Tia don't... Tia you shouldn't... Tia that's really not a good idea... It always seemed that I asked the questions I shouldn't and wished to do things that weren't best for me. At least in my grandfather's eyes. Maybe I should explain, I don't have a typical grandfather like most people. I've been stuck with a Greek god as a grandfather, Hephaestus no less. Now how does a girl like me end up being raised by a cranky, cynical god? That's a very good question. One I didn't even know the answer to till I was well, a few centuries old. But I'm losing track here.
You see, unlike most normal people. I have two mothers. One who died even before I was born and the other who's out there somewhere. I just don't know where. But anyway. The mother who should have given birth to me was Thermodosa, the much praised silver assassin of the amazon tribes. The other is Lilith, a child of the Egyptian gods, someone my grandfather isn't particularly fond of. He thinks that Greeks should stick with Greeks. But that's not the point. So anyway, my mothers were both of divine blood which made me some sort of weird cross and really, I shouldn't have even been born. You see, Thermodosa was carrying me when she got into some big mess in Rome and was killed, only about three months into her pregnancy with me. I guess my grandfather was awfully fond of his only daughter and had a habit of watching over her. He couldn't save her, but he could save me. I don't know exactly how he did it. The man is magic as a sculpture and a god no less and he somehow combined those talents to create an artificial womb for me.
I was born full term in my father's palace on Mount Olympus and well everyone else just assumed that I was another divine bastard. Which I mean, I guess I am, if you want to get horribly technical. My grandfather named me Tiassale, something that means 'it is forgotten' and I guess he was trying to say that my past and my mothers were forgotten, because he certainly never mentioned them.
I was raised along with a bunch of other children on Mount Olympus, educated in a wide variety of things most people never study. Everything from the arts of war to music and language. We were being brought up to be gods ourselves, even if I was only mostly divine. I guess I had gifts enough that no one ever noticed that I wasn't full blooded. I could kick ass along with everyone else, I exceeded most, but then I didn't know that one of my mothers carried the divine lines of war. I really never had a thing for battle, I mean... Don't get me wrong, I can handle just about any weapon you hand me, but it's just not my thing. I rather followed in my grandfather's footsteps, following the ways of an artist. I like to paint, to sing, to create with my hands and my imagination. Which is perfectly acceptable for a god you know.
But when you reach a certain age, you start to ask questions. Instinctively I knew that Hephaestus wasn't my father, I don't know how. It's just one of those things. I was probably several decades old at the time, but it was more like teenage years for those of us who grew up on Olympus. I still remember asking him who my parents were, I still remember the rage in his expression. The sparks really flew from his forge that day... and I wasn't stupid enough to ask about it again for a good long time. Or rather, I didn't have the opportunity to. You see its kind of tradition for the children of the gods to be tossed out of Olympus, a sort of trial by fire if you will. To see if we've learned enough, to see if we can survive on our own.
I can't say I was horribly disappointed about being thrown out. I mean my grandfather and I got along okay, but it was nothing thrilling. And I thought maybe down on earth I could find out a little bit more about who I was. I can't say that I was exactly ready to be wandering around earth, but I didn't do too badly for myself. It did take some time to fit in, I mean on Olympus it's no big deal to poof in and out of existence and use your gifts to get what you want. You do that around normal humans and you tend to make people a little nervous, I learned that one the hard way. Let's just say I couldn't go back to this little farming village outside of Athens for a really long time.
So all the others went scampering back to Olympus as soon as they could, I just wasn't interested. I guess that's what made me different, maybe it was my human side, even though I didn't know I had one at the time. I wanted to explore, to learn things. People had this tendency of noticing that I was different, so I had to bounce around a lot. I did a lot of traveling, saw a lot of different places and watched the world grow up in general. I do owe something to the training I received on Olympus, I knew enough to defend myself when needed and I could sing well enough to make money to survive on.
I can't tell you exactly how long I kicked around on earth, I guess as long as it entertained me. And really, I wasn't finding the answers I was looking for... Although I was probably having too much of a good time. I mean literally, in Rome, you could get away with anything you wanted as long as you could pay your way out of it. And the women, wow... Let's not even go there. Yeah so maybe I followed in my mothers shoes... I'd rather share a woman's bed any day. Sorry boys. So maybe I lost myself for a little while with wine, women, and really good art. Sue me. And Rome was big enough that I could disappear when I needed to, no one really noticed one woman who lived a little too long in the city of Emperors
Rome eventually had to fall and my good times went with it. Once the wine wore off I sort of remembered the whole reason I was kicking around earth in the first place, I was looking for family. But the only family I knew about was up on Olympus, so centuries after I'd been tossed out I finally decided to head home. I have to say it was a much different place when I returned. The Greek gods were slowly being forgotten and things had started to fall into shadow, even my grandfather's forge was dark. He was still alive though. Still alive although he looked a lot older, the years had been rougher than I imagined. I guess I felt daring enough to ask about my parents again and maybe knowing that his time was coming to an end, he finally decided to tell me.
He told me about one mother who has been in the grave before I was born and another who was Egyptian born. I can't say that I felt any great sense of loss for either mother, but I did start to understand why I felt that I belonged more on earth than I did on Olympus. Not that there was much to Olympus anymore. I stayed with my grandfather in his final days, although that was really the stretch of a good many years. I waited with him until the end and in his final minutes of existence on this plain, he revealed the name of my living mother and the name both of my mothers had chosen for me. In those moments I became Arriyana and I dedicated myself to finding this woman Lilith.
I hadn't realized how much time had passed on Olympus, I guess the world up there moved more slowly. I had left earth at the fall of Rome and returned sometime during the Renaissance of Europe. As much as I would have liked to stay and play around with that developing art world, I had a parent to find. Well at least I hoped she was still alive, my grandfather seemed fairly certain she was. So I took a name and went to Egypt, doing as much research as I could. I found rumors of a warrior and a general, some vicious woman. I didn't know that I believed it all. But it was enough to say that Lilith wasn't in Egypt any more. Rumors led me back to Greece and from Greece through most of Europe. I can't tell you how many times the trail went cold. How many times I got pissed off and gave up.
Each time I'd give up I'd fall back into that same devious pattern of good wine and good women. Alright maybe I have some bad habits, but I'm so okay with that. And yeah I got distracted along the way, but hey if you live as long as I do... You have plenty of time to kill. So anyway, somewhere in the middle of those messy world wars I caught scent of my mother's trail again. I bounced through Europe after her, it always seemed like I was a step behind. From Europe I ended up in the United States which is like the ultimate hideout for anyone who wants to run away from something.
I'll tell you, I've followed a lot of wrong leads and hit a lot of dead ends. But I'm pretty sure that my mother is out there somewhere, call it gut instinct. Meanwhile, I've learned to sing. It's given me an excuse to travel, a reason to bounce in and out of city after city. I can't say that I'm fantastic, but hey it's something. It's better than the wine and women... Which well, I confess I still have a weakness for. But maybe one of these days I'll be able to track this Lilith woman down. Maybe she's already dead. Either way, I'm just going to keep living, keep singing and keep travelling. In the end, who knows where I'll end up.
