The little lady packed herself some bread with some silk cloth, and she sneaked out the grand temple in the middle of the night. The guards were taking snoozes, unaware of the little girl.

She ran to the stable, and tried to untie an adult horse. Although it was too tall for her, she made it to the top of the saddle. Yank! She kicked the horse, and it ran. Galloping it goes, towards an unknown direction.

The horse ran and little Agave tightly gripping onto the saddle. Not knowing where the horse will brought her to. She kept her eyes shut as she was afraid of the wind that hits when the horse dashed.

But her hands became weak, finally she unable to kept her strength, loosen her grip, and she screamed as she fell down to the ground, rolling, and finally hit the tree trunk. Unconscious.

* * *

“Mama! I found something!” A dirty young peasant girl shouted, pointing at the unconscious little Agave.

The girl tried to wake her up, checking her breath. She was still breathing. Those shinny things on her, that soft silky tunic she wore. Those things looks so beautiful and intricate.

“Don’t touch, those are not yours!” A cloaked woman came with her mule with an empty basket.

“Mama…”

The woman carefully examined the unconscious lady. Her head was bleeding and need to be treated. She lifted her up and put her on the mule. They found a nearby river. The woman started a small campfire.

The peasant girl went to river to soak up a towel, and then she ran back to her mother. When she was about to wipe Agave’s wounded head, the little lady suddenly regained her consciousness.

“Ahh! No!!” She shouted.

GROWL~~~!

A loud growling sound came out from her stomach. She was hungry. But she dropped her bread and all she could do, was staring at the two strangers with her large pitiful eyes.

“Alright, I’ll boil some wheat porridge. While waiting for it, go clean yourself up.”

“Yes, mama!” The peasant girl replied, and went back to the river, dipping her dirty dark hair to the water.

To Agave’s surprise, she rinsed off the ink on her hair, revealing the smooth golden wavy blonde hidden under the thick charcoal.

“Blondie!” Agave shouted in awe.

And the little lady ran towards the river, frantically scratching her hair with the river water. Rubbing and pulling her own dark red fluffy coils, she was hoping to turn them into blonde. But her fingers ended up tangled by her own hair. Crying…

“Ha ha ha!” The peasant girl laughed.

But her mother came and gently stroke Agave’s head. Calming the little lady, she braided her hair.

“You are adorable when you smile.”

The woman’s word soothed her, and she stopped crying.

“Where’s your mama?” The woman asked.

“Mama?” Agave was confused, but she felt very comfortable when the women was braiding her hair. She had forgotten that she was hungry earlier.

“Yes, who’s your mama? You should go back to her.”

Agave did not understand her question. But that gentle touch slowly put Agave into sleep.

* * *

“Mama… Mama…” Pryne cried…

Her tears had dried but her internal struggle continued. The thick power on her face covered her all sign of her sadness. Being the Teleios of Eretria, the highest priestess of Aphrodite, perhaps, even being called the Goddess Aphrodite, had not brought her any joy.

She had been standing still, nude but accessorised with golden jewelries. Whole day, she stood, as a reference for the sculptors to make marble images of her.

While the old sculptor was working on the statue, he broke the hammer, and the chisel slipped to the marble floor.

“Servant! Bring me a new hammer and chisel!” He commanded.

The temple guards quickly ran out of the hall and called for the blacksmith to send them a brand new tools.

“That sculptor is the famous Praxiteles of Athens! Go find the blacksmith named Hephastos and ask him to bring the best sculpting chisel and hammer in he made in his workshop!”

* * *

The blacksmith arrived at the temple hall with the tools. A young man, given the name simply to make his career easier. He was without beard, and his build was average.

To his surprise, he recognised the lady. Pryne, his childhood friend.

“Pryne, is that you?” he questioned with a shocking expression.

“Hephastos?” Pryne recognised him as well.

“Why are you here? Don’t you know what had happened to your mother?” he shouted.

“Since the day you’re gone, plague has landed on her barley farm. She waited for you! But you never go back to her! She was taken to Hades last year!”

Shattered. Pryne broke down in tears, tearing away all her jewelries, she stormed out of the temple. The guards tried to stop her from running away, but Hephastos pushed the guards and stopped them from capturing her.

Pryne ran out to the garden and climbed up to a tree, she then jumped towards the tall temple wall from the tree branch to escape.

“What are you doing, Hephastos?” Aster barge into the temple hall and found that Pryne was gone. But Hephastos was captured by the his guards.

“You can’t let the Aphrodite escape from her temple!” Aster shouted in anger.

"What are you talking about? She's Pryne, the barley farmer! Not Aphrodite!" Hephastos replied.

"Shut your fucking mouth! Don’t you dare to disrespect the Goddess!" Aster was afraid of the truth about Pryne.

If the Eretrian discovered that Pryne was not a real Aphrodite, he might get into trouble. But the blacksmith did helped her escaped from the temple. In rage, Aster punched Hephastos on his face, he poured oil and set fire on his head.

He will surely be deported from Eretria! Nobody shall reveal the truth!

Hephastos screamed and rolled on the ground trying to put off the fire. Aster and the other temple guards continuously kicked him and beaten him up. Hephastos rolled and protecting his head with his arms. Enduring every blow from the guards.

* * *

Pryne ran back to her old but empty hut. The barley field has been taken over by grass. She found a burial nearby, where the other villagers had buried the body of her mother. She saw the tombstone, written ‘the barley farmer and her daughter’. She knelt before it, beating her own chest, screaming and crying. Regretting everything that she had done.

* * *

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“Hephastos is about to be deported from Eretria!”

“What? The blacksmith? What happened?”

“They said he burnt his own face while working!”

“What an unlucky man, he was such a handsome man!”

The city gate opened, while the guards pushed the tied up men and women into the wagon. Those are the sick and deformed people. They were about to be sent to a place called Kataratos. A settlement where the Eretrian abandon the deported people.

Hephastos was among the men. Pryne covered herself in full veil, and sneaked into the wagon. She sat next to Hephastos.

“Please forgive me! Hephastos!” Said Pryne.

“Because of me, you lost everything in Eretria. Please allow me to repay you. I am willing to repay you with my life.” She tried to hold her emotion. Grabbing his right arm, leaning her head towards him.

“Please don’t make any more bad decisions! Pryne. You are not Aphrodite! And I am not Hephastos. I do not need you to pity me, or feel guilty about me.” He replied, with his left hand, he gently pushed her away.

But he continued to hold her hands.

“Now, let us forget about the pain in the past, for the future will be a better place.”