EPILOGUE

  ‘’This is nice’’Lyssandra spoke as we were sitting on the docks of the port, watching my son heal people after we fed them and gave them the gold that we stole from the castle. Their poor faces turned to bright smiles with each bite, each touch of the gold, and each healing their skin was getting. Some kids even moved closer to us, thanking us by giving flowers and telling us stories about how they ended up in the streets. No parents around, but the streets were their home. The trash would fill their empty bellies instead of warm food. And only praying would have cured their sickness. But not today. Because today, they were playing music, they were dancing and feasting, bringing warmth all around.

  ‘’Yes’’I moved my head up and down.’’We shall try to be good more often.’’

  ‘’I tried to make orphanages a few decades back’’ She admitted. And I gasped from the amusement those words let out.

  ‘’But they didn’t last long with all the wars around. Her voice sounded so tired.

  ‘’Maybe we can try again one day’’I whispered to her and heard a familiar sound of a lyre being played poorly by a little girl. And that caught my interest as I jumped at her side and asked her to give the lyre to me.

  ‘’What are you doing?’’Chuckled Lyssandra while my son sat now all tired next to her.

  ‘’You haven’t listened to me sing’’I reminded her and looked at the gathered orphans. And my fingers caressed the threads.

  In the darkness where there was violence, none wished for hope. Because they never grew up with anything other than absolute shadows and pain. Until the light appeared, giving warmth to the cold world. Giving love. But it was soon fading, and the darkness appeared again. They had violence, and now, there was despair. Despair of what they lost, and hope appeared, wishing for that light to come back again. At first, most of them thought that the light they once saw was a lie, an illusion, and they kept living in the violence. Others tried to pray in the darkness, waiting for the light to come. And the rest, they built the light themselves, breaking the walls of violence slowly, letting the warmth back. Letting love back and celebrating by showing their ambition in ways of singing, dancing, and their own warmth.

  That song was a sad one, and yet with the way I was playing the lyre, everyone thought it was a song for dancing, making the small children laugh as they were moving in circles.

  And my eyes shifted back where Lyssandra and Asclepious were sitting, telling her something. And she let out a small snort.

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  It was time for me to say farewell to my son as our ship arrived close to us. Lyssandra, surprisingly, hugged him, and even more surprisingly, was that he hugged her back. She left us alone for a second as she turned back to the children, trying to tell tales of old times. Some of them were made up, some of them were real. But the important thing was that they were laughing with her.

  ‘’She is a good woman’’My son said, who was looking at her and then turned to me.

  ‘’I know’’I gasped out, and he raised one brow.

  ‘’I asked her earlier if she was happy with her life’’

  ‘’Of course you did.’’ I rolled my eyes

  ‘’And just like you, she replied that she wasn’t sure’’

  Because nothing is certain. I cannot see the future anymore; I don't know what will happen tomorrow. However, I knew that with her, I did not have to see further in time. Because, I was not afraid when I was with Lyssandra.

  ‘’Are you happy, son?’’I asked him, and his face froze. And, he cleared his throat.

  ‘’None of the people I cared about got forgotten yet’’He explained and moved his head around.

  ‘’I will take that as a yes-’’I tried to speak, but Asclepious hugged me with his old arms. And I closed my eyes to embrace his warm body. How many times did I fight with him? Trying to apologize for the death of his mother? How many times did I wish for him to hug me like this?

  ***

  The sun rose up, kissing my skin with its warmth, and my eyes moved up to the Oracle, who was writing once again at the desk.

  ‘’Come now’’I complained and jumped to see what she was writing to the boy.

  ‘’I am telling him that we will go to Cyprus’’She explained, and I smiled, taking her left hand to kiss her beautiful ring.

  I had almost forgotten about our next journey.

  ‘’You do not have people to take care of their right?’’I asked her, and she snorted.

  ‘’No, I burnt them years ago’’ She admitted.

  At first, I didn’t listen to her words, so I nodded. And then, they hit my brain right to the center.

  ‘’What?’’ I stuttered, and she laughed.

  ‘’No, no dangers’’ She stood up and moved my hands to her stomach. Then, she moved them right behind her waist, trying to force me to pull her close to me. But there was no need to force me, and I lifted her up with her legs wrapping around my body.

  What enemies were awaiting us at the shore? What was lurking in the ocean we were crossing? What will happen to us? It did not matter. Because at the end, we would both survive each pain together, until death.