10,000 words of centaurs and mythology and romance and happily-ever-after sex. Enjoy!
* * *
The waves settled down near the island, which Henry was happy to see as the boat pulled up to the dock. He didn't appreciate the rocking; he was built for land, and the ginger tablets he'd taken before getting on the small charter boat had barely settled his unease. The sky was gray-blue, and the water away from shore looked dark and menacing as he clambered off the boat and onto the stability of a well-anchored wooden surface.
But it was worth it. He'd arrived.
She
was here.
How a remote Greek island had a solid Internet connection he had no idea, but this was her home, and finally,
finally
, he was going to see her in person. Cameras were fine. Microphones were fine. But after nearly a year of dating her and never once touching her, they were finally going to be together.
Or at least closer. After all, they were well past "Hi, how are you." He grimaced nervously, wondering what would happen now that he was here. Technically, they'd done far more than just see each other half-naked over the camera. Lots of times. But still, it wasn't the same. She was gorgeous -- and standing here in real life, he felt wholly inadequate to be with a girl that pretty. Or smart. Or funny. Or simply flat-out amazing. He'd needed purpose in life, and he'd found it in the most perfect girl he could imagine, but being with her online definitely wasn't the same as almost being with her in person.
He stared up at the hillside from the dock. There were a few old ruins of Greek temples on the island, their crumbling stone columns edging above the green hills. Nearby, a small, pretty fishing village lay nestled up against the rocky shore, with a modern-looking squat glass hotel perched just behind it.
She
lived in the village of Auros, past here, up in the hills near the old ruins. She'd shown him the view of the Mediterranean out her window a few times, and he recognized this fishing village from behind.
The captain loosed the lines from the dock, hopped back on board, tipped his hat to Henry, and the boat shoved off. It hadn't been easy to get this far into the Mediterranean, well over the horizon line from anything resembling civilization. There were no ferries, no planes, and now the only boat captain that was willing to come out here was leaving without so much as a glance into his rear-view mirror. Henry swallowed, watching the little charter boat pull away and shrink into the distance, its motors revving up as it entered open waters. There was a worrying feeling of finality as it grew too small to see: There was no going back now.
But Melissa was waiting.
* * *
She'd said that Auros wasn't that far from the dock, a quick one-hour jaunt, but two hours up into the hills, Henry had only reached the edge of her tiny village. A dozen wooden houses, small and neat, with red-tile roofs, were scattered around the main road and a single dirt cross-street. They looked well-kept, although several had vines or ivy climbing their walls. A little white stone fountain quietly frothed in the square in the middle of the village, fed from some unseen spring.
No-one was here.
The windows were dark or shuttered, and the brown wooden doors were closed, and no-one was walking on the narrow cobblestone streets or in the village square. A fruit-and-vegetable cart loitered at one side of the square, piled high with fresh fruits and vegetables, but no-one stood behind it: Anyone could have scooted off with breakfast if they were inclined to thievery. Henry wasn't sure what had happened, but it seemed like everyone had disappeared just before he arrived. He shrugged. Maybe the villagers here were just insular, like those of the fishing village too. He hadn't seen anyone since disembarking, after all. Maybe they just didn't go out much.
He continued past the square on the street north, and saw the sign for house #12. This was Melissa's house --
-- and the small shuttered window was open. And she was standing in it.
Without a shirt.
She was naked.
She didn't seem perturbed by it. He couldn't fathom why. She stood silently, biting her lip over a nervous smile, her hands and breasts resting comfortably on the wooden windowsill. He stared, trying not to boggle at her breasts, but they weren't small, and her pink nipples had perked up in the cool air, and as he approached, she smiled wider and they jiggled a little. He'd seen her without a shirt before -- but that was on a camera, which didn't do justice to how gorgeous she looked in person. She was wearing a little makeup, too: Had she done herself up to meet him? Her wavy hair, brown with reddish highlights in the sun, looped around behind her head to form a ponytail that danced over her left shoulder and down her chest, stopping just shy of her nipple. Her brown eyes, bright and shining, seemed like the deepest pools he'd ever stared into, and her lips were red and full.
"Hi," she said.
"Hi -- " The word was almost a choke. He couldn't imagine ever seeing her in a camera again after seeing her like this.
"You made it," she said.
"Um -- yeah -- "
She glanced down at herself and grinned. "It may -- take a little getting used to, but people here don't always wear clothing. We're not 'nudists.' We just -- we often don't wear anything. It makes more -- sense. It's -- appropriate. In this, uh, environment. Weather. Climate. I figured throwing you into the deep end was the best way to introduce you to it."
"You could've warned me," he said, his face pink.
She laughed softly. "Well, it's not like you haven't seen my tits before."
He swallowed hard at the word, failing not to stare. "Yeah."
She grinned wider, recognizing his stare. "I'm super-flattered, Henry. Tonight, after we share a lovely dinner on the balcony at sunset, you'll get to do a lot more than just look at them. And you're gorgeous and handsome too -- " She breathed deeply. "Gods alive, you're amazingly hot in person. I'm going to wine you and dine you, and I swear to you that I'm going to make tonight the best night of your life."
She paused.
"But -- but right now, there's something important you need to do. Something you have to do before we can do anything else."
Henry paused. "Uh, what's that?"
"I can't tell you exactly," she said. "You need to trust me and just do what I tell you to. I promise it's not a bad thing, and it won't take long, but it's -- important."
"I trust you." Henry reached into his pocket and pulled out the ring box.
Melissa took a deep breath, her hand over her chest. "Oh --!" She gasped. "That's -- that's -- is that -- that --?"
"I asked to marry you," said Henry. "I still want to."
"So amazing," she breathed. "Henry, I want to say yes so much. I do I do I do I
do!
I would take
forever
in a heartbeat. But -- you have to -- to do the other thing first. I -- it's really important. If you ask me after that, I promise on every religion ever that I'll say yes -- and then -- you can forget waiting until after dinner, I'll put that ring on my finger and make every sex message we ever sent to each other come true."
He turned a little pink. "I, uh -- um. All right, what's the thing?" he said.
She took a deep breath and bit her lip. Slowly, she pointed out the north end of town, up into the hill. "There's -- an old ruined temple up there. To the Greek goddess Hyla."
"Hyla?"
"You need -- to go up and into it. And then -- "
"Hm?"
" -- then just say aloud -- that -- that you want to stay here. On the island." She let out a long, deep breath.
Henry paused. "That's it?"
She nodded, swallowing hard.
"That doesn't sound very hard," he said.
"Henry -- "
"Hm?"
Her lip quivered. "If -- if you decide to leave after you go there -- and you might -- I promise I'll understand. But -- I hope you decide to stay. With me."
"Melissa -- " he said, taking a step forward.
She shied back a little. "No -- up to the temple first," she said, pulling one of the shutters closed. "And then -- say you want to stay."
"I want to stay."
She shook her head. "You have to do it there. Please, I know it sounds crazy, and I know I sound crazy and this all looks crazy -- but -- trust me. Just go up there, and do the thing, and then you can come in here and I promise you -- when you come back -- I swear to everything holy that I'll make today the best day of your life." She gently squeezed her breast with her hand, just in case he had any doubt about what she meant. "Please just trust me and visit there first."
He took a very deep breath, and nodded. "I trust you."
* * *
The road north of town continued up into the hills, small rocky hills covered in waving yellowy-green grasses. He didn't get very far before the road changed from stone to dirt, and then it narrowed to just a thin sliver of sand beating its way through the grass. Twenty minutes of steady climb later, the ruins of a temple, backed by a dense thicket of overgrown cypress trees, loomed high on the right side of a hill, and another, thinner path continued up toward it.
Henry turned up the hill and worked his way up to the temple. Crumbled chunks of marble and granite lay strewn about, forgotten by time. It was once a thing of beauty, but now, not much of it was left: a chunk of a column here, a bit of wall there, all scattered over a ruined white stone floor with ugly brown weeds growing in the cracks. There might have once been decorative tiles in places, but it was hard to pick out any mosaics they might have once depicted. He looked back out off the hillside, at the amazing view out over the sea, and marveled that even from this height he couldn't see any of the other Greek islands. A fresh breeze of cool and salty Mediterranean air blew past.
He turned back toward the temple and noticed a small white stone altar standing on a chunk of a dais at the far end. The dais itself was badly crumbled, but the altar strangely seemed fresh and new, or at least undamaged by the centuries. Henry walked up to it and stopped in front of it. He ran his hand gently over its pristine edges, which seemed sharp enough to cut him. He wasn't sure if the altar had been newly-placed here, or if it had somehow survived while the rest of the temple had crumbled. Surely it had to be the former: The temple was thousands of years old, and even if the altar had lasted as long, it ought to show
some
signs of wear and tear.
He took a step back, glancing around. There didn't seem to be any obvious reason he was here, but Melissa had insisted on it, so he was going to do it. He cleared his throat.
"Hello?"
There was no answer. He shrugged, and turned, looking out toward the sea again.
"I -- uh -- my name is Henry, and I'm new to the island," he said to no-one, feeling silly. Another sea breeze bustled past him, and he pulled his jacket tighter for a moment. "I came here for a girl named Melissa, who lives here. We talked online a lot for the last year, and we're in love, and I want to marry her. But she said I need to come here and -- to ask to stay, so, uh -- if anybody's listening, I want to stay."
Nothing seemed to happen.
