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The first time he saw her, he'd been a boy. Newly thirteen, he'd grown bored of the palace tutor’s lessons and craved a real challenge. When he'd caught word of the boar that had somehow managed to defeat even the bravest and strongest of warriors, he'd leaped at the opportunity. On the hunt for the boar, he'd caught a flash of white from the corner of his eye and turned to see what it was.
An owl perched on a nearby branch, its snowy feathers bright and contrasting the dark greens and browns of the forest around them. The owl watched him, grey eyes sharp and intelligent for a mere animal. He found himself entranced, frozen in place by those grey eyes, unable to look away for even a second, unable to even breathe. But then the boar screamed and the spell was broken.
When he looked back, the owl was nowhere to be seen.
The hunt had gone well. He'd managed to kill the boar by outsmarting it, but it had been a challenge, one he'd been hoping for when he'd agreed to try his hand at the offer. Despite his victory, he found himself exhausted, body aching, leaning heavily on his spear to keep himself upright as the other men celebrated. His eyelids drooped and he fought a losing battle to keep them open.
There was an amused chuckle and then he was being lifted. His eyes fluttered open, startled, but found them drawn to the snowy owl once more, watching him over the shoulder of the Palace guard who carried him. He couldn't look away, not until his eyelids grew too heavy and he drifted off.
He woke in the wagon, propped up against the guard's side. His body still felt heavy, his limbs loose and joints aching from the final fight. The owl followed them all the way back to the city.
After a day of rest to recover after his victory, he slipped out of the palace, out from under the servants’ eyes, and followed the clues to a lonely clearing in the woods. He paused, his skin prickling with an energy he couldn't place, the same feeling he got whenever he saw the owl. “I can see you,” he called out, voice surer than he felt. His palms were sweating. He hoped he wasn't wrong.
A moment of silence, then a flutter of wings. “How can you see through my spell?”
He smiled and turned to greet the woman. She was tall, taller than any woman he'd ever seen. She wore armor, an owl motif engraved on her chest. The face of her helmet reminded him of an owl's beak, her face hidden aside from a faint glow from her grey eyes. Ah, so he'd been right. “I was lying,” he boasted, heart racing in excitement. A goddess. A real goddess, speaking to him. “And look who fell for my bluff.” He laughed, unable to contain it.
She stepped forward, spear in one hand, owl-engraved shield in the other. “Well done,” she praised, voice even and deeper than he'd imagined. “Enlighten me, then. What do the people call you?”
He grinned, circling the clearing, eyes scanning the ground as if searching for something. His attention was fully on the figure in the center of the clearing. “I'm no fool,” he said. “How about you go first and maybe I'll answer that question.”
“Playing coy, are you?” she asked, the barest hint of amusement in her voice. His heart raced and he picked up the pace of his circling. “Two can play at that game.”
He grinned, looking over at her. “Is it really a game if we both know the answer?” he asked. He kicked at a branch, sending a sword-length branch flipping through the air and into his hand. He brandished it to the goddess ahead of him. “You are Lady Athena, goddess of wisdom and strategy at war. Unmatched in wit and badass in the fighting arena.”
She tipped her head back slightly, and light flashed into the shadows of the helmet, revealing her smile. “I watched you outsmart that boar,” she commented. “it was a test of mine, searching for a particular kind of warrior. And here you are.”
He spread his arms, branch in one hand. “Here I am,” he agreed.
“Perhaps you're looking for a mentor,” the goddess commented, stepping closer to circle him as if inspecting him. He felt a shiver crawl up his spine at her eyes on him. It was as if she was searching his very soul. “I'll make sure that time is well spent.”
His breath caught. Was she offering what he thought she was offering? “I would be honored, my lady,” he said. “If you would have me.”
She inclined her head, smiling again. “I would.”
He grinned and held up his hand for a high five, something one of the servant's children had taught him, in the rare moments he got to sneak away to play with them. “Sounds like a plan,” he said. “Two best friends, man and goddess.”
Athena just stepped past him, hands firmly on her spear and shield. “We'll see about that,” she said.
Embarrassed at being left “hanging”, he just slapped his other hand against the aloft one and dropped them both. Then rushed to join her as she continued into the woods beyond. “So, what kind of warrior were you searching for?” He asked curiously.
“A warrior of the mind,” she answered, not slowing her stride. He struggled to keep up with his much shorter legs.
“And that's me?” He asked, a little dumbfounded that she'd chosen him.
“You could be,” she said. She stopped abruptly and turned to face him. “You have great potential, Odysseus of Ithica. I sense greatness in you. Do not disappoint me.” In a flash of light and a flutter of feathers, a snowy owl soared away, leaving him alone in the woods, staring after her as he fought against the sense of dread rising in him.