When I opened my eyes, I was looking up at the wooden beams of a roof, a hole cut in the ceiling to permit woodsmoke from a central fire to dissipate. I stretched and looked down at the five fingers of a human hand, which flexed when I moved them. I was warm and dry, back in my human form. I could smell something cooking, and my stomach rumbled.
Panic sank knives into me. I only had a few more days tofulfill my quest, and I did not know how much time had passed. ‘How long have I been here?’ I asked aloud.
‘The night and half a day,’ a female voice answered.
‘I must get to Eleusis,’ I said. I tried to lever myself upright, though nausea quickly forced me back down.
A woman appeared, tawny hair loose around her face. ‘Don’t be a fool! I found you outside in the mud and rain, and you need rest. Eleusis is only a morning’s journey from here by foot, if that. It isn’t going to get up and move while you recover. Now here, eat this.’
The woman handed me a bowl of porridge thickened with cream and honey. I had no time, but I also had not eaten in over a day and was ravenous. ‘What is it?’ I asked.
‘Galaxiaporridge,’ she answered. ‘My daughter is only a little older than you, and this is her favourite. Now eat! A young girl like you needs nourishment.’
I nibbled the porridge, taking a closer look at my hostess. She was broad in the way of farmwives and moved with relentless efficiency. For the first time in many years, I thought of my nursemaid, Maia, who had died before my return from the wedding in Sparta. My first loss, though not my last.
The porridge was rich and filling, and once I was finished, I could sit up without swaying. When the woman came to take the bowl, I asked her name.
‘Sera,’ she replied, or something that sounded like that, at least. Before I could ask her to repeat herself, she had already turned away to bustle my bowl back into the cooking area. I heard no other human voices nearby and wondered if Sera was alone here.
When I looked down, I saw I was wearing a pale pink chiton. There was no trace of mud upon my limbs.
Sera stirred a pot over the fire. ‘That belongs to my daughter,’she said, gesturing at the clothing. ‘I don’t think she would mind if you borrowed it.’
‘My thanks,’ I replied. I paused for a moment. The hourglass passage of time needled me; I had to get to Eleusis as soon as possible, but this woman was here by herself. The law of xenia prodded a guest to show respect to her hostess. I noticed the spindly pile of firewood by the door. At this time of year, winter nipped at everyone’s heels.
I stood. ‘I offer you my thanks in words, and in deeds as well. Your store of firewood grows scarce, so I will bring you more.’
Sera protested that I needed rest, but I slipped through the door before she could stop me. The storm clouds from last night had cleared, and though the earth was still damp with rain, the day was clear and bright. A few hours in the sun with an axe felt good; the air was cool, and the effort of the work distracted me from the task that loomed before me: to sort the grain in Demeter’s temple. And after that, the darkness from which no mortal returns …
When my work was completed, I observed my surroundings. The farm was small but prosperous, with a respectable flock of sheep and goats, and even a few cows that lowed at me from behind a fence. They had probably been the ones to provide the milk for the galaxia porridge. A modest field of golden stalks marked the source of the wheat. Despite its pastoral beauty, there was something eerie about this place. A steading this size should have half a dozen farmhands, children, and slaves, not to mention a husband and other adult relatives. Yet I saw no one.
By the time I returned, it was afternoon. I was trembling with eagerness to set off for Eleusis, but Sera did not share my haste. She insisted on fitting me out with a cloak and pair of sturdy shoes, going back time and again to a great chest of clothing when she decided the first few options did not suit me. Shecontinued, unhearing, despite my gentle pleas to point the way to Eleusis. Then bread had to be put in the stone oven, and then it was time for another bowl of galaxia porridge. Hungry through I was – I licked the bowl clean – I wanted to tear my hair out for the delay.
On the road, Sera moved unhurriedly despite my growing panic, keeping up an unbroken stream of conversation about Eleusis and its rites. Did I know the history of the festivals that honoured the goddess Demeter and her daughter Persephone? Alas, the autumn celebrations were a few weeks past, and it wouldn’t be until the springtime that Eleusis would host the mysteries marking Persephone’s return. Did I know, Sera continued, that those who underwent the Eleusinian Mysteries were said to lose all fear of death?
I listened to my hostess with equanimity, absorbing nothing. Sera may have been fishing for my reasons for visiting the temple, but I would not divulge them. I refused to allow this gentle woman to become caught up in the web of divine conspiracies that bound me.
I was distracted by a thin black line of ants crossing the road ahead. I paused to look at them. Going about their business with military efficiency, the ants evoked the Myrmidons in their neat rows. I recalled the look of pride on Dexios’s face when he told me he was one of them. Watching the little creatures meander past, I realized I must seem like a god to them.
I carried a small hard loaf of bread that Sera had given to me for supper. I broke off a piece and left it in the road next to the orderly procession of ants. A few of the little workers, tiny as letters on papyrus, broke off from the process to investigate the bread. I smiled.
When I looked up, I saw Sera staring at me. I realized how foolish I must seem, hopping over insects and wasting goodfood, but her expression was not one of derision. It was an appraising look, as though I had turned out to be more than she expected.
‘So solicitous.’ She chuckled. ‘Do you know those ants personally?’
‘No.’ I reddened. ‘But I know what it is like to be small and easily stepped on.’
‘You are a good child,’ Sera said, patting me on the arm. ‘First you give me firewood, then you make offerings to the ants. A good child indeed.’
Soon we reached the temple of Demeter. To my surprise, Sera kissed the head priestess on both cheeks in greeting, as though they were sisters.
The priestess turned to me and inclined her head. ‘Lady Psyche. We have been expecting you.’
She leaned towards Sera and murmured something that I could not quite catch. Sera nodded in understanding, and then gestured for me to follow.
It was Sera, rather than the priestess, who led me down a long corridor as I scurried to keep up with her. I wondered if my hostess was an initiate of the Eleusinian Mysteries. That would explain how she knew so much about them.
Sera escorted me into a room appended to the main hallway. It was empty save for a massive pile of grain that loomed far above my head, an uneasy pyramid brushing the ceiling itself. The pile was a whorl of several different types of grain – rice, wheat, barley, rye, farrow. My eyes swept up its length, and my heart sank.
