Page 151 of Styx
Metis was learning.
She was my sister
in countless ways.
How did I not see this?
‘Why Must You Find Her?’
The question broke Asteria and me
out of our reverie of realizations.
It was Leto who answered.
Sweet Leto who was so patient
with all of us, but most of all
with Metis who was her dearest friend.
‘We are her sisters and we want to know
why she disappeared without telling us.’
Atlas looked far away into Chaos’s darkness.
‘Your sister has her own path.
Just like my brothers have their own path.’
Leto shook her head and said,
‘She would never leave without telling me.
She has to have had a good reason.’
Atlas’s silver brow furrowed
then cleared as he said,
‘I will help you, on a condition.
That if you find her, you do not
destroy what she is building.’
Conditions
I was a nymph. My whole existence
was conditional to the whims
of the Gods, as I had learned.
But for the others,
conditions were a peculiarity.
