ACT ONE: EUROPA

ORIGINS: My Love Mine all Mine (Mme Justice)

The god sat silently reading a book in her study when there was a knock on the door. She sat her book down, making sure to keep a note of the page number and looked up at the door. The room was flooded by hallway light and a guard came in, a small child in rags at his side. He bowed and told the god why they had intruded "We found her on the palace grounds. She's limping but when we try and check, she turns away and doesn't let us see".

"And I can assume she hasn't told you anything?"

"She just shakes her head, my lady".

"Bring her here." The god called. Slowly the guard nudged the girl over to the god, who took her with both arms. She lowered the girl's hood and looked at her dirty face. When she took the girl's hands they were heavier than she imagined. She rolled up her sleeves to see hundreds of scars. She rubbed the scarred hands and looked at the child with a sincere expression "It's okay. Is your ankle the same?"

The girl nodded.

The god looked past the girl and over to the knight. "Ask the maids to prepare a hot meal and bath, ask them to prepare a room as well".

The guard saluted and left. The god looked back down at the girl. She couldn't have been older than six. The god lifted her and sat her on her lap. "Can you tell me your name?" The girl shook her head. "Can you speak?" The girl nodded. "Do you know your name?" The girl shook her head again. "Could you tell me where you're from?" The girl nodded.

The god of Justice sat her down on the chair and collected an atlas of Europa from a bookshelf. She opened it at the map of France and showed it to the girl. "Are you from anywhere here?" The girl pointed west of Paris, her finger hovered over the small black text NANTES. Traveling from Nantes to Paris took days on foot. She looked down at the girl. She had travelled far, and possibly with an injured ankle. The god, not wanting to startle the girl didn't ask her about it, but simply sat down beside her and said "I'm from there too. It's nice." She took a small tin of chocolates from her desk and gave one to the girl. She held it with both marked hands and took a small bite. She smiled, finished it and then snuggled up next to the god.

A maid came in. The bath was finished. The god took the small child's hands and brought her to the large bathroom. Not wanting to damage her ankle further or risk injury she waited until the temperature was safe and used a wet cloth to clean the girl. There were a few scratches on her face, which she cleaned and covered with plasters. The child flinched at the pain but was relatively calm, she just stood and watched as the god cleaned her up. When Justice was finished she looked the girl in her blue eyes. There were a lot of blue eyes in Europa.

"Are you hungry?" The god asked.

The girl nodded.

"Okay then, let's get you something to eat." The god took the girl's hand and brought her to the kitchen. The staff placed a warm bowl in front of the child and left. Justice watched the child shakily pick up the spoon and begin eating. Clearly her hands and arms had been through a lot. After dropping the spoon back into the bowl Justice came over and helped her.

Afterwards Justice brought the girl to the prepared room. She lifted her onto the bed. The girl looked around, noticed a stuffed animal in the shape of a fish, picked it up and showed it to Justice. "Do you like fish?" The goddess asked.

The girl nodded and snuggled under the covers with her arms wrapped around the fish. When the god went to leave the girl tugged her by her trouser legs. "Stay?" She softly whispered. So Justice sat down and tucked the young girl back into bed. "I wish I could keep you here, I wish I could give you what you deserve but you deserve the world and I cannot give you that, not in this oppressive dictatorship. I wish I had the power to protect you but I'm afraid I'm not that good of a god. I'm sorry. I'll do better" the God kissed her in the forehead before making my departure.