Calliope - In The Arms Of Morpheus

Chapter 32

A moment later, Morpheus held the door for Calliope to walk into his throne room. Finally having gone to sleep, her family waited there, translucent shapes, up front Mnemosyne, behind her the eight sisters, from veiled Polihymnia down to flushed Erato.
Skoni jumped around them, sniffing, excited, but also intrigued, that he could bumble though their translucent shapes.
"Greetings, my guests. Welcome to my realm."
"Greetings Oneiros, Lord of the Dreaming. We have come to thank you for saving our daughter and sister." Mnemosyne curtsied.
Morpheus nodded, and suppressed a smile, as Skoni tried to rub against Erato's leg, tumbling to one side as he fell through her shape.
"I'm soooo sorry! I should have-" Thalia chimed, but Erato gave her a blazing gaze, then stepped to her sister and lowered her head. "Sister. I made grave mistakes. I followed my addiction to debaucherous-... activities. I gave you to a man, not because he was the right one for you, but because I wanted to keep him for myself. I am ashamed, and so very sorry," Erato whispered.
Calliope nodded. "Yes, you did." Her voice sounded hoarse, her eyes glittering. "It was not your place to make this decision. But I let it happen, I agreed to go against my instincts. I learned much about myself. I forgive you." Calliope straightened and looked at Morpheus. "I know now what I want, and I am ready to pay the price. Erato, I may need your help for this."
"Whatever you need, dear Sister."
"Desire cursed my soul with eternal wantonness. I may need your advice on how to curb it."
Morpheus' heart swelled at his fierce muse.
He dropped to his knee in front of Mnemosyne, lowering his head. "Titan goddess Mnemosyne," he asked solemnly, "as the true kyrios of your daughter Calliope, I ask for your daughter's hand in marriage."
The Muses gasped. "No!" Calliope's voice sounded strangled. "Poli, tell her of the consequences!"
Polihymnia stepped beside Mnemosyne. She placed her hand on the Titaness' arm and said, "the fates have foretold it. This union will lead to a son, who's death will inevitably lead to the end of this Endless' existence."
Mnemosyne looked into Morpheus' eyes, waiting.
"Yes. This is true," he confirmed. "Another manifestation will take over my duties. The end of my existence is a price I am willing to pay, when the time comes. Until then, I promise to break your daughter's curse and care for my family, Titaness."
"Very well." Mnemosyne straightened her spine.
"Oneiros!" Calliope whispered, "Don't! I can bear this, for you!" She shivered all over her body, her arms wrapped around her torso.
"I know." He whispered. "But I love you, sweet Calliope."
Someone gasped.
"Dream of the Endless," Mnemosyne said solemnly, her chin lowered towards him, "I give you my daughter Calliope to sow for the purpose of legitimate children," she said the words of the engisys, the Greek pledging.
Morpheus inhaled, and looked into the Titaness' eyes while he gave her the traditional reply. "I take her."

****

An hour later, Hava tilted the luotrophoros and poured sacred water from the sea of dreams into Calliope's nuptial bath.
"I hope he'll make you happy." Erato said, from the place in Calliope's bathroom, where she hovered.
Calliope nodded, the warmth of the bath easing her tensed muscles. "I am glad that you are here, Sister."
"I want to make this right, as much as this is possible."
Calliope nodded, and let warm water from her hand trickle along her collarbone. "We will have the proper banquet in the waking world, later on, I promise."
Erato shook her head. "I do not care about food or physical presence. I do not even care about the rites being done properly. I care about you, and that the Endless means well."
"He does." Calliope sighed. "But if we do not, you know, marry, he can not take care of his duties like this. Him being physical, until we both release each others, drains his powers and wreaks havoc in the dreaming. We can not let that happen."
Erato nodded. "You are so brave."
Someone knocked at the bathroom door and Adamu asked from outside, "Titaness Mnemosyne wishes to be present for the robing of the bride."
"I'll be on my way, beloved sister." Erato said and squeezed herself past Calliope's mother.
"Greetings, Mother."
"Greetings, child." Mnemosyne's translucent form bent for a suggested kiss to Calliope's brow. Then she stepped away, so that Hava could offer her a towel.
While Hava wrapped Calliope in the soft cloth and started rubbing her skin, Mnemosyne said, "I am so sorry, my child."
"Why?"
Her brown eyes looked at Calliope, while Hava continued drying Calliope's body. "Your fate is partly my fault."
Hava put the towel aside an unfolded the large piece of cloth for Calliope's new soft white wedding dress.
"Why?"
"I foresaw the happiness in your eyes, when you met the Endless for the first time and decided that at least one of my daughters should be happy." She sighed, while Hava started pinning the dress and arranging the pleats. "I set things in motion... I suggested Teleute, Oneiros' sister, to invite him back to our time for her traditional day among the living. I foresaw that this would lead to you meeting..."
Calliope was speechless. She had always thought her mother did not care about such things, after the way her father, Zeus, had treated Mnemosyne.
"When I realized what consequences this would have, I rushed to your wedding." Mnemosyne sighed and rubbed her face. "But my foresight was short, and everything I tried to do, holding my personal feelings back, so that you could get away from a doomed marriage with the Endless, then trying to warn you, once I realized who your groom was, then protect you from Desire's forces, everything was too late..."
"And now?" Hava wrapped Calliope's new wedding girdle around her waist. "What does the future hold?" Calliope whispered.
"Happiness." Mnemosyne looked up. "A son with the voice of an angel."
Calliope nodded and let Hava place her wedding veil over her head.
"But the fates are always right." Her mother sighed.
Calliope nodded again. "I am ready, Mother." She looked into her mother's brown eyes. "I am ready for everything, the life with an Endless may bring."

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