The Light Of Apollo's Love

Chapter 12

Artemis had kept Myrrh busy for the day, to try and help ease her worries of the gathering that would be that night. Myrrh refused to go hunting with her, so instead, they sat on the cool, marble floor of her home, weaving baskets. Myrrh was enjoying herself as she wove the dried grass together, choosing a variety of blues and yellows from the bunches that had been stained from their flaxen color. Humming a familiar tune, Myrrh grasped the bone needle within her hand as she added a few stitches to her handy work, setting aside the tenth one she had made, while Artemis was only on her fourth. Myrrh had begun to get her memories back, then slowly returning and showing up simply from having conversations with certain people. Although there were a few things Artemis could not understand.

"Myrrh, why do you always go to the lake? There is a lot of other places you can go by yourself, but you seem to only go there. Why?" Artemis raised an eyebrow at Myrrh, and she stopped humming, thinking about how to answer, before turning and grabbing a few handfuls of grass, slowly starting on a new project.

"I guess I just have an attachment to it, you know. It's where I and Apollo first met, and" She seemed to trail off, furrowing her brows, and Artemis could see from the distant look that had appeared in her eyes that something was rising from her memory. She slowly took the starting of another basket from Myrrh's hands, before wrapping an arm around her shoulder, pulling her close. She could sense Myrrh's disconnect from herself and the world around her, as she stroked her thumb across her forehead, waiting for her to sense her touch and come back from the depths of her mind. Usually, this would only last for a few seconds, but she had a notion that this one would be much longer.

She felt Myrrh let out a sigh, and she looked up at Artemis, face swirling with emotions.

"I had a family, didn't I?" Artemis nodded her head, Myrrh still wrapped in her embrace. She felt Myrrh lean into her, and she pulled her up on her lap, trying her best to comfort her.

"You had a lot of so-called sisters although you weren't blood-related. You thought of Chloris as your mother, which was to be expected since you had died fairly young as a human. Well in a way she was technically all the flower nymphs' mother, it is a complicated thing Myrrh. But yes, you did have a family in a way." She gazed down at Myrrh, and she had a childish look of joy in her eyes, as she clasped her hands together with a smile.

"Apollo said something about her being at the party. I wonder if she misses me?" Myrrh tilted her head slightly at the question. Artemis grasped Myrrh's frail hands in her own, giving her a reassuring smile.

"I'm sure she does."

Apollo sat at his desk within his bedroom, studying the flowers he had moved from his bedside to in front of him. It had been weeks, and the flowers showed no signs of death or illness. It was peculiar to him. Myrrh still felt human when he held her in his arms, her heartbeat still being the same as it had always been. It seemed to be that since recovering more of her memories, more of who she had been physically had started to reattach to her too. He was not allowed to see Myrrh for the entire day, acting as though they were getting married. He could not help but smile at the thought of Myrrh being with him till the end of time itself, as he ran his fingers through his tangled blonde curls. His mind began to wander, envisioning all the different dresses Artemis could have picked for her to wear, her dark hair resting upon her bare shoulders in curls. Her lovely blush-colored lips turned upwards with a smile, her dark, coffee eyes looking deeply into his. Oh, how he longed to touch and be with her, a slight flush coming over his face as he daydreamed about the woman he loved. He was drawn from his thoughts by a glass of wine being sat down beside him, and Dionysus sitting in a chair across from him. He had a smirk playing on his lips as he took a sip from his glass.