ATN: THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY

AUNT APHRIA

And I thought I had seen all the weird, and there could be no more. But, I had forgotten that I had seen nothing in my Greek life. And when I entered Aphrodite's palace, I completely remembered weird. The palace was as beautiful from the inside as it was from the outside. But it was exactly the one I had seen in my dream. Pretty, with pink walls, golden decorations, but a little gloomy. This definitely didn't seem like the palace of the most beautiful woman known to mankind.

The gate was unlocked. So entering the palace was easy. But the inside was so quiet that even a drop of a pin could startle you. I looked around. There were so many vases in all the cabinets, but the flowers had dried. It was as if someone had not changed the flowers in a day. I couldn't believe that this was the right place. Iris had described Aphrodite to be cheerful. But her house, her decorations, nothing reflected that. 

We found a staircase, and reached the first floor. There was a huge door made of gold. Two candle stands were placed in two sides of it. "Perhaps Mom would be there." Abhro said. We went closer, and found a woman, with black hair, wearing a khaki servant's uniform, calling from outside the door, "My Lady! Please come out. You must be hungry."

"No! I can never show my face to the mortal world. Never!" a voice spoke from inside. The voice was one of the sweetest voices I had ever heard. The owner of that voice won't be a fantastic singer, but could definitely attract people towards her. In the meantime, the servant woman saw us. She got up, picked up a candle stand, pointed it to us as a weapon and said, "Who are you? How did you get in?"

"We are your mistress's family." Riya said.

"She lives here alone. You ain't her kids, or any of the gods. She is upset, get out of here." She said, and threw the candle stand towards Riya. I flicked my fingers, and the candle stand fell on the ground. "You would be surprised." I said.

Abhro looked at Dadai. Dadai went closer to the door, and said, "Mother, come out. We are your children."

"My divine children are not here, or I would have felt it."

"Damn it, goddess." Dadai said, "You have mortal children too."

"Watch your words, human. My mortal children don't live long." Aphrodite shouted.

"See, I told you guys, it won't work. She is just as I thought she would be." Dadai turned, and came back.

Abhro stepped up. "Mom, its us. Whatever the problem is, you can tell us."

"I don't even know who you are." 

"You have to come outside to see!" Dadai said.

"I'll never come outside, not like this."

And now, Hiya stepped up. Her eyes said she had a plan. She went closer to the door, and said loud enough for all of us to here, "Aunt Aphria!"

For a moment, there was no sound from inside. Then, Aphrodite's voice could be heard, "Avik? Abhro?" Abhro was standing right next to Hiya. He said, "Mom, come out. Let us see you."

"Honey, I can't. I'll embarrass you."

"As if you haven't embarrassed us enough." Dadai said.

Aphrodite's voice sounded like she was crying. I should have done something, yet I was just standing there, no idea what to do. I looked at Riya, she whispered in my ear, "Let the young ones handle this."

"Mom, its us. We are your sons. It won't matter whatever it is. We can help you, Mom, just come out."

It took five more minutes of persuading, and finally, the door unbolted from inside, and Aunt Aphria came out. And we felt a huge shock.

The woman standing outside was in no way beautiful. She had messy, dirty brown hair, brown wrinkled skin, full of scars. She was still fit, but in no way, was she the Aphrodite that was described to the world in myths. Her eyes seemed like they had been pushed deep inside the sockets. Her blue dress robe was shabby. She had no jewellery on. "Something's wrong!" I said.

"Is it all of you?" Aphrodite asked, "Like all five kids of the Chatterjee family?"

"Yes, Aunt Aphrodite!" Hiya said.

"Children, I can't believe how much you have grown. You'll forgive me for not keeping a watch on you..." She looked at Abhro, who was so surprised to see an ugly Aphrodite that he had forgotten what he was supposed to do. He looked dumbfounded. I looked at Dadai, who also seemed pretty awestruck.

Aphrodite opened her arms for a hug, and Abhro dissolved into them. A tear fell from the corner of his eyes. Aphrodite was already crying. "Mom, what has happened?" Abhro asked.

"Later. First, lets go downstairs, we'll talk." She said, and stepped ahead to hug Dadai. Dadai took a step back and said, "No no, Lady Aphrodite. I am not hugging you."

"Honey, look how you have grown. You are a young man now. I am seeing you for the first time in fourteen years. Why won't you hug me?"

"You don't know? You are a goddess, you aren't stupid."

"Is it because I was never there when you were a child? Avik, I am a goddess. I can never have that normal relation with my kids."

"And never did you think of showing up, or even watching us, while we grew up?"

"I thought you were gone. In last fifty years, none of my children have ever reached Atlantis. I thought after the way I left your father, he would isolate you completely from my world. And you won't make it."

"You thought. Just like that. For your kind information, we both reached Atlantis safely, because Dad cared about us. Unlike you, who left him out of the blue with two kids to raise on his own."

"Honey, I am not proud of that. But I had to, to make this world a safer place for you to live. We all had to. Even Hecate and Triton returned. Avik, I'm sorry about all the things you never had."

"No, don't apologize to me. If you want me to forgive you, apologize to Dad, and then, when you return, return with a proper farewell. Then, you can hug me. But I am sure, that a goddess would never apologize to a mortal."

"For my child, I will do that." Aphrodite said.

"But Lady Aphrodite," I asked, "what has gone wrong? What happened to your breathtaking beauty?"

"Oh, Jay! You were just an infant when I last saw you. Look how you have grown." She patted me on the head, and went on, "Kids, lets go downstairs. We'll discuss." She turned towards the servant woman, "Bring milk and cookies for the kids, and get me some food. I feel better now that I know my kids are safe."