[PG-13] Mantis [Ruki and Shrub]

Meesha broke through the treeline of the swamp to be struck by an awe-inspiring sight. Waves of green grass stretched over the horizon, and small hills and valleys dotted the landscape. In a strange way, it was very similar to Meesha's own desert home, just green instead of yellow. Rabbits bounced around the grass, trying to make it home before night fell. A fox silently jumped out of the swamp, his ears pricked in the direction of his prey. A soft wind glided across the plain, rustling the blades of grass as it passed them. The sun was no longer visible in the sky, although its light was only just beginning to fade.

As the others set up camp, Meesha started a fire. Fires were surprisingly essential back in the desert, as the nights could become incredibly cold. Meesha brought out some of the dry wood she had scavenged on the route there. Due to the swamp's inherit humidity, there wasn't much to go around. Meesha frowned. There didn't appear to be much wood in the coming journey either, and grass wouldn't burn for very long. It looks like there would be a couple of cold nights ahead of them before they reached Maatu Township.

Meesha stood back once the spark grew warm enough, holding her hands up to the fire. Once her clothes were completely dry, Meesha set up her own sleeping arrangements and produced her meal for the night. Suddenly, a thought crossed her mind. We might as well use this time productively, Meesha thought to herself. She walked back over to Athena and Roxy.

"Athena, could you please ask Roxy if she wants to learn some Common?" Meesha asked, her hands behind her back. Athena looked excited at her proposal.

"Yes, I think it's about time she learned to speak without her personal translator following her about." Athena agreed. She turned to Roxy and translated Meesha's offer.

"Meesha would like to know if you would like to know Common," Athena told her as Roxy pulled some dried fish out of her bag, before digging out Athena's loaf of bread and cheese. She felt bad for the goddess, being unable to eat cooked meats without getting sick. Although sometimes the goddess of wisdom decided to hell with it, and ate it anyways despite the consequences.

Taking a swing of water before handing it to Athena, Roxy wiped her mouth with the back of her hand before answering.

"What's that?" Athena broke bits of bread from the loaf before peeling a bit of cheese away from the block and put the two together to form a rather crude half sandwich. Popping it in her mouth, Athena swallowed before answering.

"It's the basic language most countries speak," Athena explained, taking a swing of water as well before putting the canteen between the both of them. "Of course not everyone speaks it, such as in hideaway rural towns, but more often then not if you can speak it, you'd be pretty much set. The swear words and common phrases you picked up are this language."

Roxy's eyes widened. She would be able to communicate without the need for Athena? She wouldn't look like an idiot? She would be able to understand people?!

Oh hell yes!

Roxy turned to Meesha, speaking the one of the few phrases she knew with a wide smile on her face.

"Thank you."

Meesha mirrored Roxy's smile. It was good to see such enthusiasm for learning, an enthusiasm that Meesha herself had acquired. Meesha gestured for Roxy to stand still, and walked back over to her pack. She returned with a roll of parchment, a vial of ink, and a writing quill.

This may take a long time, Meesha thought to herself. Common was not an easy language to break into, but Meesha believed that Roxy's natural intelligence, curiosity, and determination would be enough for here to get a firm grasp of the language. Meesha rolled the parchment out in front of the fire to provide some light. Unfortunately, the firelight had dimmed down already, and Meesha wanted to conserve the remainder of their firewood.

Meesha held out her hands, and drew them back to her sides, casting Illumination. Light rays shone out of her body, with the luminescence of a bright candle. Dipping the quill in ink, Meesha drew a little waving man, and handed the quill to Roxy, who immediately wrote Hello. After another few basic phrases such as Yes and No, Meesha got the impression that Roxy understood the fundamentals of Common. Good, that will save us some time, Meesha thought.

Over the course of two hours, Meesha and Roxy continued to study the language. The moon was high in the sky now, and provided enough light for them to work without Meesha's spell.

Roxy, who already had learned over the months a bit of the language she now known as "Common," struggled a bit as she wrote and sounded out phrases Meesha attempted to teach her, the words sounding foreign and unnatural on her tongue. The writing and reading part wasn't nearly as bad; she had learned how to read and write as the Keeper of Time, and Common just had added on to the Greek alphabet, making the transition easier for her at least in that sense. Although, she kept on spelling words wrong, wanting to write them with the original Greek alphabet she had spent years learning.

It was when the moon was at its pinnacle point in the sky when Athena, who was watching the two women from the sides, helping a bit whenever the need arose, decided to call it a night.

All three of them huddled next to the fire as possible, blankets draped across their bodies in a desperate attempt to fight off the chill of the night. Roxy had put on the cloak Athena made her buy when she first arrived, thankful that the goddess of wisdom had the foresight to realize there would be a need. Even then with the fire, the cloak, the blanket and Athena's body heat (their backs were against each other as they shared the same blanket) to keep her warm, Roxy still felt the chill of the night.

But she managed to fall asleep in the end, her breathing falling into a rhythmic pattern which matched the sway of the grass in the wind.

Meesha awoke early that morning, her body stiff and sore from the hike through the swamp. She noticed Athena was already awake, busily devouring a piece of bread. Meesha retrieved some cheese and bread from her own pack, allowing for a decent breakfast. She sat down next to Athena, groaning as the stiff muscles bent and twisted. They sat in silence, content to eat their meal and enjoy the sunrise. Once she was done, Meesha turned to Athena.

"I'm going to go search for more firewood in the swamp. I should be back in an hour." Meesha told Athena, who nodded her approval in turn.

Meesha drifted into the swamp, searching the highest branches for dry sticks and moss for kindling. Wehnosu Swamp was truly a creepy place. It was always so dark, and the wildlife made such strange noises. Meesha worked as fast as she could, and was glad once she was finally done. She brought her haul back to the camp, and was glad to see Roxy was awake and talking with Athena. The three travelers quickly packed up their supplies and headed out.

At first, Meesha loved Kainjea fields. The sun warmed her body and motivated her after the trials of the swamp. The grassland was home to rabbits, hawks, foxes, deer, and other animals that were much cuter than those found in the swamp.

Eventually, however, she grew bored. Unlike the swamp, there was nothing to really see in the fields. It was just the same green grass, stretching out in all directions. If it weren't for the compass, they would have been endlessly walking in circle. They kept traveling until midday, during which Meesha occupied herself by working with Roxy on her pronunciation of Common. She was making progress, but not very quickly.

As they stopped for lunch, Meesha noticed a long shadow creeping up from the horizon. Looking up at the sky, she noticed several black clouds ominously approaching them from the north. An occasional flash confirmed her fears: there was a lightning storm brewing. She looked over at Roxy and Athena, who had also noticed the clouds. Athena wore a grim expression, and shook her head.

"The storm will be here within an hour."

There wasn't anything the women could do. There was no shelter in these wide plains, so the best they could hope for was to stay low and hope they wouldn't be electrocuted. Roxy looked up at the thunder clouds in the distance and a worried frown crossed her lips.

"Is that Zeus?" Roxy hoped that wasn't the case. They had JUST escaped Poseidon. They didn't need another enemy, especially Zeus, so soon. Athena remained quiet for a moment before shaking her head slightly.

"No," she assured the girl. "Thunderstorms are common on plains." A sour looked crossed her face. "Although, there is no place to take shelter whenever they occur, so it is a bit problematic."

She turned to Meesha and gestured towards the gold chains in her hair.

"You might want to take them out if you don't want to be electrified."

Meesha groaned at Athena's suggestion, but she knew the goddess was right. She loved her gold chains, but they were simply not worth the risk. She unhooked them from within her hair, grimacing at the thought of putting them back on in a few hours. The process always took forever.

Just as she placed the jewelry into her satchel, the wind started to pick up. In only a few minutes, the gentle breeze from earlier had turned into a roaring gale, its force echoing across the plains and forcing the grass to lay flat. The trio ran to the nearest hillside, and lay down at its base. Freezing rain, most likely evaporated from snow-melt lakes at the top of the Raisu mountain range, pelted them as it showered the plain. Meesha's robe billowed out behind her as the wind struck it.

Suddenly, lightning bolts started to strike random points in the surrounding area. It all happened so fast. One moment there was a flash, and the next a resounding boom. A small patch of grass would be obliterated by the bolt, instantly vaporized by its intense heat. Meesha whimpered with fear. The incredible power of nature was too much for the young woman.

Roxy had never seen a thunderstorm before. Well, no, that was a lie. She had from the safety of some sort of shelter, but never this close before. The rain, while chilly, felt nice on Roxy's skin, although she could do without the wind whipping her clothes to and fro.

Suddenly, lightning began to strike random places of the surrounding areas. Roxy watched in amazement as a small patch of grass was obliterated, instantly vaporized from the heat. Roxy started to get up only for her arm to be grabbed by Athena and dragged down back to the base of the hill.

"Idiot," she scolded. "It may not be Zeus, but lightning is dangerous!"

She would have said more, but terrified whimpering from Meesha stopped her. Athena looked at her before sighing. She gently wrapped one arm around Meesha's shoulders and the other around Roxy's, pulling the two young women together so they were on either side of her. While she couldn't offer physical protection (although this kept Roxy from running of and exploring) it would be able to offer mental.

"Geez," she said, flinching a bit as the cold rain battered her form. "What will I do with everyone?"

The storm raged on for over two hours. The sky had become a black canvas, with flashes of light carving its surface. The ground underneath them shook from the energy of each lightning bolt. Meesha lowered her head, shivering from fright. She had never experienced a lightning storm first hand, and the experience terrified her. The only respite from this all-consuming terror was the Athena's reassuring arm draped over her shoulder.

After one hour, the lightning seemed to move on southward. Thirty minutes later, and the rain stopped. Thirty minutes after that, and the wind died down. The clouds parted, and it was as if nothing had happened at all. Athena uncoiled her arms from around her traveling companions, and everyone stood up. Looking backwards, Meesha saw the storm roll off towards the south, where it would most likely dissipate just short of Wehnosu Swamp. She looked down at her feet.

"Thank you, Athena. I...I don't know what happened. It was just so..." Meesha was lost for words.

"...terrifying?" Athena said, completing the sentence. "Everyone is scared of something, Meesha. From the lowliest of slaves to the highest of emperors, none are immune."

Meesha tried to object, but Athena silenced her with a stern look. "NONE are immune. The fact that you fear shows that you are human. Nothing more, nothing less."

Meesha mumbled a word of thanks, now lost in her thoughts. At this point, Meesha had serious doubts in her "Athena is an egotistical mage" theory. She certainly did seem to be the goddess of wisdom.

Onwards they continued, now hurrying to make up for lost time. As they jogged, Meesha busied herself by working the gold chains back into her hair. It was a difficult process, and she often found herself swearing underneath her breath. Finally, however, she prevailed.

It wasn't long before the sun started to set, and they stopped for the night. Meesha quickly set up a fire, and unrolled her awful map. She pulled out her compass, and made a few estimates by the fire light.

"If we maintain our current speed, we'll reach Maatu township just before sundown tomorrow." she remarked, before her face curled up in a frown. "That is, in the event this map is accurate. Which I doubt."

As the moon rose in the sky, Meesha resumed her attempts at teaching Roxy Common. The fire provided adequate light, although it cast odd shadows making the women huddle as close to the fire as possible to be able to see. Not that either of them was complaining. The night air was chilly and the lack of a shelter of any kind made it worse then it actually was.

As the night dragged on, they went to bed and the fire died a couple of hours, leaving them to shiver in their sleep.

Finally, the warm rays of the sun came and woke them. After breakfast (which Athena had decided to say screw it and ate some of the fish despite the terrible stomachache she no doubt would receive later) they set off again across the plains.

Roxy attempted to catch the mammals which inhabited the plains, but due to their wary nature and speed, they evaded her, disappearing into the waving sea of grass.

After two more hours, the peak of a mountain appeared on the horizon, its snow covered top faintly etched over the clear blue sky. As they approached closer and closer, the party saw an ever increasing range of mountains dot the horizon, like a small army of giants. The Raisu mountain range spanned the fields as far as the eye could see, creating a wall of rock and snow.

Finally, something interesting to look at! thought Meesha, who up until that point had been bored out of her mind. Some of the peaks were gigantic, while other were barely bigger than hills.

As they got closer still, little lights dotted the underside of one particularly large mountain. They flickered in and out, but became brighter and brighter as they approached. Meesha craned her neck to get a better look, and suddenly became excited as she realized what she was looking at.

"The lights are from Maatu township! We're almost there!" she yelled enthusiastically. This prompted a collective cheer from all three women, which quickly turned into a collective groan when they heard bells wringing out across the plains. Not this again!

"On the bright side, at least we know it's three o'clock." Athena noted, remembering the timing of the bells.

For several more hours they walked, their pace steadily increasing in an effort to reach the town before nightfall. Once they were almost at the gates, Athena noticed steam clouds emanating from the ground nearby, and remarked on their similarities to the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. Quickly consulting her map, Meesha found the explanation.

"Those must be the Maatu hot springs. They appear to be only a kilometer or two away from the town."

It was almost sundown when they reached Maatu. They hurried through the gates, and looked around the town. It was slightly smaller than Sharkton, but featured the same architecture. One side of the town was pressed against a monolithic mountain, while the rest was spread out evenly. Looking up at the sky, Meesha knew that they had to reach an Inn quickly, or they'd be stuck outside for another night.

Walking through the dark town, Roxy looked at all the lamps which were glowing softly on the street. Moths fluttered near the flames, only to get burned to a crisp once they got too close. It reminded Roxy of Icarus and how he flew to close to the sun. Except moths seemed to watch their brethren fall and still do it. Their tenacity impressed and amazed Roxy.

They wandered through the town, looking for the inn. Roxy would have helped, but she had no idea what they were looking for. Well, she did, but inn wasn't one of the words she had mastered as of yet and all the buildings, which looked similar to the ones in Sharkton, looked the same to her. They could be walking in circles and she wouldn't know it.

Finally, with the joint effort of Meesha and Athena finally asking some directions from some scantily dressed women hanging around a street corner, they managed to find the inn.

Athena, have what seemed what was a rather heated debate with the inn keeper, a key was finally given to them.

Athena gestured for the two younger women to follow her with a wave of her hand, muttering curses under her breath, constantly switching between Greek and Common, seemingly unable to curse her out in one language only.

They walked up a step of stairs, the red carpeted stairway decorated in some designs she had noticed while traveling around the last two cities. They weren't something she was used to, and found herself staring at them only to be dragged up the stairs by a tired and irritable Athena. A look between Roxy and Meesha silently agreed that perhaps learning Common tonight wouldn't be the best idea due to the goddesses' violate mood. No need to rock the proverbial boat.

Roxy had finally gotten the hang of the new numbers, so she was able to make note they were in Room 219. It would be helpful in case she wanted to go and leave the room without Athena and Meesha's accompaniment.

The room itself was decorated in a orange and red hue. The right hand wall had a single king sized bed, which according to Athena they were "just going have to share" with a small nightstand next to it with a reddish wood, a light brown wooden chair pulled up next to it. Across the room, near the bed was a golden sink on an ivory cabinet, a mirror hanging over it framed in bronze. To the left was what looked like a door and to the left of the door was a small alter with a fat man sitting cross legged in front of it.

Roxy keeled down and inspected it. Was this one of their gods? She tentatively poked it, and turned around to ask Athena, but noticed her clambering in bed, her sandals and cape on the floor next to it. Well, she could ask tomorrow. Standing up, she placed her bag, spear next to the alter before taking off her shawl, sandals and sickle, lying them next to them. Doing a flying leap into the bed, getting a dirty look from Athena in the process, she gave a grin and went to sleep.

------------Athena-----------

Athena opened her eyes groggily, finding herself in between Roxy and Meesha. The morning sun filtered through the curtains of the window.

She just lay there for a moment, wondering where they would go next. They had to resupply, but that would require both women to be awake and not sleeping like the dead.

Blinking suddenly, she felt a presence she somehow missed last night. Or wasn't here last night. Jolting up in shock, making Roxy grumble darkly and roll over a bit in her sleep, she scrambled out of bed hastily.

Crap! When did she get here!

Each divine, or being which had divine blood somewhere in them such as Roxy, had a distinct aura which other divine beings could track if they knew what to look for. This particular aura happened to belong to Aphrodite, the goddess of love. And by the feel of it, she was close by. Incredibly close by.

Materializing her spear, she crept closer to the door. She wasn't sure whose side Aphrodite side was on, but if she was against her, she didn't want to take any chance. Opening the door slowly, about to go look for her cousin and take care of the issue before the two mages awoke, she found the object of her hunt standing outside her door, half dressed.

"Hey Athena," Aphrodite greeted lazily, giving a lazy grin. "I was wondering when you would open the door. Seriously, its not cool to keep family waiting."

"What do you want Aphrodite?" Athena asked warily, her grip on her spear tight as she inspected Aphrodite warily. The woman was only wearing a white bra, her breasts barely contained, and a pair of matching white underwear. In her arms was a small pile of clothing. Her long blonde hair, which was normally up in a bun, was down and in small little tangles. Her blue eyes shimmered with mirth as she stared right back into Athena's grey ones.

"Sex sucked and I wanted some comfort," Aphrodite replied easily, leaving Athena slightly dumbfounded by the reply. Taking advantage of Athena's slight hesitance, Aphrodite pushed herself into the room, making sure to have as much as her body brush against Athena as possible.

"Aphrodite!" Athena said whipping around as Aphrodite checked the room, before her eyes landed on the now waking Meesha and Roxy. A lewd grin crossed her features and she turned to Athena and waggled her eyebrows.

"It looks like you had a better time then I did though." Athena caught the insinuation, and her face flamed red.

"IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!"

Meesha stirred in her sleep, slowly being drawn into the waking world. The feeling of a warm bed after the last few days was indescribable. Meesha turned over in the bed, trying to go back to sleep. Athena's panicked voice, however, made her sit up.

"IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!" Athena yelled, her face red with embarrassment.

Meesha propped herself up against a pillow, rubbing her eyes in an effort to wake up. Looking up, she saw a new visitor standing next to Athena. She was barely wearing anything, and her face was beautiful.

"Wha-" Meesha asked sleepily, still dazed and confused. The blonde woman laughed, and pointed at Meesha.

"Tell me, Athena, is it true what they say? Once you go black, you never go back. Does is apply to the women too?" she said with a cackle, playfully punching Athena in the shoulder. The goddess of wisdom, however, was having none of it.

"Aphrodite! Stop this instant!" she fumed, her arms crossed in front of her defiantly. Unfortunately, Aphrodite seemed to revel in her half-sister's anger. The goddess of love drifted over the floor to the foot of the bed.

"So, what's your names? Tell me, how loud did you make Athena scream last night?" she said, once again snickering at Athena's rage. By this point, Meesha was fully awake, and rising from the bed. This lady made her uncomfortable, although she seemed to know Athena well. As she packed up her satchel, she turned her head away from Aphrodite.

"Oh, my name is Meesha. I'm just traveling with Athena, that's all." she hastily replied.

Aphrodite turned to look at Roxy, who was now awake. "And you? What's your name, honey?"

Roxy had awoken to Athena's angry yell. Even though she was yelling in Common, just by the tone of her voice she was able to tell she was embarrassed by whatever it was. Sitting up in bed, she noticed there was a newcomer to the room.

She was an amazingly beautiful blonde woman who was wearing nothing but a pair of white undergarments, although she had more clothes in her hand. She was talking to Athena in Common, laughing easily (her laughter sounded like jolly bells ringing) although each word she said only seemed to get Athena more upset.

However, there was one word she managed to catch; Aphrodite.

It was the only word she needed to overhear, however.

What is she doing here?

Although she was no doubt annoying the goddess of wisdom to the furthest she could go without getting any retribution, she didn't seem that interested in harming anyone in the room. Which was good. Roxy was tired of running from insane Greek gods.

Aphrodite laughed again as she punched Athena on the shoulder lightly, a large impish grin on her face having Athena cross her arms across her chest defiantly. The goddess of love then started to approach both Meesha and Roxy, Meesha who was already getting out of bed and rightly seemed uncomfortable with the playful goddess.

She asked Meesha something, and Roxy was able to pick out both Meesha and Athena's name from Meesha's hasty reply; she must have asked for her name. Roxy jumped a bit as Aphrodite turned towards Roxy and asked her something. Going by her observance earlier, Roxy figured she must be asking her name as well.

"My name is Roxane," Roxy stammered slightly. "But I prefer Roxy." Aphrodite studied her for a moment before a wide grin broke out.

"Ah, the Atlantian child," she cooed in Ancient Greek. "I should have figured by the white hair." As if to prove her point, she sensually reached out and gently took a small batch of hair near Roxy's right ear and let it flow through her finger tips.

By this time, Athena decided enough was enough, and pulled Aphrodite away from both mortals.

"Stop it Aphrodite!" Athena yelled, keeping to Ancient Greek. "Leave them alone! I'll ask you again; what have you come here for?"

Aphrodite pouted a bit as she pushed back some stray hair that had fallen in her eyes.

"I told you," Aphrodite said, walking over to the nearby chair and sitting down, dumping her clothes on the nightstand as she did so. "Sex sucked, and when I felt your presence I wanted some comfort."

"Where is Ares?" Athena asked darkly as she glared at Aphrodite, her eyes not leaving her for one moment. "Or better yet, your husband?"

Aphrodite made a grand motion of throwing up her hands and leaning back on the chair, it tipping on its hind legs as it threatened to fall.

"Who knows where they are," she said. "And quite frankly I don't care. You know I won't sleep with my husband. I have no love for a man who I was given to as a trophy wife because he was the least threatening out of all the gods because he was lame. And Ares as of late has been more childish and has only been seeing me as an object instead of his lover. So, I left him."

She let out a sigh as she let the chair fall back to its normal position.

"Although, I'll have to say, I missed the vigor he had. None of the mortals here seem to be able to match up with him. After like five minutes and they are done. It's lame." She cast a glance at Meesha and Roxy again, wetting her lips slightly as she seemed to be checking both of them out, her eyes roaming both of their bodies. It was no secret Aphrodite had no qualms who she had sex with. She was the goddesses of love and lust after all.

"Although, you seemed to have the right idea with two of them," Aphrodite said, giving Athena a small nod, making Athena glow red again, both from embarrassment and anger. "Although, I'm jealous. I want to make you scream too."

Aphrodite got up and walked over to Athena sultrily, her hips swaying back and forth as Athena's face got even more red.

"Come on," she said, upon reaching her putting a finger on Athena's nose and running it down to her lips where she paused for a moment and took it off as she moved her face forward. "It'll be fun."

However, her face couldn't get any closer because Athena's hand was covering it as she pushed Aphrodite back.

"I told you over a million times," Athena growled, her teeth gritted. "And I'll tell you again. I have taken a vow of chastity!" Aphrodite stepped back and raised her eyebrow slightly.

"And that's why you were sleeping with two women?"

"FOR THE MILLIONTH TIME IT WASN'T LIKE THAT!"

Meesha packed faster than she had ever packed before. Her face was starting to match Athena's, glowing red from embarrassment. Thankfully, her dark skin helped disguise the blush that had developed on her face. She swung her satchel over her back, and jumped to her feet. She looked over at Roxy, and made eye contact.

Meesha silently mouthed the words "meet me downstairs", along with an accompanying hand gesture.

Hopefully she'll understand me, thought Meesha as she walked towards the door. She pushed back the two goddesses, which prompted a lewd moan from Aphrodite. In the doorway, Meesha turned to face Athena, who was looking at her pleadingly. Her face seemed to say "don't leave me!"

Meesha looked at Athena apologetically before racing down the hallway and down the stairs. She almost tripped over her robe several times, but it was worth it to escape Aphrodite. Something about that woman rubbed her the wrong way.

At least she hasn't been violent, she thought as she reached the bottom floor.

Meesha helped herself to breakfast, filling her plate with bacon, eggs, and toast. She sat at a table in the corner of the room, her chair turned to observe the entryway. As she ate, Meesha hoped that Roxy would come down soon and explain this new development to her.

That is, if we properly communicate it, Meesha thought. Perhaps she was overestimating Roxy's ability to speak Common. She settled on the fact that only time would tell.

Roxy was getting steadily uncomfortable as the debate, if one wanted to call it that, between the two goddess. She was slowly inching her way towards her things, which were unfortunately all the way across the room. Meesha had been smart and had her stuff closer to the bed and was all but throwing her items in her bag.

Finally finished, she threw her bag over her shoulder as she jumped to her feet. She glanced over at Roxy, who had managed to only get to the sink so far, making eye contact. She mouthed something while pointing below before turning around and walking towards the door, pushing through the two goddesses, resulting in a rather loud lewd moan from Aphrodite.

Roxy took the opportunity of Meesha providing a brief distraction to sprint towards her things, throwing her sandals and her shawl in her bag, and grabbing her spear and sickle, not bothering to attach the weapon on her belt. She then took advantage of the gap still created by Meesha to run out of the room, a look of horror and shock on Athena's face. She held up her right hand vertically apologetically as she pounded out the door.

Sorry, but there is no way I can stay here. I'll be violated.

The moment she left the doorway, it slammed shut behind her, no doubt curtsey of Aphrodite.

"Now that we are alone-"

Roxy didn't stick around to hear the rest of the conversation. She didn't want to. Besides, Athena would be fine. She had to deal with the goddess all of her life. She could handle some time alone with her, right? Yeah.

She didn't dwell on it as she skipped down the steps, two at a time before landing on the bottom one. She glanced around, looking for Meesha before finally finding her at a table in the corner of the room, waving her over. Roxy jogged over there, ignoring couples who were staring at the young woman in a tunic carrying two weapons.

Sitting herself down at the table, she drew on what little knowledge of Common she knew to help explain the new development.

"Sorry," she started, feeling an apology for Aphrodite was in order first. "Aphrodite goodiss (goddess)-" she paused, struggling to think of the Common word for love. Not knowing it, she decided to throw some swear words out which were just as good at describing her, although not in the classiest ways. "Sluut, whore, fuuk (slut, whore, ♥♥♥♥)" She paused once again, deciding to try her luck and throw out the Atlantian word. "Amour"

Meesha giggled quietly to herself as Roxy laid down some swear words. She herself wouldn't have been so crude, but she couldn't deny that those words seemed to describe Aphrodite perfectly. Roxy's final word, however, caught Meesha off-guard.

"Amour," Roxy finished, settling down and waiting for a response.

"Armor? She didn't appear to be wearing any armor. In fact, she didn't appear to be wearing many clothes at all." Meesha replied, confused at the Atlantean's word.

Meesha toyed with a piece of bacon, contemplating Aphrodite's arrival. She wasn't as hungry as she thought she would have been, mostly due to her rude awakening. Meesha pushed the rest of her breakfast towards Roxy, allowing her to have something to eat without having to go up and come some.

"So, if Aphrodite is here, what about your other gods. Surely Athena and her...questionable counterpart can't be the only members of your pantheon?" Meesha queried, her attention drawn back to her map. Suddenly, she remembered that Roxy probably didn't understand a word she said. She sighed, frustrated at the language barrier. She turned the map towards Roxy, and pointed at the nearby blue circles that were supposed to represent the hot springs.

She then fetched a piece of parchment, and drew a little drawing. It depicted a long haired woman clad in underwear (representing Aphrodite), two woman running away from her (Roxy and Meesha), and three circles that they were running towards (the hot springs).

"Do you want to go to the hot springs to escape Aphrodite?" Meesha asked, sounding out each word as slowly as possible. She felt slightly guilty for leaving Athena, but her fear of Aphrodite was greater than her guilt.

Meesha giggled at Roxy's description of Aphrodite. Roxy wasn't quite sure if it was a positive laughter or a negative one, but at least she had made her point across. However, her final word seemed to draw some confusion from Meesha.

I guess Ancient Greek was a no go. Can't say I'm surprised there.

There was a moment of silence when Meesha played with a long strip of cooked meat (Roxy vaguely remembered Athena calling it baakun or something like that; Roxy couldn't remember) before pushing it, and the rest of the food, towards Roxy.

Roxy accepted graciously and began eating the food, making a mental note to learn their actual names. She liked a great deal of the foods on her plate (some more then others) and if she could actually know (and pronounce) the names of them, she would be able to get them whenever she wanted in theory.

Meesha started talking again, looking at her map. Roxy stared blankly at her, the only two words she managed to catch were Athena and Aphrodite names. She tried to think what Meesha wanted to know about them.

Maybe it has something to do with the map? But what?

However, Meesha realized that Roxy didn't understand her and gave a frustrated sigh before turning the map around so Roxy wasn't forced to read it upside down, pointing at three light blue circles with some of the Common language under them.

Hm, usually on maps, both the old ones from the Old World and the ones from Atlantis, blue typically signified water. Although, with this map since it seems to be made for those who cannot see colors, I am unsure if this is the case. But still, it wouldn't make sense not to color where water is blue.

While Roxy was trying to decipher the map, Meesha had fetched a parchment and started doodling. When she was finished, she pushed it towards Roxy. On it depicted a long haired woman clad in nothing but underwear who looked a bit like Aphrodite chasing after two women who looked like herself and Meesha respectively. On the other side of the page, where Meesha and Roxy's avatars were running towards, was the same symbol Meesha had pointed out earlier.

Meesha then asked her a question, and Roxy managed to pick up Aphrodite again and a new word, you. While she wasn't 100 percent sure on what she had asked, judging from the drawing it seemed Meesha wanted to hide from the goddess of love at that landmark on the map.

Well, Athena can find us when she escapes. Roxy decided, nodding her head, agreeing to Meesha's plan.

As Roxy ate, Meesha took the time to sort out her pack. In her haste to leave the room, she had ignored any sense of order. She replaced all her belongings in their proper positions, and put her satchel on her back. She sat patiently as Roxy ate, going through the day's plan in her head. Today would hopefully be a lazy day, where they could buy supplies, relax, and prepare for the journey ahead. Meesha drank a cup of warm tea, and nibbled on a piece of bacon.

Suddenly, the town bells started to ring. Everyone in the room bowed their head and became silent, including Meesha and Roxy, not wanting to look out of place. For two minutes they sat, completely quiet and still. Meesha had to admit that the bells were not only soothing, but a useful indicator of the current time. Once the final tone echoed across the town, the noise immediately picked back up. Meesha raised her head to see that Roxy had finished her breakfast, and was ready to leave.

They set out from the west gate, taking the trail directly to the hot springs. It was still early in the morning, but steam could easily be seen rising up from the springs. As they walked, Meesha helped Roxy pronounce the names of the food at breakfast. The peace of travel was a welcome change from their unexpected visitor and the busy town.

They reached Maatu hot springs in only half an hour, a sign indicating their destination. There was five very large pools of water, all around the same size. There was only four other people in the entire area, and all of them were situated in the closest spring. Meesha and Roxy maneuvered their way around the springs, reaching the furthest one away. There was several paper walls set up along the side, presumably to allow people to change. Meesha ducked down behind one and removed her robes, stopping down at her underwear.

I look like Aphrodite, she thought ruefully, although her situation was much more proper compared to Aphrodite. People expect you to wear less clothing while in water, which was not so much the case for Aphrodite's situation.

Meesha ran across the rocks around the edge of the spring, now freezing in the crisp morning air. As quickly as she could, she slipped into the warm spring. Instantly, she felt her body and mind relax. After trudging through a grimy swamp, Meesha really needed the bath. She sat, soaking in the water, and waited for Roxy to join her.

Roxy was delighted to see their destination. Not only did she read the map right, but it appeared to be a hot spring. Roxy had seen plenty of under water hot spring, but they were near volcanoes and their water was too hot to safely bathe in.

There was only four people in the front most pool, which surprised Roxy. The public bath in Atlantis was always full of people (except when it was being cleaned) at all hours of the day, so to see so little people at a hot spring of all things was a shock.

Following Meesha to the back, pausing a bit in front of a row of several paper walls set up on the side. Roxy didn't know what they were there for, and was even more flabbergasted when Meesha went behind her. There was no such thing in the Atlantian bath; people changed in front of each other without a single sense of shame. Being naked was nothing to be shameful of-there was just a time and place for it.

Shrugging her shoulders, she gently placed the spear near the edge of the bath, unhooking her sickle from her belt (she had properly dressed before leaving the hotel room) and placed it next to it. She stripped quickly, the chilly morning air getting to her as she removed her clothes. She made sure though to neatly fold her clothes though each time she removed a piece of clothing. On the top of her fabric was her little hourglass necklace, its sand had long returned to their previous state at the top of the hour glass. How it stayed up there was beyond Roxy, but she didn't dwell on it much.

She now was standing naked at the edge of the bath, the blue tattoo on her back left shoulder visible. She slid into the bath next to Meesha, who had got into the hot spring during the time she had spent changing. Smiling slightly, she splashed the water slightly. She still wasn't used to the private showers and restrooms of the hotel rooms they stayed at, and this setting made her feel more at ease.

-----------[Athena]-----------

She was going to murder them, she decided, for leaving her behind with her older cousin who was determined it seemed to get in her pants. No, determined was a poor word for it. Desperate was a better adjective.

Athena was currently using Aegis as a physical barrier between Aphrodite and her.

"Come on!" Aphrodite whined as she tried reaching over the shield. Her lip was bloodied and she had some scratches and other bruises on her curtsey of Athena attempting to beat her up to dissuade her. However, it had just turned her on more and made her all the more insistent. "Stop with the foreplay already!"

"WHAT PART OF NO DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND?" Athena hollered, attempting to inch towards the door.