ATN: THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY

MY MOTHER, AS I SEE HER

She stood there, tears in her eyes. Had I not seen it, I would have never believed that gods could have tears for someone else. Dadai had bickered on Aphrodite for an hour, and yet she shed no tear for him. But my Mom, she and I hadn't even exchanged words yet, and here, Hecate was crying for me. Perhaps, this was also crying for herself, since she hadn't seen me in fourteen years. Its just that I was in her mind right now that made this selfless. Mom ran towards me, and put her hand on my cheek, pushing tears out of my eyes. She tried to say something, but the words didn't come out. At that moment, she didn't seem to be Hecate, goddess of magic, but Helia, wife of Rohit and mother of Jay.

She was as I had seen her in that photo. Nothing about her had changed. The same brown eyes, the same pale skin, the same dark brown hair, and definitely the same fire torch locket. A replica of that I had left in my room in Atlantis. She smiled the same way as she did in that photo. 'The only ever god to be humane.' Iris had once told me. She opened her arms to give me a hug, but I didn't do it. Instead, I said, "Let me see you first. Its been fourteen years."

And then, I dissolved into her arms. I cried like a baby. Why would I not? I was in my mother's arms. She cried too. Finally, after a long hug, we separated, and she kissed me on my cheek, and said in pure Bengali, "I have been waiting for this day for one and a half decades. Finally! My son, my baby, you are here in front of me." Then, she saw my cousins, and said, "Are these...?"

"Yes, Mom. Its them."

She ran to Dadai, put her hand on his cheek, and said, "Avik, my boy, you used to chew your baby fingers when I last saw you." She gave him a hug, and then moved towards Hiya, and said, "Oh little angel, how you have grown. I was right there by your mother's side when you two were born." She hugged both my sisters and finally got to Abhro. "Aunt Helia!" Abhro said with his affectionate look. I am not sure if these charms worked on the goddess of magic, but Mom pulled Abhro into a hug too. Then, she turned to Tina, looked confused, and asked me, "Who's this? Your girlfriend?"

See how mothers embarrass you in front of the girl. My face turned red, and so did Tina's. "No, Mom. No. No." I smiled, and said, "She's my friend. Almost best friend. Tina Roy, daughter of Ares."

Hecate put a hand on Tina's shoulder, and said, "So you are the pitchfork girl. The entire underworld knows your name."

"Yes, my Lady." Tina replied. Then, Mom said, "Come on in all of you. See what a witch-house looks like."

Mom offered to make coffee for all of us, but we rejected, telling her about the feast in Hades's palace. She seemed pleased, but sad, saying, "Oho! She forgets her own protector, that girl. Eating briskets alone. I am gonna see her at dinner time." Right, Mom had become Persephone's protector after she had helped Demeter find her. We, however, stuffed our bags with more food from Mom's little kitchen, for we had a long mission at our hands.

I gotta say, I had never known what a witch house would look like. But Mom's chamber looked simple and yet, special. There were many totems and wands on the study table. There were three bookshelves, full of books of magic. Her bed was neatly made. On one corner, there was cauldron, and in another, there were test tubes and beakers. Perhaps, she created potions. In front of her bed was a pentacle shaped altar. If this had not been Mom's place, I would have freaked out. Mom was also a goddess of ghosts, and I was dead scared of ghosts. I hated horror movies, and still do. Her kitchen was a small one, with just items needed for cooking, and a big snake. We screamed at the sight of the snake. Mom laughed, and said, "Tina, would you care to pat my snake?" Tina grinned, got up, and patted the snake as if it was a cat.

"How did..." I asked.

"Just like you have a way with dogs through Lady Hecate, I have a way with snakes through my Dad." Tina replied. Nice, another new thing about Tina. Mom sat down with us on her bed, asked how Dad was, to which I said that he was okay, just missed her a lot. Mom said to that, "I miss him till this very day. I never fell in love before, you Dad was the only one, and he still is." I had never been happier. She also said that she had been watching me, and asked me if I was using the book. I told her that all I knew was because of that. Then, finally, we got to work.

Mom was surprised by all the news. Though she didn't seem surprised at the news of the gigantes rising. "I was feeling it." She said, "Clytius, is it?"

"Yes, Mom. He is prophesied to face you."

"Don't worry, honey. When he arrives in Atlantis, I'll be there. He couldn't defeat me the last time. This time, I have you. He has no chance." I had never felt prouder in my life.

"But Mom, Persephone gave us a list of beauty elements. She said you'll know where they are."

"I do." She took the list and said, "Let me see. Potion of beauty, I have that. Will need brewing, but I got that. Delos mourner, that's a hyacinth flower collected from Delos. But the next two are tough, really tough. Forgiving essence, and zest of golden apples. Those two are crazy difficult tasks, children. And you'll have to do it on your own. It kills me to say that it is the rule that demigods can only be assisted by gods, and not accompanied."

"Why are they difficult?" Dadai asked.

"The golden apples are found in the garden of Hesperides. And only an immortal can pull out an apple from a tree there. It is Hera's tree, and she would get mad at you for taking something without her permission. And she holds grudges, and she is not good at it. Plus, that place is guarded by a dragon called Ladon. Moreover, its where Atlas the titan lives. Don't go bargaining against him. He's a core titan. He is dangerous."

"What about the other one?" Dadai asked.

"The Forgiving essence is a drop of blood, or in our case, ichor, taken from that person who can forgive Aphrodite for being what she is."

"Psyche!" Dadai said instantly.

"Yes! Precisely, but it isn't easy convincing her. Aphrodite destroyed her life as a human. Last I saw, she hates Aphrodite."

Mom got up, and from the corner of potions, brought out a small bottle full of a blue liquid. "The potion is ready. All you need is just adding magic. Now, Jay, show me what you learned."

She handed me the bottle, and asked me to use the beauty spell. I tried to remember, but I couldn't. I hadn't read this yet. So, I took out my book, and said, "Epithymia!", the wishing spell. And the book levitated in air, the pages turned and the beauty spell came out. My cousins and Tina looked at me with awe. I closed my eyes, firmly held the bottle close to my mouth, and said, "Omorfia!" Nothing happened, though. "Is it done?" I asked.

"Nope!" Mom said, "The potion will turn red when done. And no spell can be successful in one go. Try again."

And I kept repeating the spell, and the potion kept being blue. Finally, after nine unsuccessful tries, I muttered the spell again, and the potion turned crimson red. Mom's snake hissed at it. "Oh, finally." I said and put it inside my backpack.

"Congratulations. See, that's why I made it easier for you." Mom said, "Modern Greek words as spells makes it so simple."

We got up to leave. Now that we had the first element, we needed to get the rest as fast as we could. If it was this difficult, it would be better to start early. Just as I got up, Mom said, "Aren't you forgetting something, Jay?"

"What?"

Mom picked up a small box from her study table, handed it to me, and I opened it then and there. After all, it was my first gift from Mom. A small wooden stick lay inside. "A wand?" I asked.

"Yes, honey. In my five thousand year old life, I learned that magic through hand is alright, but having a wand makes things little bit that easier. This wand is the one I used when I fought the last titan war fourteen years ago. I keep changing wands. This, I kept for you, when you grow up. Now, it is the right time, since I have seen you in action. A wand channels your powers better."

I put the box on the table and the wand in my pocket. I gave Mom another hug, and we came out after bidding her a temporary farewell. "Don't worry. I'll know when he gets there, and I'll be on time. And Avik!"

"Yes, Aunt Helia."

"Sometimes, the answer to a riddle is much closer to us than we realize. Remember that. Goodbye, children."

We left and came out of the underworld gate. We were walking on the meadows of Atlantis, returning to the palace to speak to Iris. But, none of us had figured out what Mom had meant by the last line. Not me, not Tina, and definitely not Dadai.