Memoirs of a She Wolf

Capitulum II

The lush green mountain slopes of Cithaeron was her private place, and she stared into the waters of the lake, sipped it and plunged into the cool depth. It wasn't really deep, but there were hiding places among the reeds. A man spied on her private swimming, and he stared at her for she was naked. Ashamed, the goddess retorted by flinging a stone at him, and the man laughed. Not enough, Diana climbed from the lake and picked up her bow and quiver of arrows, then aimed...

"That is the story of Diana?" asked Melina, a tenant of the house. "You must be referring to the Greek legend of Actaeon the Hero!"

"You know it then," I sighed, hopelessly. Some people surprised me.

"It's a well known story and you're retelling it," she answered. 

"This is not... oh, it doesn't matter".  

It wasn't really a story of Diana anymore, but about me. I dream too much. The smell of cooked fish filled the house when food was being prepared. I had not been home much, as I found myself pulled into the dank walls of the Lupanar by a sweet rosy faced youth called Darius. He was the son of a rich man in the city on holiday. When I left that gloomy brothel, I swore never to go back. I would rather become a slave.

My own mother was a prostitute, and then she died when I was just ten years old. It was the kind nature of Tiberius to take me in as he cared for the orphans of his city. There were orphan girls adopted there in the house who I grew up with, such as Melina and Sabina who is now a married woman living in Herculaneum. 

Again I had a wolf dream that night, the same one as before. This time, I woke up and feel determined to go there to that very place, and look for the pool and look into it and see what the reflection will show me.