A God's Mercy (Apollo x OC)

Chapter 33

     If you've ever had a job, or you just live in a family where things need to be done, you should know that you'll still have chores even if you lose all your limbs. Bethany Hamilton got bit by a shark and she still had to do chores, and Melantriche—even though she's never heard of Bethany Hamilton—was no different. At least, she got the easier chore of cutting plums for plum pudding. Work, work, work. It was all anyone ever seemed to do around here, not that Melantriche dared complain. It's only, she thought immortals spent their time doing much nicer things like singing and dancing and feasting. Karana raised her eyebrows at this. "Frivolous things, you mean."

     "I suppose."

     "Huh! And you'd think the hierarchy in the spirit world would be any different? No, the rich gods, like Lord Apollo, they can do such things. Little deities like us? We scramble around doing whatever they want, at least if we want to get by..." it's hard to understand what an immortal means by "wanting to get by" if there's nothing to get by to, but oh well. That was that, and by early afternoon Melantriche was sick of the smell of plum pudding. One of the 2 girls earlier waddled in carrying a fresh basket of laundry and Karana stopped to help Melantriche hoist herself up. "I guess I could say now, you're plum useless!" She snickered at her own joke. "You should help Brisa fold all that over there. Even a useless person can do laundry." Even though it was a joke it still sort of stung, and so as Melantriche hopped out on her new crutch she swore she would make the best of today. They made that crutch especially for her, and it was especially touching when she remembered most of them, being immortals, probably never hurt themselves in the way Melantriche did. She'd never broken a bone before, and now she was rapidly learning how cumbersome it was. The pain, though now dull, was incessant no matter what she was doing, though she was determined not to complain about it, or get embarrassed about people giving her funny looks when she hopped out into the open. The little girl, Brisa, was carrying the load of laundry out into the open. She pointed to the top of the hill where a lone tree was standing.

"I'm going up there." She mumbled. "You don't gotta come with me if you don't want." Melantriche shook her head, trying to ignore the idea that the girl might be finding her a nuisance. She put on a bright smile.

"I'm sure it'll be no trouble for me to get up there myself. I'm quite tough." The girl only nodded. She turned and strode up the hill, Melantriche quickly finding it was a great chore to follow behind. It wasn't that it was that steep of a hill, only she'd never had to balance herself with a crutch before. She nearly lost balance once. The girl threw a glance backwards. "I'm fine, I'm fine." By the time they crested the hill she was dripping sweat, and she was pretty sure the girl was pretending not to notice, either out of annoyance or courtesy she was glad. Melantriche, always a burden...
The wind was fresher there. Athens was always so very humid in the summer, so that women forwent the modesty of keeping windows closed for the chance of even a little bit of wind. This island was no different, if even a little more hot even though Melantriche was sure it was almost autumn. The girl was sitting down at the foot of the tree, next to 5 already folded linens. Melantriche hobbled over.

"So... is this... what you do on your spare time?" She paused to look at her. She was a tiny girl, couldn't have been more than 10 or 11, but it was easy to tell she'd one day become a pretty lady. Her cheeks were round and rosy from work and her hair tied back was a nice buttercream color.

"Yes..." she mumbled. "I like it better up here, so I often do my chores here."

Melantriche nodded. "It's very nice." She plopped down next to her, stretching her leg out so it wouldn't hurt as much. That cast was heavy. "It's hard to believe you could consider it work in such a place." Brisa set the basket between them and they set off to work. While her hands were busy, Melantriche remembered that this wasn't the first time they had met, only the first time they'd spoken. How funny that, that she and Brisa went to the baths together, ate together, even slept close together and didn't even have a word between them. Maybe just because Karana ate up most of Melantriche's attention, but she still felt a bit bad regardless. She paused to sniff a linen. Shouldn't she try to converse with her? They were all alone after all. Before she could even get a word out Brisa spoke.