A God's Mercy (Apollo x OC)

Chapter 5

The rest of the ceremony went as planned. After the chanting, Melantriche went with the other women to light the braziers and burn incense. Melantriche was no longer between age 5 or 10, so she had to watch on the sidelines with her mother as the young arkteis danced. They were talented, and danced splendidly. This year, an older woman played on the diaulos instead of a small boy.
Melantriche carried a lamp of burning incense with her. Though it was a nice aroma, it was thick and potent, and being so close to it made her feel slightly nauseous. She wished she were one of the girls who carried the fruit baskets. Unfortunately that role was reserved for younger girls as well. Even worse, this gave her plenty of time to absorb the sour mood of Leida, who was standing stiffly and had a frustrated look on her face. To be honest, Melantriche wanted nothing to do with it. Unhappy parents were no good for the mind to be around. Melantriche was especially afraid that if she so much as touched her mother she would explode, like a volcano. Nonetheless, her guilt as a daughter persuaded her to speak,

"Mother, what troubles you?"

Leida did not respond, instead giving a humph. Embarrassed she ever asked, Melantriche stared away to her feet.
5 minutes later, it was time for the dancers to shed their clothes.

Now that they were naked, the dance seemed almost... erotic, in a sense. The sickly sweet incense burning beneath her breast seemed to emphasize the dirty thought as she watched the girls on their hands and knees, sweating, swaying and arcing their bodies in remarkable ways. Melantriche held the incense lamp on one hand and used the other to slap herself. Really, why had she been thinking such things?! At a ceremony that celebrated purity, no less! These girls were for Artemis, and no one else, on this night at any rate! Dizzy, she prayed for forgiveness for the unchaste musings.
Instead, she tried to think about how hard the girls had practiced to please the goddess. They must have worked hard, for not one of them missed a single step, nor wavered. Melantriche wondered if she had danced like that once. If she'd known how promiscuous it really looked, she'd have been so embarrassed she would've rather died.
But on the other hand, the music was beautiful—not sensual at all—and everyone else seemed to be enjoying themselves, all making for a spectacular performance.
Almost 30 minutes later—though it felt forever—the dance ended and the arkteis gathered themselves and their clothes up, making way for the back of the temple where they could wipe the sweat from their bodies.

Now came the offerings. First the handmaidens came. They carried fruit baskets filled with figs, the local fruits. After they set their offerings on the altar, the women separated into 2 separated lines. One line, which was significantly longer than the other, would go to the sacred spring. The other would stay at the altar to give assortments of foods. Melantriche gave her lamp to another woman and followed suite to the longer line, with Leida behind her. The spring was just outside the back of the temple. Melantriche had to wait a significant while till it was her turn to offer.
Her attention wandered to the architectural mastery of the temple. It was relatively modest, but tasteful enough. She wondered if other temples were like this. She'd hardly ever seen any other temples; she had her own worshipping place in her home, where she honored Athena, the mistress of war strategy and the arts. The statue of Artemis, which Melantriche and the others passed while heading to the spring, was a lovely sight to behold. It was a human-sized likeness of Diana, with delicate features to match: long hair tied in a knot that was painted blonde, a youthful rosy face, and blue eyes. despite her feral clothes of a huntress. Melantriche thought that was what made her so beautiful; even though she wasn't dressed in expensive fabrics and jewels like the other Olympian goddess supposedly were, her comeliness shown through and glowed like the moon. 
Lost in her thoughts, Melantriche accidentally bumped into the woman in front of her, who gasped and had to steady herself; they were already at the edge of the spring. The woman turned to glare at Melantriche with cold hazel eyes before returning to prayer. Melantriche flushed, embarrassed, and murmured a silent apology. She hadn't realized she'd been thinking for so long. After a long minute, the woman tossed her pouch into the spring, and started past Melantriche in a rigid manner.
Now it was her turn. She bowed reverently before the pool of cold water and began a prayer.
"Great Artemis, Thank you for protecting me this year. I pray you will give us many more peaceful years to come. I'm so happy to have had this time to be with you."
With that, she let the pouch fall from her small white fingers. It came down against the water with a loud plop, and began to float down the stream, swimming after the other offerings. All the while, Melantriche smiled gleefully to herself, seeing that her offering went smoothly without sinking. The deed had been done.

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Trololololol Melantriche is gayyy. What even is Greek mythology without a little gay