft patronising tone when she decreed this made Io look up, today was not the day she was going to meet Hades.

Io took a step back to look at Argus, as she followed up from his dirty feet she was taking in the pair of thick hairy legs that were attached to a wide torso, two arms clasped around his back giving him a solider like stance and as Io peered more north she was confronted with a sight she has never seen before. Instead of a muscular neck which led on to a human like face and head, Argus had instead a spherical protrusion of bubbling and blinking eyes. The bulbous mass could have easily contained a thousand eyes, blinking in rotation that could only be compared to a Mexican wave.  As Io looked up, he looked down, all eyes were on her. She took a deep breath in and she knew her fate had been sealed. 

It seems Argus has been gifted a simple mind making him a giant of few words, he nodded at Hera and pulled out a silk rope thats colour matched that of the sky and surprisingly gently tied it around Io's neck, it's almost as if he'd done it before, he must of had practise, which was a bad sign for Io. As he grabbed the loose end Hera turned her back and walked away, Argus pulled at the silk rope to usher Io along. As they walked, unknowingly where, Argus remained silent. The sun slowly began to tickle the horizon and their shadows grew long, Argus tugged Io west and in the distance was an isolated and twisted olive tree. When they reached it, Argus tied her up, the undulating fields made him grow tired and he quickly fell to sleep knowing she was secure, but there was one gleaming eye open watching Io.

As morning raced around and the bright light dragged by Helios awoke both Argus and Io, like a nanny springing into action every morning for their charges, so did Argus. He released her from the grip of the olive tree and walked her round the fields, ensuring no one would lay eyes on her. He led her to different pastures everyday and would take her to drink in the rivers and babbling brooks. Everyday quickly became the same for Io. Dozens of sunrises greeted her, she'd even seen four full moons. The stark realisation that this was her life encouraged her to weep every night, she wept so much that  it was now the only way she could get to sleep.

Every now and then Argus would walk her on a different route, instead of drinking from the nearby brook he would take her unassumingly to the river that belonged to her father Inachus. She cherished this moment, the first time she visited she jumped around and stomped her hooves into the ground gallantly, but when she approached its still and glassy waters and caught sight of her reflection she always recoiled in fear. She didn't want to see herself looking like this, but she knew she had to drink, so as she sipped on its cool waters her eyes always remained shut.

The next time Argus led her down to Inachus' river, Io was particularly sad. Autumn was drawing in and she was witnessing the death of nature around her, leaves started to rust brown and flowers retracted back into their stems, a cooler breeze whipped Io's face. As she trotted down her ears twitched, the noise of people echoed in their canals and she widened her eyes, a noise she'd long forgotten was a warming sign against the chilled wind. As they drew closer to the river so the noise grew in decibels, as they came over the peak of the hill Io caught sight of the people who were creating the noise, but so did Argus. Getting closer the features of the people became clearer, young girls and an older gentleman, stepping nearer their facial features became familiar and the sounds of their voices were now intimate.  Io now saw only meters from her, the presence of her father and naiad sisters, without thinking she charged away from Argus slipping from his grip and greeted the revellers with an almighty low. 

Io, praised the gods, her excited lowing caught the attention of Zeus, so he perched on his usual jut to keep an eye on her at this encounter. She walked up to her sisters, who admired the snow white heifer, not knowing it was Io, they played with her, brushed her hair and gently added more flowers to her crown. This was the best time Io had in months; Argus was tired so he stayed back and let her have some fun. Inachus, worried the cow was getting too excited and hot led her down to the river bank to feed her some water. As he dipped his hands in to collect his waters and poured the water into her mouth Io realised how sad she really was, she couldn't speak or hug or kiss her father or sisters, so she stopped drinking and with her front hoof put it in the damp sand in front of her, dragged it back to create a line and then stomped next to it, she'd manage to draw out I O.

Her father looked down and saw his daughters name.

His eyes widened in amazement, he stood back and admired the heifer, 'Io? Is it really you?!'.

Io made the loudest low she'd ever done.

'Oh my dear child, I have missed you dearly' Inachus goes in to hug his daughter and beckons over the naiads to do the same 'which god has cursed you dear, I want you back!'

All this commotion drew the attention of Argus, who stomped over and separated them, he ushered Io back with him, Inachus couldn't take on the force of a giant, but he knew that Argus belonged to Hera; he was powerless to help her. All he could do was climb to the highest point he knew, take shelter in the highest cave and watch over her.

Io was brought back to the same olive tree and tied up for the evening, she crouched down to go to sleep but couldn't, she was so excited to have seen her family and for them to know where she was. Yet sadness quickly came to her again, warm tears rolled down her hairy cheeks, a deep numbness took over her, she was unable to move, depression paralysed her.