Chapter Text
Kassandra kneels at the temple. She knows that she cannot be here, that her banishment still stands, but she cannot be away from this place any longer.
She has longed for this temple, remembers it clearer than she does her mother. She is utterly unsurprised by old marble pillars and statues that adorn the paths either side of her. Her knees ache on the marble, a feeling she has missed, her life having very little time for her devotions to the Gods, until lately.
This place has not changed at all, even as she sees it in darkness. She is there at night, as she must, the daylight too dangerous while she is here in Sparta.
For a moment, she drinks in the cool breeze, the colder marble, and the peace that fills her. She is naked for this, as she was taught by her mother.
To worship a God means to bear yourself to them, they are a part of you, and they know every part of you besides - so why hide a single thing from them?
Her offering is resting on her knees, the knife that Kyra threw at her, a dried flower crown made for her by a young girl she passed on the road, and the offcuts of her hair.
Kassandra had never cut her hair, only trimmed it after she was released from her schooling where she was shaved to look like everyone else.
"Aphrodite Adreia, I lay to rest my torments, my victories and my defeats. I have loved, and I have lost, and I have done so much more in devotion to you. On this night, I present you with these gifts, and I pray that you give me strength and compassion, as I find that I am lacking both." Kassandra's voice is a soft whisper, but it echoes around the temple, and she tries not to flinch.
The breeze picks up a little, before a dove outside let's out a sweet screech, and Kassandra smiles.
Knowing now what she did not before, she remembers why her goddess was always so responsive to her. The Isu in her made her more than man, less than God. Something new and yet old.
She muses on her existence as she lays the offerings on the steps, before she reaches for the goblet of wine to her left. It was expensive, almost half her drachmae spent upon it, but it was for a goddess. Nothing less would do, not tonight.
She pours it on the stone, watches dark red liquid like the blood that stains her hands splash again white stone, and she feels something warm brush over her shoulder.
She brings the goblet to her lips and drinks the rest, before she stands gracefully despite the hollow ache in her knees.
She does not bid a farewell, knowing that Aphrodite Adreia was with her. Or, at the very least, Aphrodite Epitumidia.
That being said, she would choose The Warlike over She Who Walks Upon The Graves any day.
The night is warm when she steps softly out onto the grass, and she heads for the outskirts of Sparta. It may have been years, but she still remembers this place like she knows the back of her hand.
Like she knows each freckle upon Kyra's face. She shakes the thought away viciously. She had killed her father, it was for the best that they part.
The doll still haunts her mind, and Kassandra wants to burn it from behind her eyes.
She finds what she remembers, empty as ever, and she curls up upon the hay inside.
This place is an old slave quarters, but rarely used now. It's a place for children who do not have homes to spend the night. In the winter it was brutal, and many died here, but in summer it was peaceful.
Still, it looks like it hasn't been used in some time, and no one would think to check here for her if someone saw her at the temple.
The heaviness of sleep falls upon her, and her eyes grow closed.
Her last thought before she closes her eyes is of the little Lady Kyra she had left behind.
☆μολὼν λαβέ☆
"Lady Kassandra, you must wake." Kassandra shoots up, her skull colliding with the child standing above her.
The child let's out a small yelp, but handles the bloody nose well, eyes wild with fear. Not of her, but for her.
The daze of sleep leaves her as she finally expands her awareness. She can hear the crunch of footsteps, and she can smell the stench that she is too familiar with.
The hybrid of monster and man. The stench that follows the minotaur, the smell that is sweet on Medusa.
She doesn't recognise the scent, so it is either new formed or has just awakened. Either option is bad, as Kass hasn't recharged fully from how exhausting her prayer was.
She looks at the child, a little girl with fire bright hair and milky coloured eyes.
A blind girl.
Kass hums and smiles. She hasn't seen an Apollo-blessed in a while. A Delphi child is a rare thing to come across.
"How did you find me, dear one?" She hushes the child, mops at her nose with her shirt and gathers the girl up like she weighs nothing. Indeed, the girl is barely in her tenth year and doesn't weigh anything to the warrior.
Kassandra can smell it outside, and she decides to try something. Not advisable to do it now, but she hasn't another option with the girl in tow.
She bends her knees and summons all the power she possesses as that moment, feels it spark and burn along her skin and sinew. She jumps, and she tucks herself around the girls as they slam upwards, through rock and metel and into the sky, hovering far above the thing hunting them.
She catches a glimpse of the creature she flees from, some awful mixture that could only be made by Hades of a Harpy and a man. Wings dark and dirty as night sprout from the back of it, still damp with blood. New then, just born, and Kassandra bets that they are sharper than they look. The claws on the creature are formidable, and Kassandra has no intention of meeting them.
She boosts them forward several leagues, her strength much better than it was, before she feels safe enough to let them touch down in the middle of a meadow.
The child untangled herself from her tunic and drops to the floor, staring up at Kassandra even if she cannot see her. The gaze sends chills down the woman's spine. The children of Delphi are not to be taken lightly, Kassandra remembers the tales she heard at the agogae about them.
"Did you think your prayer would be unanswered?" She asks, and it takes Kass much longer than it should to realise that the girl is answering her earlier question.
"The Lady sent you." Kassandra breathes out, not quite daring to hope but somehow still breathless with it.
"They look forward to seeing what you will do, Eagle Bearer. They have plans for you." The girl says, and Kassandra sighs. Don't they always? Can't she just rest?
Immortality can fuck off, she decides.
"I will do my best to deserve their attention." She says instead, but the girl looks at her sadly, knowingly.
"You already do. And do not fret, they have rewards for you planned." The girl says, and somehow that doesn't ease Kassandra one bit.
"What is your name?" She asks the girl, who smiles as they both hear the clatter of hooves. Kassandra gets a headache from wondering how exactly one of the Delphinians knew to come here to get them. Godly gifts are a pain in the ass, that much Kassandra knows.
"Danae, Eagle Bearer." The girl tells her, and she clasps Kass' big scarred hand in her small smooth one. They walk to meet the approaching figure wrapped in red silks like Danae is.
Danae beams, and jumps onto the horse behind the woman, hugging tight to her. The figure gives a chuckle and leans back a little into the embrace, before looking to Kassandra.
She can't see under the hood, but knows that in place of milky white eyes like Danae, there would be luminous green ones. Kassandra shudders at the look, and she tries not to bristle as the figure and girl chuckle at her obvious discomfort.
"Go to the Lion, Eagle Bearer." She is told, and Kassandra nods.
The ride off, and Kassandra waits a further fifteen minutes before the steam of curse words leaves her lips.
She fucking hates Egypt.
☆μολὼν λαβέ☆
Kassandra gets to the desert hell they call Egypt within a month, and the second she steps onto sand and inhales the bitterly hot air, she regrets all of it.
Kassandra would fight a crocodile right now if it meant she could go to somewhere colder.
She sets off on her camel (unreliable, awful creatures if you ask her), and finally finds herself in Cairo.
The city is bustling with people, and Kassandrs blends in with them. Alot of Greek people moved here for the profit of the East, alot of the economy of the Mediterranean comes from Egypt.
The country has its faults, but it isn't known as the bread basket of the Mediterranean for nothing.
Kassandra stops at the little Alley shop she knows so well, ordering a huge portion of Kushari which chatting to the pretty waitress, letting the woman tempt her into honey cakes and honey infused beers. While not her usual drink, she finds herself loving it, and charms the woman into flushing brightly under the hot sun.
Even while she does this, it is Kyra whose face she sees as she closes her eyes that night, in the soft bedding of the Inn. She wishes that Kyra was beside her, and imagines how soft and warm she would feel against her.
She falls asleep to the phantom scent of Kyra that she knows so well.
☆☆
It's too fucking hot, Kassandra thinks. Probably not the thought to be having when she's being dragged to the Pharaoh's Palace by heavily armed guards by the dozen, but Kassandra has never exactly been normal. Besides, it saves her the trouble of breaking into the Palace if they literally take her into it.
She takes in lavish and entirely too fanciful golden statues and artworks that line marble halls, and she thinks that Sparta would have a field day with this much wealth.
This hall is longer than her lifespan, the immortal woman decides as she marches down it with her body in grips that are just on the edge of tight. It would be bruising for a human, but Kassandra hasn't been that in a while, apparently.
Eventually, they reach the thrones, and Kassandra looks up as she is nudged to her knees before the figure.
She is surprised however, when she sees not the Persian ruler and pharaoh.
But a woman instead.